World of Warcraft has started Beta testing
 

They already had beta signups about a month ago, and the beta started this past week. The great thing about this beta is, unlike most MMORPG's, the beta doesn't have an NDA, meaning the testers can post anything and everything they think about the game. You can check out their impressions here:

World of Warcraft Beta

Having played a couple MMORPG's this is the one I am most looking forward to. I enjoyed Daoc, but eventually got bored with it. I got hyped about SWG, then felt let down big time when it came out. Being a big fan of blizzard and the Warcraft games I am hoping they "get it right" as far as MMORPG's go, by applying the same polish they seem to apply to their other games. I am just trying not to get too excited about the game, only to be let down a la SWG. But they already "seem" farther along in beta than SWG was at release, with extensive quests and content, and a beta with no NDA makes it seem like they don't have much to hide.

Just wanted to get some dvdtalkers impressions if we have any MMORPG players here.

guess I wasn't picked for the beta then :(

It will be interesting to see how this game turns out, that is with so much of Blizzard's head talen taken leave.

Anyone here get in? I know I didn't. :( I have yet to get into a Blizzard beta test.

same here. I have never gotten in on a blizzard beta.
It's about time they started the beta, when was the signup - like 1-2 months ago?

my friend got a message that he will get in on the second wave of testers. Knowing my luck, I will be accepted when they test server loads, about a week before the beta ends.

I will gladly accept your invite then :) You should be happy if you get picked at all.

I didn't sign up, not really interested in testing it out. I will wait til they have most of the bugs out when they release it. Plus I couldn't take having to restart my character over again once it hits shelves.

Has any MMORPG been released bug free?

Of course not, but Dark Age of Camelot was very playable when it came out.

I forgot to sign up for this, I tried when they first put up the sign up page but the server was hammered, it was so slow I gave up.

But then again I've never gotten in a blizzard beta anyway.

How is it?

So what is going to make this game stand out from all the othe MMORGs?

Isn't it more along the lines of an RPG than a strategy game?

I don't expect WOW to be bug free, but I do expect less bugs than say SWG although that isn't saying much. I expect it to have some bugs, but still be rather playable and stable on release along the lines of Dark Age of Camelot. We will see if this happens though. I don't think any MMORPG can be completely bug free, its a matter of relativity.


It doesn't sound like they are doing anything completely revolutionary, but they do have some interesting things.

The game seems to be quest based, with A LOT of quests for leveling rather than grinding for xp. Whether or not this works in practice I am not sure, but from reading the beta forums, most people seem to be questing.

PVP has not been discussed in too much detail, and I don't think it has been implemented full scale in beta yet, but the description I have heard is, the plans for pvp are something along the lines of Warcraft III meets Battlefield 1942, with siege weapons, objectives for either side, etc. Of course since this part hasn't been shown in beta thats just what I have read.

I'm hoping they pull out a great MMORPG, I don't think it is radically different from anything out there, but hopefully a much improved and polished game. I am hoping the pvp system ends up good, with large scale combat and meaningful rewards for the winning sides. If the pvp doesn't come together I probably won't play, as I get bored with PVE.

The game looks great, but content wise, I don't really know where they are going. The whole kingdom vs. kingdom aspect is being overdone now with Asheron's Call 2, Dark Age of Camelot and Shadowbane all concentrating on it- its time for a company to release something totally new, which this doesn't seem to be, although I will still be playing it as it looks great at this point.