Yes....its true

[Borg]

Yes....it is true.

The Clan has been tagged with 10 entries as a group into the Beta of WotLK.

The list was made up of....

Morgh

Verissi

Uglutz

Oriahtundra

Kalea

Kieranna

Maube

Smedlock

Jasena

Holyssa

There is no NDA...so we can chat about it and such.

All of us were requested to make 1 Death Knight and given the option of copying over 4 characters to the test server.

We are creating the guild charter and will work on testing out the guild/raid/etc functions.

There are tons of feedback that the devs request and our team has a solid bank of years experience in the gaming genre which will come in handy.

As more beta invites go out....contact anyone of us to get invited to the guild on the PVE server

There will surely be more individual Beta invites to our membership and as time progresses waves perhaps of more since the ultimate goal is for us to have 25 of us so that we can push and test the large group raids and battlegrounds as these become available to the Beta testers.

It is a great honor to have a team of testers and we (guild) will not let them (Blizzard) down.....we now have a direct means of communicating what is right/wrong/cool/not....across all the mechanics and systems of the expansion coming.

Dreams coming true to some...nightmares to others.

To me and I hope to all of you....a great HONOR bestowed and our DUTY to serve.

Sunday LATE LATE is our targeted time to group up and do mass raid/dungeon etc leveling...though all testers have thier own schedules as well.

Thanks and Congrats to all ...>ALL Skullcrushers for what you have done in the past...present and future is what has led this opportunity to come to the clan.

I will be creating a thread for screenshots etc for posting and commentaries....it will be inside here the members only area.

Good job Crushers....and additionally the answer to the question in advance.....Does Blizzard visit our site?

Yes

multiple Blizzard members and devs do.....confirmed....access to forums area...not leadership forums though.

(personal thanks and wink to them for this opportunity )

I will continue to work toward getting official status with Blizzard thru thier Guild Relations system....one which if you read up on it has great opportunities for our membership privately.

Keep up the great gaming, roleplaying and at all times...HAVE FUN GUYS AND GALS!!!!

-Morgh

[Waldonnis]

I've already submitted quite a few bug reports for things ranging from "textures don't align on minimaps" to "something's downright broken", so they should be getting quite a bit if we're all pretty thorough I'm also testing out stupid things like quests that disguise you to see if they interfere or are interfered with by deviates and such.

To those that have never been in alpha or early beta testing phases in games before: it's an over-glamourised experience. Yes, we get lots of playtime in the new content, but along with it comes the price of things not being fully implemented, broken, or horribly unstable. I know that the beta folks so far have noticed that the servers tend to lag out or completely crash at least every two hours (often more frequently). It can be a frustrating experience, but hopefully any feedback we can give will be valuable to producing a less-buggy expansion

That being said, if there's anything specific and constructive that people want to test, please let one of us know. By specific, I mean things like "does <ability> still do this?" or "does <spell> work differently? the patch notes indicated..." rather than "what's the best death knight build for pvp?" or the like. I'm doing several "rounds" of testing, like trying out every talent and spell to see if they're working as advertised and scaling properly in one round, quest testing in another, etc...so I hope to cover a lot, but I can't think of everything

I'm also posting glimpses of the features and new stuff in my blog almost daily, so feel free to pop over there and take a look...you might find answers to some questions already in there

[Holyssa]

I've been submitting reports like crazy for DK stuff (WTF @ my 5-minute PvP trinket!), but so far the class has given me a very positive outlook.

Northrend itself has been rather good as well, and most of my feedback has been full of constructional criticism for the most part (have yet to run into any quest-breaking anomalies...*knock wood*). I'm dying to try out the new dungeon content, but with Karazhan occupying me on Sundays, it will be difficult to find myself more time (Saturday is really my only non-WoW day left, and I try to squeeze in as much Beta time as I can).

So far, Blizzard has my approval. Seems like the developers learned a LOT from the tiny goofups they made during early BC, and it aches me to wait for the finished product

[Kalea]

I spent my first hours in the beta yesterday. I spent most of the time putzing around with the Death Knight. The improved graphics in the new world really blew my mind. I found myself just stopping and LOOKING at things.

That being said, I must admit that Tauren on horses, properly scaled, makes me a very happy camper. It's the little things that matter.

[Martok]

Sorry Kalea. I just did a /bug about tauren deathknights.....its just not right!

[Waldonnis]

Hahaha, a few of us were talking in general chat today about which races should never be capable of being death knights. EVERYONE in Howling Fjord agreed with me when I said "bouncing, flipping night elf death knights make my eyes bleed". We all blamed it on the Lich King...he was always a sucker for cheerleaders

OH! I found a grand master alchemy trainer WITH new recipes, so catch up with me and I'll point out where to find 'em.

[Kalea]

Sorry Kalea. I just did a /bug about tauren deathknights.....its just not right!

You're just determined to make even make hate you, aren't you, Uglutz? *cries*

Edited July 23, 2008 by Kalea

[Corellon]

Sorry Kalea. I just did a /bug about tauren deathknights.....its just not right!

You're just determined to make even make hate you, aren't you, Uglutz? *cries*

Why not I do!!

