WoW Stress Test if you are FilePlanet Subscriber

[Merusk]

Your application to the World of Warcraft Stress Test Beta has been accepted.


These keys are on a first come first serve basis and the current pool of keys have run out. You have been put on a waiting list. We will have more keys available soon and you'll receive an email on how to claim your Stress Test Beta key when they're available.

Holy crap, they ran out of 100k keys already? I figured it'd take a day after it was open.  Jebuz.

[Romp]

whats the deal with WoW and betas being restricted to certain continents?

[Mesozoic]

The extended Beta has kinda turned me off.  Even if I buy the game at release, I'll still be way behind the power curve.   I don't want to feel like a Level 1 n00b in EQ on Day One of WoW, with everyone else racing towards a known middle- or end-game and with highly accurate spoiler sites helping the rest.

Its not like I haven't tried to get into the Beta - and no, I'm not paying $15.95 to play "lets make the server crash!"

[Alluvian]

Yeah, CoH let everyone who wanted to preorder get the headstard.  WoW is only letting the priveledged and the lucky few get it.  Kind of lame from the looks of it.

The whole stress test thing turned me off too.  Different servers?  Why?  How fucking spoiled are the beta brats that they can't have a rough week to test the game?  Bnet crowd may be worse, but the current testers overall are prickish enough.  Too bad the same can be said of all MMOGs. Pretty much dooms the genre.

[Liquidator]

There's still going to be an open beta sometime shortly before release as far as I know.  Everyone who wants to play will get a chance I imagine.  So I don't see how you'll be that far behind the power curve, but who really cares?  I'll be taking my time with this one - I'm sick of trying to keep up with Jones's in online games.

-L

[Mesozoic]

I'm just saying that at the start of a new MMO theres usually a nice "n00b" period where everyone is still learning the ropes.  Its probably the only time a MMO community is actually a community of relative equals.  Sure there are beta testers in Day 1 of every game but their numbers are usually few.

[toma levine]

My only guess for why they'll be running the stress test on a separate server would be that their production hardware probably shipped in and they want to give it a proper shakedown.

[Alluvian]

My only guess for why they'll be running the stress test on a separate server would be that their production hardware probably shipped in and they want to give it a proper shakedown.

You are probably right.  I was just in the mood to bitch.

[Liquidator]

The World of Warcraft stress test beta is just a day away. Hundreds of thousands of gamers applied for the stress test this past week, and FilePlanet was up to the task, issuing over 100,000 accounts and providing the stress test beta client for download. With the signups and downloads complete, we are just about ready to welcome these gamers into World of Warcraft for the very first time.

Starting tomorrow, September 2nd at 12:00 noon PDT, stress test beta participants will be able to create their World of Warcraft accounts and begin playing the game. Their participation will help us optimize our account-creation and server infrastructure, and enable us to deliver the best online experience possible when the game launches later this year. We want to thank everyone who applied for the stress test beta, and we look forward to seeing the new testers online tomorrow when the stress test beta starts.

Selected stress test beta participants should keep an eye on their inboxes for an email containing further instructions. For more information on the World of Warcraft stress test beta, please check out our FAQ. To get a head start on learning how to play World of Warcraft, take a look at our beta strategy guide.

This is great news.  I was really hoping that they would start the test for the holiday weekend.  Too bad I've got a Biology lab to interrupt my playing tomorrow night!  Argh!  Then again, I bet the game will hardly be playable.

-Liquidator

[Rasix]

Ohh great. Company coming into town and then I'm off to a wedding on the 7th-10th.  

I hope 3 days of the absolute worst conditions for playing the game will be enough decide whether it's good or not.

[schild]

Ohh great. Company coming into town and then I'm off to a wedding on the 7th-10th.  

I hope 3 days of the absolute worst conditions for playing the game will be enough decide whether it's good or not.

Login2crush, n00bler. ZERG RUSH, KEKELA~

[MrHat]

Are we to expect this registration email sometime during the night?

[Zetleft]

Guess we won't get the emails till they open the registration page for the stress test.

