The limited closed beta for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria has officially kicked off. Right now, the beta is limited but over time the team will be inviting Annual Pass holders, press, fansites, friends and family, and opt-in beta testers to participate. There is no NDA on the beta so information about the latest WoW expansion should begin pouring out.

As soon as we get access, we'll post our impressions of MoP.

Read the beta announcement on the World of Warcraft site.

WOW...beta already...this isnt a good thing...sumthign that goes into beta after a couple months of anouncing it will turn out sloppy and nothing new...take the female panda for instance shur looks like  the dwarf body with a panda head...lack of creativity? or lack of new ideas? bizzard is losing it....and the last expansion pack and its content proves this...

Dont get me wrong ill but the MoP hell ill bebuying 2 one for me and my GF...she is a hardcore wow player i USED to be untill Cata came out...its al abotu the next NEW/BIG thing...

So how would you have suggested that they went about gestalting the female Pandaren?

Also MoP have been in the works for about 2:ish years, and while they did not really hit the mark with Cata at least they tried to do things a different way with a lot of things... It did not work out but they are using the things they learned form Cata in MoP.

i [played MoP- at blizzcon and in the middle of my 15min play, i felt i was playing a console version of kunfu panda game...i left n went over to D3...also a dissapointment.

ill wait n hear feedback from players ingame. i still have my account frozen-which may go over to my little nephew.

Well Blizzard did state that they wanted to get expansion packs out faster. Look at other games like EQ, they get expansions every year. I also read they planned to change the way they deliver content patches too during the press information they released last week, more smaller updates between the bigger 4month or so raid patches.

This beta could go on for about 3-5months. I'd say a July or August  release then. But then, that said, they have stated faster content so it could be 2 months of beta then release the game. Otherwise how long will people have been fighting the deathwing raid? 4-5 months is enough for anycontent. 1 of the main reasons i stopped playing WoW was the content cycles were far too long. Seems like that hasn't changed yet. 

sadly i didn't get in yet, well lets hope for better luck when they send out the next wave of invites

Ths stupidity of some people really dumbfounf me sometimes.  MOP has probably had a team working on it since the start of cataclysm if not much longer.

Originally posted by Scypheroth

WOW...beta already...this isnt a good thing...sumthign that goes into beta after a couple months of anouncing it will turn out sloppy and nothing new...take the female panda for instance shur looks like  the dwarf body with a panda head...lack of creativity? or lack of new ideas? bizzard is losing it....and the last expansion pack and its content proves this...

You're really grasping for anything to spin this into a bad sign.

Its an expansion not a new game, so it doesnt take as long to develop, besides Blizzard already started they were only focusing on Development this year.

Originally posted by Scypheroth

take the female panda for instance shur looks like  the dwarf body with a panda head...lack of creativity? or lack of new ideas?

i just saw the female panda picture and thought the same thing..... a fluffy dwarf gal with panda constume

Originally posted by Dragonantis

Its an expansion not a new game, so it doesnt take as long to develop, besides Blizzard already started they were only focusing on Development this year.

 

True we should believe everything that Blizzard says. Cuz thats worked out so well for us in the past. I am enjoying my beta access I was promised as an Annual Pass subscriber. Oh wait, no I'm not because even though they promised access upon beta launch, we aren't in.

Originally posted by rojo6934

Originally posted by Scypheroth

take the female panda for instance shur looks like  the dwarf body with a panda head...lack of creativity? or lack of new ideas?

i just saw the female panda picture and thought the same thing..... a fluffy dwarf gal with panda constume

 

Body look similar only just both the female dwarf and panda are *ahem* bottom heavy, when seen in motion it's clear it is not the dwarf body or animation.  Pleantly of live streams about now.

Originally posted by Jimmydean

Originally posted by Dragonantis

Its an expansion not a new game, so it doesnt take as long to develop, besides Blizzard already started they were only focusing on Development this year.

 

True we should believe everything that Blizzard says. Cuz thats worked out so well for us in the past. I am enjoying my beta access I was promised as an Annual Pass subscriber. Oh wait, no I'm not because even though they promised access upon beta launch, we aren't in.

 

You think they would throw 1million people into beta on day one?  Go read the annual pass FAQ

Once blizzard goes beta the game is pretty much done. same when I was an early cataclysm tester. not much changed when it was released. patches fix the bugs but for the most part beta is what you will play at release.

Most companys now even blizzard are releasing and patching what should have been fixed in beta. TOR was the same. GW2 might be the only one that gets beta right. investors and cold sweats force developers to release to fast in my opinion.

Originally posted by expresso

Originally posted by Jimmydean

Originally posted by Dragonantis

Its an expansion not a new game, so it doesnt take as long to develop, besides Blizzard already started they were only focusing on Development this year.

 

True we should believe everything that Blizzard says. Cuz thats worked out so well for us in the past. I am enjoying my beta access I was promised as an Annual Pass subscriber. Oh wait, no I'm not because even though they promised access upon beta launch, we aren't in.

 

You think they would throw 1million people into beta on day one?  Go read the annual pass FAQ

 

 

Yea they changed the Annual Pass FAQ yesterday. GG Blizz.

Originally posted by Scypheroth

WOW...beta already...this isnt a good thing...sumthign that goes into beta after a couple months of anouncing it will turn out sloppy and nothing new...take the female panda for instance shur looks like  the dwarf body with a panda head...lack of creativity? or lack of new ideas? bizzard is losing it....and the last expansion pack and its content proves this...

 

Dont get me wrong ill but the MoP hell ill bebuying 2 one for me and my GF...she is a hardcore wow player i USED to be untill Cata came out...its al abotu the next NEW/BIG thing...

A couple of months? It's bren at least six months since it was announced becaue that's how long I've been subscribed to the Annual Pass.

Did a fact check and it was announced on October 21st.

Originally posted by jeremyjodes

Once blizzard goes beta the game is pretty much done. same when I was an early cataclysm tester. not much changed when it was released. patches fix the bugs but for the most part beta is what you will play at release.

Most companys now even blizzard are releasing and patching what should have been fixed in beta. TOR was the same. GW2 might be the only one that gets beta right. investors and cold sweats force developers to release to fast in my opinion.

 

 

gonna correct you friend- Diablo 3....

<.<

These 'beta testing' periods seem to be more like an exercise in whipping up hype and marketing.

Even if beta testers suggest improvements, I would be surprised if they are implemented, even if they are good common sense ideas. That's what happened at beta testing for SWTOR.

Originally posted by jeremyjodes

Once blizzard goes beta the game is pretty much done. same when I was an early cataclysm tester. not much changed when it was released. patches fix the bugs but for the most part beta is what you will play at release.

Most companys now even blizzard are releasing and patching what should have been fixed in beta. TOR was the same. GW2 might be the only one that gets beta right. investors and cold sweats force developers to release to fast in my opinion.

 

 

That's because 'beta testing' isn't really beta testing. It's a marketing exercise - the beta testers who like it tell their friends. However, the catch is that material that's beta tested is a selection of the game (not higher levels etc).

That's cool. I think we are getting way too many games now. During the past year there wasn't much to play and I only played games for like couple of hours a week. Then Skyrim came out, then Mass Effect 3 and now the pace is going crazy. Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2, WoW's expansion. Today I also heard Vanguard is going F2P so hopefully that will increase the population which was my main problem with the game. I am sure am forgetting something but hell that's a lot of games.