StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Beta Underway

The StarCraft II Website announces the beginning of beta testing of the Heart of the Swarm expansion for the real-time strategy sequel (thanks BlizzPlanet). They offer a FAQ detailing on how participants are being selected, and the following explanation of what the testing entails:
The Heart of the Swarm beta test has begun! This multiplayer-only test will initially be limited to a select group of pro-gamers, members of the press, Arcade contest winners, and shoutcasters. Beta test participants are not under NDA, so you’re likely going to see live streams of matches, screenshots, and casts of impromptu Heart of the Swarm throwdowns starting . . . mmm, NOW!

We will soon be inviting other players to participate in the beta, so be sure you’ve opted in by clicking on the "Beta Profile Settings" under the Account Management section of your Battle.net account (or just click here). Signing up from a Battle.net account that’s actively playing StarCraft II will help your chances of being selected. Note that opting in doesn't guarantee beta access.

We'll also be working with several fansites and community personalities to provide more opportunities to join the beta test, so keep an eye out here and throughout the StarCraft II community for details as they emerge.

For those who are in the beta already, we appreciate your assistance in helping us test the game. If you’re interested in joining the beta, we wish you luck with the opt-in and (future) giveaways, and hope to see you in a match soon!
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30.
 
Re: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Beta Underway
Sep 5, 2012, 16:27
30.
Re: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Beta Underway Sep 5, 2012, 16:27
Sep 5, 2012, 16:27
 
SimplyMonk wrote on Sep 5, 2012, 15:00:
I will say I am sad that Blizzard hasn't done what Guild Wars 2 is doing for their tournament and eSport aspects of the game. Make two modes to the game. One that is eSport-centric and focused on balanced and another that is focused on fun, creativity and just being damn awesome. GW2 does this by having their Tournament modes use separate player templates/abilities than their WvW and PvE modes. I'm sure they looked at WoW and the amount of bitching that people did when a PvP change effected PvE and figured for their Arena's, they didn't want this problem.

They actually had PLENTY of this type of bitching themselves in the first Guild Wars. It used to be that trying to get an Elite skill was a real challenge. You'd have to find the boss that had it, hit him with some sort of capture skill, then you had to create conditions in which he would actually USE that Elite skill so you could capture it. So if he had an Elite that would "Cure two conditions and heal 50% hp", you had to hit him with two conditions and get him below 50% health, then wait for him to use it. (it was a lot more dynamic than this, actually, it's hard to do justice to it just in words. It was a LOT of fun. Very strategic, though some bosses were absolute bitches about using their skill, admittedly.)

The PvP crowd thought this was WAAAAAAAAY too much work, so it got nerfed to the point where it was just "find boss, kill him, pick skill you want from list."

They had quite a few more of this type of horseshit going on, where the PvE got fucking screwed over sideways because of the all the whining from the PvP crowd. It was a miracle they didn't destroy the whole game while they were at it. The stupid "IT MUST BE BALANCED FOR TEH PVP PVP PVPVPVPVPVPVPVVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVVPVPVPVPVPVPVPVP!111!1" crap is what made me stop playing Guild Wars.

I'm glad they finally woke up and realized, hey, let's just make every PvP player level 80 immediately, AND GIVE THEM ALL SKILLS. You know, it's only what every single fucking PvE player was suggesting during the first fucking week of Guild Wars 1.

At least they listened. GW2 is fucking awesome.

Creston
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 Re: StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm Beta Underway