Why is Legion still in Alpha and not in a Beta? I really, really want to try it out!

[Garneth]

Because this time only elitist and popular narcistic (aka streamer) people get it cause you streamers = more buzz for legion....

I've noticed that, yeah. To me, a beta is where regular people go in and play the game and report issues. Not where streamers create twenty different characters in a one-hour stream that they do once a week and call it a day. The amount of bias towards streamers is annoying as hell.

[DesMephisto]

I updated OP to mention I was a Cata, MOP, and WoD beta user so that also adds to my sadness!

That adds more to my sadness, been with Blizz since diablo 1 and have never seen a beta invite lol

[Deleted]

Because people dont know what beta is anymore, so now we just go back one more step.

[SteveRocks]

Legion looks awesome from what I've seen so far and I'm tempted to use my invite, but I would much rather experience all the new content fresh on release day.

[Kellorion]

How many "why no Beta?!" threads do we need?

[Rivin]

I've noticed that, yeah. To me, a beta is where regular people go in and play the game and report issues. Not where streamers create twenty different characters in a one-hour stream that they do once a week and call it a day. The amount of bias towards streamers is annoying as hell.

The "streamer bias" ended very quickly after the public alpha started. Random invites started almost immediately and they've done waves specifically for high-end raiders and PvPers.

[Deleted]

Because a lot of people want to try it out and they don't want them to try it out at this state.

- - - Updated - - -

Alpha and beta are just development tags.
It's technically been in beta for a while, they just never switched tags.

Those labels actually matter in this game. You can ask for beta access on regular channels. There is no regular channel to ask for alpha access.

[Frah]

Because people dont know what beta is anymore, so now we just go back one more step.

This is the real reason.

The games industry has been riddled with early access beta crap for a while now and it seems like Blizzard want to distance themselves from the clusterfuck of early access/beta.

[Musta Kyy]

Because this time only elitist and popular narcistic (aka streamer) people get it cause you streamers = more buzz for legion....

My WoW account was banned in january but I recently got legion alpha. Didn't get beta access in previous expansions and I am not a streamer/youtuber.
Point is that they just give away alpha access to random people now.

[Mace]

Not everything is in place yet but they're getting there fast. My guess is we'll move into beta during this month.

Alpha has always been exclusive. Nothing is different this time in that regard.

indeed, half of Suramar city isn't even finished been textured in, still experiencing lots of bugs, and class balance is not at fine tuning stage yet.

[Packetsurge]

To be honest it's really far along in quality.... They will prob open the beta up a bit more soon

[purebalance]

Alpha is where gameplay testing is done preferably with fewer people. Beta is to fine tune what's already going to be in the game. They are not done testing everything they want to test.

Not even remotely true of WoW. I was in the Cata BETA which is exactly what they called it and when I was, they only had MH out as a zone similar to how they've done this "alpha".

[Chirri]

Because this time only elitist and popular narcistic (aka streamer) people get it cause you streamers = more buzz for legion....

I sit 12 feet away from someone who's having an absolute blast playing the Demon Hunter, while I didn't get in. There are lots of regular nobodies testing right now, they're just not all bragging about it at the tops of their lungs all over the internet. I'm pretty pleased that I haven't broken down and tried hopping on that account to try stuff out. (and I think it's sad that the invites are so completely random - it would be nice if people in the same household got in together)

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

I really think that when they will finally go into "beta" they will massively open the doors.
It just seems aligned with their testing needs for PVP and how much feedback they have actually been responding to for the first time since GC.

Its a big deal actually. Everyone complaining about nothing to do get to playtest Legion a few months before its out?
Seems like a REALLY smart play from Blizzard's end.

[Soeroah]

Not sure why you specified "top of the line" PC. That wouldn't make you more likely to get in. They specifically want a range of PC builds testing, not just the extremes.

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

Generally speaking for WoW Alphas has been for implementing new features, with Legion the major time consumer is that you can level with friends regardless of your levels (and level differences). Obviously this requires a lot of work as every quest needs to work at any level and still give XP and rewards that makes it worthwhile doing. They've also decided to add a new class with another 2 specs that needs to make sense and not be completely broken.
Beta is for finetuning numbers, be it class balance, 5 mans, items (trinkets and set bonuses etc).

Truthfully you're not missing much, everyone I know who's done ahead of curve Mythic raids in Warlords have gotten Alpha/Beta several months ago (including myself) so we can raidtest. There's really not much to do- while I understand that curiousness is intense at times you're better off waiting.


If you really want to "guarantee" yourself alpha/beta access the best way apart from being a popular streamer or knowing someone in Blizzard is simply to do "Ahead of the Curve" achievements on Mythic for all raids for the most recent expansion.

[Allenseiei]

Not even remotely true of WoW. I was in the Cata BETA which is exactly what they called it and when I was, they only had MH out as a zone similar to how they've done this "alpha".

Please, at least have the insight on expecting that each expansion is different. Precedence is useless when the items you are comparing are different. These threads should be called "I want to play legion why don't I have an invite yet", instead of this useless discussion. Blizzard decides the stage their testing is, not the players. If they won't give us a beta until release, then it has nothing to do with us. Beta/alpha access isn't part of the service.

[purebalance]

Please at least have the insight that the player I quoted made it like that was THE RULE. Move along your post is senseless and spammy.

[Mace]

It's been in beta for a while.

I don't think so, it's still in alpha, but what that means isn't clear cut.

How many people are in there testing? - is it a beta-like level of testers? I don't think so
What stage of development is it at? - is it at a level that is typical of a beta? I don't think so either.

The design is different this time round, unlike previous beta, where environmental and assets were still been installed nearly to the very end, I think most of these will be done in the stage it's called the alpha, by the time all the systems are in place, enough to be beta ready, i think most of the sweat would have been finished.

[thilicen]

The tag means literally nothing any more, they are calling it alpha but it's still way ahead of earlier betas. Actually it makes sense if they want "beta" to be a phase where pretty much everything is implemented, and testing is mostly focused on tweaks and tuning.