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[Toboter]

A lot of people have been worried about potential game breaking bugs in the initial Steam release - which could have a devestating effect on the new players on Steam. I know Zacks's bug testing has been quite thorough for this release, but given the breadth of play styles and interactions in DF it seems quite possible he could have missed something.
After all, the initial releases of all previous updates contained a few major crashes and game breaking bugs. Now, all of these have usually been fixed quite soon after launch - a testament to Tarn's skill - but with this release, the initial impression will be way more important than usual.

As such, I propose doing a semi-closed beta for a few weeks before Release, by giving out Steam keys to one hundred Patreons chosen at random in a raffle. That would have multiple positive effects. It would reward the Patreons. It might inspire people to sign up to the Patreon, to take part in the raffle.
And it means the people chosen likely have diverse enough knowledge of the game, and different enough styles of play, to thoroughly test every facet of Dwarf Fortress.
Finally, it would give Tarn enough time to fix these bugs, should they crop up during the playtest.

Additionally, it might be a good idea to invite important community members to the beta. To update the wiki, create video guides, update the mods, port over DFHack and potentially start work on tilesets - to give the Steam players access to everything this community has to offer.

It just seems like an elegant way to make sure that by the time the public is given access to the game, it will be in prime condition, ready to be enjoyed without too many hurdles. And it's a nice little way to involve a few of the games Patreon supporters in the development process - as a little reward for their support.

[ayy1337]

Having beta testers is surely a good idea, and patreon supporters seems like a decent way of picking them as any.

That said I don't actually like the idea of giving modders and wiki writers early access. You don't need those things to be ready on release - at least not for any other game? - and in a way it's better if they're not, so everyone playing for the first time has a chance to explore the game for themselves.

[Toboter]

Well, but all these things already exist, they'll just be out of date - especially the wiki and guides, which will just lead to confusion for new players. DF isn't a new game by a long shot, so this sort of due diligence seems like a reasonable idea, especially to take workload off the question threads in Discord, Reddit, Steam etc.

And the modders/wiki authors are among the most knowledgeable members of the community, so they are probably the best choice for a thorough bug test.

[Salmeuk]

Up to Tarn & crew, obviously. historical releases have always released then gone through multiple series of bugfix updates. this release is different for a number of reasons, which is why it appears this bugfixing will occur before release in a more traditional software release format. there are now extra (trusted!) hands to assist Tarn in this process, whereas before it was pretty much up to the forums.

I still cast doubt on anyone begging for a beta release, much like the guy demanding early access for wiki writers. it would be immediately leaked

[Toboter]

I don't think the "leaking" is a problem... I mean, the game isn't a secret. If anything, more people playtesting is only an improvement. And most people would rather wait for the "full release", in my experience.