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StarCraft 2 Beta Testing Has Officially Launched!

Post by Creepy @ 08:46am 18/02/10 | 79 Comments

Time to start refreshing your inbox to see if you were lucky enough to get into the first wave!

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Beta Is Now Live!

The Koprulu sector rings once more with the sounds of battle, for the public beta test of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty has officially begun! Invitations to participate in the beta test are now being delivered. As with previous Blizzard Entertainment titles, the beta-test process for StarCraft II will occur in phases. In each phase, we will be selecting players who meet specific criteria and who have opted in via their Battle.net accounts.

Players who have been invited to participate in the beta test will need to have a Battle.net account. For more information on the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty beta test, please read the FAQ and our recent media alert.

Source and Beta Web Site. promoted forum item

starcraft 2 battle.net

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Superform
Posted 08:52am 18/2/10

please please please please

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ravn0s
Posted 08:57am 18/2/10

nothing

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Creepy
Posted 08:58am 18/2/10

Couple of sites are doing live streaming of games. This is the real deal kids! :D

One-Up:
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177988

Starcraft Method:
http://www.livestream.com/starcraftmethod

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euphoria
Posted 09:07am 18/2/10

Nuthin but tumbleweeds in my inbox!

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Creepy
Posted 09:09am 18/2/10

From the forums:

The email process has started and with the number of emails that are going out, it will take a while for all of them to be sent. Please be patient.

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Reverend Evil�
Posted 09:53am 18/2/10

How do you get an invite? Is it random or do you need to do something?

Nevermind. LOL

last edited by Reverend Evil� at 09:53:04 18/Feb/10

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Thundercracker
Posted 10:09am 18/2/10

*mashes f5 on gmail account*

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Creepy
Posted 10:12am 18/2/10

Might also suggest you log into your battle.net accounts and see if you've got a new game in your profile to download..

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trog
Posted 12:06pm 18/2/10

The invite looks a bit like this, FYI

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paveway
Posted 12:06pm 18/2/10

haha owned

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Mass
Posted 12:11pm 18/2/10

Oh why would they give Trog one, he hates games and the people who play them....

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Creepy
Posted 12:11pm 18/2/10

Grats trog! :P

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trog
Posted 12:13pm 18/2/10

If you really want to be pissed off about the injustice, I never even played the original Starcraft!

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Thundercracker
Posted 12:13pm 18/2/10

I'll give you ten dorrah for it trog.

Actually if you check ebay people are selling "beta keys" for up to $300 :O

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Creepy
Posted 12:17pm 18/2/10

If you really want to be pissed off about the injustice, I never even played the original Starcraft!

You're in luck! This beta software has dedicated server support OotB! ;)

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TiT
Posted 12:17pm 18/2/10

trog can you raffle your key away??

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Creepy
Posted 12:19pm 18/2/10

I'd wager the invite is due to the ActiBlizz/Online Press connections amirite?

In which case, it's best in the hands of Ausgamers to report on it for everyone...

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Hogfather
Posted 12:23pm 18/2/10

I'm on the phone to the Vatican atm, bad news Bene.

trog with an SC2 beta invite is rock solid proof that there is no fucking God.

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Dazhel
Posted 12:37pm 18/2/10

I'm on the phone to the Vatican atm, bad news Bene.
trog with an SC2 beta invite is rock solid proof that there is no fucking God.

It could also mean that there is a God, but one with an awesome sense of humour.

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Viper
Posted 12:39pm 18/2/10

Grats trog......*looking for my trog voodoo doll"

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Hogfather
Posted 12:40pm 18/2/10

God is supposed to be benevolent and love us though, right...

Or is he all Old Testament again? Fire, Brimstone and Unfair Beta Invites?

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konstie
Posted 12:41pm 18/2/10

If you really want to be pissed off about the injustice, I never even played the original Starcraft!

LOL classic. can you guys do a semi-beta review PLZ!?

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Hogfather
Posted 12:42pm 18/2/10

I'm not reading any SC2 review written by trog. He has no understanding of the metagame!

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Mass
Posted 12:44pm 18/2/10

I think we should be running a compeition for the key.....maybe some Roshambo

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konstie
Posted 12:49pm 18/2/10

I'm not reading any SC2 review written by trog. He has no understanding of the metagame!

give it to steve ! he writes up good reviews

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darkjedi
Posted 12:49pm 18/2/10

Enjoy that Trog, won't you?

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Spock
Posted 01:12pm 18/2/10

how long does beta testing usually last before the games released?

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Thundercracker
Posted 01:14pm 18/2/10

Blizzard will say "when its ready" but I would make a wild guess at 6 months.

