Guild Wars 2 Beta

Many a discussion on the Guild Wars forums involves the upcoming beta for Guild Wars 2, set to debut in some form in the second half of 2008. Gaile Gray recently showed up to bring light to a few things on the beta...

Let me give you the scoop on testing, or at least as far as I
am able. First, it's very early for us to have plans for testing, and in truth,
we really do not have firm plans in mind yet. There are many ways to run a test,
and we may -- in fact I suspect we will -- have several kinds of testing for
Guild Wars 2. I'll provide info, but it's scant, and I'll be sure to call out
what is my belief or my instinct, rather than actual formal plans.

Alpha Test: I strongly believe (just an opinion, here, not an
official announcement) that we will have an alpha test. An alpha being what an
alpha is, if we have one I also believe that such a test would be a closed one
with all legal protections in place, such as a Non-Disclosure Agreement, etc. If
we have an alpha test, it may consist of existing alpha testers -- some of whom
have been with us for a few years now -- or it may include other people. It may
be one size throughout the entire testing period, or it could grow over time. As
I said, even for an alpha test, it's early yet to have formalized plans and we
haven't really discussed this matter in enough detail for me to know exactly how
we will proceed.

Beta Test: I am sure that we will have a beta test. After all,
the co-founders themselves have been saying "Beta testing in the second half of
2008," and I set some pretty serious store in what they say. Now, they may have
some plans in mind, but I do not know them yet, so I cannot provide any details
about the beta test or tests. When I think about it, though, there are several
ways that a beta could take place: (1) A closed invitational beta test, (2) a
closed randomly-selected beta test, (3) a restricted/closed beta event system,
or (4) an open beta event system. We've held beta events in the past, and they
have been tremendously successful, so I guess that we might do something like
that again. Beyond that, we could use any or all of the other systems or devise
something outside of this list.

I know, that's not a lot of info, and I'm sorry. I'll be
postin' as soon as I can!

Oh, one more thing: Unless we say otherwise, we are not
currently seeking and with regret cannot accept applications for testing Guild
Wars 2. If we do get to a point where we want to make an outreach for
applications, believe me, we'll make that known! In the meantime, we're grateful
for the interest in testing, and I'll post when I have more info on the subject.
Thanks a lot.

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