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World of Warcraft Beta To Begin

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the in-every-toaster dept.

MrWonton writes "The word is finally out from Blizzard: the World of Warcraft beta test sign-up begins 6:00 PM PST Wednesday, January 28th. No need to rush though, it'll be open through February 4th, and it's not on a first-come first-serve basis. Good luck!" Update: 01/27 16:34 GMT by S : To clarify, Blizzard say "you will be able to submit an application and receive equal consideration anytime during the signup period", but only selected individuals will get into this initial Beta.

81 comments

  1. How many signups? by Neppy · · Score: 1

    This has to be the most anticipated beta in atleast the last year by far. Im expecting atleast 300,000 beta applications are going to be submited considering just about every MMORPG player worth their salt will probably submit one. This makes the chances of getting in pretty abysmal unfortunately.

  2. Open beta? by Snowspinner · · Score: 4, Informative

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't an open beta when they just put the client up and anyone can join?

    --
    Philip Sandifer's academic website
    1. Re:Open beta? by metallicagoaltender · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes, that's basically the meaning of an open beta. In this case, "open beta" was just flat out the wrong term - there's an application and selection process, it has limited geographic scope (US, Canada, and Korea)...either the submitter didn't RTFA (ironic, eh?), or didn't realize they were misusing the term "open beta."

      That aside, I'm curious to hear how the game plays once it's a bit more polished. I've never really gotten into MMORPGs because of the time issue, but WOW looks too good to not at least try for a month or two.

    2. Re:Open beta? by simoniker · · Score: 3, Informative

      I think I'd define it like that as well - article amended. In fact, everyone has an equal opportunity of winning the Beta lottery, in this case :P

    3. Re:Open beta? by aSiTiC · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's more like an Open-Application Beta. They did the same thing for Warcraft 3. Basically, during the time period they take in say 300,000 applications. They then choose say 30,000 for the first period of beta. Later on they will let more of the original 300,000 into the beta, after a couple months. They don't take more applications though...

      During the Warcraft 3 beta I got in during the first period, one of my roommates got in a month later and then another of my roommates got in another month later.

      --

      Where the Music Matters

    4. Re:Open beta? by DrDoombender · · Score: 3, Informative
      Slashdot had a article on WOW's alpha, and basically it said that the WOW alpha was more of a highly polished beta. I really think WOW is going to be great. Plus, unlike many MMORPGs, they plan on allowing players to define the world instead of being restrictive (EG: Star Wars Galaxies where they have a very restrictive rules set).

      One of the things I'm hoping for is the ability to be a deathknight or blood mage in WOW. I'm so excited about this game!

    5. Re:Open beta? by Bethor · · Score: 3, Funny

      WOW looks too good to not at least try for a month or two.

      famous last words.

    6. Re:Open beta? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They will be having an "open open" beta sometime in the future, and they will be doing things MUCH differently than the two WC3 betas. Once the applicants have been chosen as soon as they feel the servers can handle more players they will then pick more to test. This sounds like they are going to have a pretty large number of people playing the beta (which is a good thing) if they can do this in rapid sucession without server trouble. So compaired to their previous betas, despite the large number of applications they'll receive, there will be a good chance most people will get in sooner or later. If not that's what the REAL open beta is for.

    7. Re:Open beta? by jafuser · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They made roughly the same mistake in Star Wars Galaxies. They called it an "open beta" when they meant that they were dropping the NDA and that people would be "open" to talk about the game with non-beta people.

      In the process, they got a lot of people's hopes up who thought they were going to just suddenly let everyone who could download the client in.

      --
      Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
    8. Re:Open beta? by Cosmik · · Score: 1

      Actually, he's said those famous last words a bit differently. Most 'fanbois' will exclaim that a game will look too good to not play, and it will omfgpwn all other MMORPGs. At least the parent only marks himself down for a month or two - the usual 'honeymoon' period.

  3. looking at the races... by fireduck · · Score: 2, Interesting

    is the list of playable races complete? and if so, anyone know why Night Elves are included but the regular Elves (Blood Elves?) aren't. Also, why are Undead included with the Horde? I've kinda stopped playing WC3 so I'm a couple patches behind (including the bonus campaign), so I don't know if Blizzard has made recent adjustments to the official canon or not...