[Alluvian]

Bah, never subbed to fileplanet so I didn't get in.  Ah well.  Fucking bitch Francis (fucking hurricanes) will likely strip our power for another fucking week anyway come saturday.

[Merusk]

Guess we won't get the emails till they open the registration page for the stress test.

Just in time for the East Coast early clockers to get home and destroy the server for those in other time zones!

Yeah no e-mail here yet either.

[Cuular]

Alluvian said:

How fucking spoiled are the beta brats that they can't have a rough week to test the game? Bnet crowd may be worse, but the current testers overall are prickish enough.

I disagree on that part about prickish.  This has been the first beta I've been in that people actually weren't total pricks.  Everyone I've met has been friendly and helpful.

But on to the good stuff, I keep checking email for the message about how to create my account.  Hurry up damn it!

[Zetleft]

Just got my email, the registration page won't be up for about 45 minutes though.

[schild]

I'm gonna wait a couple days to see if Login2Crush dies down. If not, I'll log in and play a few hours at 4am EST on Mon, Tue, and Wed. If I can't get in on Monday, fuck Blizzard they lose my money for being cockknockers.

[MrHat]

Just got my email, the registration page won't be up for about 45 minutes though.

who's it from in case I blocked them?

Edit: Just read this and wanted to spare the double post:

With WoW being shown at Game Stars Live in London, Blizzard's President Mike Morhaime made the following statement regarding the game's progress:

"We're pleased to announce that World of Warcraft is nearing completion. When we set out to create a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, our goal was to give players an incredibly dynamic online gaming experience filled with endless possibilities while expanding the scope of the Warcraft universe. We look forward to accomplishing this goal with the release of World of Warcraft."

Guess we were all right about the corporate push?[/i]

[Liquidator]

e’re looking for the greatest of heroes to step forward and demonstrate their skill and valor. If you can prove your worth by becoming the most powerful members of your faction classes, then you could win the chance to continue your adventures in Azeroth beyond the completion of the stress test!

Blizzard will be holding a competition during the stress test to determine the three highest-level characters per class in both the Alliance and Horde factions. At the end of the stress test, three players of every Horde class and three players of every Alliance class will win entry into the World of Warcraft closed beta test. In the event of a tie, total experience accumulated will determine the ultimate winners.

In the interest of fairness and in accordance with the World of Warcraft Beta Test Agreement and Terms of Use Agreement, players are not allowed to share accounts. Any character that has been leveled up through shared playtime by multiple players will be disqualified from the contest.

The competition will run through the entire duration of the stress test. At the end of the stress test, Blizzard will notify 48 lucky winners of their acceptance into the closed beta test.

Wow.  What a way to endorse catassing for the next seven days.  Go Blizzard!  Wouldn't a more constructive competition something like the person who submits the most detailed and accurate bug reports?

[schild]

Blizzard will be holding a competition during the stress test to determine the three highest-level characters per class in both the Alliance and Horde factions. At the end of the stress test, three players of every Horde class and three players of every Alliance class will win entry into the World of Warcraft closed beta test. In the event of a tie, total experience accumulated will determine the ultimate winners.

OMGOMGOMOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG, BUT SCHOOLS STARTED. MOOMMMMMMM, IT'S JUST THE 6TH GRADE. DO I HAVE TO GOOOOOOOOOOO? OMG I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU.

<seperate thought>

I have a feeling that a handful of North Korean net cafes are going to have beta accounts in a week.

[Zetleft]

Message came from  owner-cp_announce_text_list@news.ign.com

The only thing the message had of note was the address to create your account though.  Main thing is to have your fileplanet number handy.

[MrHat]

e’re looking for the greatest of heroes to step forward and demonstrate their skill and valor. If you can prove your worth by becoming the most powerful members of your faction classes, then you could win the chance to continue your adventures in Azeroth beyond the completion of the stress test!

Blizzard will be holding a competition during the stress test to determine the three highest-level characters per class in both the Alliance and Horde factions. At the end of the stress test, three players of every Horde class and three players of every Alliance class will win entry into the World of Warcraft closed beta test. In the event of a tie, total experience accumulated will determine the ultimate winners.

