Great Timing on Beta

The fact is we can't invite every paying customer into the beta test process. It wouldn't make for a good environment to collect feedback or get focused testing, not to mention the number of test realms we'd need to run.

Yes, some people are granted access to the beta through promotional opportunities, because they're a part of our fansite program, etc. These invites still make up an incredibly small percentage of the total number of people invited this week. Also, it's been a couple of days since beta started. We will be inviting thousands of people just about every week -- provided we have the room for more testers -- to join the Cataclysm beta.

It simply isn't reasonable to expect that, because one individual pays to play the game, they should be given immediate access to test the upcoming expansion. That is not the purpose of a beta test. Aside from the few promotional opportunities we have had where people could score beta keys, we do not invite the player base at-large as though it's included with everyone's subscription fees. We make it fair and randomly invite as many people as possible as often as possible.

To clarify, Bobby Kotick is not a developer or producer for World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, or any other Blizzard game. He is the CEO of Activision Blizzard, our video games publisher.

Q u o t e:


Yeah whatever so some player that has been playing the game for a month that has ABSOLUTELY no freaking clue about the game should get in over someone whos played since release? Maybe there should be some entitlement. If I was some type of new player I would hope veteran players get in before me, because unlike me a new player they actually deserve to be there.

The idea is that a new player's perspective can be just as important as a veteran player's perspective in terms of testing content and systems, especially given all of the changes being made to the initial leveling experience. It has nothing to do with customer loyalty. We appreciate your loyalty, but we need as many types of testers as possible and can't invite them all, nor are we going to look through a player's purchase history to determine the quality of testing he/she will do.

Q u o t e:


Yet it isnt. Especially since us veterens of your game have a concept of what you're looking for in each development cycle as well as what we need to expect from your feed back people to properly shape your classes. Ie. BC beta feed back vs WoTLK beta feedback.

I'm not interested in arguing this given that we have a core philosophy we feel works extremely well for our beta tests and provides us with a wide mix of enthusiastic testers. I'll simply point out that there are many things veteran players may overlook which newer players might not. If someone is new to the game and can give us direct feedback about areas where we may not be properly teaching them or steering them in the right direction to become a better player, that's extremely important to us.

Q u o t e:
did a blue just fall for a troll?

A blue just performed a function of his job by responding to a paying customer on the forums. :)