    1. Re:looking at the races... by fain0v · · Score: 5, Informative

      Blood elves are a nonplayable race since they are scattered, corrupt, and mostly on another planet. The Scourge are the evil group of undead led by the lich king (arthas became one with nerzhul to become the super powerful lich king). The playable undead race are undead that have freed themselves from the lich king.

    2. Re:looking at the races... by MMaestro · · Score: 5, Informative
      Those are very good questions considering what happened at the end of Warcraft 3, the Frozen Throne (the expansion), and the 'Bonus Campaign.' Heres a quick lesson for those who haven't played through it all (or simply want a refresher).

      There's a rogue group of Undead who broke away from Arthas (the former prince of Lordaeron who became a death knight) and set up a base in Lordaeron's ruins (which you invade and destroy in the Frozen Throne). Now keep in mind that this same group of Undead tried to kill Arthas (who emerges in the end as two of the big bad guys) so you can see how and why the Undead would be fighting, well, Undead.

      As for the Blood Elves not being in the game, thats unanswerable at this point. What IS known is that the Blood Elf leader, Prince Kael, swore alliegence to Illidan (the demon hunter you released and left at the end of WC3). You also see the Blood Elves in the last mission of the last campaign but it is not required for the player to kill them off. Hence you're left with only a few alternatives. 1. The Blood Elves (or most of them) were killed off and are now too few to play as. 2. The Blood Elves are in hiding and will be released in an expansion pack, logical but doesn't explain everything without word from Blizzard. 3. The Blood Elves managed to retreat and remain largely in the Nether World (long story).

      As for the Bonus Campaign, theres nothing in it which explain where, when, or why the Undead allied with the Horde (you don't even fight the Undead in it.) I'm assuming that the Undead you play in WoW is allied with a different splinter of the Horde.

    3. Re:looking at the races... by 33degrees · · Score: 1

      if you click on each race, you get a bit of back story; the gist of it is that a splinter group of undead (called the Forsaken) are waging war against the Scourge (and humanity), and have allied themselves with the Horde to manipulate them into fighting their common enemy. Classic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" scenario.

    4. Re:looking at the races... by weaklink · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why the Undead have joined the Horde is explained in short, on WOW's website in the racial entry for undead. (My assumption is this is a new development after the ending of WC3)

      http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/wow/townhall/unde ad .shtml

      Here is the pertinent excerpt:

      To further their dark aims, the Forsaken have entered into an alliance of convenience with the primitive, brutish races of the Horde. Holding no real loyalty for their newfound comrades, the Forsaken have duped them into fighting against their common enemy - the Lich King.

    5. Re:looking at the races... by MMaestro · · Score: 1

      That may be true, but I'm just saying that in Warcraft III and the Frozen Throne, theres never an event that resembles this. The last you hear about the rouge Undead is how they're setting up in Lordaeron's ruins. You never play as them and meet any Orcs, which is probably a condition to be called 'the Horde', nor do see a cutscene/intermission or cinematic.

    6. Re:looking at the races... by tuxedobob · · Score: 1

      4. They'll add them in at some point, but they aren't in yet.
      5. They're considered part of the human alliance (maybe).

  4. Only for Canada, Korea, and the US... by quinkin · · Score: 1
    "For this initial phase of the World of Warcraft beta test, we will only be able to accept applications from Canada, Korea, and the US. The test for Europe and other countries around the world will happen later this year. Please do not contact us for further information regarding the beta test; we will be posting a FAQ in the days ahead."

    Bah I say.

    Q.

    --
    Insert Signature Here
    1. Re:Only for Canada, Korea, and the US... by Deternal · · Score: 1

      Why doesn't this surprise me :/

      Just like in Diablo II and any other closed beta Blizzard has done.

      Hopefully they will have an EU server up at launch time this time of tho, unlike D2.

