WoW Beta
 

I have a friend who works at Blizzard, and he's going to get me into the World of Warcraft beta as soon as they start the Horde push.

*avoids all the rabid gamers throwing stones*

Anyone here get into the WoW Beta that wants to play w/me as soon as I get it? :)

ill play with you, just make sure to pm you beta key, kkthx. :)

Sure, just as soon as you msg me your credit card numbers and expiration dates ;)

hmm, i applied for the beta but never got an e-mail back. Has it already started!? if i get in ill play with ya!

this seems more like a "bragging" thread than a honest question. But hey, I'll answer it. Yeah, I got the WoW beta (second session), and I'll play with you if you want. But if you say "LOL," "ROFL," "OMG," "PWND," "n00b," "newp," "dun," "jes," or use any slang terms to refer to things in the game, I will disconnect immediately :)

Whats the big deal about betaing games? Its jsut so boring. Youre basically working for free. Id rather wait for the final package so that I can experience it all for the first time complete and without all the bugs. I only betaed 1 game in my life. That was diablo 2 stress test. Never again will I beta a game.

Awesome. I'll let you know via PM when I get the beta :)

So many good betas out right now. :)

There will probably be an open beta towards the end, anyhow. So most likely no big deal if you didn't get in.

I'd kill to be in WoW beta.. man :( Going to be a real disadvantage having not played beta when trying to compete in the final version.. :/

i got an email from them about 3 weeks ago... they said they were gonna send me more info. havent gotten shit yet. kinda disappointed.

i play Starwars Glaxies alot.. and every one i play with is drooling over WoW beta.. i know al of 2 ppl who got in to beta from SWG.


i donno ill wait till realse if any of you knwo about SWG you knwo i have been playing beta for a fucking 9 months... game is still broken as hell .. gotten alot better sence release.. lets hope the space expantion is decent

Noooo, quit now !

If the space expansion is decent, then join back up!

Don't let them suck you into that crap! I too played for a few months from release, then went back for a while, and finally kissed it goodbye. It's all a moneygame.

same here! they said I got the "Second Phase" beta, and I haven't received anymore info at all. and that was almost two months ago.

man i wished this game would be released soon, need something new to EQ

*is wating for Middle Earth Online*

god i am such a Tolkien consumer whore... it sickens me sometimes

ok guys, I'm playing it now. my God, this game is fun as HELL. it's EASILY the best MMORPG I've ever played, simply because it's user-friendly, the graphics are fuckin' UNRIVALED in the genre, and the combat system is perfect. a must-buy when it goes gold. the graphics are more like a videogame than a computer game, and that's a PLUS. VERY solid game engine, combined with good graphics, make this game oh-so-sweet to look at. I love it. everything about it is awesome. oh, and guess what? YOUR CLOTHES AND ARMOR SHOW UP!!!!! that's all I care about :)

the game makes you WANT to level up and become powerful. most other MMORPGs (that I've played) are bland and get boring. there is no "umph" there to make you want to play.

the environments in this game are some of the best I've seen out of any game, ever. you can't beat it when it comes to MMORPGs. there are memorable landmarks, and you enjoy just walking around and searching.

this game runs VERY smooth on my computer. I'm sure a 1 GHz with a run of the mill graphics card would run it, maybe even lower than that!

lag is good. maybe because not many are playing it compared to when it goes gold, but put it this way: there's no lag at ALL. none. it's like you are playing a network game.

there's excellent customization for the characters as well.

ah well it's time to go play some more :)

I agree with everything you say Redjake except the graphic though.

I STILL haven't gotten a cd-key from my friend at blizzard. Apparently he has to wait for them to send out new keys before he can get me one :(

Here's what the game looks like for real. It's me playing, no screen shots from the site or anything. I took these myself. GeForce 4 Ti4200 128 MB.


<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/WOWSCRNSHOT_042304_210207.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/WOWSCRNSHOT_042404_174314.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/WOWSCRNSHOT_042504_012823.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/TOWN.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/SNOWTOWN.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/GRIFFON2.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/GRIFFON.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/COW.JPG">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/BAR.JPG">

Nice screenshots.

