Beta is over -- show us your screenshots!

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Beta is over -- show us your screenshots!

Post by Ringo Flinthammer » 17 Nov 2004 05:55 pm

Tyren wrote:In preparation for the upcoming retail launch of World of Warcraft, we will be taking the North American open beta servers offline on Thursday, November 18. While this will mark the end of the open beta test, there will still be some work left for us to do. To provide the best experience possible at launch, we will be making numerous final optimizations to our hardware based on the data we've acquired during the open beta test.

During our closed and open beta test phases, thousands of improvements were made to World of Warcraft. Those changes were made through game-client patches and updates to the game's server and database infrastructure.

As we moved closer to retail, we continued to make changes and optimize all of the code that makes up World of Warcraft until we reached the point where we felt we could create a gold master -- the version of the game that's currently being pressed onto the discs which will be available for purchase at retail.

Likewise, these processes must also take place on the server side to ensure that no out-of-date code, which could corrupt the retail version of the game, still exists. Before the retail version of the code can be installed, the current hardware must be wiped clean. This also includes the information on current accounts and characters that are being played on our test servers. So that all World of Warcraft players will be able to make a fresh start on our community site at launch, the same procedure will be taking place for the North American beta forums when the open beta test ends.

We realize that you've grown attached to your characters, and we're sorry that the end of the open beta test will require you to part ways with them. However, with the retail launch of World of Warcraft on November 23 comes the opportunity to begin a new adventure in Azeroth on fresh, untouched servers. Along with that, you'll have the knowledge that you played an instrumental role in the creation of a game of epic proportions that players will enjoy for many years to come.

We greatly appreciate all the time you've spent with us testing World of Warcraft, and we look forward to seeing you in-game!

Please note that this does not affect the ongoing European closed beta test. Further details regarding our plans for the closed and final beta tests in Europe will be announced on the European community sites next week.
http://www.WorldOfWarcraft.com/

And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend, I’ll say it clear,
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain.

I’ve lived a life that’s full.
I’ve traveled each and ev’ry highway;
And more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Regrets, I’ve had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.

I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.

Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.

I’ve loved, I’ve laughed and cried.
I’ve had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.

To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
No, oh no not me,
I did it my way.

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way!


This is not the end, just the end of the beginning.

See you all in Azeroth, my friends!
Last edited by Ringo Flinthammer on 19 Nov 2004 11:32 am, edited 4 times in total.

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Post by Beli Flinthammer » 17 Nov 2004 06:33 pm

Happy to restart from level 1 ... for the last time!
Goblin + Engineering = KNOW HOW, BABY!

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Post by Widge » 17 Nov 2004 06:59 pm

This is good news, I could use a short rest before diving in once again on Tuesday.

My wife certainly seems pleased, as well :lol:

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Post by Riverdane » 17 Nov 2004 10:17 pm

/salute.....allied again, shorty.

Seems like olddddd times.
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Post by Ringo Flinthammer » 17 Nov 2004 11:42 pm

WoW version of Whizbang, created during closed beta:

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With his familiar, Petey the Bunny!

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With my first-ever mount in WoW, a blue mechanostrider.

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Post by Ringo Flinthammer » 17 Nov 2004 11:48 pm

My final surviving alpha character, Bonaventure. My original paladin was named Ringo, and was a dwarf with an orange curly-mustached beard and a long ponytail all the way down his back. He was also level 30. Bonaventure was created to replace him, when I knew I wanted to delete the original Ringo and use the name for my hunter, when they became available.

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Post by Ringo Flinthammer » 17 Nov 2004 11:58 pm

The original hunter Ringo, created the very first day hunters were available in closed beta:

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And, of course, the original Frostmaw. I suspect the obscene amount of surplus training points (he knows all the skills available at this point in beta -- Growl, Claw, Bite and Cower) will get tweaked soon in retail, or more abilities will be added, or both.