    2. Re:Only for Canada, Korea, and the US... by Rallion · · Score: 1

      Well, you need to be aware that while DII is a very server-heavy game, this just crushes it in that respect, and while that will make it easier for problems like that to come about, it also makes it 100% vital that they be prevented.

    3. Re:Only for Canada, Korea, and the US... by Deternal · · Score: 1

      well true, D2 depends alot on servers - but I'm just thinking WoW will do so even more :)

      Why in the world Blizzard decided to make D2 so serverdependent is beyond me though. SC is very serverindependent and the same could relatively easily be done for D2.

      Probably something about them selling through af french company :P

    4. Re:Only for Canada, Korea, and the US... by Rallion · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, I think it was just to give them greater control. The biggest single reason was probably to eliminate the most blatant cheating, which it was quite successful at. Plus, it allowed them to delete characters of people using the cheats that do still work.

    5. Re:Only for Canada, Korea, and the US... by tuxedobob · · Score: 1

      Why in the world Blizzard decided to make D2 so serverdependent is beyond me though.

      Characters stored on servers means that you can't hex edit your character, which was all the rage in D1.

      Ever see someone wearing 3 copies of the same piece of BODY ARMOR in the armor, helmet, and shield slots?

      Granted, there are different hacks, but they're easier to control now.

    6. Re:Only for Canada, Korea, and the US... by Deternal · · Score: 1

      Indeed - the problem isn't with the character being stored on the server (which i definitely think is a good thing). The point is that battle.net performance decides whether the game runs well - not you, or you co-players connection.

      In SC the people who where playings connection was the deciding factor.

  5. How can one increase their ods? by trevorrowe · · Score: 1

    Is there any known criteria for getting selected as a Beta tester or is it just random choice? I guess my question is better phrased: do people like me, who only play games ~4 hours a week have a chance against the countless hordes of players who play 20+ hours/week?

    1. Re:How can one increase their ods? by mikelu · · Score: 1

      Well, Blizzard has said that it is targeting casual players as well as hardcore players with World of Warcraft, so you might have a decent chance of getting in.

    2. Re:How can one increase their ods? by Vaevictis666 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I believe the criteria is the same as always.

      As part of the application you fill out, you give them info on your PC - their goal for the Beta is to get testing on a wider variety of system, from their minimum requirements up to a brand-spankin-new maxed out system.

      Along with that, they also ask stuff about gaming habits, etc.

      Your best bet is to be truthful, and hope random selection goes in your favor - if you want to be risky, fill out info you may think is less likely to be commonly entered and see if you can get fewer people in your "bracket" of CPU power and playing habits. I'd go with option A though :P

  6. WOO! by TheCyko1 · · Score: 1

    It's like the Lottery, cept you're trying a win a chance for early bliss.

    --
    This message was brought to you by the death of 30 brain cells.
    1. Re:WOO! by TheCyko1 · · Score: 1

      Need a countdown clock for the beta?

      http://home.earthlink.net/~cahbreis/wowcountdown .h tm

      it's already been set as my home page, so whenever i open up my browser i'll know how much long i have to wait until beta.

      --
      This message was brought to you by the death of 30 brain cells.
    2. Re:WOO! by YomikoReadman · · Score: 0, Redundant
      Here's a clickable of the parent's link.

      As an aside, that site needs to stick it's head between it's knees and kiss it's ass goodbye, cuz here comes the slashdotting ^^

      --
      I have no regrets, this is the only path.
      My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
    3. Re:WOO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
      Here's a clickable of the parent's link.

      /sigh, I hate when the preview button doesn't work. here's the link that works

    4. Re:WOO! by calebtucker · · Score: 1

      As an aside, that site needs to stick it's head between it's knees and kiss it's ass goodbye, cuz here comes the slashdotting ^^

      First off, it's at earthlink.net. It could probably handle any slashdotting we could throw at it.

      Second, you didn't even post the right link. It's not .h, it's .htm. We don't want to download a c/c++ header file.

      --
      My sig can beat up your sig.
    5. Re:WOO! by YomikoReadman · · Score: 1

      I'm aware of that, which is why my non karma whoring AC post below that has a corrected version. Second, it's not just .h, it's .h%20tm, which is why it's all screwed up. You can thank the grandparent poster for that, since not only can he not write HTML tags, he can't even cut and paste the proper link.

