StarCraft II: Heart of Swarm Beta for Those Who Pre-ordered
If you've pre-ordered the StarCraft II expansion, then there's a chance you'll get a taste of the beta soon.
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.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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balister Chris Metzen has probably ruined another Blizzard franchise with his awful story direction. He's already destroyed the D3 story line and has really demolished WarCraft as well, might as well kill another.Reply -
Vorador2 Well StarCraft II was very good, so there's a bit of hope for this one. Still, after getting burned with Diablo III, i'm not going to fall again for the hype anymore. I will wait until reviews come.Reply -
nukemaster I think it is a better idea to have a larger beta.Reply
You want ALL users to be able to look for bugs not those who are buying the game one way or the other.
They may just be looking for an early access as opposed to a bug hunt. -
tomfreak steam sales + other sales are going on now, I doubt people would bother paying full price on a expansion game that is not masterpiece. For that kind of money u could probably buy the entire pack of some franchise in steam now lolReply -
wdmfiber @Vorador2Reply
It's just an expansion, not to be mistaken for say... Starcraft III. It's still Starcraft II. Blizz has just added some new units to the online ladder, done a few other tweeks/polishing and will release the Zerg campaign.
In about 2 years there will a 3rd expansion, Legacy of the Void(Protoss). -
infernocy i give you the new patch by blizzardReply
Diablo III Patch 1.0.6a – v.1.0.6a.13644
The latest client patch notes can be found here.
Bug Fixes
Fixed an issue that could occur when attempting to upgrade from the Diablo III Starter Edition
i am never buying a game from those greedy people . , the only thing they care is money and customer service dosent exist .. they really shown their real self with diablo 3
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GabZDK wdmfiber@Vorador2It's just an expansion, not to be mistaken for say... Starcraft III. It's still Starcraft II. Blizz has just added some new units to the online ladder, done a few other tweeks/polishing and will release the Zerg campaign. In about 2 years there will a 3rd expansion, Legacy of the Void(Protoss).Reply
Yeah, Starcraft II are three parts, HotS is more like Starcraft II Revision 2.0, there is a lot of rebalancing between the three races that really change the game, also there are new units and spells