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Khel
Posted 01:21pm 18/2/10

With blizzard games, who knows, 1 month? 6 months? 2 years? Anyone's guess.

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Creepy
Posted 01:26pm 18/2/10

Blizzard said in their conference call last week that they're aiming for 'Mid 2010"

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DM
Posted 01:37pm 18/2/10

I would of signed up for this but someone took my account and stuck an authenticator on it, then got my wow account banned for gold selling hahaha. I'll make a new one with SC2 comes out.

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CSIRAC
Posted 01:48pm 18/2/10

FML

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konstie
Posted 01:51pm 18/2/10

FML

i lol'd.

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Creepy
Posted 02:05pm 18/2/10

Random draw is random

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Spock
Posted 02:14pm 18/2/10

whats FML

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Thundercracker
Posted 02:17pm 18/2/10

this

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FaceMan
Posted 02:28pm 18/2/10

Nothing from my account yet. >.<

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gamer
Posted 02:37pm 18/2/10

I didnt get anything. Sigh. Logged into bnet and checked, no sc2 beta showing up yet, although i am in the beta random pool.

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CSIRAC
Posted 02:44pm 18/2/10

http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/702564/Celebrate-The-StarCraft-II-Beta-With-These-Exclusive-Video-Interviews.html

more interviews with bliz employees post beta going live

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tension
Posted 02:46pm 18/2/10

booooo no invite for me :(

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Creepy
Posted 02:52pm 18/2/10

First wave is done. If you aren't in yet, you'll have to wait till wave 2.

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TiT
Posted 03:11pm 18/2/10

this worst then not having the gold wrapper to willy wonka

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Khel
Posted 03:14pm 18/2/10

My Battlenet account has a new addition.

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Hogfather
Posted 03:15pm 18/2/10

Ooo some 2v2s Khel?

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Khel
Posted 03:15pm 18/2/10

Sounds like a plan :)

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re so
Posted 03:41pm 18/2/10

Reactivate your WoW account Khel and lebel a tank. Ty.

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Khel
Posted 03:55pm 18/2/10

The one in the middle is re-activated, but I levelled a healer

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ctd
Posted 04:00pm 18/2/10

I hate the internet right now.

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d^
Posted 04:22pm 18/2/10

WHAT THE FUCK BLIZZARD.

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dark
Posted 04:39pm 18/2/10

Ill give someone AVP for a key :s

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ctd
Posted 04:45pm 18/2/10

^ I doubt anyone would take dogshit for sc2 breh

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boba
Posted 04:54pm 18/2/10

doesn't even have sc on his account and get a sc2 invite, blizzard sure are gay

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Khel
Posted 04:58pm 18/2/10

Yeah, and I only just opted in for the beta a couple of days ago too, when I saw the thread here about it!

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CSIRAC
Posted 05:16pm 18/2/10

fuck you khel. fffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

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ravn0s
Posted 05:17pm 18/2/10

i opted in a couple of days ago too but no invite. :(

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TiT
Posted 05:21pm 18/2/10

man i did mine when the new battlenet page was released :(
must be cause Khel has amazing PC or something

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gamer
Posted 06:04pm 18/2/10

What the fuck, if you get banned from World of Warcraft (for buying gold for example) you get banned from all your b.net games? Can anyone confirm this please?

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CSIRAC
Posted 06:17pm 18/2/10

must be cause Khel has amazing PC or something

nah not likely. world just loves khel.

PC Minimum Requirements:
� Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Windows 7
� 2.2 Ghz Pentium IV or equivalent AMD Athlon processor
� 1 GB system RAM/1.5 GB for Vista and Windows 7
� 128 MB NVidia GeForce 6600 GT/ATI Radeon 9800 PRO video card
� 1024x768 minimum display resolution
� 4 GB free hard space (Beta)
� Broadband connection

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agro
Posted 06:53pm 18/2/10

sounds like a lot of people are keen on this game

then again, it is blizzard.

come on diablo 3 :)

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Khel
Posted 09:24pm 18/2/10

Just played a quick game against the AI, its really fast! And I can't find any option to turn the speed down to "I'm a noob, go easy on me" speed. Was a bit overwhelming. Still, pretty sweet though, went protoss and tore some shit up with the Void Rays (those ships that shoot giant lasers that get stronger the longer they shoot), and the mothership. Although I remember seeing ages ago videos of the mothership, and it had some enormous "planet cracker" gun on it for blowing shit up. It doesn't seem to have anything like that anymore, it just shoots peww peww lasers like the void rays and has some utility type abilities for disabling enemy units (and it acts like the arbiters used to and stealths any units that are near it).

