Beta invites, not really that random ?

[Jaesaces]

in vast MAJORITY of them, theres a Starcraft 2 beta key

You mean the beta key you could get from pre-ordering the game? The fact that anyone and their mother could get a Starcraft key might affect this. (Besides, the personality types that show off their key are probably the types that like to be elitist and buy beta keys to games anyways)

I have a key and I do NOT have a Starcraft one.

[Enhshamanlol]

i think it is just as random as the random BG "SotA x15 in a row"

this i mean ffs, wtb something else then SoTA

[Deleted]

this i mean ffs, wtb something else then SoTA

sota is win!

hop on a demo and pve gear pew!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sulika]

dude. your thinking too small minded, people who work in all aspects of Activision Blizzard got keys. Also your thinking all the EU servers are run from USA? There is a blizzard office in Ireland and also another huge one in Paris where blizzard EU is based.

You dont SIGN an NDA you just accept a T&C like when you download a new patch. I think you dont really have much information that your going on with on this conspiracy theory

For what its worth I play from Ireland and the ping I get to the Cata beta server is about twice what I get to the live servers so it is quite possible that even the EU beta servers are in the US. The load seems pretty low too, a quick check at the moment shows:

"/who 80" - 42 players found.
"/who worgen 1-10" - 42 players found.
"/who worgen 11-85" - 12 players found.

Granted its 4am in europe but that suggests that there are probably only around 100-150 players total online on the beta realm at present. Anyway the point is, the high ping is not caused by high load though I agree, it is most likely that the server is in some european blizz office and not in the dedicated hosting enviroment.

[Deleted]

dude. your thinking too small minded, people who work in all aspects of Activision Blizzard got keys. Also your thinking all the EU servers are run from USA? There is a blizzard office in Ireland and also another huge one in Paris where blizzard EU is based.

You dont SIGN an NDA you just accept a T&C like when you download a new patch. I think you dont really have much information that your going on with on this conspiracy theory

Your thinking way outside of the box. The game itself, the expansions, all of the ACTUAL game are not developed in Europe, in Ireland, or in france, its all done at Blizzard HQ in the USA. The information i have are noticeable trends, and from some of the replies, to be fair, a couple of other people have noticed these trends aswell. Theres a difference between having a call center in Ireland, and having an actual gameplay development center there.

[Mondroc]

I think what alot of people have noticed is that someone is frustrated at not getting invited and instead of thinking "Oh well, that's life" they are thinking "How could I not be invited? Mischievious things are afoot!"

[Ringthane]

Random and a uniform distribution are not even remotely close to the same thing. You seem to be laboring under the impression that everyone needs to have an equal chance for it to count as random, and that's not the case. Plus the vast majority are pretty damn random. The first ones aren't as random because they want in all the reliable and needed sources of information. It will get more "random" as the beta testing goes on. Of course add-on devs and whatnot would get keys first, would you really have it any other way?

I don't think they're being misleading at all. Yea, they aren't 100% completely random, but you're getting caught up in the exceptions not the rule.

Yeah, for it to be truly random, everyone needs an equal chance. I'm sick and tired of seeing the same people getting invites, just because they have a cool web site or their name is well known on the official forums. What about those of us who don't have the resources to run a web site? What about those of us who have been loyal to this game for five damn years? Don't we deserve something besides a little pixel present when we log in on the anniversary?

And I am one of those who would report things. I report stuff all the time on the PTRs. I would do it here too. I'm just sick and tired of seeing the same people getting the taint-lick from Blizzard.

[Furbolg]

I think what alot of people have noticed is that someone is frustrated at not getting invited and instead of thinking "Oh well, that's life" they are thinking "How could I not be invited? Mischievious things are afoot!"

Of course. They did this just to crush my spirit.

[Deleted]

Yeah, for it to be truly random, everyone needs an equal chance. I'm sick and tired of seeing the same people getting invites, just because they have a cool web site or their name is well known on the official forums. What about those of us who don't have the resources to run a web site? What about those of us who have been loyal to this game for five damn years? Don't we deserve something besides a little pixel present when we log in on the anniversary?

And I am one of those who would report things. I report stuff all the time on the PTRs. I would do it here too. I'm just sick and tired of seeing the same people getting the taint-lick from Blizzard.

Couldnt expand on that, exact same situation as me to be honest.

[DeiVias]

Not all invites are random obviously since they want people like wow.com/mmo champ editors, top pvpers, top pver's etc etc in it but a lot are random.

You'll either get one or wont, is it really that big a deal.

[Mondroc]

Of course. They did this just to crush my spirit.

Exactly! Instead of them thinking "Who would make the best beta testers?" they actually dedicate time and resources in finding out whose spirit they can destroy the most by not inviting! I've solved it.

[Zantumall]

Yeah, so i really, really do not think Beta invites are random as much as blizzard make them out to be, my first reason for this is, have you noticed the screenshots people post on their battlnet games, in vast MAJORITY of them, theres a Starcraft 2 beta key? I've got 5 irl friends who play WoW and Starcraft, and which signed up for ALL beta's as soon as the option came available on Battle.net, and neither of us recieved a single beta invite. Yeah, sure, unlucky, it can happen, but another thing aswell, a lot of streams that are currently up such as Joyma's, were in the WOTLK Beta last year, and he lives in Belgium, so theres no way he was in the F&F alpha. There seems to be a trend of people who were picked to participate in the WOTLK testing, are in the Cataclysm beta test too. I think its great for people who actually report bugs and do what the beta is intended for, but theres just no way it can be random. There are 14 million wow players worldwide, i would of thought something like 25% of the people that signed up for the Beta should get a key, just for the testing purposes, to get it out of the way.

