World of Warcraft (Open beta or soemthing released?)

[iZzle]

does anyone knwo what the download is. blizz wont say anything, and when you have to log in if you click sign up, it doesnt load anything......sigh...

[BrianKonarsMac]

does anyone knwo what the download is. blizz wont say anything, and when you have to log in if you click sign up, it doesnt load anything......sigh...obviously the open beta client, it's just not up for download yet. they have setup the framework for it when it becomes available however. i also assume previous CB players can get started before us, that's kind of lame but okay.

[iZzle]

The info:

YOu gotta subscribe to fileplanet to participate in the final stress test. sigh. not worth it. open beta in approx. a week. and in response im nto sure. bc im downloaidng the OB installer. it just wont be active. :mad:

[dubbz]

And as usual it's North America only... err.. wait, New Zealand and Australia too? Say what?

Not that it helps me much.

[BrianKonarsMac]

i'm really tired of blizzard.

i love wow, but the hoops blizzard is making us jump through just to play is embarrassing to say the least.

i'm not even sure i'm going to bother paying to play this game, it used to seem "worth" the monthly fee, but at the moment i'd rather not even bother.

does anyone know if everquest 2 is mac compatible? it's time for me to look at alternatives, i've never been so disappointed with blizzard in my life. they may make good games, but have zero business capabilities.

[Vlade]

Its a BETA people, costing blizzard tens of thousands of dollars to do, and will benefit YOU the player in the end, give blizzard a break.

[BrianKonarsMac]

Its a BETA people, costing blizzard tens of thousands of dollars to do, and will benefit YOU the player in the end, give blizzard a break.no, the beta has been up forever (since 2003). this is a final stress test, for no other reason than FilePlanet is paying off blizzard. it won't benefit any of us to allow closed beta testers more time to pump up their characters to lvl 60 so they can go noob hunting. give me a break.

[dizastor]

no, the beta has been up forever (since 2003). this is a final stress test, for no other reason than FilePlanet is paying off blizzard. it won't benefit any of us to allow closed beta testers more time to pump up their characters to lvl 60 so they can go noob hunting. give me a break.

The CB testers are going to be wiped before retail, so there will be no lvl 60's hunting you. Although, I'm sure it won't take long.

I can't believe that you're complaining that you have to sign up for file planet to play a game for free. If it were the retail version, you'd have to buy it (boxed) and sign up for the monthly fee before you could even play. I haven't been lucky enough to play the beta, but I'd gladly sign up if they told me to.

I don't think EQ2 will have a mac client... it took them 4 years to even make a Mac client of EQ1 and it's a crippled version at best... no LDoN, no new expansions. Mac users can only play on a single Mac user server. WoW is the only MMORPG that I know of aiming to release Mac/Windows at the same time(or release a Mac version at all) I like Blizzard more, just for that reason alone.

there are countless MMO's without a mac version, and without a version in the works. (L2, CoH, Guild Wars, FFXI, etc.)

[shortyjj]

For some reason I'm having a hard time finding the client on fileplanet, and worldofwarcraft.com isn't working. Anybody have the link to the download? Do you need to register first?

[dubbz]

For some reason I'm having a hard time finding the client on fileplanet, and worldofwarcraft.com isn't working. Anybody have the link to the download? Do you need to register first?

The one on FilePlanet is for subscribers only.

[shortyjj]

So... you have to pay to play?

[dubbz]

So... you have to pay to play?

If you want to play in the Stress Test, then yes. The Open Beta should be free for all, though.

A FilePlanet subscription isn't such a bad thing, though. You get offered chances at beta tests and similiar goodies all the time. Since I'm in Europe, I won't get a place in this beta test, though.... (Why, Blizzard, Why?!)

[rbarris]

If you want to play in the Stress Test, then yes. The Open Beta should be free for all, though.

the time between the FilePlanet Final Stress test and the open beta will not be large, because FilePlanet is giving away keys like crazy, and the Open Beta will be enabled shortly after FP runs out of keys for their promotion.

Which is a lengthy way of saying "be patient".

