6+ months of alpha is normal for an expansion ?

[jbombard]

When a company starts alpha has more to do with company culture than anything else, there is not set standard for what an alpha version is. Beta on the other hand people have much more well defined standards for what they think the quality level should be to call something beta. So really the length of the alpha doesn't really mean anything, because people define alpha so differently.

[Snes]

i think blizz are more worried about wildstar than any other mmo. not saying wowkiller, but it seems like it has major traction right now.

I remember when Elder Scrolls, Star Wars, Guild Wars, and Warhammer had traction.

[Azrile]

By working on WoD since the launch of MoP they mean one dude sat down and scribbled out some ideas on his lunch break.

The drops of mayonnaise onto the sheet of paper have made it confusing for the individual developers to read properly and has become more of an inkblot interpretation.

Exactly. The same way they have already said they are ´working´ on the next to expansions already... which probably entails a 1 hour meeting, once per month to talk about the setting and maybe classes/races and possibly the endboss.

[BananaHandsB]

It is the very definition of Alpha. As soon as the program functions in any reasonable way, it is alpha. As soon as Blizzard turned on an internal server that was running any code for WoD, it was alpha.

Not true. The only measure of alpha status in this day and age of gaming is dev updates, and they claimed FaF alpha less than a month ago. Anything else is pure speculation.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/134...2014-4-18-2014: 6.0.1

[Deleted]

You have to understand that the devs need that time and that they are really working hard:



I wonder if alcohol is one of those reasons they remove things like flying.

"Dont fly while being drunken!"

[ablib]

Not true. The only measure of alpha status in this day and age of gaming is dev updates, and they claimed FaF alpha less than a month ago. Anything else is pure speculation.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/134...2014-4-18-2014: 6.0.1

Dev updates don't define what a software release cycle is. Working copies of Warlords were working at Blizzcon. That means WoD was in at least Alpha at that time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwar...ase_life_cycle

[Azrile]

Not true. The only measure of alpha status in this day and age of gaming is dev updates, and they claimed FaF alpha less than a month ago. Anything else is pure speculation.

Exactly my point, we have no idea what they call Alpha, or when they start calling it alpha.. but in computer programming, when you get the main code running, it is alpha. If it doesn´t spit back an instant-error, it is alpha. As soon as they have a server running WoD content, it is alpha. Now later than that comes Friends and Family alpha, and at that point the server is able to be accessed from outside Blizzard... which is what we started a few weeks ago... but FF Alpha is MUCH later than alpha.

But I agree with you, what everyone calls alpha changes and is meaningless to discuss in regards to what the OP is talking about.

[Daagar]

Not true. The only measure of alpha status in this day and age of gaming is dev updates, and they claimed FaF alpha less than a month ago. Anything else is pure speculation.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/134...2014-4-18-2014: 6.0.1

You're playing semantics here. FaF alpha is merely when non-employees first could access WoD outside of a press-release/controlled event - obviously employees were in 'alpha' long before. If you really want to play semantics, alpha started with the very first build that wasn't part of the 5.x line of code, playable or not. It isn't a hugely useful definition for player purposes as we indeed care more about when it was opened up to non-employees as far as timing goes (ie., that's why we start counting from FaF).

[Hyve]

They're working on the following ~2 Expansions as well, although that's most likely Theme, Concept, Design and such, rather than Development. The same goes for all previous expansions, so they've been working on the concept of Warlords for a good ~2 years now.

But yes, this is normal. Alpha is the most critical part of development, so it's better they take their time and get it right. Trust me, Blizzard doesn't want to delay people, lose subscribers and bore us with ~1+ Year of Siege of Orgrimmar, but it's a risk they have to take to develop on an expansion.

[SL1200]

It's normal for this expansion. More alpha testing less beta testing. Hopefully they end up with a better product.

[RoKPaNda]

i think blizz are more worried about wildstar than any other mmo. not saying wowkiller, but it seems like it has major traction right now. They will want to thwart the growth if they can given the development slate of WoD & current state of Siege of Orgrimmar

I doubt they're all that worried about it. WoW's sub base in the west seems to be pretty stable, it's weathered a LOT of MMOs over the years and the Blizzard faithful seem to remain faithful. WildStar isn't really anything all that special. That's not me saying it's a bad game or anything, it's just another MMO. SWTOR seemed to have major traction at release, sold really well, and then it couldn't hold player interest beyond the first 2 months or so. ArchAge had a lot of traction amongst the hardcore community about 2 weeks ago and now the novelty has worn off already.

[Deleted]

There are no rules. Lots of changes coming in for WOD, so it's going to take a long time. This is a good thing. They will get it right.

Patience..

[Deleted]

Really?

On topic, there's really nothing to say about it without just pulling stuff out of rectums because no one here works for Blizzard.

But I haz a friend who works therrr!!!

[Frozenbeef]

Given Wildstars release next month and Blizzards attempts to disrupt upcoming MMOs I predict beta will launch then or shortly after.

As i assumed, blizzard is pure evil :S You would think that fellow game developers would appreciate others work 0o

[Hyve]

As i assumed, blizzard is pure evil :S You would think that fellow game developers would appreciate others work 0o

I'm sure they do, but they're also a Business. If I was in Blizzard shoes, I'd release the Beta ~3 weeks after Wildstar goes live. That's the perfect amount of time for people to get bored of it, and suffer from the same 'Launch Day' issues that every game faces, and then they'll pile back into the Beta because that's all that is available.

[Twotonsteak]

Isnt they been working in WoD right after the launch of Mop ?

I cant really understand it.

NO 5.5 and NO beta, nothing?

You know what's normal? Players whining when Blizzard takes time, then whining when Blizzard rushes content and it's full of bugs.

[Deleted]

I'm sure they do, but they're also a Business. If I was in Blizzard shoes, I'd release the Beta ~3 weeks after Wildstar goes live. That's the perfect amount of time for people to get bored of it, and suffer from the same 'Launch Day' issues that every game faces, and then they'll pile back into the Beta because that's all that is available.

wont happen with wildstar, as there are 20 mans 40 mans and an insane amount of content, will be more then 3 weeks hehe.

[Deleted]

Anyone saying this is normal has no idea wtf he's talking about.

This has been the most delayed expansion EVER. Fortunately, Wildstar will force WoD beta to appear shortly(before).

[OzoAndIndi]

Isnt they been working in WoD right after the launch of Mop ?

Well, that stuff does take a while ya know.. and if they had to create a previous version of zones we've always known as Outlands... so 'new' zones despite I assume same names, all the models for said zones, and player character model updates, new quests and storylines, all the graphics creations, codeing stuff, test test test retest, oh need new gear, dungeon stuff, etc etc test more and more...textures...lighting...new creature models... more etc... (I would include concept discussions and art, but I assume that may have already started at least a little before then.) (Edit out that last bit... for some reason I thought we were still in 2013 there for a moment. >.>) If only Blizz could harness the magic that exists in their game they could pull it out of their asses as quickly as people wanted. Though that might hurt.

[Halicia]

It's normal for this expansion. More alpha testing less beta testing. Hopefully they end up with a better product.

honestly, it feels like the alpha's more developed at this point then they were during the "open" beta phases of previous expansions... but again, that could just be a gut feeling.

i know it would prolly make a lot of happy customers if their beta phase was faster than previous incarnations too, and customer satisfaction is a valuable commodity in an MMO.

again, i'm not saying it *will* be faster, i got a feeling we're looking at the same schedule as previous expansions, but i'll keep hoping. =)