I think there's actually something insidious going on here, but I fear to mention it because, frankly, it sounds crazy, even to me. But bear with me a moment, here. Blizzard knows that, of the one million people it has to fit into its beta, a much smaller number are actually going to be dedicated to it and provide them with useful testing data; the majority of beta players will just look at the new stuff and fool around for a few hours and then go back to regular WoW, since they can't take any of their progress with them. It seems to me that Blizzard wants to get as many fairweather beta testers out of the way as it possibly can right off the bat, so it's just inviting a huge sea of Annual Pass subscribers in massive waves. The beta will be insanely overcrowded and nigh unplayable with that many testers on at once, thus causing a bunch of the sightseeing tour beta testers to declare, "This is what a beta is like? This sucks! I'm gonna go do something else." Thus leaving the beta for actual testing!

I dunno. Too X-Files for Blizzard?

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