There will be additional free play time prior to commercial release.

[AoWolf]

the time between the FilePlanet Final Stress test and the open beta will not be large, because FilePlanet is giving away keys like crazy, and the Open Beta will be enabled shortly after FP runs out of keys for their promotion.

Which is a lengthy way of saying "be patient".

There will be additional free play time prior to commercial release.

Yeah umm no. The open beta starts 1 week from today according to blizz.

[rbarris]

Yeah umm no. The open beta starts 1 week from today according to blizz.

OK thanks for the heads up. O_o

[BrianKonarsMac]

Yeah umm no. The open beta starts 1 week from today according to blizz.way to go genius...tell blizzard that they are wrong...if you didn't notice rob is a blizzard employee...so what he says, goes basically. thanks for your input but you don't no ****, listen to the designers, they do.

[shortyjj]

So the stress test is to benefit Blizzard, but we have to pay? I don't get it.

Somebody made the argument that you have to help pay for the bandwidth, but then there should be other way to download the client, ie bittorrent

[BrianKonarsMac]

OK thanks for the heads up. O_ohey rob, do you know if you are guarenteed a spot if you sign up at FP? I've been trying to register with them since you announced it this morning, and they haven't even accepted my registration ( i get a continuous error). I called them to setup manually and they just told me to try again in 30 minutes due to server traffic. 3 hours later, still getting errors, and I don't want to sign up for FP for anything other than getting to play the stress test...

GOD DAMNIT I'M SO ****ING ANGRY WITH EVERYONE RIGHT NOW! TAKE MY ****ING MONEY GIVE ME A STRESS TEST ACCOUNT AND MOVE ON! WHY MUST EVERYONE MAKE MY LIFE SUCH A HASSLE I JUST WANT TO PLAY A ****ING GAME! WHY ME!?!?!

VOTE KERRY.

[rbarris]

way to go genius...tell blizzard that they are wrong...if you didn't notice rob is a blizzard employee...so what he says, goes basically.

Well, unless there is some surprise diasater (tornado anyone?!)

The stress test is in phases. The first phase has the fileplanet people in it. Then it morphs into Open Beta which is in a way, the ultimate stress test. I think we're being pragmatic by offering this to a subset of users before opening the floodgates completely. Fileplanet also has huge servers capable of doling out the 2.5GB download to many thousands of downloaders simultaneously, and that kind of gear doesn't run for free.

I suspect a week from now we'll easily forget what all the fuss was about.

[Vlade]

I need to stop visiting these forums... all they do is anger me. There are so many people that think that people have to go out of their way to give them free stuff, well let me tell you something, your wrong. Its that simple, if you don't like it, don't pay for it and don't use it.

Don't go bitching about how blizzard sucks because they didn't buy servers and pay for bandwidth for your personal pleasure.

[dubbz]

rbarris

Any idea when the Euro beta will open? Are we talking days, weeks or months after the NA/NZ/Aus beta? I can't seem to find any good answer to that :)

Vlade I actually have a FP subscription (or actually, two at the moment). I'm just annoyed that I still can't play ;)

[iZzle]

Uhmm...yeah...anyways. I'm downloading the Open Beta Installer right now (have been for 5 hours). I don't know how to find it on Blizz, but soemone gave me a link earlier. If anyone wants the 470KB .dmg, I'll send it in iChat (Screenname: ElFishGil). O well i've got a fun ~15 hours ahead of me.

This is what I think, but I may be wrong. The 2.5 gig file that anyone can DL is the OB installer (like the file is titled) but it won't be playable till they start OB. Input is welcome.

Vlade, please chill out and don't go all phsyco on me. Try voicing your opinion wihtout being so aggressive if you wanna say something. :rolleyes:

"Don't go bitching about how blizzard sucks because they didn't buy servers and pay for bandwidth for your personal pleasure."<--Needed? I think not.

