Blizzard Explains WoW Classic Beta Rumors

• WoW Beta available to Blizzard employees
• No confirmation for a public/closed beta made yet
• Blizzard are ensuring that the game will hold up well at launch date
• More news to follow soon, says community manager Bornakk

World of Warcraft’s Classic Beta is already happening, but unfortunately, it’s limited to Blizzard employees only, a new blue post revealed on Saturday.

WoW Classic Beta Is Already Ongoing

The community has long suspected that Blizzard are already testing everything on a beta server. What wasn’t quite clear, though, was whether players would get some hands-on experience before the official launch. Not according to a new blue post in the Blizzard forum dedicated to Classic.

Community manager Bornakk addressed the latest flurry of excitement surrounding a recently leaked snapshot produced by bnet.marlam.in, which captured a glimpse of the WoW Classic Beta uploaded onto Blizzard’s content management system.

Blizzard have felt like they need to address this and there was Bornakk to explain the availability of a beta client and whether it would mean a beta before the official launch:

Hey folks! I’ve got a small update here to help quell some of the rumors and let you know where we are at for WoW Classic. We recently began a phase of internal employee alpha testing. The new build data that many of you have been discussing over the last few days is simply part of this process. Phases like this allow us to test out the game content along with other functionality that will be used in the live game, like logging in through the Blizzard Battle.net 175 App.

Aside from that, we don’t have any announcements to make at this time. I know all of you are very excited about this game and we thank you for your patience as we continue to develop it. More information will be coming soon!

The Internal Alpha Is All About Productivity

Not having a public beta – both as a fact or a possibility, shouldn’t disappoint fans. The goal is not hype, but rather productivity as Blizzard realize the importance of pulling off a launch that will retain players.

Nobody knows how many people will actually end up playing. Battle of Azeroth’s chats have been largely dismissive of the game, but there is a huge community anticipating the launch.

Popular caster Kargoz has said that he expects to see a population easily reaching at least a million active players.

Given that original servers were designed for 2,000 – 3,000 people, this estimate is quite sufficient to keep the World of Warcraft Classic realms busy. Meanwhile, there will be a lot that needs testing to guarantee a smooth experience or the users who are coming back to get a taste of the game. This includes important aspects, such as:

• Mob respawn rates
• Pathing
• Melee/Wand weaving
• Quest Values
• Boss encounters

The list is quite long, but you can check out Kargoz’s video to see these specific aspects that are particularly important to the game at first.

To Shards You Say

To shard or not to shard – this is the question. WoW Classic is about community. Sharding can however be of particularly value especially at the start of each server.

Overcrowded areas such as Durotar and Elwyn Forest would make it very difficult for regular players to level up, thus ruining the experience. Introducing sharding in those areas, however, would be sufficient to allow for a smooth start.

WoW Classic is coming in the summer of 2019. No official date has been posted yet, but the majority of players speculate that June or August will bring us a taste of the old game we all loved so much.