Posts with tag beta

Here at WoW Insider, like in many other places, we've got betas on the brain. Mists of Pandaria had WoW's largest beta, with a huge audience thanks to the Annual Pass sign-up system. In case you don't recall, the Annual Pass gave players a copy of Diablo III, as well as guaranteed access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, in return for committing to play WoW for another year. As a result, the beta access was huge. Not to mention problematic, as it took Blizzard a really long time to roll out beta access to all the players who'd signed up for the Annual Pass. It was a bit of a nightmare for them, one would imagine, as players felt they had the right to access Mists beta from day one, and just got more and more angry as wave after wave of invitations went out, without theirs.

So, before players even got into the beta, there were problems. Betas, originally, were for testing and testing alone. Testing by a slightly larger group than Alphas. Now, beta access seems to have evolved into a different beast altogether. It's early access, it's getting to play a game before your friends, it's status as someone in the know. Betas have become a way for game designers to get their games promoted via streams and YouTube, and the exclusivity of access creates a culture of have and have-not. Everyone wants to be in the beta, with little regard for how it affects their enjoyment of the game.

The much-anticipated open beta for Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft hit US servers yesterday, and as promised by Blizzard at the time, has landed in the EU. European players, or holders of EU Battle.net accounts, should head over to the EU Hearthstone site and download the beta, as well as the battle.net Desktop Client, if they haven't got it already. The two are tied together, and the installer will prompt you to download it if you need to.

If you're a seasoned closed beta player, prepare to welcome a lot of new opponents. If you're brand new to the game, have a look at the tutorial, and maybe peruse WoW Insider's Hearthstone guides, articles and offerings.

Fear not, you won't be crushed by the overgeared. Hearthstone's matchmaking will put your against opponents of equal skill so that everyone can enjoy themselves. Have fun climbing the ladder, crafting cards, and stepping into the Arena!

The moment you've been waiting for is here, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft open beta has begun! You can head over to the official Blizzard site right now, download a copy to your Battle.net account, along with the Battle.net launcher if you don't have it already, and start playing right this very second!

WoW Insider has countless guides and tidbits of information about Hearthstone available for your perusal, so do have a look around while it's downloading to ready yourself for battle!

Do note that while this is US-only for now, other regions' open betas will be going live in the next few days.

The closed beta for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls has officially begun. Players that have opted in to the beta should begin checking their email for beta invites. Reaper of Souls, the first expansion for Diablo III, features all-new content as well as the new Crusader class, enchanting, transmogrification and of course, lots and lots of frantic mouse clicking. Players that have received a beta invite can check their Battle.net accounts to verify that the license has been added -- or if you've received a Closed Beta key, you can add it to your account by logging in to your Battle.net page.

For players that have yet to receive an invitation to the closed beta, make sure you've opted in on your Battle.net Beta Profile Settings page -- and while you're at it, make sure the page has the latest system specifications for your computer. Keep in mind that with the closed beta, you must have an active Diablo III license attached to your account -- and that license needs to be in good standing in order to be eligible. No banned or suspended accounts.

Also, as with any beta test, the risk of phishing attempts runs a little higher. If you receive an email that states you're in the beta, be sure you don't click any links in the email itself. Instead, log into your Battle.net account to check that the license has been added, or to manually add a game code. For more information on the Diablo III: Reaper of Souls closed beta, take a look at Blizzard's official page -- and good luck to all those that have opted in!

While we're all acutely aware of the Hearthstone beta being available to those with keys on PC, we all rather thought the iPad version might be coming "soon". And in Blizzard parlance, "soon" might be either next month, or sometime this decade.

However, as Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo has tweeted the following, soon (tm) may have just become a lot sooner.

To all the EU Hearthstone fans out there, Blizzard has provided an update on when you might be able to get your longing hands on those virtual cards. However, it might not be exactly what you were hoping for. In fact, I'd say it almost certainly isn't. The official press release actually says "in a few weeks", which could mean anything from "the same day as patch 5.4" to "sometime around BlizzCon".

Of course, we're all hoping for the former rather than the latter, but even then, they aren't going to open up the EU beta to everyone who's registered all at once. Rather like the US version of the beta, it will be released in waves. Why's it taking so long? Well we don't know, of course, but smart money's on localization. The EU version has to be translated into six other languages, and while German is definitely done, given how it was playable at Gamescom, who knows what the status of the other five might be.

Hit the break for the full Blizzard statement.