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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."
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.
and before I get -5, Flamebait or troll, just remember...it's a joke!
Can I just submit the bug "Doesn't play nicely with bnetd" without having to sign up for the beta.
Unlike with the beta for the inital release they are acually allowing the macintosh uses to test this time.
Before you go out and praise blizzard, sign up for the betas and give them your money, remember thier stance on open source and the use of DMCA to supress it.
Before warcraft 3, I purchased every piece of software they ever made. I did not buy WC3, and will not buy a blizzard title again until they 1) apologize for thier abjectly evil behavior 2) demonstrate, not say, that they have changed that behavior 3) promise to stay changed, and demonstrate that behavior. I would recommend that anyone reading this, if they like thier freedom, put thier morals where there mouth is.
Boycott blizzard, they deserve it. It would be easier if they didn't make such damn good games though. I will miss them.
-Charlie
Well, I WAS gonna sign up, but if it's posted on slashdot then 10,000 slots seems slim to none...
I truly believe that Blizzard went after bnetd solely to stop software piracy. The online CD key system used by Blizzard, Valve, Id, etc is the best way to combat piracy and the only feasible way for pirates to get around this method is to offer their own "cracked" servers which don't authenticate the CD keys.
Furthermore, I also suspect (sorry guys) that the majority of the bnetd/warforge users (who are still using today, well after war3 has been released) did NOT buy the game and are using bnetd primarily to circumvent the CD key copy protection.
It just doesn't make sense that the majority of bnetd users would be legitimate war3 CD owners. Why would you play on a small server instead of battle.net? The argument about lousy battle.net performance simply doesn't hold water these days. I play on battle.net ALL THE TIME and the performance is a lot better than warforge EVER was (yes, I was part of the warforge 'unofficial' beta test, and yes I bought the game the day it was released).
There are some cases (DeCSS) where a free alternative is desperately needed and the people protecting encrypted DVD's really are Evil. (hehe) But in this case, I truly don't think Blizzard is trying to stomp on the open source coder. Blizzard is only concerned with software piracy and their concern is very warranted, I daresay.
Where'd you read that? From the bulletin board:
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
The important question here, at least for me, is: is the beta test single- or multi-player? Personally, I hold my own against the bots, but any attempt to even try out battlenet play, and I get completely stomped. The dregs of battlenet are far too good for me (and most other people I've talked to who've tried this).
Are they using battlenet mearly as a way of letting people play the beta for a temporary period (keeping all of the maps and scenarios on the server), or are they letting people play battlenet games using the new units?
Narrative
I wouldn't get too excited people. I was a beta tester for Warcraft III. Yes, you'll get to play the game before most other people. You'll also get to see the bugs, be subjected to the glaring imbalances, and have a less fun time overall than with a polished commercial product. I'm not trying to dissuade anyone from signing up; I just want you to understand that the signups are for beta testers and not impatient people that don't want to wait until the final retail release. In short, if you don't plan on actually submitting bug reports, please don't waste a beta slot on yourself.
That said, the last beta test was something of a joke. Ideas and opinions from the community were largely ignored. About halfway through it became apparent that the only reason they even had a public beta was to save money on real QA testing. If blizzard wants to do that, they absolutely have that right. But I hope they're more honest this time around. If they actually want ideas/input/suggestions, then give us feedback and let us know you're listening. If you just want our BSOD'ing boxes and the bandwidth we throw at the server, say so. Vague thank-you's and promises of "careful considerations" of the community's ideas are no way to further your fanbase. Be open with the fans. This doesn't have to turn out as bad as the last beta and subsequent official launch.
"God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh." -Voltaire
A game with a huge following like Warcraft can suffer greatly from gameplay balance issues. When you have 30,000+ people playing at any given time, the most powerful strategies will be found and exploited like you wouldn't believe. And with many, many additions to the game in this expansion pack, Blizzard will need alot of manpower to iron out all of the problems (of course, classic WC3 is still horribly balanced, but the word is they'll be fixing that with the expansion).
The beta tests are not only for working out bugs, but also making sure the different races and units are as balanced as can be.
"Upon attaching the waterblock to my penis, I began to notice that I know nothing about computers." -- JRockway
I truly believe that Blizzard went after bnetd solely to stop software piracy. The online CD key system
The bnetd developers asked Blizzard if they could hook into the official online CD key verification system. Blizzard denied them that.
There are some cases (DeCSS) where a free alternative is desperately needed
And for those behind university firewalls that don't allow traffic on Battle.net ports across the connection from the university LAN to the Internet, how is a free alternative not desirable?
Will I retire or break 10K?
After playing Warcraft 3 extensively through the beta last time (yes I did pirate it if you must know) I went out and purchased the final game.
I was not disapointed.
I will admit the majority of players on battle.net are nothing short of immensly skilled. However the single player campaign in this game is one of the best I've ever played - excellent storyline, great presentation, no bugs (serious single player ones) and generally fun fun fun.
The game has excellent net code and although I don't completely recall the storyline of Warcraft 1 and II apparently this game somewhat ties in with the original 2 to an extent, which is quite an acheivement if you think just how long ago they were created (I'll bet my ass that Doom 3 has _very_ few similarities with the original 2 dooms)
All in all Blizzard make spectacular games and I have no doubt this one won't disapoint either.
(I wonder if they take international beta signups?)
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.
> why doesn't EuroDisney have fireworks? because every time they launch them the French try to surrender! (rim-shot)
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One good bout of French-basing deserves another two (or three, or four...)
Going to war without the French is like a hunter going into the woods without his accordian.
Why did the French plant trees along the Champs Elysees? So Germans can march in the shade.
Some more jabs at the froggies:
http://www.brokennewz.com/worldnews/surrender.asp
http://www.vodkapundit.com/archives/003373.php#00
http://www.nationalreview.com/goldberg/goldberg04
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
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.