      --
      I have no regrets, this is the only path.
      My whole life has been "UNLIMITED BLADE WORKS"
    6. Re:WOO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you have no attention to detail nor do you have any review skills.

      Blame others, sure, everyones fault but your own.

      Take responsibility for gods sake!

  7. Look vaguely familiar by MissMarvel · · Score: 1

    I checked out the new screenshots of the new Beta version. Beautiful graphics!

    Is it only me or is there actually a big similiarity to the look of the recent mega-hit LOTR film trilogy?

    1. Re:Look vaguely familiar by TwistedGreen · · Score: 1

      You mean in that it takes place in a similar fantasy universe, with orcs and elves and magic? Yeah, I noticed that ten years ago when the original game was released. I don't think it's much of a coincidence that Warcraft is still like that.

    2. Re:Look vaguely familiar by wickedj · · Score: 1

      Hmmm... I suppose you could say that the films may have influenced the graphics of WoW. However, it might be more appropriate to go back to books themselves rather than the films. The original Warcraft (and many other fantasies, both books, movies and games) have close ties to Tolkien's stories. Though he wasn't the first to write fantasies with dragons, orcs, etc., he is widely regarded as the father of modern fantasies. So in a sense, yes the films probably influenced WoW, but it would be more appropriate to say Tolkien influenced WoW even more.

  8. Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Tom7 · · Score: 1, Informative

    Reminder: Blizzard sues its fans under the DMCA. I am staying away from their products.

    1. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by IntergalacticWalrus · · Score: 1

      Pfff... Blizzard shut down bnetd because it made it too easy to play their beta releases illegally and out of their control. Sure, it was kind of nasty (especially with the use of the DMCA) but a company protecting itself is hardly a reason to boycott.

    2. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Rallion · · Score: 1

      Those were pretty justified actions for them to take, I'd say. Thepeople they were acting against would have supported piracy of their games when they hit retail. Not only that, but they don't like their betas going out of their control, for a variety of reasons. Supposedly this beta is going to include an NDA, incidentally...at least that's what their website said/says.

    3. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Divide+By+Zero · · Score: 1

      Supposedly this beta is going to include an NDA, incidentally...at least that's what their website said/says.

      I'd be more surprised if it didn't include an NDA - they're pretty much SOP for MMORPGs. SWG had one and for a time the only news was "It's sweet, but I can't tell you why, cuz they'll sue my pants off" and "No, the NDA's not lifted yet. Go home." Whether they do it for legal reasons or to increase the buzz over a title, though... well, you'd have to ask them.

      --
      Dare to Hope. Prepare to be Disappointed.
    4. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Tom7 · · Score: 1

      >

      To me, a company protecting itself by harassing hobbyists engaged in legal activities is a reason for boycott. Even if I accept that bnetd was hurting their bottom line, it was just a program that allowed people to play their Blizzard games multi-player without using Battle.net. There are loads of legitimate reasons to want to do that, and the DMCA (if it were even applicable in the first place) and classic copyright law/precedent have specific exemptions for technology that also has non-infringing uses.

      How quickly we forget...

    5. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, I can't believe that post got modded down for "overrated" (with no moderation on it, anyway) for that one. The truth hurts, doesn't it?

    6. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I knew about 85 people playing wc3 on bnetd servers, you know how many actually bought the game? 6 people! I'm sorry when the numbers are like that the legit people are a very small piece of the pie

    7. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Rallion · · Score: 1

      Actually, use of unauthorized services is forbidden in the license agreement. So bnetd had no truly legal uses.

      Of course, that's just the letter of the law. Sometimes it shouldn't be applied. Blizzard realizes this. Technically, all the modding that's been done with StarCraft is illegal. But they let it go on, with only one exception. But in this case, bnetd was being used almost exclusively for illegitamate purposes.

      Battle.net works, works well, and is free. If any of those things weren't true, I might have had a problem with that case. But as it is, bnetd was essentially an inferior solution, and that makes it unlikely for any given bnetd user to be using it for a 'legitamate purpose.'

