Official Beta Announcement

[TimeTravel]

why isnt this on MMO-Ch frontpage?
This is the best news for MMO's in years!!!!

MMO is mainly a wow / kids website.

[Slaughty8]

The major issue with this statement (and I realize many of you won't see it as such, but it is) is that he is giving firm dates for their beta phases. This means can mean two things; the game is pretty much as far along as they want it to be for release (content-wise), and they have taken care of most of the major issues they intend to troubleshoot.

It is *very* bad to give beta phase timelines because what do you do if a press invitee discovers a hugely game breaking bug one week before public beta? You have to stop the whole process and you then have 'fans' calling for your blood.

The life of a developer that gives timelines... I don't envy it.

They ain't like blizz tbh. If this "bug of death" scenario will occur, they won't push the release date, instead, they will release the game and soon after patch it. They know that millions of ppl are waiting for GW2 and already it is much less buggy than ToR. Also GW2 has got awesome minimal requirements, so...they are full of win.

Can't wait for GW2, no matter how many bugs are there, I will play it as much as I can.

[Scripted Sigma]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but it wouldn't surprise me to see D3's release share something in common with this thread...

I was going to say the same thing.
It wouldn't surprise me both release dates. As long as they don't take forever to.

[Wynnyelle]

About time. =)

[TimeTravel]

I think the Penny drops why MoP is going for the asian theme since asia wont have access to this game straight away.

[Deleted]

Also... does anyone remember fanday t-shirts date?

28-6-12

/10 char

[Mothhive]

Woo hoo, great news!

I know he was being intentionally vague about release, but I'm betting it's going to be May or June. It's Arenanet, if they've given concrete dates for various beta phases, they're obviously happy with the state of the game right now and just need more testing to make sure everything is as awesome as possible!

---------- Post added 2012-01-23 at 01:37 PM ----------

I think the Penny drops why MoP is going for the asian theme since asia wont have access to this game straight away.

I'm pretty sure GW2 will be coming out in Asia at the same time as the rest of the world. When they showed the Korean version of the demo, it looked just as polished as the NA/EU ones we've seen, or even more polished in places as it was a later build.

[GrodinLB]

Great news to wake up to.

[Deleted]

I think the Penny drops why MoP is going for the asian theme since asia wont have access to this game straight away.

Anet already said they're doing a global launch, if they didn't it would be a waste of their server design that they use.

OT: Good news to wake up to today, now just need a time machine! Where's Mif when you need an Asura...

[Durzlla]

Woot! June release!! That means my school work won't suffer!!

[Exerionx]

Woot! June release!! That means my school work won't suffer!!

Sigh, my mid year exams :<

One word

FUCK

[Lefuu]

Then this will depend on the Beta testers. If they actually report bugs and such then things would hopefully get fixed promptly.
Still wont be December.

Implying that SWTOR testers didnt report bugs... i don't think so

[BlairPhoenix]

For those worrying about the statement 'later this year' I honestly just think that's Arenanet's way of covering their ass in case something goes horribly wrong during beta and they have to push back release. Otherwise, I think if things go smoothly, we are looking at a May/June release for sure.

[Lucky_]

Implying that SWTOR testers didnt report bugs... i don't think so

I remember bugs, severe problems with features that couldn't be classified as bugs but just bad design, many other issues being reported and pointedly not fixed in the release.

...So many didn't get fixed. Couple actually got WORSE then in beta in release, like the removal of high-res textures.

[Deleted]

For those worrying about the statement 'later this year' I honestly just think that's Arenanet's way of covering their ass in case something goes horribly wrong during beta and they have to push back release. Otherwise, I think if things go smoothly, we are looking at a May/June release for sure.

I'm thinking exactly the same

[Squirrelbanes]

Anet said the open beta will be largely for publicity. The way the statement was worded shows this quite clearly.
It's not really a bug test. That's just not how they roll...I remember reading that the development process they use means they internally beta test constantly and iron out bugs.

They also said that they expect the beta period to be short.
Think we can optimistically look for an early summer release

[semantic]

Well, considering D3 has been in beta for many months now, and was recently postponed for some additional design work to be done... I know it's not the same studio, but ANet is equally perfectionist.

ANet are using a different approach to design/implementation. We won't be seeing major overhauls based on feedback from the remaining 'testing'.

Unless Jesus comes back in the next couple of months and says, "hey, you know this game really needs mounts at release... and aerial combat, yeah. can you guys work that in?", there won't be any re-designing happening.

[Deleted]

http://i.imgur.com/sgl3I.jpg
anyone seen this before?

[Deleted]

Sigh, my mid year exams :<

One word

FUCK

Same. That's going to suck for my exams.

---------- Post added 2012-01-23 at 04:24 PM ----------

I'm thinking exactly the same

Yeh, it's how I see it too. It's always been like this, they don't want to have deadlines because something can always happen.

---------- Post added 2012-01-23 at 04:25 PM ----------

http://i.imgur.com/sgl3I.jpg
anyone seen this before?

That date in the picture is becoming eerily likely.

[jac_Arcanis]

Implying that SWTOR testers didnt report bugs... i don't think so

Implying I said anything otherwise.
As a player of Swtor I have seen very few bugs so far, I think the testers did a good job,is why I'm hoping this game will be out shortly after the Beta periods are done.