Anybody else noticed any trends between who does / does not get a beta invitation? Im sure theres a certain level of Paranoia in what im saying, but surely it cant all be random, the chances of getting into a beta two expansions in a row is just ridiculously low, and i know like 4-5 streams that i remember watching in the WOTLK beta that have Cataclysm beta keys. Coincidence? I think not.

I think it's random. I got into the Cata beta but not into the SC2 or Wrath betas. I've never recruited a friend, bought a celestial steed, or really done anything for Blizzard that would make them more likely to give me a key. On the other hand, one of my IRL friends has recruited 5 people, myself included, and has been playing for significantly longer than I have, but has never been in any betas. If it was some kind of reward system or something, he'd be in the beta, not me.

[Zu]

I have SC2 beta and I am convinced that neither of my 2 accounts will ever be accepted into cata beta

[eulynn]

I was in LK beta and SC2 beta, and I am NOT in cataclysm beta

/wrists

[Cactrot]

Yeah, for it to be truly random, everyone needs an equal chance. I'm sick and tired of seeing the same people getting invites, just because they have a cool web site or their name is well known on the official forums. What about those of us who don't have the resources to run a web site? What about those of us who have been loyal to this game for five damn years? Don't we deserve something besides a little pixel present when we log in on the anniversary?

And I am one of those who would report things. I report stuff all the time on the PTRs. I would do it here too. I'm just sick and tired of seeing the same people getting the taint-lick from Blizzard.

I've been loyal to the game for 5 damn years too. I report stuff too. I only got an invite because I managed to find some strings to pull. I never got into BC or wotlk beta either. I watched as a friend's GF got an invite to wotlk beta when she had NEVER SET FOOT in any of the BC zones. She didn't even finish the DK starting quests in the beta. I feel your pain. It sucks. But not everyone is going to get a key, and expecting one isn't even remotely reasonable. Random means that sometimes you will get screwed, accept it.

And finally, no random does not mean everyone has an equal chance. That's a uniform distribution. Ask any statistician.

[Jaesaces]

People that get personal invites to beta test are not counted as part of the "randomly selected" individuals. You have just as good a chance as anyone else with the random selections.

Those who are close to Blizzard and already provide excellent feedback in the form of their websites and podcasts probably deserve an invite. They're paying for WoW, the server maintenance, the internet connection required to run such a site, etc.

Good on you for providing good feedback. I wish you luck as the psuedo-random number generator churns out the next set of beta invites.

P.S. - If it makes you feel better, your class is probably bugged to hell right now (Paladins, Druids, Warlocks, etc. are all bugged in a major way right now)

[Deleted]

I think it's random. I got into the Cata beta but not into the SC2 or Wrath betas. I've never recruited a friend, bought a celestial steed, or really done anything for Blizzard that would make them more likely to give me a key. On the other hand, one of my IRL friends has recruited 5 people, myself included, and has been playing for significantly longer than I have, but has never been in any betas. If it was some kind of reward system or something, he'd be in the beta, not me.

Well, dont know if anybody has seen it, but there some 10 year old kid, not even legally old enough to play the damn game, streaming his cataclysm beta, just doing stupid stuff like dancing around on a goblin, jumping in the water for fun, is that really a good idea? Sure, kids will be kids, but why on earth would you put up a Beta for TESTING, which is the entire purpose, to have an immature kid, who lets be honest, has absolutely no care in the world about reporting bugs, which is fine, as he is a kid, but still. Its like recruiting a blind man to be stationed on a watch tower. I just think blizzard need to give players back the respect the players give them, all of my friends that play wow have played as long as i have, almost 6 years now, not a single beta. Not to sound like a complete douche or anything, but half of the people ive seen on the cataclysm beta screen dont even know the game, e.g, somebody said on the chat "Go and see eastern plaguelands" and the guy streaming it was like "Weres that? Northrend right?"

[Cactrot]

Well, dont know if anybody has seen it, but there some 10 year old kid, not even legally old enough to play the damn game, streaming his cataclysm beta, just doing stupid stuff like dancing around on a goblin, jumping in the water for fun, is that really a good idea? Sure, kids will be kids, but why on earth would you put up a Beta for TESTING, which is the entire purpose, to have an immature kid, who lets be honest, has absolutely no care in the world about reporting bugs, which is fine, as he is a kid, but still. Its like recruiting a blind man to be stationed on a watch tower. I just think blizzard need to give players back the respect the players give them, all of my friends that play wow have played as long as i have, almost 6 years now, not a single beta. Not to sound like a complete douche or anything, but half of the people ive seen on the cataclysm beta screen dont even know the game, e.g, somebody said on the chat "Go and see eastern plaguelands" and the guy streaming it was like "Weres that? Northrend right?"

Where do you live that any age isn't old enough to be legally playing the game? In the united states a toddler is legally old enough to be playing.

It is unfortunate that someone who won't appreciate or use the opportunity get some of the invites. You can see my previous post for my cool story on that subject. It can be quite frustrating. But that's the nature of random. There really isn't much that can be done about it. It's a lot like blizzcon really. There are way more people that want to go or to get in than will possibly be able to, and there isn't really a fair way to determine who deserves it and doesn't.

[Noldi]

Maybe everytime you troll in chat, forums or act immature your accounts get flagged for "no beta invites". Cause so far those I have met in the beta have all been pleasant people.

[Lolretadin]

I'm not in a high end guild, all I have on my Battle.net account is World Of Warcraft, and I still got an invite in the first wave. I also have guildies who, like me, arent in a high end guild and only play World Of Warcraft who got the BETA invite. It is random if you ask me.