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Post by Beli Flinthammer » 18 Nov 2004 08:21 am

I knew I should have taken more screenshots of Pedi on her gnomish mount! :P

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Post by Wamz » 18 Nov 2004 08:46 am

STOP!!! whiz your making me jealous that i didn't get in beta and now i wish i can change time to the 23 already.... man i'm going to be busy. so many things i want to play..... at start i will have all slots filled up i bet.

I have some questions to..... on warlocks ( but looking at the hunter class im amazed :) ) I haven't really looked at the forums on blizzard to see if warlocks are going to be horde only or since a gnome can be a warlock will the gnomes be sorta like eq gnomes kinda a neutural charcter with warlocks and i can be one on the alliance side or will i have to have my warlock a horde alt? <--- if thats the case then i have my have to be something else for alliance like i wanted to be warrior paly or since i seen screens of hunter and that gun :) maybe a hunter. or a rogue :) ( i like dealing damage so maybe rogue or mage class ( if i can't be a warlock for alliance, which i don't think i will be able to because warlocks are evil so more then likely a horde class but a gnome on the horde side come on doesn't make sense :) hoping its like eq gnomes. Its ashame that alliance can't have shamans :( atm.

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Post by Clouseau » 18 Nov 2004 08:50 am

Warlocks are on the alliance side too Wamz, gnomes and humans can both be warlocks. The only two classes that are one side or the other are paladin (alliance only) and shaman (horde only), so knock yourself out with the gnome warlock if that's your choice, you will still be alliance. Horde and Alliance is the races, not so much good vs evil, since IMHO the taurens are far from evil, and gnomes are just PURE evil. :o
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After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.{Aldous Huxley}

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Post by Widge » 18 Nov 2004 08:54 am

And don't you forget it! :twisted:

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Post by Wamz » 18 Nov 2004 08:57 am

Clouseau wrote: IMHO the taurens are far from evil, and gnomes are just PURE evil. :o
MUAHAHA.... then it is so. I shalll be a ebil lil bastard gnome again..... he will be picking the name Lilwam again <--- Maybe hmmm Might have to go with a different Name but for now i think it will be lilwam and my dwarf char a damage dealing or healer char Wamdar. Don't know why i will be sticking to that name... just what i was known with in EQ i guess. will see :)

Thanks bro for the joyful news :)

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Post by Beli Flinthammer » 18 Nov 2004 12:34 pm

I went through all my CDs of stuff I’ve taken in the game in the past year. Here’s a few neat moments I’d thought I share.