    8. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by hirschma · · Score: 1

      All I know is that my friends and I, all legal purchasers of StarCraft, really liked having our own private server. Fuck Blizzard for killing the project, bnetd was cool and legitimate.

    9. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Rallion · · Score: 1

      Why did you like your own private server? I don't understand. For SC, it was really no more than an enforced matchmaking service, it was completely inactive in actual gameplay...

    10. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by tuxedobob · · Score: 1

      Actually, I remember being pretty pissed at the time that the bnetd people thought they could do what they were doing.

      It was violating the EULA. If anyone here doesn't believe in licenses, then you support neither open source (GPL, et al) nor closed source (EULAs and such) software.

    11. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Tom7 · · Score: 1

      Okay, well, if you also believe in draconian click-through EULAs, then I guess I can't argue with that. (Of course, you say yourself that modding is "illegal" while you seem to support it.)

      If not bnetd, then what about when they bullied the FreeCraft project off the net?

      To me, Blizzard is a bad corporate citizen. A bully! I am avoiding their products.

    12. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by j0nb0y · · Score: 1
      You can believe in licenses without believing in EULAs. The GPL is not a EULA. It is a distribution license. For a contract to be legally enforceable, there has to be an exchange of value. For the GPL, the GPL grants you the right to distribute the software, and in exchange, you agree to offer the source as well.

      There is no such exchange of value in a EULA, unless you truly believe that you don't have the right to use software which you legally own.

      --
      If you had super powers, would you use them for good, or for awesome?
    13. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Rallion · · Score: 1

      I think EULA's should exist, and should be enforcable, but (at least the ones we see now) should rarely be enforced. So I'm an idealist. Blizzard's anti-piracy basically consists of key checking. bnetd made that ineffective. The only way to protect their softwarewas to shut it down. It was a justifiable decision. While modifying their software can harm them, and is so prohibited, mods don't, and so shouldn't be acted against. Blizzard doesn't act against them, except in the case of the SC->War3 conversion that they stopped because it was basically taking their parts and making a free game that looked a lot like War3.

      Anyway, in the case of any of Blizzard's lawsuits, it's Vivendi that's to blame. Blizzard doesn't go to them and say, help us sue them, Vivendi goes to them and tells them they have to sue them. I know that has no effect on any boycott, just clearing it up.

    14. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Tom7 · · Score: 1

      Fine, you don't agree that bnetd should have continued, but what does this have to do with bullying away FreeCraft, a free Warcraft clone?!

      Of course companies want to protect their bottom line, but this isn't an absolute justification for any kind of action.

    15. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by Rallion · · Score: 1

      Yeah. I got nothing. That was a bastard thing to do. But that was Vivendi-initiated, funded, and carried out, in Blizzard's name. Sure, sure, like I said, that's still reason to boycott Blizzard if that's your kind of thing. But remember, Vivendi's also reaping the profits from other games--Half-Life 2 soon to be included. If you're going to boycott Blizzard games for their legal actions, don't buy Half-Life 2. Nor the new Counterstrike (of course), nor Dark Alliance II, if that's more your kind of game.

      Not saying you were planning on putting money into any of those games anyway, I don't pretend to know these things.

    16. Re:Some of you called 'boycott' last year... by TheSunborn · · Score: 1

      There are situations where it is needed. Where I live we got a "local" net of 4000 users split into ~50 subnets. Each subnet is behind a 1:n nat, meaning that all users in each subnet got the same extern ip address(Yes that suck). If a user on one subnet make a game, nobody can join that game due to the nat. Our solution is to make a internal battle.net server to run games. That way we can all connect because we newer leave our local net.

      Besides the "private" server is better then the real one. It got some nice commands such as /replay (Good when people with wierd names does a /tell to you) and /watchall where one get notified each time a person log on/off.

      And I am happy to live en a contry where our battle.net server is legel :}

  9. Too bad by Osmosis_Garett · · Score: 1

    A company like Blizzard, with the hype machine they can generate and their long list of popular products, does not need the slashdot marketing that the many MANY other mmporg games that are already in open beta could sorely use. What about Freeworld, Biosfear, or even quirky titles like Socioltron (just to name a few)?