I love the coloration and lighting in WoW.

looks awesome ... who i have to make love to get into beta ;)

Here's some more screenshots. You guys are gonna love this game. It's so much fun!!!!!!!!


<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/darkshire.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/lakeshire.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/lasereth.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/magetower.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/lochmodan.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/theloch.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/warpportal.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/westfall.jpg">

WoW looks promising,but until more than a select few can play it..there's no way to tell.I certainly wouldnt call it "the best mmorpg" ever...because frankly..that's said about every game when it comes out.

WoW certainly could break the mold,unlike the other shitty mmorpgs..like shadowbane,ffxi,daoc,and lineage II.(Ive played them all,and none of them can hold a candle to Everquest.)


I am curious though,if it handles like EverQuest..or if its a point+click and your character runs to that location.
Being able to move your guy with your mouse(looking around,strafe running etc)makes games much more enjoyable.

The controls are identical to Everquest, but the third-person viewpoint isn't annoying like in EQ. You can go first-person or third person...and I can say that third-person just feels better. But no worries, I shit you not when I say that the controls are identical to EQ (concerning controlling the character).

-Lasereth

Excellent.


They just need to remove the rest system now ;D

Down with the humans!

But ya, this game is incredibly fun.
Level 10 Undead Warlock. Just got my summon Voidwalker.
Can't wait for the game to actually come out!

It handles exactly like EverQuest. I mean exactly!

Also, just reading the General chat during the game, all of the people so far have said it literally is the best MMORPG ever made. The game makers/producers/whoever didn't say that (not that I've heard), the actual people PLAYING the game have. And we're talking about people who have level 60+ characters in EQ, Star Wars Galaxies freaks, ALL of them. The main reason they are saying (along with me) that it's the best one ever made is because it's simply FUN. EQ had the "grind" where all you did is just level up in a party. WoW is simply FUN, and it's fun all the time. I honestly have a smile on my face for some of the quests they are so funny/interesting. I haven't played an MMORPG that was this fun in a long, long time. And I've played quite a few :)

For instance: Last night, me and 4 other people in a party were traversing a cave to finish a quest (one of those "kill this many of these guys" quests). We came across a guy in a crevice of the cave who was hunched over. We talked to him, and he was a Colonel of one of the armies in WoW. He said if we took him to the nearest town and were his body guards (the place was swarming with enemies) then he would give us an awesome item :) So the Colonel starts walking like T-1000 out of the cave and we are blasting everything in site, trying to keep the Colonel alive. Then, all of a sudden, Colonel busts out a huge fucking broad sword and starts MUTILATING the monsters around us. I mean slaughter-house material here. Then he starts running towards an entire group of Orcs and he begins to slaughter them one by one. I, of course, are doing Area of Effect spells with my mage character. The other paladins and warriors in my group are over there slaughtering the enemies with the guy. He was just prison-raping them all. I mouse-overed his stats, and his health was about 1/10th down from fully-healed :) Fucking badass. Then he went back to the path and started walking like T-1000 again. I mean this guy nuked PIGS, BIRDS, ANYTHING that came in our way. We got him to the nearest town and I was awarded an awesome new robe :) I haven't had that much fun in an MMORPG in........ever. Good times :)

Redjake gets my award for most smilies in a post about an MMORPG.

yeah they show up more if you type huge paragraphs

Can someone tell me whats wrong with the rest system?

Those are the best screenshots I've seen of the game so far.

How do you think they are doing with the beta? Everything seem to be on schedule?

The Rest System isn't broke if ya ask me. If you leave your character in an Inn for 8 hours, your "Rest Bar" fills up. After the 8 hours, you play your character and get 200% experience from enemies. Quest experience is not affected by this. The more you fight regular monsters, the more your Rested Bar goes down. After a few hours, it's at normal experience, so you only get 100% experience from enemies instead of 200%. You can go back to the Inn for 8 hours and restore your Rested Bar for 200% experience later on.

This makes people that can't play 24/7 have a better chance of keeping up with people that do. You're rewarded for leaving your character alone for periods of time.

