Hey guys, its Greg Rinaldi again from Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online. We just recently closed our second Beta period for Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online. This group of testers was much larger than our initial Beta group and the response throughout the beta remained very positive. We focused heavily on Character Progression as well as our new Swing Tuner and Course Mastery features during Beta 2. Also, as in the initial Beta, we closely monitored the activity and trends of our testers and came away with some very interesting results which will help to inform many of our decisions going forward.
Some stats from Beta 2:
• Nearly 7,000 beta testers participated in Beta 2.
• Our most active day was July 8th when our testers logged a total of over 200,000 minutes of gameplay (or over 19 weeks worth of golf).
• Over a quarter of our testers played more than 100 holes during the Beta. 168 of these players each played over 1000 holes!
• We held a Community Challenge event during the Beta which challenged the community to complete 10,000 rounds of golf. This goal was reached after just six days of play. The reward for completing the Community Challenge was the introduction of Sheshan Golf Club which provided the Beta community with a total of three championship golf courses to choose from.
• Nearly 40,000 rounds of golf were completed during the four week Beta period.
• We introduced the TrueSwing feature during Beta 2. Once TrueSwing was made available, we noticed that one third of our testers preferred to use TrueSwing while the remaining two thirds preferred 3-Click.
• Throughout the Beta, our testers scored a grand total of 186,342 Bogeys, 312,726 Pars, 186,342 Birdies, 8,452 Eagles and 1,116 Aces.
Our beta community has been very vocal and extraordinarily passionate about helping to make Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online the highest quality online golf experience. We saw the forums explode with discussions and suggestions from our testers during the second Beta period. Over 900 new topics were posted along with over 5,000 individual posts. Our in-game and web-based feedback forms also have generated a ton of responses from the community; with nearly 2000 issues and suggestions reported. Clearly, the enthusiasm and activity level of our testers was top notch, so we would like to extend our gratitude once again to all who participated and provided feedback during this Beta period.
Sign-Up NOW for Beta 3:
As we get closer to our third Beta, anticipation is building about what to expect. This blog is intended to give everyone a quick preview of the updates and new features that will be included in the next release. If you haven’t already signed up for the Beta, visit our website by clicking on the image below, or visit http://tigerwoodsonline.ea.com.
Signing up only takes a few moments, but Beta keys are limited and they are going FAST…so sign up now! Once all of the seats are filled, you will not be able to beta test Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online until the release of our Open Beta later this year. So if you want an early look at what promises to be the best online golfing experience on the web, now is the time to sign-up!
What to Expect in Beta 3:
In Beta 3, we’ll be introducing a host of new features and new content. Below is a listing of some of what you can expect to see in Beta3:
Tournaments – You can play thousands of rounds of golf, but until you’ve actually competed in a tournament amongst your peers, you can’t really call yourself a golfer. In the next Beta, you’ll finally be able to man-up and show everyone what you’ve got. Pro Golfers make their living by entering and placing in Tournaments and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online will feature a wide variety of Tournaments for you to enter and earn some cash. You’ll be able to take on your friends and the entire Beta community in both daily and weekly tournaments. To keep things fair, tournament entry will be based upon your personal Skill Rating. Skill Ratings are calculated using the same system used for tie-breaking in tournaments. So, the better you play during each round, the higher your Skill Rating climbs. Tournaments with higher Skill Rating requirements will provide fiercer competition and higher rewards. Speaking of rewards, expect a surprise during one of our Beta Tournaments...
New Course: St Andrews – Ironically, the newest Course in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is actually one of the oldest golf courses in the world. Named appropriately, the Old Course at St. Andrews has been played by golfers from around the world for over 600 years. The Home of Golf will be the fourth course available in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online.
Course Objectives – In Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online, nothing proves your expertise on the links like mastering a course. In the previous Beta, you achieved Course Mastery through earning money by playing well on a specific course. We re-evaluated this concept after reviewing the feature and the feedback we’d received from the beta community. The result is that we’ve decided to fundamentally change Course Mastery to make it more challenging as well as more rewarding for our players. In order conquer a course now, you’ll need to complete a series of objectives with varying levels of difficulty. Objectives provide players with a wide variety of challenges that make each round on a course a rewarding experience. Completing objectives both earns you money and progresses you towards Course Mastery. The more difficult the objective, the more money you’ll earn for completing that objective. Complete ALL objectives for a specific course and you’ll have successfully mastered that course. In future releases, Course Masters will earn privileges and be granted special access to tournaments and challenges.
Groups – Everyone wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves…so now you can create or join a group with your real-life friends and online buddies. Group competition will also debut in Beta 3 with Group leaderboards where you can see how your little cabal stacks up against the others. In the future, we plan to roll out more in-depth features for Groups including special tournaments and game modes that support groups and team play.
Appearance – You’re so vain…you probably think this blog is about you. Don’t you? Well this feature definitely is about you; more specifically, it’s about your avatar. For the first time in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online, you will be able to select from a variety of looks for your golfer. You can also choose from a basic set of clothing options and accessories. Of course, this is just a small taste of the customization options that will be available when the Pro Shop opens in a future release.
As in the previous Beta, we plan to release new content and at least one major feature during the Beta period. We received a lot of positive feedback about the Community Challenge as well as the release of the TrueSwing feature, and will continue to surprise the Beta community with new features and new content. As many of you read this blog, I’m sure you’re wondering why I haven’t mentioned the multiplayer feature. This feature is something that many of our players have been asking for and we’ve definitely been listening. It’s our number one priority right now and requires more time and attention than most other features. While multiplayer will not be available at the start of Beta 3, it will be released before the end of the Beta period. I will post a blog with more details on our multiplayer features soon, so stay tuned.
So there you have it, a quick overview of what to expect from the third Beta. As before, all the features from the previous Betas will be available including 3-Click, TrueSwing, Character Progression, Swing Trainer, Friends Lists, Leaderboards, etc. If you’ve been here from the beginning, you can see how much the game has grown and evolved over the past few months. If you haven’t experienced Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online, now is the time to sign-up for the Beta!
Hope to see you there!
-Greg Rinaldi
Live Producer