    Anyone whos interested in MMPORG games is already well aware of the WoW beta, and anyone who ISN'T shouldn't be competing for those rare few beta slots in WoW.

    1. Re:Too bad by AyanamiChan · · Score: 0
      Because they don't offer a Mac version.

      And the games look like crap, but that's a minor point. (well the Biosfear one looked pretty good.)

      --
      "Procrasination is the key to world peace." ~Some girl in California
  10. All Beta slots will be random by Rexz · · Score: 4, Informative
    How are beta testers selected?

    We have plans to give many beta tests away via contests (I hope to have more information on this next week). All other beta testers will be selected randomly from the applicant database.

    This sucks. My Beta test resume is better than my real one.

    1. Re:All Beta slots will be random by AdamTrace · · Score: 1

      You believe that? If there's any sort of free-form textbox that you fill out ("Write us a little note and say why you'd be a good tester"), then I won't believe it's random, no matter what they said.

      Adman

    2. Re:All Beta slots will be random by Rexz · · Score: 1

      It's unclear whether they mean random as in completly random or random as in a wide sample picked by computer (based on play time, experience, and most importantly, system specs), but I strongly doubt a human being will look at any forms considering the gigantic ratio of applications to early Beta places.

  11. Blizzard boycott? by Nimey · · Score: 1, Informative
    How many of us are sticking to their decision to boycott Blizzard because of the bnetd flap?

    /me raises his hand.

    --
    Hail Eris, full of mischief...

    E pluribus sanguinem
    1. Re:Blizzard boycott? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      bnetd was what, exactly? Oh yes, a program that lets people play blizzard games online against other people. But they already have battle.net for that! Oh, so bnetd doesn't require a cd-key...

      anyone can see that bnetd was mainly for pirates

  12. bnetd in many cases is superior to battle.net by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Battle.net works, works well, and is free. If any of those things weren't true, I might have had a problem with that case. But as it is, bnetd was essentially an inferior solution, and that makes it unlikely for any given bnetd user to be using it for a 'legitamate purpose.'"

    Maybe if you live in one of the chosen few regions that have a local battle.net server. What about India, Africa, and to a lesser extent even countries like Australia where international latency and reliably can make it impossible to play?

    Free? In a lot of country's you pay for internet access by the second but bnetd can run on a lan or a wireless network.

    Then consider user preferences like map selection for ladder play, balance issues (many times Blizzard has gone 6 months without patching even the most obvious balance issues or annoying bugs).

    Battle.net's stance on ladder abuse? The people who abused the town hall bug that gave you unlimited money never had their accounts deleted. After months of people abusing their random allies in random team games by attacking them straight, and Blizzard saying this was fine. Out of the blue Blizzard deleted all the accounts of an entire clan for ladder abuse after saying it was fine. No warning, nothing.

    Blizzard have one of the best anti cheater policy of all game companies, but that is not saying much. A dedicated consortium of individuals could run a bnetd server with none of these problems.

    The highest ranked player on the ladder for Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos can no longer get a game because of the way the ladder match making system works.

    Most importantly bnetd is competition for battle.net, without competition there is much less incentive for blizzard to do their job.

    1. Re:bnetd in many cases is superior to battle.net by Rallion · · Score: 1

      Well, for one thing, you can play WarCraft 3 on a LAN. It's a supported heature. I do it all the time. For another, latency issues that you may have in game are NOT caused by bNet, which is simply a matchmaking service. You can lose your connection to bNet completely and keep on playing. Happens to me a lot.

      Blizzard still has prently of competition, competition from other games. It's not like they lose business to bnetd, since you still need to buy their games to play--oh, unless you pirate them. Interesting thing about bnetd was always that it didn't do any key checking. Why's that?

  13. Excitment over what? by Shihar · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Why in the hell are you people excited over this game? I am totally blown away by the reception WoW is getting. As far as I can tell this game offers absolutely nothing new other then the setting, and it isn't like the setting was a great leap in creativity either. Honestly, look at the features they promise and try and find the ones they are offering that will be new. What it comes down to is that they are offering more of the same, but swear they will do it 'right'. Please.

