That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer in anticipation of the expansion release, or to take arms within the expansions beta and by doing so, spoil yourself. To test, to know.
Hamlet aside, Fussypants and Yotaan again address the eternal question: will you be participating in the Legion expansion beta?
Fussypants: Not to Beta! I’ve already written on this earlier but I have no intentions of entering the beta or even reading up about the beta news. So yes, I’m the reason you have to have spoiler tags, sorry guys!
But seriously, the reason why I chose not to beta is two-fold. For one, waiting until that set point when it drops builds the excitement better for me personally. If I were to get a taste of what the game would be like or learn of the story early, the actual launch would be less special and fun. Waiting builds anticipation!
For another, I’d be a pretty bad beta tester. I’m not super great about filling bug reports and the fact that everything would be wiped all the time would mean that I’d quickly lose interest. Why spend so much time on something when it’s all going to be deleted? I’m just not good beta testing material.
But this means, with beta now launched, I’m going to have to be very cautious on the internet. I haven’t been spoiled yet but I’d like to keep it that way!
Yotaan: This is my fourth beta “opportunity” and I am going to pass. But, unlike Fussypants, I do read a little about the beta news.
For me, I want a good story. When I sit down to read a book or graphic novel, I read from the start to the finish. Unlike a certain reader I know (Fussypant’s Mom/Yotaan’s wife) I don’t skip to the end to find out what happens. The build up of the story, the twists and turns of the plot, and the grand finale is what I look for in a novel. In many ways, playing WoW is just like reading a novel, especially if you read the quest text and watch the cinematics. So how could I participate in the beta! I’d be skipping ahead in the story!
Now, I have been reading about the class changes and game improvements. I want to be ready to understand how Yotaan and my assorted alts will be modified. My poor little shaman has undergone drastic play style changes in the past several years. But I don’t dive into quest discussion or even much about the new zones for fear of story spoilers. So I carefully read news on just the mechanics.
I wonder what kind of beta tester I would be… I suspect I would be diligent. As my (temporary) character moves along the leveling, I would dutifully report all bugs and such. This doesn’t sound like fun. This sounds like work! If you have been reading my few posts on our blog here, you know that I am not interested in working while gaming. So, no beta testing for me.
Then again, if I do test, I could taunt Fussypants with spoiler knowledge….. Hmmm….
And what about you guys? To Beta or not to Beta, which have you chosen?
Growing up in Azeroth 
Yes, I hear you and understand what you’re saying about Beta access, but I want it!
Now! Gimme gimme gimme! Pick me!
*insert 2-year old temper tantrum here*
Panda Land and WoD Beta access didn’t spoil it for me one bit 😀
Hee hee, I totally understand where you are coming from, that was practically me waiting for Overwatch Beta access (spoiler alert, I got in for the last stress test weekend). Sending you all my beta access luck!
Not being subscribed at the moment, there will be no beta for me. But the only WoW beta I ever played in was for Cataclysm, and I think being involved early spoiled things for me. I felt I had seen so much of it already, it killed off a lot of the surprise and wonder.
I do like to get a bit of the high level news about the expansion. I am pretty happy about what is planned for hunters, as an example. That will get me back for Legion. But I doubt I will resubscribe much before the WoW 7.0 pre-expansion update.
I have never participated in a beta for Warcraft but I think my experiences would be pretty similar to yours. Even if I avoided a lot of the story and focused primarily on the gameplay, that element of exploration in the first couple weeks of the expansion would be gone.
The only Legion news I read is the stuff coming out of Blizzcon (which at this point is super old news) and few odds and ends regarding quality of life changes. So I know about the changes to spec and talent swapping but I’ve purposefully kept myself in the dark about the lore behind the artifacts and the likes. It’s been a touch difficult but I have to say, the internet at large has been doing a very good job of marking spoilers so I can leave the page before I learn something I don’t want to.
I am still currently subscribed but its more for my guild and less for anything happening in the game. I’ve all but maxed out my main, am about to complete my last couple of legendary rings, and have leveled quite a few toons so at this point I’m in a holding pattern. But once Legion arrives, I will be back in business so to speak.
I’ve never got a beta access. And I doubt I will. From what I’m observing Blizzard has a list of beta users and is sending beta access even to those with currently cancelled subscription – got several examples of that.
Yeah, I’ve heard of a few instances of that sort of thing happening, it really sucks! Yotaan and I have been lucky enough to get the opportunity to be in the last two betas (Mists via the Annual Pass and Warlords via two physical keys we lucked onto) but for both we decided to opt out. This time though, we would have to play the waiting game and see if we were selected.
So I take it, if you got into the beta, you would totally play it?
Yes 🙂 I would like to see if I’m good as a tester and Demon Hunter class intrigues me. Doing a starting chain for them will be enough to see if my coming 12th slot would be a DH or some other toon 🙂