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Warcraft 3 Expansion Beta Signups Announced
Clomer writes "Blizzard Entertainment has announced the signups for the beta testing of the upcoming expansion set to Warcraft 3 called The Frozen Throne. The beta will be online-only over battle.net, requires the full version of Warcraft 3, and is only open to US residents. Signups will be at battle.net starting on Friday, 14 February and will last a week."
The link states "Approximately 10,000 beta testers will be chosen randomly".
With Age of Mythology they had a 10,000 player beta test, with 100,000 people signing up. Id guess quite a few more people will be signing up for Warcraft.
I was in the Warcraft 3 beta. Unfortunately they have to keep the number of people in beta down so they can keep the test server loads down.
Of course, waiting til the end to test server load can be a Bad Thing(tm). Anarchy Online's last minute load test, and WW2 Online's post-release load "test" proved that 1) stuff WILL break when more users sign on at once and 2) if your stuff doesn't work at launch, there goes three quarters of your subscriber base.
Overrated Moderation: This posts sucks... because.
Unlike with the beta for the inital release they are acually allowing the macintosh uses to test this time.
Yeah, what are those jerks doing trying to protect their own software before it is even officially released to the public??
Just remember that until War3 beta, Blizzard didn't touch BNetd. It was only because it was being used so so very widely for the beta that they fought it. I agree they shouldn't have brought out the DMCA thing, but I'm guessing it was Vivendi's lawyers that did that (but hey, maybe Microsoft will buy em out, then they'll be all good again, right?)
Where'd you read that? From the bulletin board:
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
Of course, in this case waiting to the end to test server load, or even not bothering to test server load at all with this beta will have no effect at all because this is an expansion that requires an original copy of Warcraft III to play. They already know what the maximum server load will be.
The beta tests that Blizzard run are mainly for balancing issues anyway - with the exception of the Diablo II stress test (the only test I have been officially involved in, because it was worldwide). But the stress test didn't help much anyway because playing on battle.net at launch was about as much fun as trying to load up a beta test application form...
I.E. they got the wrong people, but they're forging ahead anyway. It's like going after a gun manufacturer because somebody bought one of their shotguns and sawed the barrel to an illegal length. Now does it seem like a pretty scummy move?
Even if they went after the 'right' people, in my opinion they'd be attacking the same principles that made the computer game business possible. If everybody in computers were as ham-handed as they were most of them never would have gotten a start in the field.
I beta tested Warcraft 2 (Mac), Starcraft (Mac), Starcraft: Brood War (PC), Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (PC), and Warcraft III (PC). One of the coolest things about beta testing is the opportunity to meet and make friends with some really talented and (for the most part) mature gamers.* But I usually find that once the game opens to the general public, the maturity/civility level always drops precipitously.
*My gaming group, Clan Burning Blade was formed during the War 2 beta and is still going strong.
does it say US only?
I read the damn page three times and didnt see it list US only anywhere. Frankly, that would just suck, because I am in Canada and want to apply. And previous beta applications have included Canada. I was lucky enough to do Diablo II and Diablo II Expansion betas. Lots of fun! Hopefully my eyesight isnt completely failing and I'll get to apply for this one.
I'm the original submitter (wow, I actually got on the Slashdot front page!) and I got a detail wrong: it is NOT limited to just US Residents, it is a worldwide beta test. Moderators, please make the appropriate change on the front page. Thanks.
Intelligent responses welcome, flames will be met with marshmallows.
The bad guy Necromancer s trapped in a block of ice, but is still causing problems for the humans. Hence the name. Features include: 1 new hero, 2 new units per race, A buildable shop. Neutral type Heroes that you can recruit. A whole lot of multiplayer maps. No new races. WarCrat III is Ok, but Infoceptors version of Warcraft III (on the StarCraft engine) was just more fun to me.
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.