    WoW looks and feels like every other MMORPG out there to date. You will log on, kill stuff, and be bored in a month unless you are an addict. Truly addictive behavior is the only to enjoy this game, and I am not sure I would call even that 'enjoyable'.

    WoW is not revolution or true advancement. It is just the same shit refined a little bit more. I personally have absolutely no excitment for this game or MMORPGs in general these days. MMORPG makers are just getting more and more spineless. They are taking fewer risks and the genera is stagnating. Personally, I will not waste my time even applying for WoW beta. I will wait until a game comes and takes a few risks. Everquest/AC/DAoC refined, which is all that WoW offers, has no interest for me.

    1. Re:Excitment over what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cool. one less person in the testing pool

    2. Re:Excitment over what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      looks like someone hasn't played a blizzard game before.

      They know what they're doing.

    3. Re:Excitment over what? by Shihar · · Score: 1

      'They know what they are doing' is the battle cry for every single MMORPG fan since the begining of time. It is a stupid argument that always proves false.

      More to the point, simply look at the features they are touting. Do you see a single thing new? I see some enhancement and general evolution, but there is no revolution here. They don't have the guts to do anything new. They are just going to pump out the same crap. The fan boys who blindly follow will buy it and drop it a month or two later. The addicts will provide steady profit. Unless you are an addict, I wouldn't get your hopes up, especially as any fool can look at the features they are bragging about and see right now this very day that there is nothing new. This is the same old MMORPG with the same old features. The only difference is a grpahics upgrade and some extra polish.

    4. Re:Excitment over what? by Rallion · · Score: 1

      I'm excited about it. I've never liked an MMORPG. Bored within a month? I've always been bored within hours. THis game promises not to do that to me, at least.

    5. Re:Excitment over what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not that it's a MMORPG, it's that its a BLIZZARD GAME. Like I said, someone must not have played a blizzard game before.

    6. Re:Excitment over what? by Stray7Xi · · Score: 1

      I agree completely. these games offer nothing new that I find to be of interest. I was disgusted to here a friend say she wants to play WoW because she can ride a griffon. Then a few days later she wanted to play Lineage because the elf's skirt lifts up when they cast. There's plenty of things games could do to innovate. But they're so focused on the "Our classes/zones/races/spells are cooler". What I find of interest is things that add new elements of strategy to the game and make it more immersive, have more details (not graphical).

      WoW especially, it's all hype. Read their FAQ's if you don't believe me, they're written to be vague and encompassing (marketting). You can't gleam anything about the game. Yet the community is eatting it up as if marketting never lies. Oh they say they'll make a game for the casual player (never heard any company say that before). Guess what, will NEVER happen, because it can't work by the definition of powergamer. My favorite quote is people saying Blizzard "wants to make a fun game"... seriously people are so gullible when it comes to hype.

      Innovation I'd like to see

      Weather patterns both in area based weather and the weather having effects on player actions. Lightning more powerful in a thunderstorm, fireballs during heatwaves and wind ruining to-hit on projectiles. Natural disasters: Snowstorms, earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes. Granted this might be costly for server to compute weather patterns, but it could probably fake it pretty well.

      Better economies, cities that actually produce goods (a farming town producing wheat) and other cities that need those goods. Bandits (AI) to attack the trading wagons (AI) and players can step in as either. UO had it right with mining of ore, raw materials don't just appear in a store but AI can do it also. Cities that have pools of money, isntead of making new money.

      Better faction/law system... every kill in a lawful area should have consequences, players shouldn't be able to balance out by killing citizens in two warring towns. Bounties should be placed on murderers (that's what many players are) and hunters should come after you... and they should be cheap (waiting till you're weak to attack). Players can get in on game and hunt bounties too. I hate this idea of a single axis that you go up and down on. Negatives and Positives should be seperate. If Mother Teresa shoots a child, she'd still face the consequences.

