Open beta???

Unknown · July 2004

What's an open beta?

Vakkten · July 2004

Open beta is a beta phase that is open to the public and anyone can test out the game for like a month or so before it goes to retail. Course you gotta download the 2-3 gig beta. They usually have open beta right before they launch the game.

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"Those who brake the ninja code and rules of this world are called trash. But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are even lower than trash." - Hatake Kakashi

Unknown · July 2004

Ok, so you only test the game. And another thing is, do you have to pay the monthly fee for the beta,? Thx alot vakkten!! ::::01::

Vakkten · July 2004

No there is no fee for betas. And most likely your chars will get deleted before retail also so the only reason for Open beta is to test it out before you buy basicly.

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"Those who brake the ninja code and rules of this world are called trash. But you know what? Those who don't take care of their comrades are even lower than trash." - Hatake Kakashi

Unknown · July 2004

I know I ask alot of questions, but this is the last one. Do you get to keep your beta char for the retail ver.?

Trebek · July 2004

nope, everything is erased, and you have to buy a new account.

---------------------------------
Long Term MMO's Played:
Ultima Online - 3 Years
Dark Age of Camelot - 3 Years

Less Than 1 Month:
Shadowbane, Planetside
Everquest, Ragnarok Online
City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies
Horizons, Fung Wan Online
The Sims Online

JennysMind · July 2004

Originally posted by swconradie

I know I ask alot of questions, but this is the last one. Do you get to keep your beta char for the retail ver.?

It is all according to the manufacturer whether there will be an open beta or not. It's not guaranteed and that goes for being able to keep your character when game goes live. Lineage II is a perfect example where players were able to keep their open beta created characters. But again, IMO, LinII open beta was more about getting people hooked on the game more than an actual beta.

Blizzard definitely won't need an open beta for WoW to attract players, but they probably need one to see how many servers and personnel they will need for the amount of players that will play the game. It wouldn't surprise me if there were over a million players at release. Blizzard has a very good reputation for delivering quality games.

Trebek · July 2004

Originally posted by Alekhin

Blizzard has a very good reputation for delivering quality games.

Which is why I hope they dont bomb like so many other companies have. *cough*Mythic and EA*cough*

---------------------------------
Long Term MMO's Played:
Ultima Online - 3 Years
Dark Age of Camelot - 3 Years

Less Than 1 Month:
Shadowbane, Planetside
Everquest, Ragnarok Online
City of Heroes, Star Wars Galaxies
Horizons, Fung Wan Online
The Sims Online

Zafar · July 2004

The main reason mentioned for Blizzard planning an open beta for its game does not lie in attracting of allowing users to preview the game. I have heard that the main reason for this is to Stress Test thier beta servers to give them some kind of an idea as to how many and how large they should make them for best gameplay.

Zafar Blightwing

pyro0025 · July 2004

wait a tic..........is Blizzard going to be having an open Beta? im usualy behind on hearing news on game and learn from this forum so im a wee bit cureous, if anyone has any idea about open beta happening and when please fill me in

DM-"If you roll a natural 20 its almsot gauranteed for something to die"
Boreas- (calls lightning from storm) *rolls a 20*
DM- ".......you nuke the damn area wityh lightning, are you happy now!?"

agentcipher · July 2004

Yes, Open beta will happen. No, we don't know when. No, we don't know how long, or anything else really about it. Other than the fact that the beta will happen,k we're all just taking shots in the dark, hoping we hit our targets with enough accuracy to make it sound like we have the slightest idea about what we're talking about.

However, I'd guess that open beta is about 3 months off... Blizz said a while ago they're expecting a holiday release, and hunters have yet to be implemented. Hunters will need to go into a closed test for a while in order to balance them to the rest of the game. Don't expect open beta too soon, but it'll come... eventually.

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Yamota · July 2004

Originally posted by Alekhin

Originally posted by swconradie

I know I ask alot of questions, but this is the last one. Do you get to keep your beta char for the retail ver.?

It is all according to the manufacturer whether there will be an open beta or not. It's not guaranteed and that goes for being able to keep your character when game goes live. Lineage II is a perfect example where players were able to keep their open beta created characters. But again, IMO, LinII open beta was more about getting people hooked on the game more than an actual beta.

