Blizzard has chosen 500 winners of its
Cataclysm Beta Guild Contest, and the winners have been notified via email. For the beta contest, guild leaders had to submit a 250-word essay explaining why their guild was deserving of an invite into the
Cataclysm beta. The winners receive 10
Cataclysm beta invites -- one for the guild leader and nine for guild members of the guild leader's choice.
As with anything involving beta, this is also a prime time for phishing emails trying to steal your account info. If you received an email about winning the beta guild contest, here is what to look for to determine if it is legitimate:
- The legitimate email contains no links. You just reply to the email with the information requested.
- The legitimate email will ask for the full names and Battle.net email addresses of yourself and your nine guild member selections.
- You will not be asked for any password information.
The
contest rules originally stated that 100 winners would be chosen for each of the five weeks of the contest, so it seems as though they've decided to invite them all at once. Note that the contest period is now over -- you are no longer able to enter the contest.
Tags: beta, beta-contest, beta-guild-contest, cataclysm, cataclysm-news, contest, essay-contest, guild-contest
Filed under: Blizzard, Cataclysm
Aug 2nd 2010 at 9:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Petrie Aug 2nd 2010 9:30PM
yea, i wanna hear all the good and juicy info that's in the beta....
Tseran Aug 2nd 2010 9:34PM
YES! The email we got WAS legit! I KNEW my essay would win....we are just that nuts.
MusedMoose Aug 2nd 2010 10:17PM
Grats! Now go roll a goblin and run over people. ^_^
Nick S Aug 3rd 2010 12:07AM
We also won, with the essay that I wrote. Quite proud of that. :-D
Tseran Aug 3rd 2010 12:55AM
I plan to run people over...and just because I can, here is my essay:
In a world where the Alliance and Horde battle for supremacy...In the desperate struggle against the Cult of Doom and Deathwing...Only one guild can bring you absolute victory...One guild has the brute strength...One guild has the eldritch might and resources...One guild has the unparalleled prowess to achieve ultimate victory and reign over Deathwing, and reforge the world back into something whole as champions and heroes of all Azeroth!
We are not that guild.
If you're looking for a guild into fun times, crazy people, and a sense of belonging where everyone feels like they are part of a second family, then PISCUS INFERNO is the guild to choose!
Support the flaming fishes in Cataclysm beta for mayhem, insanity, fun and more in our journeys through Azeroth and beyond.
If you want to give the beta invite to a guild that will take down Deathwing a month after he's released, we are not your guild. If you want a guild that will take a group of level one naked gnome and raid the Lost Isles in their skivvies we are your guild!
Please note that Piscus Inferno may not be suitable for young children. Some side effects include side pains, missing butts from ROFLMAO, occasional raids into end-game content, missing pants, Harbl leg humps, and bad jokes. If you experience a lapse of time, please see your Ethereal abductors. Consult your significant other to see if Piscus Inferno is right for you.
BenMS Aug 3rd 2010 2:49AM
Holy crap, go go Kirin Tor! You may be the worst server, but you have some of the best people
Nick S Aug 3rd 2010 7:51AM
Ours:
Here at Kraklenheit Industries (Smolderthorn(H)-US), we don't just manufacture high-quality explosives and temperature sensors; we're also family. Being a member of the Kraklenheit Industries team means being part of a people-first (it's certainly not safety-first!) engineering firm where personal relationships mean just as much as the highly unstable gadgets we're proud to produce.
Now we hear there’s going to be a shiny new way for us to leverage that tight-knit community – “guild” leveling. That sounds like a strategic partnership we could go for! We’ve even heard that it might offer a way to resurrect a whole bunch of employees at once. Take it from us: when your official company motto is “Less Safety, More Explosions,” resurrections can get to be a pretty significant operating expense.
