Public test server?

[ekzarh]

Useful practice for MMO games.

Have some idea? Balancing? Combat tweak?
Unsure how it will work out?

Make an either world copy or some special server configuration with a world size, player progression speed, whatever tuned to let people focus on trying new changes. Anything from Valhalla to primary server copy .
Roll out the idea in question.

Invite people, see what happens, collect feedback, logs and analytics. Reward players fairly.

There are lots of ideas proposed and discussed by players which are good but either need balancing or may be vulnerable to abuse or require a new world.
There are many ideas which don't allow to see their full impact until shit hits the fan. Like siege changes.

On PTS it is possible to emulate a siege of any scale, mass PVP, abuse/bug-hunt etc by organizing players into any number and any kind of teams, giving some goals each and promising adequate reward for completion.
It can be also a source of cool game videos.
It can improve player retention and returning a bit.