I feel sorry for Blizzard

[Galaxy]

Omg watch what people actually say in the chat windows of the live streams. My word. Does civility exist anymore???????

[Teigan]

Well, I'm not too upset I'm not in right away. Its still a guarantee and I am willing to wait. *shrug* They stagger invites for a reason.

[Meggers]

They made no indication that it wouldn't be day 1 either.

They should have made this much clearer much earlier, would have saved a lot of the headache on both sides. o:

[Zuilu]

I see no reason to get angry over this. Personally.. I knew full well when I signed up for the beta that it would work like every large beta ever, where the invites would be sent out in waves. I knew that I would have no idea what wave I would be in, whether it was the first or last, I just knew I would be in one of them.

No false advertisement there, if you expected yourself and millions of others to be welcomed on day 1, you set yourself up for dissapointment.

[Galaxy]

true, though with all the criticism they had in regards to their decision to go with Pandas, I'm sure they're equally surprised and irritated at the response by their future beta testers right now

I mean, I would be:

"You hated it, and now you want in on it bad enough to act like this!?! WHAT?????? What is WRONG with you!? Bad player base. Stop being unpredictable!"

[Meggers]

Except the ones that hated it are not the ones pissy about not getting in.

[cowmuflage]

It's one thing to complain, but people who threaten legal action on the forums are demonstrably, hopelessly, without a clue. Contract can be dissolved at any time by either party for any reason and all that. Nuff said really. Or so you would think.

Really legal action over a fucking beta pass? WTF people it's a fucking game *headdesk*

[Rhapture]

I wish I had gotten into the first wave as well, but honestly I am enjoying just watching the live streams and seeing all of the screen shots. In a way it will allows me to see some of the content now so I don't have to repeat it myself, that way when I do get in I can just check out the stuff that interests me the most first hand.

[TygerDarkstorm]

The indication that it wouldn't be Day 1 comes from the previous knowledge of how all their other betas have worked.

And as someone else pointed out, everyone one of you with the Annual Pass is guaranteed something that I have to hope I will even be lucky enough to get. You guys are upset because you didn't get in just yet; I'll be lucky if I get into the beta at all because I couldn't afford the one year contract and wasn't even sure I would want to be playing WoW for that long anyway (and I think the mount is ugly). More than half the player base will not even get the privilege to be in the beta (and yes, it is a privilege not a right) and yet people are upset that they're not in there facing massive lag and constantly DC'ing. I have a feeling if the Annual Pass holders were in the beta right now, they would instead be complaining about how they can't stay logged in for long periods of time because their client keeps crashing.

And most of you beta card holders know that the beta isn't just a free trial of MoP, right? You're there to be testing features and reporting bugs/glitches/etc. And from my understanding, there's not even a lot to access and test right now so it's not like you're missing much. 1 million people crammed into the Pandaren 1-10 starting zone sounds like a nightmare to me.

[Worba]

I wish I had gotten into the first wave as well, but honestly I am enjoying just watching the live streams and seeing all of the screen shots. In a way it will allows me to see some of the content now so I don't have to repeat it myself, that way when I do get in I can just check out the stuff that interests me the most first hand.

Kinda me too. I'm one of those who like to quietly stand there watching the new thing over someone else's shoulder going "Hmmmm..."


(But when I finally do get myself up to speed, it's rather a different story)

And most of you beta card holders know that the beta isn't just a free trial of MoP, right? You're there to be testing features and reporting bugs/glitches/etc.

Ugh, that's right. Social responsibility.

/procrastination mode activate

[Meggers]

The indication that it wouldn't be Day 1 comes from the previous knowledge of how all their other betas have worked.

The problem is this isn't exactly like all other previous betas though, annual pass is a new thing. And introduced new assumptions and issues. back atcha

I am an experienced beta tester for many games, I know how this stuff works. I fully expect to wait a long time for my invite. But you all know how the community is in general, its Blizzards fault for not making this crystal clear and causing so much heartache.

[Nili]

It's not about not getting in on the first day, at least for me. It's about what was advertised and promised is not what was delivered. It was never disclosed that those with longer account histories would have priority. It was never disclosed that even though this Beta was advertised completely differently from any other that they would be handling it in stages as always. Had I known my "guaranteed" beta access is only "guaranteed" to give me access up to the day before the live release of the game I wouldn't have signed up.

It's not the customers job to foresee into the future at a companies inability to prepare properly for the customers it entered into contracts with and have enough servers to accommodate them all. It's Blizzard's job to make sure that they have the digital infrastructure to back up what they advertise and lure customers with. When a top exec says you will get Beta access when Beta goes live or the advertising posters state the same, it's not unreasonable, entitled, whiny, or any of the other dismissive adjectives used, to expect it to be so.

