The One and Only Beta Release Pool!

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Originally Posted by Aldrius

They wouldn't have bothered to invite all the fansites to Irvine if they were just going to unveil it at Blizzcon.

They have enough stuff to release at Blizzcon that they don't need to justify saving things like Battle.Net 2.0 for it. :P

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My theory is the press gets to see things first because it gives them ample time to report on the information. Granted, its alot of time. But by the time they release info on B.net, so will Blizzard, so the press only spreads info that isnt new (hype). And with Blizzcon not so far away, it just seems like something they would do.

So my guess is theyll reveal Battle.net at BC, announce the beta date, and proceed to release the beta later that month.

EDIT: Ok, I did some time travel - look at this page. It has the quote from gadgetguy, and a post from alex 06, which I believe is probably right.

http://sclegacy.com/forums/showthread.php?t=842&page=15

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My theory is the press gets to see things first because it gives them ample time to report on the information.

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They're getting an advanced scoop. Blizzards not going to coddle the Fansites and give them a month to report on the information, that'd be outrageous. The NDA apparently ends on the 17th. A week before Blizzcon.

While Blizzcon will likely be a MAJOR information source for all Blizzard games, it's unlikely that they'll wait to reveal the stuff they gave out to the fansites. My personal guess is they gave the fansites all the information. Battle.Net features, some single player information and screenshots, then at Blizzcon, they'll have the opportunity to demonstrate stuff. Some new stuff they've put into the game (spore cloud, vortex, etc.) some single-player stuff, some of the Battle.net 2.0 features.

Then the beta will come out, either immediately after the fansite NDA ends or at Blizzcon. It could easily be either. There aren't really a whole lot of benefits to announcing it at Blizzcon, though. Anyone who's got a key will be playing it either way. And if they release it on August 17th, it'll be close enough to Blizzcon that they can show it off. Maybe show some stuff that people have been working on in the beta that week before Blizzcon.

But it could just as easily announce it on either date. In fact I'm gonna change my bet to the 17th/18th. A hundred billion imaginary dollars!!

I honestly have no idea what blizzard has in mind with this hideously long NDA. I've read all the arguments about it, here and on that NDA thread, and I still can't decide which one I believe the most.

Aldrius, modified your bet. You have the highest imaginary moneys currently placed, great work! Unless you count Raisk's tremendous "All In" which might actually surpass yours ;)

I'm almost positive the beta won't happen before Blizzcon.

Since imaginary money is imaginary, I'm betting a trillion x trillion imaginary money on August 17th.

Beta will likely occur shortly after BlizzCon. Blizzard's marketing is clever, and they'd be foolish to release it now so close to the event when they can capitalize off the hype. Why do you think they're being so quiet?

Another thing to consider is the fact that just about every previous beta strategically began at a time it would conflict with another games release to outshine it. Aion is due out in Sept 22 of this year. Anybody think they'll try and coincide releases with that game?

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Originally Posted by Blazur

Beta will likely occur shortly after BlizzCon. Blizzard's marketing is clever, and they'd be foolish to release it now so close to the event when they can capitalize off the hype. Why do you think they're being so quiet?

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Which is why the odds are so terrible to the people betting for After BlizzCon...that makes the most logical sense from just about every direction.

But just in the off-chance they pull off something crazy, I started up a little pool. As Pandonetho so awesomely said: it is just imaginary money, after all. Who knows? They might just surprise us all.

And as I pointed out elsewhere...it is logical to release the beta after blizzcon only if they are treating the beta as a hype machine. If they're treating it as a tool to iron out balance and bugs they'd do the smart thing and release it early. So it really just boils down to betting on which way you think they'll go with it.

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Originally Posted by Blazur

Why do you think they're being so quiet?

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Because they're sadistic and/or evil?

Are these bets still running?
I doubt the beta would be released at Blizzcon simply because Blizzard would be too busy to handle both events simultaneously. However, I expect them to announce that everything is pretty much ready, and give us a beta date at blizzcon. Probably something like a week later, or the next monday etc...
I'm quite disapointed by how long this is taking though. I would have expected a bit more efficiency in syncronizing the alpha development phase with setting up their servers. Right now I feel like the whole Bnet2 server issue is just out of their hands. Kinda reminds me of WoW servers crashing all the time after every single big update... They just feel less autonomous.

Bets will be open all the way until the Beta is actually released, so feel free to post some :)