General WoD Alpha/Beta Discussion

[Mammoon]

They'll have to do a lot more than the first wave of a beta to topple the release of a new game. Said this before but beta/alpha footage or any video game footage isn't the same as having a shiny new game to play. Not sure why it matters anyway sure WoW will probably lose some subs to other games over the years can't really expect to keep the exact same numbers.

For me if beta ws to release and streams went up onthe exact same day of Wildstar I hate to say but I reckon the majority would be playing the new game instead of watching some one else play another one.

I 100% agree with this.

I think Blizzard absolutely will do something to counter the WS release (despite Blizz saying their release tables have nothing to do with other games)... but if all they do is open up the alpha to a few select people then who really cares? I mean, it will be cool and all, but I would much rather play a new MMO myself then watch random people in Paragon/Method/BL quest from 90 to 91.

The original alpha hype that they conveniently did the week of ESO was cool, but reading the patch notes only lasted a few hours before people (at least the ones I know) moved on.

[Spirthealer]

Agreed Mammon, I'm hoping for blogs and beta invites to press/and randoms. and I mean a lot of blogs, maybe 1 each day for a week.

[Shampro]

Really, it isn't so much that I care if they compete with WS or not. I'll leave it up to them to see if they give a crap or not. It's mostly that the faster Alpha/Beta starts, the faster the release of the expansion happens, it's common sense.

And while we've been basicly doing this dance since february, hopeing for it to happen sooner rather than later is only benefitial. Putting the thought of the release of another MMO and Public Testing isn't really directly what I'd hope for, I'd hope for testing to actually start happening publicly sooner, because contrary to what some belive, it does directly affect and translate to when the official release will happen.

All there is to it, is see if they give a crap about the competition as a business, that's all there is to it.

[brothernads]

Hmmm, remembered that one interview from PAX where one of the devs mentioned that they were starting Beta this summer. Summer doesn't actually officially start until June 21. This is asumming that they skipped Alpha or he just meant to say Alpha. I hope I'm wrong and I'm looking too much into, Oh boy I do hope I'm wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=124WMmYvFTg at 4:50

It's all semantics on what they actually call the external testing phase(s) but at this point, it certainly is looking like "beta" testing may not start until summer...that's only about 3 weeks away. Presumably they still want to do a F&F alpha--as indicated by the Alpha Testing Starts blog post on April 3. Fingers crossed that some form of external testing starts in the coming days. I hope we don't just get some blog posts and revised alpha patch notes for W*'s release.

[Edoran]

What do you guys expect them to do to counter WS? It's not like they can just release WoD. The alpha/beta is all they CAN do.

And it's not about people actually getting in to test, it's about the streams that will be up and everybody watching it. Maybe public testing isn't the best way to counter another game (obviously a major content patch or your own game release would be better) but for now, it's the best thing they have.

[Ehnoah]

They are clever at all or Wildstar is dumb. They release it now. So on the timescale that Wildstar announced, they have no content once draenor is out. Which make it easy for people to go back to Draenor.

Still think Raids in Wildstar are boring. Played the 20 man and cleared with a Random Group :-(

Anyway, back to topic!

I still think that no Maintenance could be some good sign to get Alpha up and ready.

[wych]

What do you guys expect them to do to counter WS? It's not like they can just release WoD. The alpha/beta is all they CAN do.

And it's not about people actually getting in to test, it's about the streams that will be up and everybody watching it. Maybe public testing isn't the best way to counter another game (obviously a major content patch or your own game release would be better) but for now, it's the best thing they have.

Indeed, and the most important thing for them is to push Wildstar off the main headlines and into the second page.

[brothernads]

What do you guys expect them to do to counter WS? It's not like they can just release WoD. The alpha/beta is all they CAN do.

And it's not about people actually getting in to test, it's about the streams that will be up and everybody watching it. Maybe public testing isn't the best way to counter another game (obviously a major content patch or your own game release would be better) but for now, it's the best thing they have.

Well alpha/beta is not all they can do - they can release some or all of the garrison blogs, maybe another artcraft with a new model preview, more "alpha" patch notes to bring some attention to WoD. Or (however unlikely) they can do nothing at all.

