Blizzard is reportedly making additional room for the current closed beta of StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm for customers who pre-ordered the expansion.
Up until now, the Heart of the Swarm closed beta has been limited to a specific number of players. But the company is supposedly getting ready to open the beta doors to customers who digitally pre-ordered the game to test the load on the servers. The pre-order rollout will reportedly be conducted in waves starting after the New Year, adding more and more paid customers almost every week.
For those who ordered the boxed version of the StarCraft II expansion, Amazon and other retailers will reportedly start handing out promotional beta keys in the near future. The game itself is slated to ship on March 12, 2013, so we already have less than three months before PC gamers nationwide are drooling and losing sleep again over Blizzard's uber-popular sci-fi RTS.
"With Heart of the Swarm, our goal has been to expand on the multiplayer action and cinematic storytelling of Wings of Liberty," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "Combined with features like unranked matchmaking and our new leveling system, this expansion elevates the StarCraft II experience for players of all skill levels."
The closed beta for Heart of the Swarm began back on September 5, initially allowing a select group of pro-gamers, members of the press, Arcade contest winners, and shoutcasters to check out the multiplayer aspect of the PC game. Blizzard said additional players would be enlisted if they've opted to participate in the beta by clicking on the 'Beta Profile Settings' under the Account Management section of their Battle.net account.
According to a FAQ, Blizzard has looked for a wide variety of players and system types to participate. Thus, for each round of invitations, beta testers have been selected based on their system specifications and other factors (including an element of luck). Beta participants also haven't needed to purchase the retail version of StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty although chances of gaining access have been greater if players have logged some game time with the sci-fi RTS.
To download the beta client, grab the file from here. Access is only granted if you're Blizzard tested, Blizzard approved.