EDIT: It seems like Blizz doesn't like the link being given out. Any info on what the file is? Look @ this WoW Forum thread (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general&t=496895&p=1&tmp=1#post496895)

[shortyjj]

Anybody care to "seed" the OB installer with bittorrent? The more people we get downloading it, the faster it goes, and the less hassle a week from now

(I'm not paying for FilePlanet - how much of a benefit could it be to a Mac user?)

[ChronoIMG]

Well, unless there is some surprise diasater (tornado anyone?!)

The stress test is in phases. The first phase has the fileplanet people in it. Then it morphs into Open Beta which is in a way, the ultimate stress test. I think we're being pragmatic by offering this to a subset of users before opening the floodgates completely. Fileplanet also has huge servers capable of doling out the 2.5GB download to many thousands of downloaders simultaneously, and that kind of gear doesn't run for free.

I suspect a week from now we'll easily forget what all the fuss was about.
In about a week maybe we closed beta testers will have the torrent file downloaded...

[iZzle]

well how am i downloading it and im not in closed beta?

[Vlade]

Vlade, please chill out and don't go all phsyco on me. Try voicing your opinion wihtout being so aggressive if you wanna say something. :rolleyes:


Sorry if I appeared phsyco, that was not my intent, I wasn't targeting you, mostly BrianKonarsMac. I will try to chill out though, I just need to ignore things more.

[smurphur]

no, the beta has been up forever (since 2003). this is a final stress test, for no other reason than FilePlanet is paying off blizzard. it won't benefit any of us to allow closed beta testers more time to pump up their characters to lvl 60 so they can go noob hunting. give me a break.

Hrm, it would seem that Blizzard could benefit from not having thousands of people download off their servers and use Fileplanets instead... maybe that's just me that sees that benefit to blizzard...

[ChronoIMG]

well how am i downloading it and im not in closed beta?
I guess you misunderstood. Attempting to download and actually downloading are two different things.

Blizzard hasn't been seeding since they're servers went "belly up" so the downloads have been rather slow. If you have the link from the CBers or the direct torrent, goodie for you. Have fun looking at the login screen.

[Converted2Truth]

What pisses me off about this whole thing is that blizzard said, "Open beta coming soon", and now their site has began hosting such a beta without guidlines on obtaining a product key. They don't even tell you that FP is handing out the keys. F_other M_uckers! Oh well. Soon enough perhaps we'll all have open beta accounts... just have to wait for fileplanet to have an orgasm first.

This talk about bandwidth cost is bull... LIMEWIRE BABY... there's your free bandwidth. P2P networks are the way of the future. All blizzard has to host is the key distribution.

[BrianKonarsMac]

Hrm, it would seem that Blizzard could benefit from not having thousands of people download off their servers and use Fileplanets instead... maybe that's just me that sees that benefit to blizzard...meet bitTorrent.

yes it's just you.

[kparvez]

I spent most of the morning waiting for news on the open beta, the moment the Wow website had info, i was at fileplanet getting my subscription, it tooks 2 hours before i got my subscriber's account activated, and another 7 hrs before i got my final email with the beta key, and link to download. By the looks of it, i'm downloading right now Wow, and it's gonna probably take all night (dl speed varies: ~50kbs-5kbs). Note: don't use Safari, use Internet Explorer instead, when you click on the email link to download the client, use Internet Explorer.

cheers,
kparvez

p.s. be patient, and you'll be playing WoW by tomorrow.

[iZzle]

:eek: . I'm getting messages:

"Could not connect to tracker!
This download is not authorized by the tracker!"

Uhmm...k.

[Corrupted]

Congratulations! You have been accepted into the World of Warcraft® Final Stress Test and Open Beta.


Your unique World of Warcraft Open Beta key is reserved for you! Guaranteed!!! Due to high demand, we are distributing keys in groups. You will get your key as soon as your group is released. Please do not resubmit your information because it will not get you in any faster. Watch for your Final Stress Test and Open Beta key email and have fun!

[BrianKonarsMac]

Congratulations! You have been accepted into the World of Warcraft® Final Stress Test and Open Beta.


