Jump to info about the most recent beta.

In order to get useful and realistic feedback from real users, some software companies deliver pre-release software (a beta or beta trial) to a select number of users to try it out and report bugs, make suggestions, or just give significant customers clear evidence of the state of the product and dispel rumors of vaporware.

What is a beta?

In terms of the software development, beta is usually the stage where all major feature implementation should be finished and the software is in the phase of bug fixing, refinement and stabilization before declaring a Final or Release candidate (sometimes called "Gold" as well). Sometimes major changes occur in this stage, but usually only in response to feedback during a beta trial.

Beta, of course, comes after the Alpha stage where major feature implementation usually occurs, is known to be unstable, and not generally fit for anything more than internal trial of carefully selected users. The stage before Alpha some call "Pre-Alpha", "Proof of Concept", or "Prototype".

These stages are semi-formal within the software industry, so "your results may vary".

What Blizzard says about betas

Betas are not guaranteed to work for all | 2012-04-14 15:03 | Kaltonis

"A real beta rarely works, and when it does, it doesn't work well."

Unlike a lot of companies who invite players into "betas" that are little more than game demos of stable preview builds, Blizzard brings in players to an ever-changing process where our programmers are constantly making changes to the "guts" of the game.

What does that mean for you?

Betas are not guaranteed to work for individual players, ever. It's entirely possible that some users will receive a beta invite, only to find that they're never actually able to play it. This is simply the nature of a true beta. While we'd prefer everyone to be able to have a little fun while helping us test the content and servers, the purpose of the beta is to prepare Mists of Pandaria for launch, not to provide a gaming experience for beta testers.

Additionally, because of how quickly conditions change in a beta, it is extremely difficult to provide technical support that is specific to Mists of Pandaria issues. If it seems like the help you receive is very general in nature (update drivers, uninstall security programs, etc.) it's because the tech support staff does not have more specific information on the issue you are dealing with. Please remember that Blizzard is under no obligation to provide support for a product in beta, although we do try when possible.

All of that being said, we do hope that most of you will enjoy your sneak-peek into the game design process. Just be advised that trying to play a beta like it's a finished game will likely result in a very frustrating experience. Take care out there!

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Closed vs. Open beta

The terms "closed beta" and "open beta" are also used when referring to the actual beta trial period of testing. The usage of these terms is not consistent, but the following definitions can be used as a guideline:

• Closed beta - Only a selected group of users are invited to the beta trial with varying criteria. Some closed betas are very restrictive and others are tied to a promotion or some other easily obtainable criteria (like purchasing the Annual Pass). Invitation, of course, is not guaranteed.
• Open beta - This is basically a trial which is usually only restricted by the need to download the software and go through some sort of registration process. Users may be required to meet some minimum hardware and software requirements, but usually nothing needs to be paid for or membership in a special group needed.

Reporting bugs

Summary of a good WoW Insider article.^[1]

Top bugs worth reporting

1. Game crashes
2. Holes in the terrain
3. Quest bugs
4. UI bugs
5. Camera errors

Other bugs

1. Class spells or abilities is behaving erratically
2. Grammatical errors in quests
3. NPC is speaking gibberish or behaving oddly

Bugs not worth reporting

Not in the WoW Insider article.

1. Bugs already listed as "known issues"^[2]
2. Stuff with names like "something needs a name" or "TBD", etc.
3. Login problems during announced or known server maintenance periods (usually announced on official forums, launcher news, Twitter, etc.).
4. Problems widely reported in official status forums and Warcraft news sites (unless it is reported as hard to repro and you have a consistent way to repro the problem).

Mists of Pandaria

Main articles: Patch 5.0.1, Patch 5.0.3, Patch 5.0.4

A closed beta test period was announced on March 20, 2012 with invites going to Annual Pass holders, press, fansites, friends and family, and opt-in beta testers.^[3] MMO Champion may have gotten access soon after the opt-in announcement^[4] and an official announcement of the start of the Beta was released late March 21st, 2012.^[5]

Level 85 Monk premades were made available on April 8th, 2012^[6] (around Patch 5.0.1 build 15544).

