So about this beta...

[pengupuff]

I did the annual pass thing, so understandably I'm psyched for the MoP beta. Any word on when it might open up?

[Nachtwulf]

No one has a clue. I'm going to guess early spring sometime if their past record is any indication.

[Wain]

Its also a matter of when in the beta they'll send out invitations to annual pass subscribers. I can't imagine they're just going to open the floodgate at the start and everyone will rush in. Perhaps they will, but it seems like they'd vastly overload their few servers. I guess they'll stagger it, though people of course are going to complain if/when others get in before them.

They traditionally have a "family and friends" alpha test before the beta, so when that finally appears it should give you an idea.

[AdamSavage]

*removed*

[Wain]

Well Friends and Family is usually under a NDA. So it could be going on right now, and we wouldn't know about it.

Possible, but it's usually known that it's begun. They're not usually secretive that it's running.

[Vespias]

My bet is on early summer release so beta should start around March. The reasoning behind my idea is that there are no more major patches for Cata, and SWtoR is out there snatching up players like crazy. There is no way Blizz goes past the start of the third quarter without new content. It has been suggested that they may open the 2nd quarter (April) with the game but I kinda doubt that. As for testing I think Blizz is pretty good now with their stuff and the old lengthy testing of the past are just not neccesary now. I'm not looking for a complete revamp of all the races in the release, but hoping that'll come in a patch down the line. Lets hope our speculations are right and that MoP is closer than we think.

[Loki]

My guesstimation for MoP release was around August (or a month each side) so I guess open beta will be a couple months from now ?

[Vetiver]

i had a question about the beta too. since gazillions of people did the annual pass, is there going to be a traditional closed beta and then the access we all get is to a much later version? i'd love to hear from someone who maybe has inside details