      If you couldn't tell I'd rather a virtual world (notice I never said realistic systems) rather then a virtual wrestling ring (which is about what some of these games feel like). Maybe I'll play MMORPG's when they IMPLEMENT something new and not just WORD something new. /rant off

    7. Re:Excitment over what? by Stray7Xi · · Score: 1

      Someone hasn't played games for long either apparently. There's patterns and as companies get big their games get stale as they prefer profits and business to innovative and fun games.

      Look through Blizzard lately and their nothing but branding and marketting..

      Do you really think that WoW is being developed by the same people that developed WC1,2,3/D1,D2/SC? They're marketting it through their name..
      Do you really think because some marketter at Blizzard says their goal is to make a fun game, that the game will be better because of it.

      But don't take my word for it... just look at Atari, they also can do no wrong.

    8. Re:Excitment over what? by Stray7Xi · · Score: 1

      "It's not that it's a MMORPG, it's that its a BLIZZARD GAME. Like I said, someone must not have played a blizzard game before."

      How was the Phantom Menace?

    9. Re:Excitment over what? by Shihar · · Score: 1

      I want only one thing. Perm death. If a company does TRUE perm death, you will have a one of a kind game. No ressurections, no stupid stories as to why the orc didn't tear your head off to make sure the job is done, no cheap or dirty tricks to get out of dying. If a game builds true, honest to god perm death, that game will be different. If they try and make a perm death game like Everquest, it will fail miserably, and that is exactly why I want it. Make a game perm death, and things will have to change or the game will be a total failure.

      Oh well, perhaps some day someone will get the guts to do it. Until then, Everquest clones rule the day.

    10. Re:Excitment over what? by Stray7Xi · · Score: 1

      I dunno about Permdeath but I love harsh death. Lose a level or two, lose your items. But that won't appeal to most people since it has a different playstyle.

      People don't like to play it safe, they like to take risks.. then whine about the consequences.

  14. I agree.. by LordJezo · · Score: 1

    After the huge let down that was Final Fantasy Online I am starting to think that you are completely correct. FFO was fun for a few weeks but then once you realize that its the same thing over and over and over the game becomes a bore. Until games become like the movie Existance or the anime .hack//sign, mmorpg will continue to appeal only to those who have an addiction.

  15. Ouch. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems like the servers are getting blasted, 10 minutes after the start of the signup period.

  16. Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The beta is now open and already it's been ./ed

  17. DoS'd. by i_am_syco · · Score: 1

    The servers are completely DoS'd. http://www.amazingsyco.com/wowatwow.jpg

  18. It will NOT be random by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

    I'm sure of it. They are just saying that it won't be random to keep their servers from being overloaded by the onslaught of WoW goons just waiting to play this game as though it's better then crack/sex. And...it might be better in that regard too.

    As for being random... I'm sure that cropping the first few on the list will be random enough for them. Then, they can ignore the rest of the applicants and save on bandwidth and stuff.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  19. If anyone's having trouble getting in.... by tuxedobob · · Score: 1

    try www.blizzard.com rather than www.battle.net.

  20. I hate the automated system checker by Comen · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I just signed up for the beta, and I am going to tell you I really hate that active x system checker they are using, I guess just as much as making people send a windows system text file or whatever some do.
    The reason is, I have a Pent4 2.4GHZ machine with 512ram and a geforce3 video card, I think the processor is fine and the RAM could definitly be 1gig but the video card especialy is outdated.
    I have been waiting for DOOM3 or HL2 or soemthing to make really want to upgrade, I updated the rest of my system when I got on the SWG Beta, for a Pent3 600mghz machine.
    If I got on this beta and it ran crapy I would probally just go out and buy more ram and new video card, that is what makes me go by new stuff is the games coming out, but they tend to look at the system then decide if you should be on the beta. I understand they want to make sure people dont wast spots etc... But I really tend to buy my hardware when I have to, and just planed to wait till a game came out I really needed to get new stuff for and would.
    Maybe this wont effect them picking my for beta as much as I think, but I would think they would see the video card and think "this guy will just whine and complain and tell people the game runs bad with this video card" etc...