A 64-bit client for Windows (WoW-64.exe) was quietly downloaded with build 15640 of the Beta that was noticed by some users and clarified by an MVP.^[7] The key difference between this test release and previous Live and PTR releases was that it was installed with Lancher and did not have to be installed manually. MVP Bluspacecow predicted correctly that a 64-bit Mac OS X client (World of Warcraft-64.app) would be available with build 15657.^[8]

Experience required for leveling changed

Circa build 15961, according to MMO Champion:^[9]

AddOns in Mists of Pandaria Beta

Since the first beta release (build 15464), AddOns have been disabled.^[11] However, a blue post reports that AddOns are planned to be enabled after build 15781.^[12]

Servers

The servers were split into the following:^{[citation needed]}

• Lost Isles (US) - PvE
• Gilneas (US) - PvP
• Mekkatorque (EU) - PvE
• Hamuul (KR) - PvE

Logging in if PTR on account already

This section concerns content that is out-of-date. Reason: Need screenshots from new login screen, build 15726.

The Mists of Pandaria beta servers use the same authentication portal as the PTR servers so you may be given the unexpected choice to login as either "wow1" or "wow2" accounts. If you see this choice, select "wow2" assuming you setup your PTR account first.

Beta invite waves

Annual Pass

From March 29th, 2012 to April 19th, 2012, 1.2 million Battle.net accounts were given invites to the Beta based on Annual Pass signups.

Here are the six waves and the number of accounts added in each wave:

• First wave of 100,000 on March 29th, 2012.^[13]
• Second wave of 100,000 on March 30th, 2012.^[14]
• Third wave of 100,000 later on March 30th, 2012.^[15]
• Fourth wave of 250,000 on April 4th, 2012.^[16]
• Fifth wave of 250,000 on April 11th, 2012.^[17]
• Sixth and mostly final wave of 400,000 on April 19th, 2012.^[18]

Post Annual Pass

Around May 24th, 2012, WoW Insider reported that those who expressed interest (US, EU) in a beta on their Battle.net account will start getting invites.^[19]

Cataclysm

The closed beta started June 30, 2010^{[citation needed]} and ended November 22 2010.^{[citation needed]}

Wrath of the Lich King

Opt-ins for the public beta began on July 3rd, 2008; the beta began on July 17th.

Beta keys were given out to BlizzCon 2007^[20] and Blizzard Worldwide Invitational 2008^[21] attendees and Blizzard also gives out Beta keys to various organizations (fansites, etc.) for promotional reasons.^[22]

The Burning Crusade

Starting late September of 2006, Blizzard started signing up Closed Beta Test testers for the first expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, from different playing areas. The plan was to introduce additional players to the beta test in subsequent waves, thus people that didn't make it in the starting lineup still had a chance at a Burning Crusade beta spot prior to launch.^[23]

The Closed Beta started in early October 2006. They were split into two servers:

1. Hellfire (PvE)
2. Blade's Edge (PvP)

World of Warcraft

Starting before March of 2004, Blizzard started signing up Closed Beta Test testers from an unknown pool of people using an undisclosed method of selection. The Closed Beta Trial ran for about 7 months ending in more widely available stress test and then an open beta before final release around the end of November 2004.