I'm glad its possible to play custom games against the AI though, and you can make co-op games against the AI too, much less threatening and stressful way to get to grips with everything than being chucked straight into a competitive game against supernatural koreans.

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CSIRAC
Posted 09:40pm 18/2/10

You should be testing how good their match making system is for the noobier players. its basically all they're talking about. stop being a pussy!

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Dazhel
Posted 09:57pm 18/2/10

pretty sweet though, went protoss

Have you *ever* played terran or zerg Khel? lol

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DM
Posted 10:28pm 18/2/10

I'm a terran man myself. I got pretty good with protoss but always go back to terrans

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Hogfather
Posted 09:18am 19/2/10

Got it installed and had a quick skirmish game as Terran - my first impression is that this is very definitely StarCraft. The gameplay changes feel very subtle, so if you played SC you will be able to pretty quickly get up to speed I imagine. That said they've changed heaps of shit so its not Brood War in 3D and new strategies will be required.

There are a number of changes to building though that were kind of cool - for example, you can upgrade lots of Terran buildings with addons now. Rax get an addon that allows you to queue more than one unit, and you can shift-queue SCV building orders if you have the cash to pay for it.

True to my usual Terran form I fucked up supply and this helped :) The AI in skirmish mode is truly pathetic at the moment.

The 2 Geysers on LT feels like a big change given that the core build mechanics and costs seem to be the same - teching may be a lot stronger on this map and in general if the rest of the maps feature 2-geyser starts.

The map itself isn't as close a replca as I thought it had been. The, umm, radar thingies that you can take control of to get vision are important but I can see them being a pain in the arse to control but will definetly mix up the game especially early.

BNet felt weird. I don't know if its because a lot of the social stuff is turned off, but I was shocked to not land in a "GameName AUS-1" chat lobby like I had in every other Blizzard game. The social networking stuff (friends lists etc) is pretty standard fare but it is pretty well done and should make getting clan / friend games going nice and easy.

Overrall the game is very very polished, no glitches or bugs that I could see. Other houses would definitely ship this as-is and call it a day.

More to come :)

last edited by Hogfather at 09:18:14 19/Feb/10

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Plastic
Posted 11:46pm 18/2/10

I got all the Blizzard games on my Battlenet Account, Sad face.

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Creepy
Posted 02:26am 19/2/10

Grabbed the installer, installed it and then used MPQViewer to pull out the music files.

Nice! :)

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Khel
Posted 09:00am 19/2/10

Have you *ever* played terran or zerg Khel? lol

Terran a little, Zerg no :P

Protoss ftw! Seems like reavers are gone though, no more suprise reaver drops in the backs of people's bases :( But now you can instantly teleport infantry to anywhere on the map that has a pylon or this new unit that acts like a mobile pylon who's name I can't remember, so I can see that being fun.

Yeah, its a lot more finished feeling than I had expected from a beta. And it has achievements! Awesome for an achievement hunting whore like me (though they're disabled in the beta).

last edited by Khel at 09:00:04 19/Feb/10

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Creepy
Posted 08:57am 19/2/10

What are some examples of achievements, Khel?

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Khel
Posted 09:03am 19/2/10

Can't see much of them, cos the menu option to get more detail on them is greyed out. From the summary I can see that theres six categories of them: Campaign, Skirmish, Multiplayer, Challenges, Mods and Combat. And the only example one visible is "Win a Zerg Skirmish on Easy mode", so that doesn't give much away.

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DM
Posted 11:03am 19/2/10

Got the soundtrack and must say even after the 1st song I can tell this is some great shit.

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Spock
Posted 01:02pm 19/2/10

sounds more like a demo for advertising than a beta

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3dee
Posted 04:13pm 19/2/10

I never even played the original Starcraft!

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trillion
Posted 04:40pm 19/2/10

Ive had this thing on preorder at Game since last July. I don't have any games added in my b.net account but there is an SC2 icon with Beta profile settings text next to it. FM BNET L

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dark
Posted 06:03pm 19/2/10

100 dollars AU for a beta invite.

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Tim Tibbetts
Posted 06:10pm 19/2/10

People are selling them on ebay for 3-4 times that much!

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Hogfather
Posted 06:13pm 19/2/10

Yeh its kind of insane

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Cowie
Posted 06:15pm 19/2/10

They are saying 2nd round of invites within 2 weeks.... :(

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Creepy
Posted 11:11am 23/2/10

At least Blizz are being relatively cool about the replays-without-key movement that's swarming around the internets.

Although I would imagine that'll be killed next beta patch...

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Creepy
Posted 12:43pm 23/2/10

Speaking of replays - my favourite so far:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUxF4XWtj4g

The Terran player's response is priceless.

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