Breakfast Topic: Beta grief
by Amanda Miller 
Sep 25th 2008 at 8:00AM
Although the Wrath of the Lich King Beta has been up for months now, I acquired my key rather late, and one thing I noticed right off the bat is that the quality of player behavior takes a sharp dive on the realms. It's a well-known fact that Internet anonymity morphs regular people into asshats, but because Beta testers are not connected to their guilds, in-game names, realms or friends, evidently, the anonymity factor hits the roof.
My minty new Death Knight had her deathcharger "stolen" from her, among other things, and mobs and pick-up items are high commodities. The general chat is filled with derision and insults, and the extreme lag helps none of this.
What kinds of experiences have you had in the Beta, with either surprisingly helpful players or extremely aggravating ones?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics, Expansions, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
elladrion Sep 25th 2008 8:05AM
I would like to preempt this discussion with an "F you and your beta key!"
That will be all. Thank you.
Reinard Sep 25th 2008 8:07AM
Thank you for proving her point about internet anonymity.
Warigami Sep 25th 2008 8:42AM
Not even once have I bragged about gettting a beta key to anyone, and especially not to rub it in their face. But.....I guess here's a good time to do it:
IN YOUR FACE, B&*%$!!!
Sorry, but you deserved that and you know you did ;)
Reinard Sep 25th 2008 8:06AM
I learned quickly enough that the first thing you should do upon logging in for the first time on every character is /leave trade and general, only using them when necessary.
You're entirely right, people are even worse there than they are on live =\ Go go beta "testers." Mhm.
Chuddy Sep 25th 2008 9:21AM
Man, I second this. Completely. I'm never in those chats, ever. And beta was awful. I had that nvidia issue where all of a sudden my old wow becomes ultra choppy because I have a beta version. That, lag and general unstability just sapped the fun out of it. Plus Im' too busy leveling all the classes I didnt have prior to patch 3.0! :-)
Randolyn Sep 25th 2008 11:14AM
Agreed.
I've played WoW since launch with all general and trade channels turned off, and never missed them.
kunukia Sep 25th 2008 8:13AM
I have been in the Beta for about a month. As everywhere, I have general turned off, so at least I am not disturbed by the level of chat there. Seriously, why even listen to that garbage! (yell, and trade are also always off).
Watsfordiner Sep 25th 2008 8:14AM
Yeah, Ive noticed more people being generally rude on the beta, I think its just that, the anonymity. Dont really have to worry about gaining a "rep" of being a jerk when the toon wont be there or you can always just make another premade 80...
I have though run into some decent people who dont think that way and their moral and social values stand even in this format, kudos to you guys, you know who you are.
Jason Sep 25th 2008 9:53AM
I'd have to concur on this. There are more than a few paragons of asshattery on the Beta realms.
That being said I had the opportunity to run UK several times (yeah bugged final boss) and The Nexus once with a great bunch of guys. They were good raiders and nice folks.
Renako Sep 25th 2008 8:14AM
Macro-ed "Press One" spam anyone?
Rihlsul Sep 25th 2008 8:35AM
QFT.
Gimia Sep 25th 2008 5:05PM
Still don't understand why people would rather ask a question that can be answered just as easily by reading the quest and reading tooltips.
Gibdar Sep 25th 2008 8:17AM
I've found that most people seem to think that it's their right to be playing the beta and not a privilege, you know, for testing purposes. The amount of hate that spews out of general chat or trade the second an ounce of lag shows its face is astounding, and don't get me started on what happens when somebody new asks about the mana regen bug (is that still happening?). Almost every person has encountered it at least once, and when asking what's going on, the almight internet insult of 'noob' spams chat like it's on some sort of rapid fire macro. What the hell?
Bah, enough of my QQ.
Nicholas Abstraction Sep 25th 2008 8:17AM
With no real punishment or rep (and not the good kind of rep) people have the ability to say or do whatever they want, cause in the end the beta will end. Not to mention blizz isn't looking at everyone in the beta and regulating harassment and such. It is so laggy, and people aren't in the middle of quests, they are all trying out new things at same time. Like when the Exotic Mounts came around, and you couldn't click on an NPC at all, so people who could would sell the mounts at overrated prices, or underrated prices.
I have a beta, and use it for testing new talent tree builds, haircuts, and just finding fun places to go and explore. (I try to use the blizzard suggestion interface too of course to help out)
Lilithsblood - Anub'arak
Dranaerys Sep 25th 2008 8:17AM
I stopped playing Beta for many reasons, but lag coupled with idiots complaing about lag (and then idiots complaining about people complaining about lag, and idiots complaining about people being idiots) was definitely one of the main reasons.
I saw no point forcing myself to play through bugged content with what amounted to a server full of retards, when I could be enjoying the same content, polished and with friends at a relaxed pace when the expansion releases.
In other words, Beta is overrated. :p
Nick S Sep 25th 2008 9:34AM
I felt the same way when I first got in - everything was broken!
But things are getting better, and focusing on *testing* really helps. If you're there to have fun, you'll be frustrated. If you're there to test and see what's new, suddenly the fun comes out.
There are areas that are terribly laggy right now - don't go there! Go somewhere lonely (like the 75-78 zones, which are staggeringly beautiful) and the lag evaporates. Plus, there's no idiots around! Win/win.
yazah Sep 25th 2008 9:52AM
Heh, I think I may have been one of those who was annoyed whenever people found it necissary to say "Laaaaaggggg!" every time things were not running as smoothly as they do on live (which is most of the time).
But I have definitely noticed a big change as beta has progressed. Originally, there was a strong group of people (from alpha) who simply would not tolerate such behavior, and overall the atmosphere was very helpful and fun.
Now all the babies have gotten in (Even though the TOS specifies people must be "an adult") and the whining, greed, selfishness, and asshattery has taken over.
But fortunately I only play during the day, and I am well past the starting zones and in an original beta guild, so I really dont have to deal with that as much, fortunately.
zappo Sep 25th 2008 10:05AM
So... which of the live realms isn't full of retards?
Rich Sep 25th 2008 8:23AM
Ironically my DK experience was somewhat different. everyone was spamming /1 to trade duels because all the NPCs were being over-worked (and worked over) for the duelling quest.
Then when I went to the hold to free the captured DK in that quest, there's a line up the stairs and back to the hold entrance of DKs waiting their turn to get down there and loot the guy's head. It was the most surreal thing I have ever seen, especially considering the nature of the Death Knight.
Roleplaying it was not.
Shogun Sep 25th 2008 8:46AM
You don't need to queue... just run down, hand in the quest, grab the next one and join in, don't even need to "tag" the guy, the head is looted via the "use item" function rather than loot.
Wish they did that with more quests, would prompt more helping rather than mob stealing and ninja-tagging of long respawn quest mobs etc