URL hints at Wrath beta
by Eliah Hecht 
Apr 2nd 2008 at 7:00PM
Right now, the address returns a "403 Forbidden" page, but obviously, someone at Blizzard HQ bothered to set up the "beta" subdomain and make it redirect to something. Any address on beta.worldofwarcraft.com seems to redirects to that "character-copy" page. Remember, a "forbidden" URL was our first real confirmation that Wrath of the Lich King was going to be the title of the expansion, so we've gotten information this way before. There's still no telling how long it'll take until a beta is available to us, as this page may well just apply to an interior beta, but this might be a clue that we're getting closer. Does this mean there won't be a patch 2.5?
Filed under: News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Baerstan Apr 2nd 2008 7:07PM
Blizzard has already said there won't be another major content patch i.e patch 2.5.
Dave Apr 2nd 2008 8:33PM
No, Blizzard has said there COULD be a 2.5 if the lich king stays out of a full release way too long and they need to fill time and keep people occupied. This could involve a long delay to start the beta, or a long beta full of issues they didn't anticipate or whatever, but they DO have a (probably small) 2.5 patch that they could implement with some sort of a storyline if they needed to do so. It might be nothing more than some new 5-man content or whatever, maybe just world events of some sort that could bridge the gap between the old and the new content, but they've got something up their sleeves if the expansion hits a snag.
That said, I think we'll still start seeing Lich King stuff in beta approximately a month after the last sunwell gate opens and people start finishing that content up.
Naix Apr 3rd 2008 10:19AM
ZOMG! If you type in http://beta.worldofwarcraft.com/game/wotlk.iso you will get the beta DVD of the expansion!
Stirno Apr 2nd 2008 7:31PM
I would be willing to bet that its more related to a previous or current beta of the public worldofwarcraft.com website than anything game related.
brandon Apr 2nd 2008 7:46PM
why would it redirect to /game/character-copy.html then?
mattarin Apr 2nd 2008 7:40PM
i would rather wait until WotLK offically releases. it will be more enjoyable that way.
Jay Apr 2nd 2008 8:10PM
There could be a 2.5, as mentioned by Blizzard before there will be no new content, but there could very well be dramatic class changes instead in preperation for
WoTLK
doyesac Apr 2nd 2008 8:13PM
I do seem to remember Blizz stating they have new content in mind, if WotLK is hit with delays. If WotLK is on time, any patch 2.5 won't be a content patch, but if they need to hold WotLK back for a bit, there MIGHT be new content to distract us for a bit.
imparush Apr 3rd 2008 12:46PM
they might give use the new talent as they did before tbc came out, so we know what we wanted when WOTLK is out;)
scoot Apr 2nd 2008 8:14PM
scotteh wants in
Suzaku Apr 2nd 2008 8:18PM
I've had the http://beta.worldofwarcraft.com/ url in my favorites since the Burning Crusade beta. Last time I clicked it, it was a 404 error. So yeah, I'm betting that something's churning there.
Kyrra Apr 3rd 2008 1:02AM
404? You sure? I've been monitoring the server for a while now, and it hasn't even had a webserver running on it until a day ago. So you can't really get a 404 message unless you are going through a proxy and it's giving you 404 pages for servers that don't exist.
Suzaku Apr 3rd 2008 9:26AM
Maybe it was Server not Found, then. Either way, it certainly wasn't a 403.
Green Armadillo Apr 2nd 2008 9:19PM
The timing certainly makes sense, with 2.4 and (presumably) the last major content of this expansion live. In principle, there's nothing stopping them from PTR testing and launching another patch (or more) as needed, but then again 4 months (Blizzard's current patch release cycle) puts us in August, maybe a month or two before people expect the expansion to hit.
I am somewhat surprised that they would make it a publicly accessible URL, but I suppose there's only so much they can do to avoid that. The entire forum-base would explode if a non-clickable beta character transfer button appeared on the account management screen.
Ugkul Apr 2nd 2008 11:25PM
There'll be a 2.5... if Warhammer Online is delayed again. I think Blizzard is trying to make sure WotLK comes out around the same time so WAR doesn't take too many WOW players away.
PeeWee Apr 3rd 2008 7:22AM
There is no need to worry, Neither WAR nor AoC have what it takes to take enough players away from WOW for it to become a "threat".
As for the Beta... nah. I'm not gonna spoil my experience of it by hopping around in a buggy beta. I prefer the less buggy release.
Angus Apr 3rd 2008 9:39AM
This is in response to PeeWee
WAR and AoC will take people from WoW.
World of Arenacraft has been pissing off a lot of people that were raiders. I am hoping WAR will balance things on doing the content not on how 2 people vs 2 people is supposedly a balanced fight in a small area. Especially since they apparently don't even think through how those stupid balance changes demolish classes outside that arena.
vildand Apr 3rd 2008 10:24AM
DAOC is one of my personal all time favorite MMOs in terms of pvp, but class balance? Hah it had none, neither for solo, small or large group content and I frankly wouldn't expect much for WAR either.
In terms of threat vs WoW. Nothing is going to beat WoW for a forseeable period of time. That is not to say that WAR and AoC can't be successful niche games with a couple of hundred thousand subscribers, but they will be just that, niche games.
WoW has been going through a lot of doomsaying, like Everquest did be fore it. And just like DAOC and what not didn't kill Everquest, DDO, Lotro and Vanguard didn't kill WoW and neither will WAR nor AoC.
Eventually something is going to come along and attract people away from WoW but my money is frankly on Blizzard as the developer.
mckwa Apr 2nd 2008 11:41PM
ever since august of last year i have guessed it would be in june of this year, that was nearly one year ago with a rough estimate i would have to say late july or early august
cole Apr 3rd 2008 12:58AM
The Worldwide Invitational is coming up, and the people who go are getting beta keys from Blizzard, right? It might not be for WotLK, but I think it is.