But, I agree with your point - alpha/beta is what they should do. The only thing that will truly bring the hype back to WoD, in the face of a competitive MMO release and several more months of live content drought, is to open external testing with no NDA so the bloggers/streamers/news sites can go nuts.

[Deleted]

I was one of those people that thought beta HAD to start in January... then February... then March... then....?

I have given up now, seems like it will never come. I look forward to the day I get surprised!

[Edoran]

Well alpha/beta is not all they can do - they can release some or all of the garrison blogs, maybe another artcraft with a new model preview, more "alpha" patch notes to bring some attention to WoD. Or (however unlikely) they can do nothing at all.

But, I agree with your point - alpha/beta is what they should do. The only thing that will truly bring the hype back to WoD, in the face of a competitive MMO release and several more months of live content drought, is to open external testing with no NDA so the bloggers/streamers/news sites can go nuts.

My argument was to those who say "public alpha/beta won't do anything to counter WS." They could barrage us with blogs from now until a couple weeks after its release, but I don't think that will be particularly effective.

[brothernads]

I was one of those people that thought beta HAD to start in January... then February... then March... then....?

I have given up now, seems like it will never come. I look forward to the day I get surprised!

Which is kind of the reason why I remain skeptical that this alpha/beta testing cycle will be radically different in duration and scope than previous expansions. I'm all for Blizzard surprising me--but until they do, their words will sound eerily like their past hopes to "release content quicker" and "never have such a long final tier again."

[ATZenith]

Yeah I am looking forward to the Choppers episode..

Alpha will never come lol

[brothernads]

My argument was to those who say "public alpha/beta won't do anything to counter WS." They could barrage us with blogs from now until a couple weeks after its release, but I don't think that will be particularly effective.

Yes, I agree - alpha/beta is the only thing that will have a meaningful impact on taking headlines and eyeballs away from W*.

[Edoran]

Which is kind of the reason why I remain skeptical that this alpha/beta testing cycle will be radically different in duration and scope than previous expansions. I'm all for Blizzard surprising me--but until they do, their words will sound eerily like their past hopes to "release content quicker" and "never have such a long final tier again."

To your point, when was the last time we can say Blizzard surprised us?

[Arbs]

They are clever at all or Wildstar is dumb. They release it now. So on the timescale that Wildstar announced, they have no content once draenor is out. Which make it easy for people to go back to Draenor.

Still think Raids in Wildstar are boring. Played the 20 man and cleared with a Random Group :-(

Anyway, back to topic!

I still think that no Maintenance could be some good sign to get Alpha up and ready.

Shhh Ehnoah, your suppose to pretend their hard or the fanatics will come after you.

Honestly the raids are very good, but this reminds me alot of Rift where they though their raids were hard & actually they were full of bugs & gating an that was difficulty & guilds just blew right through them.

[asphyx5]

I was one of those people that thought beta HAD to start in January... then February... then March... then....?

I have given up now, seems like it will never come. I look forward to the day I get surprised!

at this late of stage nothing is gonna surprise me one bit , this siege raid is so overdrawn it makes me puke.

[Arbs]

I was one of those people that thought beta HAD to start in January... then February... then March... then....?

I have given up now, seems like it will never come. I look forward to the day I get surprised!

Lol I thought we would of had the expansion in June, I was so sure .

[Spirthealer]

Lol I thought we would of had the expansion in June, I was so sure .

sadly we will be lucky to see beta in June

[brothernads]

Any chance they are planning another "press event" before alpha/beta starts, like they did with MoP? Or is the new emphasis on blogs replacing that?

Also, anyone know whether any dev interviews with podcasts or websites have been scheduled in the coming days or next week? That could suggest alpha/beta is close.

[Arbs]

Which is kind of the reason why I remain skeptical that this alpha/beta testing cycle will be radically different in duration and scope than previous expansions. I'm all for Blizzard surprising me--but until they do, their words will sound eerily like their past hopes to "release content quicker" and "never have such a long final tier again."

Exactly everything that they have done in the past is completely thrown out the window & their are doing something different. From the looks of it this could be a shorter Alpha / Beta than we all expected, Who knows they will surprise us.