I realize that this site is in general very pro-Blizzard and views to the contrary are not always tolerated well. But everyone has different opinions and this move by Blizzard has upset a lot of paying customers. A lot! It was poorly handled to put it mildly. I would hardly describe me as chronic "whiner" or "complainer". I promote this game regularly on my blog. I enjoy WoW and give props to Blizzard for creating an excellent game but I will also call BS when I see it. As a paying customer I have that right. I realize some have a different opinion and I respect that. It would be nice if those who have a differing opinion could do the same to others.

This. Everything this.

[Sasrei]

Well guys think of it this way instead of the whole "I DEMAND TO GET INTO BETA RIGHT NOW AS THEY SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE FIRST DAY RAWRRRR!" it would have been "I cant move an inch in the game because of all the bloody people, good job blizzard! how can we test anything for you?!"
so either way noone will be happy and blizzard loses out.

[Serendipity82]

100% agree with you Tyger. And I'm also pretty sure Blizzard explained it in their FAQ section for the Beta that they were inviting people in waves. If people actually read that they wouldn't be complaining.

[Meggers]

Well guys think of it this way instead of the whole "I DEMAND TO GET INTO BETA RIGHT NOW AS THEY SAID IT WAS GOING TO BE FIRST DAY RAWRRRR!" it would have been "I cant move an inch in the game because of all the bloody people, good job blizzard! how can we test anything for you?!"
so either way noone will be happy and blizzard loses out.

With all their resources though, they could have handled it better by adding more servers etc. They've known for a while how many annual passholders there are, as such they could have worked something out to hold more people sooner at the very least. :/

[Galaxy]

Cheers to that, Rhapture <3

I dunno, must be split down the middle in how ppl felt about it since it seems like the amount of ..er... < censured >ing about it hasn't changed lol

true though, legal action? GO AHEAD! They have the right to an atty if they so feel it necessary. However, I'd love to see the atty's face when approached about it *giggle*

but yes, I HOPEHOPEHOPE the amount of reporting with a large beta means smoother release than Cata I could tell where the beta testers spent their time last xpac *nod*

[Sesamee]

In my opinion, if the only reason you signed up for the Annual Pass was because of the guaranteed entry (which didn't say access on day 1), expecting to get in the beta on Day 1, then you falsified your own expectations. The regular public never gets access to betas for expansions on Day 1. In fact, usually in this stage of the beta, we're not allowed to see *anything* so consider yourselves lucky that there's not an NDA up right now blocking our access to everything tantalizing about MoP.

Please tell me how does one "falsify" their own expectations. The guaranteed Beta is the reason I signed up for the annual pass. The mount was a nice bonus but nothing else. I could care less about Diablo. So what if the guaranteed Beta access was my main reason for signing up? Why is my reason less valid than another's? Maybe some people wanted the mount others the free Diablo? Everyone has their reasons.

The only expectations I had was guaranteed beta access "when it goes live" or that my access would "go live with the beta launch". I've posted sources for both quotations in previous posts. Beta is live. It has been launched. I do not have access like I expected too. How was that expectation wrong? Or "falsified"? Two days ago I paid upwards of $70 to uphold my end of the contract and renew a six month subscription. The very next day I find out the truth about my supposed guaranteed Beta access. A bit of a kick in the gut, I must say.

Many people keep missing the point that this Beta was not handled like any others. Never before was a contract signed with terminology explicitly guaranteeing Beta access in exchange for a subscription commitment. Never before was guaranteed beta access "when it goes live" "with the beta launch" guaranteed. There was no mention of staging or priority invites. Why should a customer not expect a company to live up to what they advertised and explicitly stated?

[Galaxy]

I'm not sure anyone HERE has been anything but civil, agreeing or disagreeing with the OP


I think the prob is the people who do not understand proper debate form and are beyond rude in their vocalizing disappointment

[Vephriel]

I'll say it again, but you paid for the year of WoW subscription. Everyone's going to have varying opinions on the perks. Some people loved the free Diablo, some people wanted the mount, some people wanted the beta. But you paid for the WoW subscription first and foremost. Your desire may have been behind one of the perks and that's it, but it doesn't change the fact that your basic purchase was for WoW game time and the rest is fluff.

[Talaridan]

Blizzard is damned if they do and damned if they don't with this.

If everyone freaking out over not being in Beta in the first 24 hours (if that long) was in, it would be a wreck...and they would be moaning and complaining about that.

Blizzard is handling it in the best way they can, and trying to do their best to please everyone.

Someone is always going to be unhappy.

Please show me where the contract said anything about getting into Beta with the first wave or anything of that nature? Please show me one bit of falsehood in the contract?

It is not Blizzard's job to hold your hand either. If you did not like what you read in the contract, than you should have contacted Blizzard and asked questions before signing it. Not gotten mad about it months later because it wasn't what you assumed. Assumptions usually never work out well for anyone.