Blizzard definitely won't need an open beta for WoW to attract players, but they probably need one to see how many servers and personnel they will need for the amount of players that will play the game. It wouldn't surprise me if there were over a million players at release. Blizzard has a very good reputation for delivering quality games.

Are you insane? There will not be one million players buying WoW. No mmorpg have even been close to that many players at release. Not even SWG or EQ.

The cartoonish gfx alone will scare off alot of people. Dont get me wrong I think the game will be great but with so many mmorpgs already out and with more coming no one mmorpg can or will attract that many players. As a matter of fact I dont think I ever seen a mmorpg compete with other games in top 10 most sold games.

jd269 · July 2004

Over a million players at realease HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... wow, I needed a good laugh today.

paradise2 · July 2004

I have to agree with you. Warcraft3 frozen throne has only sold a little over a million copies and a good chunk of those purchasers only play the game in single player mode. Diablo 2 however has sold over 5 million copies world wide and a larger portion of those gamers play online so I can forsee WoW selling about 300k within the first 2 weeks of release worldwide.

I believe that WoW will be the first mmorpg to reach a million suscribers mainly due to the Koreans and germans who are such stanuch Blizzard fans.

agentcipher · July 2004

Actually, very few games EVER have sold over 1 million copies. Period. Most games are considered to do EXTREMELY well if they sell 250,000 copies, and that's just for regular games, not MMO's. However, a huge chunk of the games on that 1 million list belong to: *drumroll* you guessed it, Blizzard. Blizzard games are notorious among the gaming industry for selling as well as they do, and staying on top as long as they have. Blizzard's outlook on the gaming industry is that instead of pumping out a lot of decent or mediocre games, they take their time and craft games until they think they're perfect, that nothing else can be done at the time to make it better. Whichever way makes more money, I can't vouch for... but I can vouch for which way makes better games.

At release, I highly doubt Blizz will sell 1 million copies... But over time... I believe 1 million copies of the boxed game might be sold. How many subscribers and accounts are going at a time, I can't say, nor even guess. But with a huge fanbase on three seperate continents, I'm sure they'll pass that one million mark with this game as well.

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InEccess · July 2004

HOWEVER... the people who were responcible for actually making Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 are no longer with Blizzard. They're making Guild Wars, which is being released around the same time as WoW. I know alot of my family and friends don't know what to make of WoW and GW, but when it comes down to it, I think we're all going to suport the programmers who made those fine games, and not the publishing company. Really the choice is, do you suport the people who MADE those multi-million selling games, or the people who RELEASED those multi-million selling games?

Lugnard · July 2004

Each one of Blizzard's games sell like hotcakes:

Warcraft (sold 2+ million copies to date)

Warcraft 2 (sold 3+ million copies to date)

Warcraft 3 (sold 4+ million copies to date)

Diablo (sold 4+ million copies to date)

Diablo 2 (sold 6+ million copies to date including 1+ million pre-ordered before release)

Starcraft (sold 6+ million copies to date, most being sold in Korea)

And Battle.net still has 6+ million online active accounts for these games...

Based on this info, I'm willing to bet WoW is gonna sell easily 2 million in maybe 6 months making it the most successful MMORPG of all time.

Lugnard · July 2004

Originally posted by InEccess

HOWEVER... the people who were responcible for actually making Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 are no longer with Blizzard. They're making Guild Wars, which is being released around the same time as WoW. I know alot of my family and friends don't know what to make of WoW and GW, but when it comes down to it, I think we're all going to suport the programmers who made those fine games, and not the publishing company. Really the choice is, do you suport the people who MADE those multi-million selling games, or the people who RELEASED those multi-million selling games?

That's not true at all... only 4 Blizzard devs left and are working on GW. And some Blizzard North guys left (the people who made Diablo 2) but are working on a completely different project.

agentcipher · July 2004

Originally posted by InEccess
HOWEVER... the people who were responcible for actually making Diablo 2 and Warcraft 3 are no longer with Blizzard. They're making Guild Wars, which is being released around the same time as WoW. I know alot of my family and friends don't know what to make of WoW and GW, but when it comes down to it, I think we're all going to suport the programmers who made those fine games, and not the publishing company. Really the choice is, do you suport the people who MADE those multi-million selling games, or the people who RELEASED those multi-million selling games?

