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World of Warcraft Open Beta... here we come :)

M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
End of Closed Beta Test - Nebu on 10/28/04
The closed beta test is coming to an end. This Friday, October 29, at 3:00 PM PDT, the closed beta servers will go offline as we prepare to run another stress test. All active closed-beta accounts will remain active, and closed-beta testers will be receiving an email with instructions on what to do to continue playing in the stress test.

We will post more information about the stress test in the days ahead, so please stay tuned to WorldofWarcraft.com.

We also want to take this opportunity to thank the closed beta testers for their months of dedicated testing and hard work. Thanks to all of your suggestions and bug reports, World of Warcraft is closer than ever to being ready for launch!

In unrelated news, we will be bringing the beta servers down today at 6:30 PM PDT for maintenance. We estimate that the maintenance will last for one hour, and when the maintenance is complete, we’ll bring the servers back online. Please keep in mind that this is an estimate; should anything unexpected arise, we’ll post further notice in the Server Status forum. Thanks for your patience.
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http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

Gotta throw out a few "told ya so"s to various doubters who refused to believe that retail is coming next month ;D ;D ;D
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
:lol

How about this thread is for Horde players and yours is for Alliance players? :eek:
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
I can't even get their boards to load up. O_O

I wonder what this business about another "Stress test" is. Wouldn't open beta be plenty stressful? Hmmm...
 
S

Son of Godzilla

Banned
For the sake of balance:

Greetings!



If you are receiving this email, you are one of the valued testers currently in World of Warcraft’s closed beta test. This message is to inform you that the beta servers will be coming down at 3:00 PM PDT on Friday, October 29 and will remain offline for a few days in preparation for another stress test. Your account and characters will be active for this stress test, but a new client download will be required. After the game servers come down on Friday the 29th, you will be able to log in to the community site and download the new client.



Once the beta-server preparations are complete, we will announce the start of the stress test, and the servers will come back online. When that happens, you will be able to log back in, download a quick patch, and then continue playing. Please keep an eye on WorldofWarcraft.com for more information about the stress test in the days ahead!



We want to take this opportunity to thank you for all the hard work you’ve been putting in to make World of Warcraft a better game. You’ve done a great job, and without you, the classes would not be where they are today, places like the Barrens would not be as rich as they are today, and the changes implemented from your suggestions would never have taken place.



We hope you've been enjoying your exclusive look at World of Warcraft these past few weeks and months, and we hope you'll take some satisfaction in knowing that you’ve played a big part in shaping its destiny. We'll see you again online soon!
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M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
Joeholley said:
Please note that this says Stress Test, NOT Open Beta.
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I think his post is poking fun at me for my previous prediction of Open Beta being either this Monday or a week after. =P

But I'm still sticking to it really. Let's focus on a few facts:

1) EQ2 launching on Nov 8th

2) Every retailer has a Nov 15th date for WoW, and they recently received posters and other marketing with this date on it as well.

3) A Detroid newspaper recently quoted the president of Vivendi saying WoW will be released Nov. 22nd.

4) IGN leaked the fact that Blizzard is planning on a 2-3 week open beta.

Now, #3 contradicts #2, so nothing is certain. But as I've been saying, I really really doubt we won't see WoW before the end of November. Now, keeping #4 in mind... we shouldn't be waiting much longer. ;)

Edit: Ah, just read SoG's post. So it won't be Monday, BUT Open Beta still might come the week after next, we'll see akascream. =P
 
F

firex

Member
If they wipe guys I will get to test out what I am going for as a main char in retail, otherwise I am going to keep playing my established chars, probably my warlock so I can get the new pets.
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
firex said:
If they wipe guys I will get to test out what I am going for as a main char in retail, otherwise I am going to keep playing my established chars, probably my warlock so I can get the new pets.
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Now that you mention it... It's weird that they are ending the closed beta and doing this stress test thing before the next (and probably the last) huge patch has hit...
 
F

firex

Member
this will be like the weekend when a tornado caused by hurricane ivan hit the facility hosting the servers, we'll just get the game patch before the servers are back up I think.
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
True!

Oh man... I'm so excited. :D But... now I must go watch Survivor and The Apprentice! O_O

Maybe the Blizz mods will post some more details on the official forums before the night is over?
 
O

Outdoor Miner

Member
The patch is going up at the same time as the Stress test. It'll be the first thing existing testers will have to d/l. It's also been confirmed on the beta boards that there will be no char wipe for CB testers.

I'm a little concerned about this post though:

We'll have more information regarding the mentioned Stress Test, Open Beta, character status, etc. over the next few days.