The only people that hate the Rest System are those that powergame and get pissed when they have to take a break. I'm not really sure I understand their theory, anyway: if your character isn't Rested, you still get normal 100% experience. What's the problem?

Lots of people want the Rest System gone completely. I ask this: which would you rather have, 100% experience half the time and 200% the other half, or ONLY 100% experience? If Blizzard got rid of the Rest System, they sure as hell wouldn't set the enemies to give 200% exp all the time...they'd set it at 100%, and people would complain even more.

The Beta is doing excellent. There's still a few bugs here and there (mainly with quests) and some of the areas aren't even started yet, however. But overall, I believe they could release this game this summer if they really wanted to. But they're not, so it doesn't matter. The game is really polished as it is.

-Lasereth

That pretty much sums it up. The rest system is FINE, the only people that complain are the ones that want to get to the level cap (level 39 currently) in a week. Bitches.

Everything is on schedule. The next patch will be within a week or so. I'll take some more screen shots and post them later!

<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/1.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/2.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/3.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/4.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/5.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/6.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/7.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/8.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/9.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/10.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/11.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/12.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/13.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/14.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/15.jpg">
<img src="http://www.appstate.edu/~jt52439/16.jpg">

Heh game looks great.

A couple of the quotes from your screenshots had me laughing pretty hard.

"???" is a synonym for 'get ready to fucking die'

haha, I didn't even notice them.

"holy shit a fuckin' giraffe"

Those ??? guys are dirty bastards.
I didn't realize what was going on until it was too late. I wandered into an area where there were lots of dead bodies strewn about and ??? level spiders lurking around.

And the evil giraffes.... Don't forget the zhevras or whatever they call the zebras in there.

IMO: This game is going to be hype for those of us who dont enjoy bunny bashing. Or nice warming pictures over a text based MUD.
You can convince anyone to play any game with screenshots, and seeing as the only people who would sign up for the beta most likely have a mindset of Im going to love this and this is free etc. But, I have found with many MMORPGs the novelty wears off fast, bunnybashing in everquest was fun for a period of time, and if it handles completely like everquest I suggest those who dont like boredom stay a little farther away till someone tests the water.

Does anything know anything about the heros. Right now I'm looking at becoming a night elf rogue and I really hope that the rogue's hero is the demon hunter. I can't seem to find the info anywhere.

Can someone summarize what happened in the Frozen Throne for me?

All I know is I better be able to play a Pandarian character...or else!

WoW is nothing like Everquest. Ok, fine, it does have a lot of similarities, but the major thing that people complained about EQ is gone: the leveling up "grind." I have no idea what bunnybashing is, but I assume it's simply leveling up over and over. I've played the WoW beta a good bit now, and one major theme that no one talks about is how <B>WoW is entirely quest driven</B>. I don't mean a few quests here and there like EQ, either. I got my Undead Warrior to level 11 doing quests. I didn't "level up" once. If I fought enemies, it was through a quest, so you feel like it's for a reason. It is for a reason...it's to complete the quest, get your reward, and learn more about the cool as hell story. Blizzard says there's over 1,000 quests in the game, and I believe it 100%.

-Lasereth

I'm not convincing ANYONE to do ANYTHING with my screenshots. I'm just showing people what the game looks like.

I DIDN'T have the mindset of loving the game and liking it because it's free. In fact, I thought the game was going to SUCK. I didn't really care that I had been chosen for the beta. It didn't look that fun for me judging by the movies and stuff. I was wrong.

And who are you to suggest staying away from the game without even fucking playing it? You don't even know how it is. Bunnybashing? Give me a fucking break. Don't insult my intelligence!

The majority of the game is doing quests, not "bunnybashing" or whatever the hell you call it. I haven't leveled up but for maybe 8 levels out of 27 so far. The rest have been quest XP you get for completing each quest. So if you haven't tried it, don't run your damn mouth. It's rude. The game isn't boring. I'm not some "newb" who doesn't know what he's talking about.