Your unique World of Warcraft Open Beta key is reserved for you! Guaranteed!!! Due to high demand, we are distributing keys in groups. You will get your key as soon as your group is released. Please do not resubmit your information because it will not get you in any faster. Watch for your Final Stress Test and Open Beta key email and have fun!have you gotten your key yet? this is starting to piss me off.

[kparvez]

I got my beta key, and started downloading the Wow client (~2.5 GB) last night, and when it reached 2.1 GB, i got an error and had to redownload it. So this morning, i tried again, and again at 2.1 GB, it crashed! aargh. I'm trying again using a different Fileplanet server (ie. don't use the mid-west server), and we'll see in 3 hrs if this time it worked.

8(

[BrianKonarsMac]

feel like sharing the link to the download?

i don't want to wait to GET my key to start d/l'ing...then wait another DAY to play it...this is such a waste of time. should've just waited for open beta...

[iZzle]

yeh- im saving me money. :mad:

[yellow]

Like an eeeeeeediot, I paid when it appeared yesterday. Still waiting for my key. eeeeeeediot. :rolleyes:

[BrianKonarsMac]

ya if they actually had customer support, rather than a recorded message...i would have given them a thorough bitching. pretty stupid i need to wait for my key in order to begin d/l'ing...would've been nice if i could have downloaded it then played as soon as i got my key.

for future reference, never do business with FilePlanet, GameSpy, or IGN. they are the shadiest company I have ever done business with, and am appalled that blizzard is actually using their service (which is shoddy at best).

yellow, have you gotten to start your download or are you waiting on your key still?

[yellow]

yellow, have you gotten to start your download or are you waiting on your key still?

Still waiting on the key.

[Corrupted]

I'm still waiting on my Key as well. I think its stupid to have to wait for the key before you can start downloading the client.

[yellow]

I have no patience, but I have been waiting 22 hours for my key...

[kparvez]

when you do get your beta key, and link to download, use Safari please. I managed to download 2.1 GB/2.5 GB and internet explorer crapped out on me, and there was an error with my download. and it happened twice (once last night, and once this morning). with Safari, i finally managed to download the whole thing with no problems.

bye

[shenysys]

It took me about 19 hours to download it off fileplanet.
At times the download just stopped so it would of taken less time. :(
Also you are looking at least 20 - 30 mins to install once you have unarchived the file. That was on my 15' 1.23ghz Powerbook.

Shen

[kparvez]

It took me about 19 hours to download it off fileplanet.
At times the download just stopped so it would of taken less time. :(
Also you are looking at least 20 - 30 mins to install once you have unarchived the file. That was on my 15' 1.23ghz Powerbook.

Shen


Yeah, it took 30 min to install on my 1Ghz powerbook, but heck, it was worth it!!! WoW RULES! w00t!!! It's so much fun!!!

Btw, the moment i saw an ancient protector patrolling Dolonar (however you spell it), i was blown away, that thing is massive!!

It was worth the money, to play for this week in advance of the 'open beta'. There aren't that many people on the servers... so things are going smoothly.

[BrianKonarsMac]

2 hours to go...go, go, go!

bush is a liar!

KERRY FOR PRESIDENT!

[yellow]

STILL waiting for my key. 28 hours and counting..

[Corrupted]

Woot!!!!!
Took 12 hours to get downloading now!

[BrianKonarsMac]

STILL waiting for my key. 28 hours and counting..you need to call that's bs.

20 min. left on the d/l that it's a WoW all-nighter :D.

[Converted2Truth]

I can't believe how many of you guys are PAYING to play a game for a week! just wait a week, and it will be free... then you can use that money to help pay for the actual game.

[BrianKonarsMac]

I can't believe how many of you guys are PAYING to play a game for a week! just wait a week, and it will be free... then you can use that money to help pay for the actual game.is $8 really all that much? cmon...that's lunch for a day (sometimes note even close).

[Golem]

Well I guess their are some advantages to having your internet down for a couple of days. Took me less than an a hour to login to fileplanet upgade to 7.90 subscriber,watch tv for 30 minutes and come back to find my beta key.
Downloading at 280k per second, 2 hours to go and its only just over an hour since I started

[yellow]

is $8 really all that much? cmon...that's lunch for a day (sometimes note even close).

