Will the PTS remain open reliably after the 11th?

[Jaydhe]

The reason I am asking if the PTS will remain open after the 11th is that I have this idea of creating the mother-of-all dimensions. With plat able to be replicated on the PTS shard and nearly all dimension items available to be copied into the PTS from characters on the live shards, it would give dimension builders the ability to create a no-holds-barred dimension. I would think this would be good for Rift: Rift would be able to use these OMG dimensions in its publicity. I am imagining a podcast tour of the best parts of 5-10 dimensions featuring the new items, old items, fishing items, etc.

To know which dimensions among the thousands of dimensions available on characters replicated to the PTS were intended for this "No-holds-barred" promotion materials, all participants would have to do is tag their dimension "NHB". Then it would be up to Rift to pick what to use. I think it would be a win for both players and for Rift. I mean, why would Rift say no to people willing to put in the time to create free publicity materials for the company?

As someone's sig line cleverly put it "I came for the Raids but I stayed for the Dimensions." I think many returners could discover that dimensions are one of the most inspiring part of the game, and after they have had a bit of time to explore, will go looking for inspiration. All they need is a quick easy way to find an overview of the best, and a little Rift podcast of the amazing things people could do might give dimension dabblers the inspiration they need to get dimension items from the store and support Rift. And folks participating in "No Holds Barred" with active accounts would get to continue to test out the new stuff on the PTS with free replicated plat for cash shop purchases and copied over items for those not available...

Just an idea. Seems like a win-win to me....

[Seatin]

The public test shard itself has never been cleared of character progress as far as I can remeber, I've still got a character that I created for testing the waves of madness event almost 2 and a bit years ago now.

You do have to remember however it is the shard Trion use for testing new content and playing about with things on an external server so it will not be up 100% of the time, that is the entire purpose of it.

I know it will be a bit of a sink on peoples resources and that's sort of the whole point of dimensions, but I can only imagine this would be much more effective to do on live, as for example returning players aren't really going to download the PTS client and are more likely to dive into the top rated dimensions to see 'what they are all about'.

I like the idea of a dimensions podcast though, sounds interesting, would be quite inspiring to have some of the best dimensioneers talking about various techniques and combinations of objects they have used to create some stunning models and effects!