So why should you include us in your beta test? Well, when it comes to testing products before they’re finished, we’re the best - and we have the horrific burns to prove it! Plus, we’re just the kind of people you want testing the social aspects of your next expansion. Guild leveling, group battlegrounds, and exploring new content are exactly the kind of thing you can expect us to dig right into. So choose Kraklenheit Industries for your testing needs!
Kraklenheit Industries – we may not have all of our fingers, but we’re all heart.*
* Except for our CEO, Redacted, whose heart has been an artificial prosthesis ever since a freak accident involving a Cobalt Frag Bomb painted to look like a baseball.
Tseran Aug 3rd 2010 9:13AM
Thanks BenMS, that's the reason I have stuck with the server....we have such damn good people. After all, we are the server that had a guild all chip in to buy a sick guild member a laptop so they could play from the hospital....heck, one of our guild mates is a member of that guild on his Horde toons, so we are proud to have him. :D
RetadinMan Aug 2nd 2010 9:39PM
I can see some phishing attempts coming from this. I mean, why get 1 account at a time, when you can get 10?
krusty_burger Aug 2nd 2010 9:40PM
is there a reason they can't just release a copy of what the actual non-spam beta invite email looks like? i don't open any emails from blizzard anyway, but releasing a picture of what to expect wouldn't be a bad idea.
Frostheim Aug 2nd 2010 10:10PM
I'm guessing they don't do that for the same reason I didn't include it in the article -- then the phishing people would just copy and paste it and the phishing emails would look identical to the actual thing.
The important things to look for is there are NO links to click on, and they do NOT ask for password info. They just need the names and battle.net email addresses to give the beta invite to.
ole Aug 3rd 2010 12:42AM
legit email looks like this (click to see link on forum) else go to cata section of forum and look at beta invite faq
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=13816847763&postId=138154960340&sid=1
basically starts with congratulations you have won a golden ticket Charlie, and doesn't come from a hotmail address, check the email header details if you are unsure and check senders details, and simply log in directly to your battlenet account WITHOUT CLICKING ON ANYTHING IN THE EMAIL! ie log in direct from http://us.battle.net/en/ change us to eu if you're european like me :)
zdave Aug 2nd 2010 9:45PM
No links to their essays? I was looking forward to reading the winning essays.
:(
Frostheim Aug 2nd 2010 10:11PM
Ditto. I really hope we get to see them -- especially since the contest rules say that you can't post your own winning essays -- Blizzard owns them :)
Faith-lb Aug 3rd 2010 9:05AM
for your pleasure only , Ill link my winning entry...
Why I believe Ðefiance should be in the Cataclysm Beta ?
We're no strangers to WoW, you know the raids and so do I
A full commitments what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guild.
I just wanna tell you why you should pick us, gotta make you understand.
Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna go offline and desert you
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna cancel my subscription.
We've known each other for so long
Your Raids's been Fun, and we love to to say it
Inside Out we know what's going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it.
And if you ask me why we want in Beta, don't tell me you're too blind to see.
Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna go offline and desert you
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna cancel my subscription.
(Ooh, go offline, ooh, go offfline)
Never gonna log, never gonna log (go offline)
Never gonna log, never gonna log (go offfline)
We've known each other for so long
Your Raids's been Fun, and we love to to say it
Inside Out we know what's going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it.
And if you ask me why we want in Beta, don't tell me you're too blind to see.
Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down
Never gonna go offline and desert you
Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna cancel my subscription.
Faith-lb Aug 3rd 2010 9:09AM
woopsie i guess for sharing , didnt realise i couldnt post it ! delete if you want i made a boo boo !
zdave Aug 3rd 2010 11:24AM
Hahaha awesome!
Thanks for sharing!
Fryiuer Aug 2nd 2010 9:47PM
God I hope I get it. I hope I get it.
*sends texts to GL"
StopHavingFunGuy Aug 2nd 2010 9:50PM
Are you quoting an ancient Seinfeld episode? Or do I just watch the show too much.
ladygamertn Aug 2nd 2010 9:57PM
I think that was a lyric from "A Chorus Line."