From Shardstorm.com what beta would you recommend most?

[MotleyCrueFan]

I amusing my sister's Windows Vista and is the beta safe (the one you recommend)?

[SpykStorm]

I recommend 819. That's a pretty stable beta. And none of the recent builds should harm your sister's computer.

[_L_]

Obviously you should use the very latest beta! How else can you perform your bug-finding duties?

[bigjoe]

Its not a matter of recommendation at all. You're meant to download the latest version. The others are kept there for backtracking bugs. Even with testing public, it is a privilege. And that privilege entails bug testing.

The whole "Eh, I'm going to stick with <number>" deal is a bit of a mockery. Leisurely use of betas is acceptable, however, not using the latest version shows that you're JUST in it for the features and are unwilling to help.

[bluedeath]

Listen to _L_ and take the latest Beta.

[Daputti]

I suppose he means which beta should be the most stable to use for quest making.

[pkmnfrk]

Well, since the betas aren't for quest making, then none of them.

However, if you're testing, then always the latest one.

[Russ]

Well, since the betas aren't for quest making, then none of them.

Are you kidding? Look at Pure ZC. 90% of the quests being made use betas. :tongue:

Edit: Post 2,750!

[pkmnfrk]

Are you kidding? Look at Pure ZC. 90% of the quests being made use betas. :tongue:

Edit: Post 2,750!

Yeah, but that doesn't mean they're supposed to be. Betas are for testing. You can build a quest in one if you want, but don't cry when things change.

Regardless, the latest beta is always the one to be used.

[Nicholas Steel]

yes, otherwise 2.5 will never ever in exist in our parallel world!

[Revfan9]

Or you could all actually answer his question ;/

The betas are there for us to use them, and we should be encouraged to submit bug reports of what we find goes wrong. But to say that "If you don't use the betas only for testing, you're a horrible person" is downright absurd. Just as it would be absurd to say "You aren't allowed to use Firefox unless you're one of the developers."

It's a basic fact of public betas. There will be people who just want to use it because they need the new features it provides for some reason or another. If they find a bug in their everyday use, hopefully they'll submit it. And if they do, then the program is made better by just that tiny little bit. This is why there are public betas in the first place: You attract more eyeballs. Just letting people go about it in their every day use and reporting problems when they run into them is how around 70% of bugs get reported in programs with public betas.


As for your question, use the latest one, as it will (logically) have the most bugfixes and thus, will be the most stable. There aren't any more features being added (aside from various things being finished up that were only half-implemented before the feature freeze) so you don't have to worry nearly as much about new bugs popping up that get in your way.

[pkmnfrk]

Or you could all actually answer his question ;/

The betas are there for us to use them, and we should be encouraged to submit bug reports of what we find goes wrong. But to say that "If you don't use the betas only for testing, you're a horrible person" is downright absurd. Just as it would be absurd to say "You aren't allowed to use Firefox unless you're one of the developers."

I didn't say that. Obviously, you do need to perform the act of creating quests in order to test it. However, they're not designed for the "Pick a build and stick with it until the quest is done" usage pattern. If you're just using a particular build, and not constantly upgrading to the latest one, you're not fulfilling the implicit explicit contract (see "WARNING-READ.txt" in your beta build) of the betas.

[Nicholas Steel]

It's a basic fact of public betas. There will be people who just want to use it because they need the new features it provides for some reason or another. If they find a bug in their everyday use, hopefully they'll submit it. And if they do, then the program is made better by just that tiny little bit. This is why there are public betas in the first place: You attract more eyeballs. Just letting people go about it in their every day use and reporting problems when they run into them is how around 70% of bugs get reported in programs with public betas.
The whole point is to prevent people reporting bugs that are already fixed, 98% of people would be too lazy to track down if a a bug is already fixed or not and will take the lazy way and ask on the forums about it or submit it as a new bug.

[LJ Bad]

I think the guy who asked the question just wanted to make sure he didn't corrupt his sister's computer. But everyone's right that you should use the latest beta. There's really no chance it will corrupt your computer. At least, none of the betas have ever corrupted mine. They're all pretty stable. I always look for bugs but can rarely ever seem to find any, which is a promising sign.

[Daputti]

I think the guy who asked the question just wanted to make sure he didn't corrupt his sister's computer. But everyone's right that you should use the latest beta. There's really no chance it will corrupt your computer. At least, none of the betas have ever corrupted mine. They're all pretty stable. I always look for bugs but can rarely ever seem to find any, which is a promising sign.
With ZC's stability people usually mean it's amount of bugs and possibilities for crashes and quest corruption, no version of ZC will make your computer explode.