While some of the things you said happen to be true, I took part in the E3 for everyone event that was recently held. During my playtime, I found that I actually did not enjoy Guild Wars much at all. It could be that I played as a Mesmer/elementalist... and the mesmer absolutely sucked, but the elementalist pulled some serious damage. For some reason it just seemed that I didn't much like the gameplay... The cities felt empty, or too large and spaced out and bland enough that everything looked the same, so you'd get lost immediately. Plus the area that they showed in the demo i felt to be bland as well... I can only take so much of a post-apocolyptic desert before it just becomes excessively boring.

All I know is that I didn't like the feel of Guild wars in any aspect at all. Maybe I won't like WoW, but I don't know yet. I'm going to wait until I actually get a chance to play that game before I judge it.

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Weapon-X · July 2004

AgentCipher,

Where did you hear that there was going to be an Open Beta? I ask because it pretty much goes against everything I've heard so far. Blizzard has, to my knowledge, NEVER done an Open Beta, except for the 1.10 Diablo patch. But hey, maybe I'm wrong- just wondering where you got your info.

I myself can't really see them doing an open beta. They'd have nothing to gain, and a lot to lose. IMHO, of course.

________________________________
Before giving your self a cutesy name with iNtErCaPs or numb3rs instead of l3tt3rs, ask yourself this: Do you REALLY want to look like a spastic twelve-year-old?

Lugnard · July 2004

Originally posted by Weapon-X

AgentCipher,
Where did you hear that there was going to be an Open Beta? I ask because it pretty much goes against everything I've heard so far. Blizzard has, to my knowledge, NEVER done an Open Beta, except for the 1.10 Diablo patch. But hey, maybe I'm wrong- just wondering where you got your info.
I myself can't really see them doing an open beta. They'd have nothing to gain, and a lot to lose. IMHO, of course.

________________________________
Before giving your self a cutesy name with iNtErCaPs or numb3rs instead of l3tt3rs, ask yourself this: Do you REALLY want to look like a spastic twelve-year-old?

Blizzard already said there'll be an Open-Beta (since this is a MMORPG) and will occur right before the game goes to retail in order for WoW to be truely stress tested.

Weapon-X · July 2004

Wow. I guess I should go to their normal boards occasionally.

That's cool- I'm completely and totally surprised, but it's very cool. It'll give the folks that didn't have the benefit of being in the Beta program a chance to get caught up with the rest of us. That's just an amazingly cool move on their part.

paradise2 · July 2004

So do you have to sign up for the open beta again? Even if you already signed up for the closed beta?
Do closed beta get a bonus chance or are they equal to the first time open beta sign ups? I would like to know since i missed the US beta abnd signed up for the Euro beta on acciedent. ::::03::

agentcipher · July 2004

All the beta information you could ever possibly want could be found on their FAQ at their main website. The Beta FAQ can be found right here

Check out the first question and the third question. All this FAQ says is there will be an open beta, but our guess is as good as theirs when it is.

Hmm, apparently the FAQ has been updated to reflect the europe beta questions now... No matter, it's been stated over and over that open beta will occur.

But do yourself a favor, stay away from the main, non-beta blizzard forums. Those people are crazy. No, literally... They're crazy. I stay away from those forums for that main reason alone... if you were to even say something along the lines of 'you can't say which game will be better because you haven't played them', they'll try to crucify you. The abilities to reason, spell, and use correct grammatical syntax are completely lost over there in their war to make themselves look smart and others look stupid. Which is actually quite amusing to anyone with a high-school degree, because most of them just make themselves look stupider while acting like a genius.

In any case, enjoy the faq.

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Weapon-X · July 2004

Trust me, I stay as far away from the "normal" WoW boards as humanly possible.

I gave up going there the week they hired Kat as a board mod- not that she herself is a problem, but every fat, creepy virgin on the board (which was about 105% of everyone posting there) immediately began every thread with some variation of "Kat! Look at me! I've never known the touch of a woman, so I must therefore address every post I make directly to you!"

Lord, it became so embarrassing to even BE in that forum that I haven't been back in months.

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