In the interest of fairness and in accordance with the World of Warcraft Beta Test Agreement and Terms of Use Agreement, players are not allowed to share accounts. Any character that has been leveled up through shared playtime by multiple players will be disqualified from the contest.

The competition will run through the entire duration of the stress test. At the end of the stress test, Blizzard will notify 48 lucky winners of their acceptance into the closed beta test.

Wow.  What a way to endorse catassing for the next seven days.  Go Blizzard!  Wouldn't a more constructive competition something like the person who submits the most detailed and accurate bug reports?

Oh Jesus.  As I hear it, you can top your exp by just camping a few spots in the game.  I.E. after L10 or so, no more questing.  Ha, I bet someone reaches 60 in 7 days.

-Fucking Gay.

[MrHat]

Deltree/y

[Liquidator]

It's six minutes past noon by my clock and I still get a forbidden message when trying to access the account creation page!  Ahhh!

[SirBruce]

10 minutes past and the account creation page STILL isn't up.  It's not looking too good for Blizzard.

Bruce

[Liquidator]

Does massive hits on their web sever give Apache 403/Forbidden errors?  Is it just being pounded or is it not up?

[MrHat]

We expect that you may have difficulty reaching the WoW registration pages. In the initial hours of the signups, demand for accessibility may sometimes cause you to receive an error of this sort. Please be patient and keep trying so we can get lots of stress on the account creation pages. Thank you for helping to make our stress test a success!

Heh.

Edit: In case anyone cares, that email address was blocked by spamnet for me.  Might want to check your spam folder.

[SirBruce]

That sounds like spin to me.  The servers were giving 403/Forbidden before the test "started", if it even has.  There's no logical reason why it would still be giving that error under load.  Perhaps they are actually doing a "staged" sign-up, allowing some IPs to access that page and not others.

Bruce

[MrHat]

It's up.

[Zetleft]

Account created without a hitch.

[Disco Stu]

The whole stress test thing turned me off too.  Different servers?  Why?  How fucking spoiled are the beta brats that they can't have a rough week to test the game?  Bnet crowd may be worse, but the current testers overall are prickish enough.  Too bad the same can be said of all MMOGs. Pretty much dooms the genre.

Maybe it has more to do with Blizzard wanting to continue testing their game while the stress test is occuring. If they really do want to ship this game in two months (god I hope they don't) they probably can't afford to lose a week of beta testing. Unless I missed a poll where the beta testers all voted to put the stress testers on a different server?

[Merusk]

e’re looking for the greatest of heroes to step forward and demonstrate their skill and valor. If you can prove your worth by becoming the most powerful members of your faction classes, then you could win the chance to continue your adventures in Azeroth beyond the completion of the stress test!

Blizzard will be holding a competition during the stress test to determine the three highest-level characters per class in both the Alliance and Horde factions. At the end of the stress test, three players of every Horde class and three players of every Alliance class will win entry into the World of Warcraft closed beta test. In the event of a tie, total experience accumulated will determine the ultimate winners.

In the interest of fairness and in accordance with the World of Warcraft Beta Test Agreement and Terms of Use Agreement, players are not allowed to share accounts. Any character that has been leveled up through shared playtime by multiple players will be disqualified from the contest.

The competition will run through the entire duration of the stress test. At the end of the stress test, Blizzard will notify 48 lucky winners of their acceptance into the closed beta test.

Wow.  What a way to endorse catassing for the next seven days.  Go Blizzard!  Wouldn't a more constructive competition something like the person who submits the most detailed and accurate bug reports?

I see it as a clever way of checking if the treadmill is indeed too short, like many have complained.  If someone hits the level cap, then expect a HUGE increase in leveling time in the next patch.

[Rasix]

Yep, that's what I thought too.  Excellent way to benchmark their system and roughly gauge how long it will take people to hit the unfinished bits.

[WayAbvPar]

It also works well to keep the server load chockful of catasstastic goodness.