Yea I don't know what bunny bashing is either I assume it's something like the combat in diablo, but I was reading about combat in WoW and it seems like it will be alot more complex, and take a little more skill, at least in planning anyway. Besides it doesn't always have to be abou the action. I love getting into games, their captivating nature. I loved the first diablo just because of the vibe. I'd quit playing it and still feel like I was in Tristram or whatever. When the Butcher first came out of that room "Ah fresh meat", that shit was awesome. I was younger though. I can't wait to take some mushrooms and be engulfed by this game. I know it's gonna rock. I saw one screen shot of some ogres and I was just there.

Uhm, feel free to not get offended over something minor, and most people who sign up for the beta like the game.

Bunnybashing is the common practice in most MMORPGs where you go 1 step outside of town the first few levels, tab around, and turn on attack mode and walk up to them. Then you afk and do nothing as the fight battles it out.
This then advances into the same thing, more complex, with you pressing a macro every now and then and seeing an action. In my opinion this is quite boring, and when the combat system is inevitably the core of an MMORPG, it can wear you down fast.

I have no idea why you are so hostile, simply voicing a skeptic opinion after having tried 4 MMORPGs all promising great new combat system and myriads of quests.

I got "hostile" because I explained how the game works in hundreds of words on the first page, and you simply discarded it (or didn't read it) and assumed it was a "bunnybasher."

I'll reiterate what I've said before:

The combat is FUN. The only "bunnybashing" is with warriors and paladins. And they still have cool stuff to do.

with my badass mage, I cast about 4 or 5 spells per battle. if it's a hard monster, maybe TEN spells per battle. for one monster. you can't sit back and led the macros do the work or you are dead :)



again, the hostility was brought on by you pretty much disregarding my opinion as trash and being skeptic still. believe me, I wouldn't say this is good if it wasn't. my brother and I are quite the critics when it comes to games and movies and the like. it takes a lot for me to like a game. trust me on this one :)

I would feel different if you actually played the game, but when someone gives their full scoop on something, and someone comes by and says you are basically feeding the shit, when they didn't even PLAY the game to begin with, it can make one hostile.


I didn't say the combat system was "great and new" but I garauntee the game has a myriad of quests. over 1000 I believe. I know I've done almost 100 now, and I'm nowhere near completion. I've been playing for about two months, and I haven't even been to maybe half of the entire world.



no reason to be skeptic here, the game is awesome, it gets Redjake's Stamp of Approval®


And the Stamp is recognized by POTUS

Is there any PvP in the game/beta yet ?

Are ranged weapon classes as bad a** as they were in practically every other MMORPG at first ?

there is PVP, but not "go up and kill somebody" PVP. right now, "Duel" is the only thing implemented. you have to "Accept" to fight the other person. you can't just go and kill someone.


they haven't decided exactly how the real PVP will work, but the most talked about method is the following:

the regular server will have AVH. AVH is Alliance vs. Horde. If you are Alliance and you go into Horde territory, you can be killed by anybody. Vice versa.

another server will have full blown PVP. kill anyone anywhere.

Hey Redjake, whats your name? I just got in a week ago or so, have a lvl 22 undead priest. Simply love the game.. never have I sat there at a group of mobs killing them to simply gain experience. EVERYTHING you do should be doing it for a certain quest, otherwise you aren't playing the game right. I have never been short of quests to do, as of rightnow I have about 10 quests that are right in my level range to do. And every quest has a story to it, not just do this because I said so.

I think the combat system for warriors is really neat, i fiddled with one for an hour or so. As you get hit or do damage you build rage, rage can be used for special moves, so definately won't be hitting auto attack and sitting back with this game. Rogues have a similar thing.

Downtime? what downtime? about 30seconds is all it should take you to recover from any fight thanks to food/drink.

I really like how they do loot as well, most of my items are from quest rewards. They need to rework player made items though, haven't seen a good one in a while.

This game reminds me more of an RPG you would play on a console, but with a whole bunch of other people playing it with you. You can't compare it to EQ or any other MMO that has been done.

Yes, there's been much discussion of WoW but I still don't know anyone's ingame name except Redjake. Let's get a TFP group going! My main character is lvl 16 pally named Teldra and my alt is a level 7 orc shaman named Makuar.

