Legion Beta to Officially Begin at 2PM EST on 12th of May

[Smitten]

Blizzcon 2015 - Ion Hazzikostas and the Warcraft team from Blizzard unveiled Legion - the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft. With the Beta slated to begin shortly after Blizzcon ended, there was much excitement among the community.

May 2016 - Alpha has been up for a few months, but only to a somewhat exclusive handful of 13/13 Mythic raiders, some top end PvPers, streamers and Friends and Family of Blizzard employees.

Today, Watcher finally announced that the Alpha will be taken down over the course of the next day, along with a complete character wipe. A new, large Beta invite wave will be going out to players, with plans for the official Legion Beta to begin at 2PM PST on Thursday, 12th of May. While there was no specific mention of the intended demographic of the Beta wave, Alpha is generally reserved for the higher end players, while Beta is a more inclusive and open test, from players of all skill levels and backgrounds.

Watcher also took the time to give some insight as to why Legion's Beta has come so much later than originally anticipated. Blizzard's bets tests have been "Beta tests" in the traditional sense - an iteration of the game that isn't feature complete, likely with bugs, missing or placeholder content, and a constant work in progress. However, the gaming industry has shifted the idea of a Beta test to being a "polished demo" in recent years. Blizzard decided to take this into consideration to keep in line with player expectations.

With Blizzard hoping to stress test the servers and having no future character wipes planned, they are hoping that this large, one-time mass playthrough of the Broken Isles will provide them with the data they need to help ensure it is a smooth launch experience, both in terms of server stability and quest fluidity. Alongside the introduction zone, players will have all classes and specialisations, with testing and ongoing tuning of raids, dungeons of all difficulties, quests, class order halls and artifact related content expected to occur throughout the life of the Beta.

All current Alpha players will have Beta access as is the norm for Warcraft, and any players wanting to get in on the Beta action should keep an eye out in their inboxes and Battle.net account to see if they've been given an invite!

[hackerlol]

Thanks!

I shall hope for someone on OC to send me a beta invite as one did last expansion! : ). I don't seem to have much luck with their opt-in program : /

[HunterHero]

Wow Jesse still doing his thing? What was the name of the other guy he used to make videos with that did lore for like Rexxar and shit? Crossing fingers that this opt-in might be my lucky time.

[MisterPepsi]

I hope most of us on OC get an invite, especially me.

[Kenneth]

interesting stream, i will be checking my e-mail!

[Disphotic]

Thanks!

I shall hope for someone on OC to send me a beta invite as one did last expansion! : ). I don't seem to have much luck with their opt-in program : /

Lol, I don't think anyone here does (seeing as they don't invite anyone who has had anything on their bnet actioned before xD)

[Ashoran]

I actually liked the stream, most of the questions were obviously scripted, well that one about legacy servers wasn't, but judging by his reaction he was well prepared for it. Been unlucky with beta invites for years, doubt anything will change any time soon, but hell Legion is just around the corner, so it's all good

[MisterPepsi]

From what I read on reddit, quite a few people got in today.Did anyone get it yet?

[Smitten]

One of my alt accounts did. My main account already had Alpha. It's certainly happening

[jaa282]

I just had a long talk with a gm and even they don't understand how the beta system works or agree with it, Like I was telling them I have been playing the game off and on for a good part of 10 years and haven't ever received 1 beta invite kinda dumb :/. And I would really love to play this beta lol looks soooo good.

[MisterPepsi]

It's all about the RNG and I see that invites stopped already.Yet again no invite for myself, bad blizzard, very bad.

[TehVoyager]

as someone who has never gotten into a significant beta, i would also love to see the legion beta. then again, they select accounts "in good standing" and as im on a final warning for PQR usage at the end of SoO.... :P

[Cecu]

TehVoyager, all the non-permanent warnings decay in 6 months or so, plus quite a few people with perma-banned accounts in their b.nets already received Beta invitations.

[Razor33]

Nice news And as always late to read them Good luck everyone getting access to beta. Personally even if i get it i will not bother to much since during this period i don't have much time to play even the normal game lol Will follow you all on YouTube however to learn what Legion bring us !

[mmobuyerx]

it was so expensive to buy one