Did I miss something?

[Deleted]

It's not free, they're getting you to pay 168$ to play two games, if you decide not to pay the full 168$ they take it away from you, and then you're given the option to buy it for 69$ or whatever it costs retail. Nothing is free, it's a good deal if you're going to play wow anyway, but for those of us that were thinking about leaving the game it's just going to secure blizzards revenue for an entire year which i'm sure is a major concern when you're running a MMO.

Yes it is for free. There is no higher subscription fee for WoW when you take the annual pass, if there would be a higher fee then it would not be free. However, in it's current implementation it is free. When you play WoW for a year.

[Awakar]

Big difference between testing an MMO and a game like D3. What do you want? The whole game to test?

Yeah, this isn't an MMO, where there's a ton of content that needs to be tested for all sorts of potential issues. This beta is mainly for testing Battle.net functionality and nothing more. Balancing a game with 5 classes and solo players or small groups is much easier than say...balancing an entire 25 man raid, plus 10 mans, and 5 mans, and solo content, and quests, and all sorts of stuff. Blizzard can handle most of the testing for D3 on their own.

[Predom]

Yes it is for free. There is no higher subscription fee for WoW when you take the annual pass, if there would be a higher fee then it would not be free. However, in it's current implementation it is free. When you play WoW for a year.

Nothing is free, it's included, blizzard is still going to gain revenue, and you're still going to spend that same money with them, you just feel like you're getting a better deal.

sorry if i've dragged the thread offtopic, i won't even try and push the included vs free discussion.

to the OP i'll just play the broken record and say that it's a beta for network/hardware, most of the bugs and issues you're going to have are already being dealt with, but if you do find something gamebreaking they have a whole forum for that over at their website.

[Noomz]

Then its not a real beta then eh? If all your doing is testing part of act I.. what can they possibly get out of that? Most of your issues are going to come later with the combination of various abilities you gain as you lvl.

However being mostly a glorified single player game ( and dont take this wrong, I love Diablo but thats what it is) I guess they dont really need much of a beta anyway. IF they arent even allowing feed back as the OP said then it is pretty much a glorified Demo to drum up interest. Thats ok and perfectly acceptable but it is what it is.

Hardware testing. How things work on different computers.
Class/spell systems.
Server testing, which encompasses more then I could probably be arsed to write down.

It's a beta and you're privelieged to be in it and yet here you are bitching about how you can't play the entire game before it's released.
I get the feeling Blizzard knows some people act like you do and they can't expect anything from you. So why would they invite more people and let them all play the entire game?
Oh why do I expect people to use their freaking head and some common bloody sense? I always get so disappointed.

[Vongimi]

The major gameplay changes that have come to the D3 beta would greatly go against your whole "its just a demo" arguement. Removing of skills, adding skills, completely changing the gameplay of the demon hunter, AH testing, stuff like that. Not to mention all the background infrastructure changes (like whatever they did to fix that massive week-long server instability they had there for a bit). If you are just now figuring out that you can only go to the Skeleton King in the beta... then you have no room to comment on how you think its not a beta test at all because you don't have nearly enough information.

This isnt an MMO, the public testing doesnt need to be as intensive.

[Deleted]

I cant see how testing the same miniscule part of the game that every other beta tester has tested since the beta started will help them at all. I cant even fully test out the abilities. I was under the impression that reports and gameplay questionaires were part of current beta practice, I never got one in the time I spent on D3, Whilst testing swtor, they popped up after almsot every mission and everytime you logged out. This isnt testing as far as I'm concerned, its a glorified demo to make BLizz look good, but it has failed miserably. Blizz needs to take several pages out of EA/biowares book on beta testing. This is nothing more than a demo you get on the cover of a magazine... not a BETA imo.

Yes I agree that does sound strange, I've only been part of a few game betas but they all had in game play questionnaires during play on top of a beta testers forum.

[PhilCosby]

I cant see how testing the same miniscule part of the game that every other beta tester has tested since the beta started will help them at all. I cant even fully test out the abilities. I was under the impression that reports and gameplay questionaires were part of current beta practice, I never got one in the time I spent on D3, Whilst testing swtor, they popped up after almsot every mission and everytime you logged out. This isnt testing as far as I'm concerned, its a glorified demo to make BLizz look good, but it has failed miserably. Blizz needs to take several pages out of EA/biowares book on beta testing. This is nothing more than a demo you get on the cover of a magazine... not a BETA imo.

Do us all a favor and don't ever work in the video game industry. Thanks.

[MestHoop]

Yes I agree that does sound strange, I've only been part of a few game betas but they all had in game play questionnaires during play on top of a beta testers forum.

IF that is what they want the players to test in that version of the beta. Blizz obviously doesn't need the average closed-tester to do more than what is currently available. Keep in mind, D3 is NOT an mmo. Don't compare MMO betas to this one

[Jakexe]

Gamer's feel so fucking privileged these days, you got into the beta be happy with that. You got to test the game for free and yet you find something to bitch about, fuck off.

[xervyn]

your testing servers not mechanics.

[Deleted]

IF that is what they want the players to test in that version of the beta. Blizz obviously doesn't need the average closed-tester to do more than what is currently available. Keep in mind, D3 is NOT an mmo. Don't compare MMO betas to this one

I've only taken part in a few betas yet only one of them was an mmo, to be fair and I don't want to come across as rude but I don't think you know what you're talking about.

[rezoacken]

Did you test Sc2 solo campaign during beta ? No ?

Same shit here they wont give you the whole game with all its spoilers. They just offer you what they are comfortable with sharing. Now move on.

[re1gn1te]

Why do ignorant people feel the need to spew their ignorance to others. They aren't testing if every level of the whole damn game works.... How can people compare D3 to that shitty starwars game? It's not the same type of game and dose not need the same type of testing. Why aren't people raging over not having a full play through of every game that ever gets Beta tested ever, before it comes out? Because that would be illogical. Use the tiny little brains you're all born with and think about what you're saying for a second.

[Elektrik]

Blizz needs to take several pages out of EA/biowares book on beta testing. This is nothing more than a demo you get on the cover of a magazine... not a BETA imo.

I really hope this post is a joke. Oh, it isn't? Wow. You just signed up for beta so you could play a pre-release of the game I'm guessing?

Just because you aren't contributing to the beta testing process doesn't mean other people aren't. There are tons of posts reporting issues with pretty much every aspect of the game. This isn't an MMO, so it kind of makes sense that it's not beta tested like an MMO, no?

Also, I have a feeling that Blizzard kind of knows what they're doing when it comes to releasing games.