This was a very common bug back in the beginning of the alpha in which your head would become a photograph. This is a picture of a guy who was one of the lead designers of WoW. His name escapes me though.
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One of first big dwarven moments in a long and involved quest to save the dam. It was worth it just to hear your name being shouted across the zone!
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A screenshot of an airport hidden in Dun Morogh. The place is tricky to find, but you will usually see it as you fly over on a griffon.
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This was the first “blue” item I ever got. I was so proud of it and the graphic was very unique at the time. People kept inspecting me, wanting to know how I got it. It was a rare drop from hunting oozes at the tomb. That bag quest was infamous for being hard to complete and I considered this staff as my reward as I never did finish that quest!
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This was one of my favorite “girl” moments in the game. I met up with my two friends from Azeroth’s Studio in the Stormwind flower shop. They bought all the flowers they could afford to try them out. It was not uncommon to find one of them handing you flowers out of the blue. Very sweet gals!
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During the alpha, Blizzard wanted to test the server load and see what would happen if hundreds of people all took a flight out on the SAME time. Most people came to SW and gathered around, waiting for the signal to buy a flight to Ironforge. I ended up crashing my computer because I couldn’t handle the lag, but the server itself did not crash so they considered it a success.
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Ha ha, this was a very unfortunate way for Ringo to be killed by Stitches. :P
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In this screenshot here, during the undead push, there were “practice dummies” available in the game. This allowed people to attack the dummies and max out their weapon skills. Casters would come and nuke, people would train up their guns at level 20, I would max out my sword, my mace, and so on. It was very handy and convenient, but unfortunately, it was TOO convenient as Blizzard disabled practice dummies. I don’t think we’ll ever have them again.
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This is seriously the funniest moment I’ve ever experienced in the game. You sort of had to be there, but we grouped up with this guy we met outside of Shadowfang Keep. Next thing you knew, he got down on his knee in front of Whizbang and asked him to do the /dance emote. I laughed and laughed and laughed so hard. Poor Whiz! The guy was nuts!
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When enchanting was introduced to the game, this is what it looked like. Just an insane glow. People started to refer to their weapons as Star War light sabers because that’s what it looked like. Blizzard said that it was an error in the coding and it would be toned down in the next patch.
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Here’s Whizbang and I being traitors by killing dwarves! At this point, we had basically gone through dwarf withdrawal (the horde push really did go on for months) and killing them was the only way we could feel close to “home” again.
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Here’s Whiz and I sitting on the bridge between Duskwood and Westfall. We looked high and low for Eliza’s grave until we found it on the bridge. It was surreal.
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This needs no words. ;)
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During the Fourth of July, Blizzard installed firework vendors in designated locations. Here’s one of the sparklers they offered. They weren’t available afterwards so it was a collector’s item at the time!
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This was my very first pet in the game. He was such a good dog – I loved him very much, but unfortunately I could only have him for 10 minutes at a time and the whistle that summoned him only had three charges. It drops in the Scarlet Monastery from the beastmaster.
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My first mount!
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This was a graphic bug in which Whizbang followed me on a griffon mount. He couldn’t see the mount from his computer and I was fine with that bug at first, but man, I couldn’t target around him nor could I loot. It drove me insane so finally I had to camp out to dump the griffon. It was neat while it lasted!
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Post by Clouseau » 18 Nov 2004 12:46 pm

Those are some great shots Beli, I love them. I'm going to check my HD at home tonight and see what I have, I know I have a few shots, but not as many as I wish I had.
This world may be another planet's hell.{Aldous Huxley}
After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.{Aldous Huxley}

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Post by Ringo Flinthammer » 18 Nov 2004 12:54 pm

The cube placeholder art is known as a "Shane cube" for Shane Dabiri who is, yes, one of the lead developers.

There's also a simple square placeholder that was used for new powers and such. That was a photograph of Sam "Samwise" Didier, Blizzard's lead artist.

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I posted several on the Resurgence Lounge

Post by Oldneil » 18 Nov 2004 07:55 pm

Heya. Now that beta is over, and I needed something to do, I posted some screenshots from Beta on the Resurgence Lounge board. The last night of Open was a blast with the capital cities being stormed by high level NPC's and GM controlled mobs.

See you in Retail!

http://www.resurgenceguild.com/forum.php
Oldkneel - 70 Dwarf Priest SH - Healer
Backstage - 70 Dwarf Rogue SH - PvE
Oldneil - 69 Gnome Rogue SH - PvP
Ivanova - 48 Draenei Paladin SH Tank

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Post by Widge » 18 Nov 2004 08:29 pm

Those are some awesome shots, Beli. I especially like the screenshot of Pedi's character window, a little reminder of a race/class combination that no longer exists :(

I wanted to get a good shot of Widge crying in ghost form as the server went down, but I didn't quite make it that far. Unfortunately this was the last thing the beta version of Widge ever saw...

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Post by Beli Flinthammer » 19 Nov 2004 06:58 am

What a great shot! I'm sorry I missed the end! :cry:

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Post by Vashanti » 19 Nov 2004 11:03 pm

My first gun:
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My first mount:
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My dwarven hunter, pre-patch:
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My hunter, after one of the later patches (same gear, new look):
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My hunter helping to rid StormWind of Cairne Bloodhoof!
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Post by Wamz » 20 Nov 2004 06:56 pm

Nice pics guys..... love the mount :) that is awesome. Don't know what a gnome warlock mount is going to look like, I was wishing since the warlock is ebil and all he would get that one..... but since i will be a gnome not sure what it will look like. Can't wait to hit 40 ;)

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