OPEN BETA - NEW BATTLEDOME

[Siniri]

It's still in early beta. I've heard they'll be expanding the beta testing, so you might still get chosen.

[Daze]

Yay! Got into Beta testing.

[Blue]

Yay! Got into Beta testing.

YAY, Daze!

[Siniri]

Congrats, Daze!

[Daze]

Thanks!

I really am undecided if I like it or not.

I like how it is more interactive, but unless TNT put it back to how the challenger increases in HP after each win, then I don't see myself using that much.

To me it has the feel of a 'game'. Something to play. Whereas before the old 'dome had a challenge about it, something to test your pet (and yourself). I spent many millions on buying weapons to make my pet a good battle pet, but now I don't see the point.

It also takes longer to get into a battle (with all the extra clicks) and the Vs screen take for ever to load (for me anyway), although if you want to keep fighting the same challenger, you can do so without leaving the dome and re-entering (so this part is quicker).

I can see it will be fun for newbies coming into Neopets and those who may have been scared off of the old battledome. But for hardcore battlers, a lot more incentive to use it, will have to be given.

* Nps and item drops from battling will be capped, so this isn't incentive enough.

[Jelani]

I understand there is an easy/medium/hard system instead of a HP gain now - would the challenge go back in if there was an "insane" difficulty as well, perhaps?

[Siniri]

I'm assuming there's a feedback form where you can mention your concerns. Hopefully they'll address some of them (especially the lag and the not-increasing-in-difficulty-thing).

[Daze]

Some of the challengers on Hard are way out of my league, so I still have to train and/or get better weapons to defeat them.

That isn't a challenge within itself, as once you can defeat them, there is on further use to fight them.

Yes, there is feedback form and a dedicated board. Most of the beta users are saying the same thing and TNT have posted they are considering the HP issue.

9th November

•BATTLEDOME OPEN BETA!
It's here! The New Battledome is now open to all players to beta test. There are still kinks to work out, of course, but we thought it was time everyone had a chance to give it a go, discuss, and send us feedback!


Since it's beta, some weapons are touchy, some challengers are being mean, prizes need some tweaking, etc., so please send us a bug report for anything you find. You can also check out the Beta News page for information on known issues (i.e. what not to report!) before you dive in.



A few important notes from Beta News:


◦Your old stats are safe and sound! They will be merged with your new stats later on in Open Beta.
◦If you're having issues fighting, it may be IE8 or a browser add-on. Try upgrading IE or disabling add-ons.
◦Equipping from your inventory is still disabled! Visit the Stats section in the Battledome to equip/unequip.

After you've gone through all the notes, feel free to rush head-long into battle or check out the new Tutorial to get yourself acquainted first. New challengers await!

We still have bugs to fix, issues to work out, and feedback to review -- plus stances and abilities revamps on the way -- but we look forward to hearing what you think so far! Please do send us your feedback or join your fellow 'Domers on the Battledome Board to discuss.

We hope you like it!

Note to Closed Beta Testers: Your hard work and feedback during the Closed Beta was AWESOME! Thank you so much for all your help. We're working on a little gift to show our appreciation, so expect that in the next week or so.

[Siniri]

There's a lot to like, but some glitchiness, too. Don't try to skip the fight scene when the battle's about to end, or you won't see the results page or get any awards.

And apparently you don't always get to steal the malevolent chomby plushie's Thyora's Tear; it's now random. And with no faerie abilities, if he whips out his SAP on turn two, well... let's just say Grainne's new record is 7-1.

ETA: The rewards are still... weird. The limits on NP and items seem arbitrary; today I reached the item limit before winning any items! But codestone prices have already started plummeting. Apparently you can win paintbrushes. I've been battling exclusively in the Pango Palladium hoping to get a MI one -- I doubt I personally will actually win one, but at least prices should go down once I'm ready to stop zapping Grainne and turn her into the Island Mynci she's always been in her (my) heart. With cheaper training, that might come sooner than later.

[Blue]

I'm not excited that if you win, your HP remain depleted.

[Siniri]

I think that's more realistic, Blue, but it will make healing potions a lot more expensive, especially in plots/wars. I tend to throw all of mine in my SDB between events and sell them at higher prices (and use a few) -- I have a feeling I won't be able to sell nearly as many now. I think full healers are going to rise exponentially in price, but I can't afford one before that happens. Guess I'll never be able to.

Right now, I've been battling weaker baddies (~100-150 points) and using my weak greater healing scroll along with a weapon; I tend to gain between 1 and 40 HP per turn doing this. Hopefully if potions inflate too much, TNT will start giving them out as battle rewards.

If you reach the item cap before you've gotten 15 items, go fight someone in the Central Arena, and then you should be able to go to other arenas and get prizes again (the arenas are the little buttons at the top of the challenger list). Pango Palladium seems to be glitched; I "hit" the cap there every time I battled anyone in there today, but the Dome of the Deep only gave me a false cap message once.

[Blue]

I agree it is more realistic, but I sure liked it in the old one. I think you are correct in that healing items are going to get very expensive.

[Jacob]

I'm not excited that if you win, your HP remain depleted.

My Bracelet of Kings got all the more impressive...
Getting prizes for battling is a nice perk, because there were only bragging rights before hand. it's ever a double edged sword to someone in Neopia (shop restockers mostly), but they are finally thinking on rewarding the strongest Neopets in...Neopets. Will there soon be trophies for those who defeat certain opponents the most? But the lack of a continually growing challenge from opponents is something that will be missed. Once you beat the lot of them on insane...well, that's it. You're the master of all. the idea of having nearly unbeatable opponents after plenty of defeats felt much better to me, though I do wonder if it will be possible to implement in this new system they have in place.

[Siniri]

Jacob, they say they're considering making the challengers increase in difficulty again. Somehow.

I'm trying to get a prize from each challenger, going down the list. I haven't gotten a single prize from any of the challengers in Pango Palladium; if you're just trying to get your 15 items and be done, avoid them. Beating Punchbag Bob is much quicker.

I just beat the Giant Ghostkerchief on insane, mostly because I stole his awesome reflector. But it's been glitchy today; twice now it's made me rebattle the same guy without me telling it too... and guess who the second one was? Yeah, I have less than half health. Not feeling too keen on my odds. [leaves to conduct battle] Yep. This time I stole his Ghoskershield and healed on the first turn, leaving me with 143 HP. Unfortunately, he reflected my Ylana's blaster back at me, and it went right through his shield (189 damage). Guess I might have had one more turn had I used my Downsize!, but he still had over 700HP. *sigh* Time to find a healing potion. Oh, and the jerk didn't even give me a prize for beating him the first time! I'll take his reflector, please.

ETA: And now I'm stuck in a fight. I lost and got the defeated message, got sent back to the main BD page, tried to heal... and was told I couldn't do that in a fight. I keep trying to re-enter the fight (so I can lose it again) but get redirected to the main battle page. I can't heal because I'm in a battle; I can't battle because I'm not healed. The battledome address changes to "http://www.neopets.com/dome/?error=nohealth." Thank you, TNT, so friggin' helpful. NOT.

[Daze]

To exit a battle go to the Challenges Tab. This will show if you are in a fight.

http://www.neopets.com/dome/status.phtml