Exactly. Though now I'm kicking myself because I paid for nothing..


EDIT: Scratch that.. I FINALLY got my key this morning, at 6AM. Well, whatever.. All I can say is that I love my job. In 4 minutes I've downloaded 800MB of the game. Estimated time to burning to DVD, 10 minutes. Esimated time to going home "sick", 11 minutes.

[Golem]

Yellow, Perhaps just reapply for the beta?

Seriously my Beta key was sent 10 minutes after my subscription.

Wouldnt hurt to double check your beta keys under my account in case it went to spam.

[yellow]

Nah.. it didn't get marked as spam, I fed my previous fileplanet emails to spamassassin as ham.

I had tried to sign up a couple times. Consequently, I got an bumrush of emails.

4 of them in last 10 minutes. "Y" does come at then end of the alphabet I guess. :)

[Cybbe]

What's the minimum reqs for WoW?

[safe]

I got the final stress test registration key early this morning (yay) then spent hours navigating the FilePlant site - the FilePlanet downloader didn't support Safari or Mac OS so I registered at the WoW site, entering my beta key, with a view to getting the file from the WoW site and not FP.

That seemed to go well, until I installed the Blizzard downloader (which is BT re-skinned I guess). It hung for a while and then timed out, giving me a "firewall" error. I went to System Prefs to turn off my Apple Firewall, but couldn't get to the options as "I have another third-party firewall running" . I went to Norton Solutions, turned off the Firewall - no luck. I then went back, turned Norton firewall back on, but scaled down the security to allow open access. Still no luck. I'm stuck. I've used BT all the time (trade Mule and New Earth Mud shows) before without any problems or firewall issues, so not sure what gives. Could I have another firewall out there that I don't know about? Would Application Monitor find it? Is there another worka round here?

Any help from those who have DL'ed the file/client would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Safe

[dubbz]

I got the final stress test registration key early this morning (yay) then spent hours navigating the FilePlant site - the FilePlanet downloader didn't support Safari or Mac OS so I registered at the WoW site, entering my beta key, with a view to getting the file from the WoW site and not FP.


Unless FilePlanet have changed things for the WoW Beta, you should be able to download it in any browser... Just click on the "Click here to begin your download!" link on the bottom of the popup window. No need for the FP Download Control.

[yellow]

What's the minimum reqs for WoW?

Currently, according to the Stress Tets FAQ, found here:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/misc/stresstest2-faq.html

Windows® System 98/ME/2000/XP OS:

800 MHz or higher CPU.
256 MB or more of RAM.
32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware Transform and Lighting, such as GeForce 2 or better.
4 GB or more of available hard drive space.
DirectX® 9.0c or above.
A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection.



Mac® System OS X 10.3.5 OS:

933 MHz or higher G4 or G5 processor.
512 MB RAM or higher. DDR RAM recommended.
ATI or NVIDIA video hardware with 32 MB VRAM or more.
4 GB or more of available hard drive space.
MacOS X 10.3.5 or newer.
A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection.

[safe]

Unless FilePlanet have changed things for the WoW Beta, you should be able to download it in any browser... Just click on the "Click here to begin your download!" link on the bottom of the popup window. No need for the FP Download Control.

Thanks. The link I received in the email took me to the FP site, and the download link. When I hit that, I got the FP error message sayign I need to use IE 5.<, XP, NT or better. Bleaaaah!

Now I'm using the WoW BT client, but having all kinds of firewall issues etc. I may just unhook my router and go directly to the cable modem (which is bulletproof) - would that make a difference?

[yellow]

Finally in.. quite fun!

[Converted2Truth]

There needs to be a WOWA group. The game hasn't even been released yet, and many of you already need help. A WOW-anonymous group could stabalize the situation.

[safe]

At least perhaps a Mac WoW user group/clan....

