What is "EA" Early Access

[Buck Rider 63]

Yes, what is Early Access? And why the big fuss. 

Why do all the trolls replies to every rant of loss with it's EA? Why all the posts ranting of loss? Why do we have one fact-less or false facts post after another.

It really comes down to what EA really is. I won't go through the entire list but I have been searching and found a few interesting dates. Some recent, some older. 

Anthem a new game out: Anthem Early access 2/15/19 thru 2/22/19. Early access 7 days.

SWTOR an older game: Early access 12/13/2011 thru 12/20/2011. Early access 7 days.

ESO Early access: Early access starts 3/30/14 for the following 5 days. Early access 5 days.

Atlas: “ATLAS will be an Early Access title for approximately 2 years.”  Early access 2 years.

Atlas used the words Early Access for a development period historically called Beta. You see a peak of the historical use of the word EA above having a very different meaning. Early Access historically had a meaning of post beta, one week, first access for those who pre-ordered the game. While beta is pre-EA.

Some developers are changing the meaning of the words as we know them. This is the source of all the trouble. Many players entered into an Early Access game expecting what they have grown to know the words to mean, including no additional resets. But really entered a game still very deep in development, including resets.

I am a fan of this game and I hope it pulls through this. But the Atlas team could have avoided all of this by being more clear in their language, so people better knew what to expect.

 

 

 

[Percieval 1,067]

Not really agree, since this is from ARK’s developers that just had years of EA. And people replying to threads with ‘it’s EA’ is their right to do so in many occasions. If it’s because balancing, game changes, wipes, or core mechanic changes such as to the skill tree, are definitely blamable on EA. 

[Back Stabbath 150]

This isnt Ark. Just because a company made a similar game doesnr mean this isnt an EA.

If they are wanting this to simply be another version of Ark PLEASE tell us now so real mmo gamers can delete it.

ARK Is garbage.

Edited March 4, 2019 by Back Stabbath

[Percieval 1,067]

1 minute ago, Back Stabbath said:

This isnt Ark. Just because a company made a similar game doesnr mean this isnt an EA.

If they are wanting this to simply be another version of Ark PLEASE tell us now so real mmo gamers can delete it.

ARK Is garbage.

Another person that is putting words in other people’s mouth to somehow make a point. Next time you do that, come with something better. 

[awakatanka 73]

The EA in this case is made by steam. Looks the do not have rules to have a game in EA. Maybe steam need to change EA to DA. Development Access.

[Chucksteak 279]

https://store.steampowered.com/genre/Early Access/

What does the banner at the top of the page in big letters say?

"Discover, play, and get involved with games as they evolve."

Its pretty clear. I could also cherry pick games that were EA for over a year and do fine. To say nothing that your 3 examples are from very large companies compared to GS.

Oh also this link, please have a look for wtf EA is;

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_access

You can google the definition of anything.

[Salty Del 117]

I would also say that for Star Wars the Old Republic and Elder Scrolls Online (I haven’t played Anthem), they were released as full games, but were in much the state that Atlas is now.

[boomervoncannon 1,541]

58 minutes ago, awakatanka said:

The EA in this case is made by steam. Looks the do not have rules to have a game in EA. Maybe steam need to change EA to DA. Development Access.

I really really like this suggestion. The term Development Access would at the drop of a hat distinguish something that is not merely a week long sneak peek at a game from something that is. Great idea! Precision and clarity of language can help reduce confusion. While it is true that 2 years of Early Access is communicated by Steam and Grapecard, this fine tuning of terminology would at a bare minimum give people a clearer idea of what they were buying and less of an excuse that they didn’t know.

[Meerkat 33]

Instead of making up new terms, let’s just call this what it is. 

This feels about like a public beta. 

They could have avoided all this drama by making it available as a public beta first. A few months down the line they could have gone into early access and charged $25 and probably made just as much initial money and not had the negative ratings which just hurt in the long run. 

So many games get put out as early access that aren’t there yet and end up dying as a result. There are so many aspects of this game that they got right that get over shadowed by the glaring failures. 

[Icedlance 16]

14 hours ago, Buck Rider said:

Why do all the trolls replies to every rant of loss with it's EA?

"I don't agree with it, therefore it gotta be trolling."
With that kind of attitude I'm not sure it's even worth arguing with you, but however disgusted with you I am, I'll say a few things:

Anthem, SWTOR and ESO have their on launcher and their own distribution. Atlas released on Steam.
Steam doesn't have game status "Beta", however it has game status "Early Access", which can span anyhere from Alpha to pre-release stress test.

And I don't think Atlas is even in Beta or if Alpha/Beta/Release gradation is very descriptive at all. Alpha test "usually" means a barely playable framework meant to iron out the base code and test the concept of the game. Beta test "usually" means almost finished product, that needs bugfixes.
Atlas is neither, having some game mechanics changing significantly or having placeholders or not being implemented at all, which is a sign of a game in Alpha stage, yet in general it almost looks like a finished product, which gives an impression of a complete but buggy game or if you remember about Early Access, a game in Beta stage. Yet it is not.

You gave the examples of Anthem, SWTOR and ESO, but you skipped over DayZ, Astroneer and Star Citizen, which never left Early Access, but at least the second one is being actively developed, changes very often, but still has bugs that make people frustrated. "Early Access" in this case is the Steam variety of "Early Access", which is literally ability to play the game before it is complete, not the AAA publishers' "VIP Premium Paid Headstart" variety.

So yeah, when you buy the game you get a huge Steam warning, that describes what *this* Early Access means, but you skipped over it and used your own definition instead.

Try checking Early Access tag in Steam: Factorio, Raft, They Are Billions, Subnautica Expansion (how long did Subnautica spend in EA? A couple years I believe?). Did you know, that Factorio is in EA? I sure didn't. Is it releasing in 7 days? I doubt it.

I'll finish with quoting the Steam warning it gives above the "BUY" button that everyone usually skips:

Quote

Early Access Game

Get instant access and start playing; get involved with this game as it develops.

Note: This Early Access game is not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development.

 

Edited March 5, 2019 by Icedlance

[Archsenex 309]

People keep sharing the generic steam early access banner.   Thats for every EA game.  The devs are required to fill out further information about what EA means for them.  This is where they list things specific to THIS EA, and outline the details for their potential customers.  That block is where every other EA I have ever seen that had wipes put that they will have wipes so you can see it before you buy.

It is on the developer to put all the information in the Steam questionnaire, that's why they have a questionnaire.  Grapeshot did not fill out their information completely.  Assuming wipes are implied in THIS EA is just that, an assumption, with as much validity as any other assumption people make about text that is not there.

What grapeshot DID say is that we can expect an unparalleled mmo experience from day one.  This was technically true, In that I have never had an mmo experience where they wiped without it being on the schedule and listed in the EA banner.  That is technically unparalleled, I suppose. 

 

PS I was excited to play the game I  the state it was in when I bought it, in that they had not announced wipes.  It is no longer in that state