[Waldonnis]

Just wanted to say that I'm happy that people are enjoying my blog reports about the beta. I'm busting my butt to test things heavily, which isn't always "fun and games", but I know how hard it is to be "on the outside" listening to the rumour mill about what *might* be coming (most of which ends up being very preliminary or just wrong ). Having been a software developer and quality assurance tester in the past professionally, I take this stuff very seriously and always think that I owe it to the end-users to do my best (broken WoW expansions make none of us players happy). My beta blog entries are mostly just to let you all know what's coming and to try to share info about what people enjoy in the world (of Warcraft) as it stands, whether that be companion pets, scenery/exploration, professions, class mechanics, or whatever.

Frankly, I've been surprised to hear from so many folks that they're reading and enjoying the reports and screenshots Thanks for the support, everyone, and I'll keep the info coming! We're due for a new build this week, most likely, so I hope to get some info on the new death knight questline changes, a face-lifted Ebon Hold (I knew this was coming, so I didn't bother posting shots of the current, rather broken incarnation), and hopefully we'll see some more of Dalaran and possibly some profession-related additions.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Waldonnis

[Holyssa]

Frankly, I've been surprised to hear from so many folks that they're reading and enjoying the reports and screenshots smile.gif Thanks for the support, everyone, and I'll keep the info coming!

It's always fun to see things through other perspectives

Eventually I'm going to create a mini-writeup on the Scarlet Onslaught quest chain. It's a jam-packed lorefest, LOTS of slaughtering, extremely fun (and not swarmed by elites ala Tyr's Hand) and relatively problem-free from start to finish. It really makes you ponder the question: how many ways CAN you slaughter a fanatic?

[Kadi]

Yes....it is true.

The Clan has been tagged with 10 entries as a group into the Beta of WotLK.

The list was made up of....

Morgh

Verissi

Uglutz

Oriahtundra

Kalea

Kieranna

Maube

Smedlock

Jasena

Holyssa

There is no NDA...so we can chat about it and such.

All of us were requested to make 1 Death Knight and given the option of copying over 4 characters to the test server.

We are creating the guild charter and will work on testing out the guild/raid/etc functions.

I also received a Beta on day one (through another source), so even though I'm not on the "Tagged as a guild" Official list, I do have my two level 70's over there (Kadianan and Burana) and have made a Death Knight as well (Syrah). I would be willing to help with what the guild was asked to do, and I plan to level up my characters so I can help participate in the 5-man runs and whatnot.

I will probably also transfer my hunter, Kadivya, as well to test out equipment balance for someone who hasn't gotten any of the Tier Sets (unless Tier 2 and 3 counts!) going into Northrend.

I did sign the charter already, and am on the CrusherOOC channel so I look forward to seeing everyone there!

EDIT: To clarify, my 'another source' is a friend who happens to be a Blizzard Employee... I didn't buy it off Ebay or anything. And no, I can't use him to get keys for other people.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Kadi

[Waldonnis]

My DK hit 71 last night and, with a little respec'ing, could easily be up for instances. Right now, itemisation just isn't there for tanking properly (and we don't get the main skills for caster tanking until 80, if I remember correctly), so I couldn't try it even if I wanted to. My spec currently is also more solo-oriented and takes advantage of the DnD bug, so I'd probably want to go with a more blood-heavy spec if we decide to drag him anywhere...would make healing a bit easier and my damage output on single targets would be fairly decent for an undergeared party member.

I made an entry in my blog about Northrend from a newly 68-69 perspective, not necessarily DK-specific (I look at all of the quest rewards). In short, some Kara-level stuff will be replaced fairly early, while T5-6 will take awhile. Anyone pre-T4 will likely see upgrades almost immediately, so your hunter should enjoy it.

Oh, small plug for starting in Borean Tundra. Having done Howling Fjord twice now, I decided to send the DK "the other way" to check for bugs over that way. I've run into less elite/multi-person quests AND the quests are far more entertaining (tank driving, murloc suits, and some really cool scenery/events). If you get a chance, swing over to Borean Tundra and check the place out...it's not quite as "BC-similar" in appearance as Howling Fjord either. That and the area around The Nexus is just unreal to behold. They did a top-notch job on that area specifically (despite one very annoying quest bug in that area).

[Kalea]

I should finish the Howling Fjord today and think I'll swing over and go through the Borean Tundra. Being 72, it might be a tad easy for me, but to me, the object of the beta is to see, and try, as much as possible.

That being said, I'm finding that there's very little gear that's better than what I'm using for offspec at the moment. I can solo just about anything if I'm careful not to pull the whole place at once. Those picking up gear as they enter the world will find it more challenging, but ultimately more rewarding.

The world is beautiful and I'm impressed with the lore. The reasons make sense to me, and a lot of the quests in the Howling Fjord fit into my idea of Tauren lore. I don't know why, maybe because it's so new and different, but I have enjoyed the look of the villages and fortress of the Vykrul. The Norse influence appeals to me.

As to the shaman trees, I like seeing haste and spellpower on the gear.

We should try to schedule a time when we can get 5 of us together and begin by trying Utgarde. I did talk to someone who's T6 geared that tanked it without wipes with only 3 people.

Edited July 29, 2008 by Kalea