Those of you concerned about the talents and other content not being in right now, please relax. They're done internally and we'll be releasing more information concerning what's on the way in soon. I know this makes you anxious, but please don't panic. :)

Personally, I'd like to thank you all for a great gaming experience over what has been nearly a year for me. I've met many incredible people throughout the closed beta test. Thanks to the guilds I've been in, the people I've grouped with in instances and out, and all the craziness that ensued randomly. No, I won't tell you my character name. ;)

See you all in the next phase!

- Caydiem -
Assistant Community Manager, WoW
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Stress Test and Open Beta? I used to think they were one and the same?

*scratches head*
 
K

krypt0nian

Banned
Please o please......I've not done any WoW since stress test....

I thought I had kicked it......I don't want to be a junkie....
 
C

Cerebral Palsy

Banned
I'm glad Open Beta is finally ending, so I can stop wasting time on characters that will be wiped. I'll probably stop playing until release.

Btw, which GAFers are going to play Horde on the PVP server with me?
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
Going Horde here, heck yeah! Not sure on the PvP server though. The normal server would seem optimal if Battlegrounds is up to par.

caydiem said:
I know you all want more clarification, but I have none to give right now. We'll let you know as soon as we can. Please stop creating posts about the Stress Test and Open Beta -- this is where I'd prefer you discussed the subject. Thanks. - Caydiem -
Assistant Community Manager, WoW
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Now... why in the WORLD can they not offer clarification at this point?! Gah, no matter what happens Blizzard still seems incapable of properly communicating with it's fans.
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
Cerebral Palsy said:
Wuss!
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:lol

I just don't want to have to waste time owning puny alliance members every time I'm trying to do quests. ;)

But I adore PvP. If battlegrounds sucks I'd feel like I was missing out on a lot by playing on a normal server.
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
El Papa said:
I'm going to start alliance, then I'll probably make a horde character or two.
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How could you betray us, El Papa ;_;

I'm actually planning to get my Alliance fix just during the Open beta :)
 
C

Cerebral Palsy

Banned
MrCheez said:
:lol

I just don't want to have to waste time owning puny alliance members every time I'm trying to do quests. ;)

But I adore PvP. If battlegrounds sucks I'd feel like I was missing out on a lot by playing on a normal server.
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I'm on the regular server now and I hate it. I always hang out in the Highlands and attack the Horde mobs at Go'Shek farm, which flag you pvp, so Horde players will attack me hehe. Sometimes I want to stop questing/grinding and just own someone. Battlegrounds could fix it, but I like knowing at any second I might get attacked no matter where I am. Creates a little tension and makes the game more fun for me. And hell, most of the end-game content is in instances anyway. Not like you'll miss out on content. Got my talents all figured out for the pvp server. It'll be good.
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
Cerebral Palsy said:
I'm on the regular server now and I hate it. I always hang out in the Highlands and attack the Horde mobs at Go'Shek farm, which flag you pvp, so Horde players will attack me hehe. Sometimes I want to stop questing/grinding and just own someone. Battlegrounds could fix it, but I like knowing at any second I might get attacked. Creates a little tension and makes the game more fun for me. Got my talents all figured out for the pvp server. It'll be good.
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That's the thing though, I'm hoping battlegrounds allow that of you. When you want to quest and grind, you can... when you want some pvp ownage, you just head to those zones.

As you said the PvP servers do have a great element of suprise and you always have to watch your back which is cool... but would easily get old eventually. Especially when level 60s can jump your lowbie chars. =/ If the battlegrounds are anything like DAOC, they'll be for certain level-ranges.
 
C

Cerebral Palsy

Banned
MrCheez said:
That's the thing though, I'm hoping battlegrounds allow that of you. When you want to quest and grind, you can... when you want some pvp ownage, you just head to those zones.

As you said the PvP servers do have a great element of suprise and you always have to watch your back which is cool... but would easily get old eventually. Especially when level 60s can jump your lowbie chars. =/ If the battlegrounds are anything like DAOC, they'll be for certain level-ranges.
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I'm not worried. I'll be that level 60 anyway. Lowbies can fear me. :) But seriously, I really think the honor system will take care of people out to gank lower level people constantly. We'll see. *remembering the golden days of UO*
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
Cerebral Palsy said:
I'm not worried. I'll be that level 60 anyway. Lowbies can fear me. :) But seriously, I really think the honor system will take care of people out to gank lower level people. We'll see. *remembering the golden days of UO*
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Ah yeah forgot about the honor system for some reason. I'm wondering how that's gonna work out... hopefully they'll fix the issue of players lower than your level constantly pesturing you and causing you to get dishonorable kills. o_O
 
C

Cerebral Palsy

Banned
MrCheez said:
Ah yeah forgot about the honor system for some reason. I'm wondering how that's gonna work out... hopefully they'll fix the issue of players lower than your level constantly pesturing you and causing you to get dishonorable kills. o_O
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Well, all they have to do is make it so if you didn't initiate the attack you won't get the dishonorable kill. That way lowbies can attack you all day long if they want to die.
 
