WAR (Warhammer Online)

The term is misleading.  The schedule should not be termed as open beta because you need to pre-order to get a key.

I've read that Sept 17 will be the start of open beta. So this means it's a public open beta and not a private one?

Well, if you pre-order online you dont get charged till it ships so you can just pre-order and if you dont like it cancel and no foul, so it kinda is open....you just have to enter your CC

Also it's the 7th of open beta starts, 18th is launch

dude costs a buck at target

did someone change what the term open beta has meant from "beta without NDA" to something else recently?

seeing alot of these posts on alot of forums.

When Sanya was with Mythic back in 2006, she said they will not have what people have come to assume an Open Beta is. And I quote:

Final Beta: No NDA. Because there is no NDA, people often refer to this as "open beta." But I wanted to be really clear with you guys - we are not planning the kind of open beta where everyone with internet access can download the game and hop in. That's nutty. Right now, we are tentatively considering having everyone who pre-orders the game invited to this phase of beta. This phase will also invite winners from our big media promotions.

This was taken directly from the WAR Herald from July 2006: warherald.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war

Open Beta, as even Sanya clearly states in this news post, is not about the game being open for anyone to play but instead is about the NDA being lifted for the game. Mythic has decided to lift the NDA on most of the game before the Beta phase starts. Also, notice in her post that the Open Beta was in fact decided and very clearly specified in that they planned on having Pre-orders invited as well as promotion winners getting in. Mythic, as far as I know, has never said they will let in people that just sign up either.

When is the last time any MMO had an 'open' beta where an unlimited number of players were thrown at a small pool of servers?

I too think the industry just needs to start calling these things pre-launch previews or something, if only to cut off the whines before they start. Player ignorance turns into whines, which turns into negative PR and flaming the game before it even begins.

Too many people asking for free access to a game.  They start by asking for free trial key.  They now begin to demand free access to games where the paying subscribers are still waiting for the box to arrive at home.

Come on, guys, how greedy can you be.

Originally posted by Adythiel

When Sanya was with Mythic back in 2006, she said they will not have what people have come to assume an Open Beta is. And I quote:

Final Beta: No NDA. Because there is no NDA, people often refer to this as "open beta." But I wanted to be really clear with you guys - we are not planning the kind of open beta where everyone with internet access can download the game and hop in. That's nutty. Right now, we are tentatively considering having everyone who pre-orders the game invited to this phase of beta. This phase will also invite winners from our big media promotions.

 

This was taken directly from the WAR Herald from July 2006: warherald.com/warherald/NewsArticle.war

Open Beta, as even Sanya clearly states in this news post, is not about the game being open for anyone to play but instead is about the NDA being lifted for the game. Mythic has decided to lift the NDA on most of the game before the Beta phase starts. Also, notice in her post that the Open Beta was in fact decided and very clearly specified in that they planned on having Pre-orders invited as well as promotion winners getting in. Mythic, as far as I know, has never said they will let in people that just sign up either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle

"Developers release either a closed beta or an open beta; closed beta versions are released to a select group of individuals for a user test, while open betas are to a larger community group, usually the general public."

There is no universal definition of an open beta but, as stated above, they are usually released to the general public. What Mythic is doing is releasing to a select group (pre-orders) thus, it is a closed beta by common definition.

Somehow, you won't get it and, instead, you will favor the definition provided by the spin you quoted.

I think the difference is people that see the eastern MMOs open beta that start letting everyone in even though they are usually free. Where as the western market uses it to stress test the servers they have so still keep a finite amount of invites.

Originally posted by Orthedos

Too many people asking for free access to a game.  They start by asking for free trial key.  They now begin to demand free access to games where the paying subscribers are still waiting for the box to arrive at home.

Come on, guys, how greedy can you be.

He's not being greedy and hes not making any demands for free access to a game. He is simply pointing out the fact that this "open beta" is misleading because, it is after all, a closed beta.