In September, we revealed Arkheron and hosted two community-wide playtests on our Alpha build. Our team was thrilled with how these went and to see many new Arkheron fans joining our community spaces. We’ve received a lot of questions about what’s next and this post will outline what to expect.
CLOSED BETA & COMMUNITY-RUN PLAYTESTS
We are currently getting ready for the Arkheron Closed Beta that will begin in a few months, which means our team needs to go heads-down and focus on development work. We aren’t ready to provide the support needed for hosting our own community-wide playtests just yet.
However, since our last Alpha Playtest, we’ve been asked almost daily when players can play next and we don’t want to leave you hanging. We’ve come up with an experimental idea to give the community the tools to run their own playtests through Discord.
We’ve partnered with the Mobalytics team to host the first Community-Run Playtest so that we can see how it goes. If it works well and the community enjoys it, then we can expand into more Discords to give the community more options!
HOW DO COMMUNITY-RUN PLAYTESTS WORK?
We’ve provided the Mobalytics Discord server with the information and game access needed to host their own playtests with members of their Discord.
Queues are enabled for members from now until November 23rd at 11:59PM PST. The servers are up 24/7 to give Mobalytics the freedom to designate any desired play window without needing to ask us to set it up each time. We recommend choosing specific play times to help encourage players to be online at the same time to make sure there are enough people to fill matches.
The Mobalytics playtests will be hosted on a North American server. You can join from any location outside of North America but we only recommend doing this if you’re comfortable not having the optimal ping experience.
Steps to Join
Get a Steam Key - If you have one, you’re all set. Otherwise - sign up through the Mobalytics link here.
Log into the Arkheron client and follow the prompts to link your Discord account
Join the Mobalytics Discord
Get the ‘ArkheronPlaytest’ role in their Discord
Their first designated playtest window will be on November 8th, starting at 5 PM PT until 9 PM PT. If people want to continue playing at the end of the playtest window, they are free to do so as long as there are still enough players to kick off matches. Check out the Mobalytics Discord for more information on additional play windows.
We’re still on our Alpha Build, so performance and other elements remain about the same as the last playtest. We recommend only jumping in if you’re okay with the experimental nature of things right now.
WHAT ELSE?
If you prefer not to join our first community-run playtest for any reason, that’s totally okay! We are working on getting ready for the Closed Beta and you can jump in then. Alternatively, you could try Training Mode or ask your preferred Discord to request access to Community-Run playtests instead.
TRAINING MODE
Training Mode will be available 24/7 for anyone who has a key. There are no additional steps required to join as long as you have downloaded the client. In Training, you can experiment with Arkheron’s item systems. The sparring room also gives an option for small groups of friends to self-organise mini-matches (1v1, 2v2, 3v3)
HOW TO REGISTER YOUR DISCORD
If your Discord server would like to host their own Community-Run Playtests for Arkheron, we are currently accepting applications.
To qualify, your Discord needs at least 200 members. Higher member counts will be prioritized and we may not be able to accept all applications.
Fill out the application form here.
FAQ
We will update this as questions come in!
Are these playtests secret? Can I stream and make content of my gameplay?
They’re not secret! You’re welcome to stream, make content and share your experiences with your friends.
Will bot-Ascension matches be available in Training Mode?
We will re-enable bot-Ascension at a later date but they are temporarily unavailable.
Why aren’t you hosting these playtests from the official Arkheron Discord Server?
We want to learn insights about what the community wants to do when they have the tools to control it. Additionally, because we run the official Discord we would essentially be hosting the playtest ourselves.
Why is there only one server location per playtest?
This is partly for simplicity while we’re setting up the prototype for the Community-Run playtests. Multiple server locations change the concurrency math and has implications for what times the playtest windows should be. We also don’t have a ‘server selection’ option on the client yet as we’re still working on it.
In the future, it will be important to have these options but we don’t have the means to support it just yet. If you know of any Discord servers that might be suitable and based in your area, please encourage them to apply!