Hero Labs is Completely Dead in EU Server

[Danelo130]

Same thing on NA. I wanted to play Trapper with new Shield mechanic and items (or see if raven is viable in any way) but I haven't been able to. Would been nice to be on the experimental, Or another 3 heroes on labs...

 

[vivinosmol]

I just want to know what are the criterias. What would make me eligble to participate in the Experimental Build. Do I need to sign an NDA or do I have to be clean throughout every platform, contribute more, be in NA, be super good at bug finding or all of them etc. Like what is the criteria. I just want to know that.

Same with that, having requirements and criterias for the experimental branch would encourage to more people be more active in the development and actually giving feedback to the game, instead of being a really small amount of people. It would actually be amazing.

 

[Frostywild]

While we are commiserating with each other in this thread I might as well express something here, I got really into being in a playtest, although I was under two misconceptions that I greatly regret, first: that playing the game was enough to help, second: that I was not good enough at the game to give feedback, so after I found out about the secret playtest it made me realize how much I care about deadlock and want to playtest and give feedback, although I have also realized I don't have a lot to say about the game, I mostly like everything they have done so far, I kind of just want more stuff which is obviously coming. Now though I just feel like all the passion I have has no outlet, I don't really want to make youtube videos, but I also don't want the passion to die. Anyway I wish you guys all the best, hopefully you find a rewarding outlet for your passion's whatever they are.

 

[kbmg95]

I'm mostly feeling the same about this situation, but I also understand the developers. The initial testing phase wasn’t supposed to get this big. However, some community members couldn’t keep it to themselves, and people began abusing the first invite system. So Valve decided to loosen the terms and expand invitations to let more people test the game.
I think they realized their mistake. People weren’t giving feedback on a pre-alpha game. Instead, they were complaining about the game’s state and playing solely for competition. My point is, most people weren’t there to help test and support the developers; they were there because the game was fun. At the time, there was also a competitive mode, and players just wanted to grind and get better before release.
That’s likely why Valve created the Experimental Branch. From what I understand, it's a more strictly managed version where you’re expected to give consistent feedback and actively participate in testing. Meanwhile, the main branch still consists mostly of players focused on ranking up or just playing for fun. There’s only a small group of us left who actually give feedback on bugs and gameplay issues.
I get frustrated sometimes too. Aside from a few lingering bugs, it feels like there’s nothing left for us to do except wait for the next patch, big or small, so we can look for new issues to report or give feedback on. I just wish there were another way to access the Experimental Branch besides referrals, being a top-tier bug hunter, or being hyper-active across every community platform.

Isnt complaining about the games state exactly what they want from the community? Its feedback on balance changes. And by people being competitive and getting upset is a good thing. it means people are actually trying to be invested in this game.

Thats exactly the definition of a playtest, There has been a lot of updates for this game but it does seem valve ignores the majority of the feedback and only listens to their select group. which has people frustrated.

And by only giving access to a their selected group for the other "secret" playtest really proves this point. They dont even want this game to be public. they only want their small group.

Its hard to even really get invested in this game at this point. Theres different types of people who are good at giving feedback on map changes and movement, then theres people who are good at pinpointing balancing issues with heros and items. But they dont listen to outside the group they selected.