I'm Battled, a level 16 Undead warlock.
If you see me gimme a ring, I need some questmates!

my character's names are:

Punchinelli - Level 30 Mage

Celic (looks like Tom Celic) - Level 8 Paladin (rarely use him)

Ibanz lvl 22 Undead Priest - been farting around the barrens a lot lately. moving onto hillsbrad soon i think.

Will you guys get to keep your characters when the game goes public, or do you have to start over fresh? Any word on when the game will be released? I am all a-quiver with anticipation.

All Closed Beta characters will be erased before it goes Open Beta. I imagine that Blizzard will allow Open-Beta people to keep their characters though.

The scheduled release date is November 1st as of now. If that's the case, I'd expect Open Beta to start in early October.

-Lasereth

Letting anyone keep their characters from any kind of beta would be a first i think.

I think it would be unwise as well..

There is enough "advantage" in having had access to the game through beta.

Ehh those Dwarfs look kinda gay. they need better odels for emm, make emm look badass.
Would love to play this, but theres no way I'll have the time, unless I stay here in China.
Anyone know if they are gonna have a asian server?

Actually, many MMORPG's do let people keep their characters from Open Beta. Open Beta only lasts a month (usually less) and is "open" to everyone, so everyone has the same pre-emptive chance as the next person that plays. I have no idea if Blizzard will do this, but I've seen it happen with a bunch of other games.

-Lasereth

I didnt know that :)

I have been in quite a few betas, open and closed, but i was never allowed to keep my characters past beta.
It has been discussed in every beta though :)

can't wait to play this game..

as far as i know only in lineage 2 it was so ... in no other beta i was in it was really a discussion and even in lineage 2 i found it a bid trick to get people playing the beta

They will most definately have an asian server. I think they already have an asian beta server for Koreans. I know they have a korean version of the www.worldofwarcraft.com page for sure. Blizzard games are HUGE in korea, starcraft games are televised...

Those of you lucky ones who were accepted into the beta, how fast do the levels go, and what is the cap of levels?

39 right now, but the next patch will have it at 55. I'm pretty sure the final cap will be at 60.

So far, that's one of the complaints I have about the game -- it's too easy to level up. I understand that they're catering to non-power gamers and everything, but damn! Everyone that buys the game could easily get to level 60 in 6 months if not less. Maybe that's a good time period, but I almost liked how hard leveling up was in games like EQ. Those that put forth time and effort were rewarded with a new level, while gaining a level in WoW is pretty easy if you do some of the hard quests.

-Lasereth

November?! What?! Gamespot has the release date listed at August 2nd...Please say you're wrong...

Considering you can level an EverQuest character to 65 in mere days,probably a bad comparison.(Even without twinking,powerleveling whatever...LDoN and Planes of Power offered many ways to gain astronomical experience with a decent group)

6 months is longer than it seems.

I believe Las was talking about EQ during release. I too enjoyed the difficulty going from 1-50 in EQ, and I don't have a WoW beta acct *cry*, but I've already got it preordered @ EB.

I wouldnt completely worry about the progression of levels just yet. Once they come out with more content (next few pushes), i'm sure the leveling will get fine tuned to perfection (or near perfection)... it is Blizzard after all.

I haven't played EQ since Velious and Luclin were the new expansions....it used to be hard to level up in EQ. Sounds like it's different now. :)

-Lasereth

I've always been one for being able to get a high level character within 2 months playing less then 10 hours a week.. Power gamers will always hit the level cap, but those causal gamers never get to see all that stuff..(atleast in most mmorpgs).

I quickly scaned some of the FAQ from Blizzards site, but didnt see this. I was just wondering if you can "group" or "team" up with characters from the oppisite faction. Like if i had a dwarf, and a friend of mine had an orc, could we group from the get go and do some quest and such? All my friends want to party, but we're unsure if its gonna be possible with us beinging from other factions.

Thanks,

Horde and Alliance players can't group. They can't even talk to each other unless they're in certain neutral cities. This actually pisses me off (I love the Undead race, but none of my friends are Horde characters, so I can't talk or group with them). I can see why Blizzard did it though...it creates a tension between the two factions that create really cool battles and set up good themes for PvP.

-Lasereth