The "Closed Beta" was the first phase of Blizzard's stress test. There were three servers and virtually no lag existed. This closed beta is also known as the "First Stress Test". The servers were split up into the following:

1. PvE Server (Original Closed Beta Server)
2. PvP Server (Added near the end of Closed Beta)
3. Beta Server 1

References

See also

• Public client builds

β

• Patch 5.0.1
• WoWWiki:Mists of Pandaria beta contacts

External links

Beta

MMO-Champion Beta Launcher Update, Daily Quest Previews, Blue Posts, Curse Weekly Roundup by chaud 2012-06-19 07:26 AM

WoW Insider More Mists of Pandaria beta passes may be on the way by Anne Stickney May 24th 2012 at 5:45PM

WoW Insider Mists of Pandaria beta: Logging in never sounded so good by Anne Stickney May 3rd 2012 at 8:00PM

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) [Mac] Common Issues for MoP (updated 5/2) by Machkhan 4/19/2012 5:33 PM, Updated on 4/19/12 5:36 PM (PDT)

Battle.net Support (US) Beta Support For Diablo III and Mists of Pandaria by Blizzard Entertainment, April 19, 2012

Battle.net Support (EU) Beta Support For Diablo III and Mists of Pandaria by Blizzard Entertainment, 20 Apr 2012

Official Mists of Pandaria Beta > Beta Feedback forum (US) Mists Beta Currently Available Content List by MVP Eldacar on 4/24/12 4:36 PM (PDT)

Official Mists of Pandaria Beta > Beta Feedback forum (US) Manually downloading the MoP beta client (v2) by MVP Bluspacecow, 7/15/12 7:15 AM

WoW MoP Beta World of Warcraft: Mist of Pandaria - information about the Beta clients

News

WoW Insider UI addons will be enabled in the next Mists beta patch (after build 15781) by Olivia Grace Jun 27th 2012 at 7:00PM

Official Mists of Pandaria Beta > Beta Feedback forum (US) Jade Forest Going Offline in Next Beta Patch (build 15762) by Kaivax, 6/8/12 6:24 PM

Official Mists of Pandaria Beta > Beta Feedback forum (US) #5 - Lack of build/design notes => poor testing by Ghostcrawler, 5/4/12 5:01 PM

WoW Insider WoW Insider's guide to being a productive Mists of Pandaria beta tester by Robin Torres Apr 20th 2012 at 8:00PM

       WoW Insider Beta Testing 101: How to write a good bug report on the forums by Anne Stickney Apr 9th 2012 at 7:00PM

       WoW Insider Beta Testing 101: 5 things you should always report by Anne Stickney Apr 9th 2012 at 2:00PM

       WoW Insider How to prepare your character to copy over to the MoP beta by Anne Stickney Apr 6th 2012 at 2:00PM

       WoW Insider Beta Testing 101: Addons and the Mists of Pandaria beta by Mathew McCurley Mar 28th 2012 at 12:00PM

       WoW Insider Beta Testing 101: How to stream your beta sessions by Matt Low Mar 25th 2012 at 1:00PM

       WoW Insider Beta Testing 101: What to, and what not to, expect from the MoP beta by Josh Myers Mar 24th 2012 at 3:00PM

       WoW Insider Reminder: Watch out for Mists of Pandaria beta invite scams by Anne Stickney Mar 22nd 2012 at 4:00PM

Official General Discussion forum (US) Incoming: 250,000 More Beta Invites Bashiok, 4/4/12 5:49 PM

WoWJuju Mists of Pandaria Beta - First Impressions by Lucifer, Mar 27 2012 09:35 PM

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Beta is Live! by Blizzard Entertainment, Mar 21, 2012 11:34 PM PDT

World of Warcraft Community Site (EU) World of Warcraft®: Mists of Pandaria™ Beta Live! by Blizzard Entertainment, 22 Mar 2012 13:00 UTC

MMO-Champion Mists of Pandaria Beta - Smells like Panda Spirit by Boubouille 2012-03-21 11:47 PM

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) Mists of Pandaria™ Beta Opt-in and FAQ by Blizzard Entertainment, Mar 20, 2012 10:00 PM PDT

World of Warcraft Community Site (US) Mists of Pandaria™ Beta Opt-in and FAQ by Blizzard Entertainment, 21 Mar 2012 15:51 UTC