K

krypt0nian

Banned
Cerebral Palsy said:
I'm not worried. I'll be that level 60 anyway. Lowbies can fear me. :) But seriously, I really think the honor system will take care of people out to gank lower level people constantly. We'll see. *remembering the golden days of UO*
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What effects will the honor system have on the lousy gankers? I haven't kept up with this.

EDIT: Sorry I just found it.

If you repeatedly make dishonorable kills, you'll eventually go into the negative ranks, and lose experience and become attackable on sight by both factions. Our intention is to punish dishonorable behavior and reward honorable PvP play.
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E

El Papa

Member
MrCheez said:
How could you betray us, El Papa ;_;

I'm actually planning to get my Alliance fix just during the Open beta :)
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I HAD TO!

really though, if the GAF guild goes horde I'll go horde, I think my friends are going to go alliance, so it'll have to be a different server if I understand correctly. I want to have a druid for some reason, and night elves and Teldressil are so cool :p
 
M

MrCheez

President/Creative Director of Grumpyface Studios
I'm hoping we'll end up having a "GAF Alliance Server" and a "GAF Horde server" with guilds on each. So you should be okay either way. :)

But the Alliance still stinks!!!
 
E

El Papa

Member
haha, we should have a GAF gnome army, dozens of little knotheads running around on the PVP server killing fools like zerglings would be funny to watch.
 
F

firex

Member
MrCheez said:
I'm hoping we'll end up having a "GAF Alliance Server" and a "GAF Horde server" with guilds on each. So you should be okay either way. :)

But the Alliance still stinks!!!
Click to expand...
That's my plan. I just want to play the paladin class to see if it's actually any good (after it gets balanced at least), plus I figure most people are going to be curious about one side or the other.
 
F

firex

Member
(if this post should be considered edited in to my previous post then would a mod please do it, I just think the content I am writing about is a different topic than my previous reply)

I just got done pvping on the beta server for about 5 hours... god, that was so fun. It started out with us defending the Crossroads from a massive Alliance raid, which we pushed back and defeated pretty handily. Then that raid joined forces with another raid on Tarren Mill (a very common target for alliance griefers - I mean, pvpers) and while at first it was pretty rough... we held them back from taking the entire town... that was maybe 15 horde players vs at least 30, if not 40 alliance, and we beat them... and it had nothing to do with any overpowered horde classes (if anything the horde is underpowered), it's just that since we are so used to massively outnumbering zerg raids from the alliance, we've got to be tougher...

After we managed to defend the town, there was a server restart... About 5 minutes later I logged back in, our raid group to defend Tarren Mill was still going, and we wound up pushing the alliance back to their city in the zone, Southshore... After we pretty much annihilated the alliance with a 1:1 ratio of players, we then went and totally devastated the town of Southshore, killing every NPC, including the super hard to kill flight master.

I should have taken screenshots... but that was fun as hell and real proof that at least in WoW, a 2:1 or even 3:1 zerg rush from one faction can't beat skill on the other...
 
S

SyNapSe

Member
I think I want to go Horde, but I dunno about the PVP server. It sounds like there is some pretty lame gankage going on for the time being.

Maybe after Blizzard has fully fleshed PVP and the honor system out.
 
C

cvkpaladin

Member
Well, I was on the PvP server yesterday and experienced some masive scale PvPing as well. It was also in Tauren Mill where gobs of alliance decided to get onto the building located there and just rain death to the horde from above using spells and whatnot. Alliance warlocks just kept warping in new people ontop of the buildings for the fight and the horde where much outnumbered and defenseless since the NPC guards there couldn't attack us. Pretty cool, but I thought it was also kinda cheap. :D
 
S

Son of Godzilla

Banned
I'm pretty much sold on playing on a pvp server. All of you who are scared of getting ganked/corpse camped to death should try it for this st or ob. I'm hoping they offer up clean servers too, because I know none of my ST characters were deleted.
 
O

Outdoor Miner

Member
Cerebral Palsy said:
I'll be on a crusade to kill as many gnomes as possible.
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MrCheez said:
Meeeeeee too.

They're so hideous. >_<
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Bring it biyotches!

*sprays Orc/Troll repellant*

Gnome Mage 4 teh w1N!1

For the stress test and open beta, i think i'm going to join a PvP server. It's going to bug me that I never tried it before retail if I in fact haven't.
 
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