I think this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Mac issues - Blizzard are great, but I notice issues on WCIII that continue to bug me - and I plan on spending a lot of my limited gaming time on WoW! :D

[dubbz]

Thanks. The link I received in the email took me to the FP site, and the download link. When I hit that, I got the FP error message sayign I need to use IE 5.<, XP, NT or better. Bleaaaah!

That's weird. I've never had any problems downloading stuff from FP with Firefox or Opera on WinXP, nor with Safari or Firefox on the Mac. (Do you have a screenshot of the error message?)

Now I'm using the WoW BT client, but having all kinds of firewall issues etc. I may just unhook my router and go directly to the cable modem (which is bulletproof) - would that make a difference?

Does the router have a built-in firewall? If so, either disabling it, opening the required ports, or just bypassing the router and connecting directly to the modem, as you said, should solve your problem.

[safe]

[QUOTE=dubbz]That's weird. I've never had any problems downloading stuff from FP with Firefox or Opera on WinXP, nor with Safari or Firefox on the Mac. (Do you have a screenshot of the error message?)


I'm at work (PC) but will try later from home. It was a pop-up in both safari (and then in IE) from the FP site, explaining that I needed to have IE 5.<, Win 2, XP, NT or better. Is the FP download faster than the WoW BT download?? :confused:

[BrianKonarsMac]

[QUOTE=dubbz]That's weird. I've never had any problems downloading stuff from FP with Firefox or Opera on WinXP, nor with Safari or Firefox on the Mac. (Do you have a screenshot of the error message?)


I'm at work (PC) but will try later from home. It was a pop-up in both safari (and then in IE) from the FP site, explaining that I needed to have IE 5.<, Win 2, XP, NT or better. Is the FP download faster than the WoW BT download?? :confused: dont use the BT client, nobody is using it and thus will take you FOREVER to d/l that way. use FP's servers, they will max out your d/l speed via w/e connection you use.

i used safari for my d/l....right click and save link as :P.

[safe]

i used safari for my d/l....right click and save link as :P.


Sorry to be dense, got the right click thing but I don't follow the "save link as :P". What's that? (and thanks for the help) :o

[Golem]

I got to the last link using camino then copied the link into safari. I got some an error in safari,flicked back to Camino to see what I could try next and then realised that safari was downloading anyway.


As for right click to Save as If you click on a link to a file it should be a choice on the popup.

[ijimk]

i have 2 questions

1. when is the retail version of WoW being released?

2. how long will the stress test and open beta last?

Just curious cause i got in YAY! :)

[Golem]

22nd November would be a reasonable guess but no one but blizzard knows for sure.

Stress test 5-7 days say 3-5 now. Open beta from then till 1-x days before release.

[BrianKonarsMac]

Sorry to be dense, got the right click thing but I don't follow the "save link as :P". What's that? (and thanks for the help) :o
right click your download link and their should be a download option in the context menu (Download Linked File As... or Save Linked File As... something like that). If you click on the link it should download anyways (check your download window, Command + 2) but the right click should fix it if not (if you use an apple mouse (!?!?) command + click).

[dubbz]

I'm at work (PC) but will try later from home. It was a pop-up in both safari (and then in IE) from the FP site, explaining that I needed to have IE 5.<, Win 2, XP, NT or better. Is the FP download faster than the WoW BT download?? :confused:

Is this the message you get? Either just left-clicking, or right-clicking and selecting "Download Linked File As..." (in Safari), on the "Click here to begin your download!" link should start the download.

[safe]

I'm a happy idiot. Sorry....

Got it figured out, and it is installing on my iMac G4. Could be a stretch to run it, but I figure that's what a Dual 2.0 G5 and 23" screen are for (one can dream) :D

[NeatGekko]

I go to FilePlanet and download the wow open beta off the free fileplanet server from the west coast...only when it unzips..there are a bunch of .exe files...not for macs....where is the mac wow download link? Thanks

[safe]

It should be tucked into the folder. There are 7 items in the folder in total, an done of them is WoW for mac. Make sure you have all seven, as I did recieve an incomlete download from Fileplanet at first. Good luck

BTW - plays "fine" on my Rev A iMac G4 800Mhz w/1GB RAM