Open Beta Sign-up Details

[BSTRhino]

The Blizzard insider released two days ago gives the following link for the sign-up to the open beta.

https://signup.worldofwarcraft.com

But I cannot get the link working, it requires an authentication key on step two. That's strange, it's not much of an open beta if it requires an authentication key. Does anyone else know how to use the sign-up form?

[Uuugggg]

BWAHAHA! I love reading license agreements:

"You represent that you are a 'natural person' who is over the age of eighteen (18) years old..."

Anyway, I don't know how to sign up. I'm only 17 =P

[Whiteknight]

Open Beta isn't out until tomorrow, since the Stress test came out on the 1st and it is the 7th today. One more day. The authentication key is what Blizzard will send you via email so that you can sign up.

EDIT: Also, I think that is for the final stress test and not the open beta. WoW will make an announcement for when you can download WoW and then you can create an account then and there, or so says the faq.

[BSTRhino]

Yeah, I think you're right. I guess the Blizzard insider should've said the page would only work on the 8th.

Heh, if only they did what Halo 2 is doing. In New Zealand Halo 2 is released tonight at midnight, that's 10 hours from now. So we get in to Halo 2 earlier because our timezone is earlier.

[TranquilNightElf]

@#$@$#%#$%#$..

No Open-Beta for Asia >: (

[Scauthra]

When you get stabbed in the back by a undead rogue named Cyiana. Burn the image in your mind that I slayed because Arthas was a bastard and wanted me to kill you all!

*Raves... withrdrawals before even playing the game*

[Graeme]

Just signed up for Open Beta. I'll have the client tomorrow and will be playing on the PvP (faction vs faction) server. I'll get more details tomorrow though. My acct. name is Radlin for open beta.

For anyone wishing to sign up and play, two links:
http://signup.worldofwarcraft.com (as provided by BST earlier)
&&
http://www.battle.net/downloads/WoW-1.1.0-Installer_Downloader-enUS.exe

The first link is the account creation. The pages are lagging like mad, but I managed to get through it rather painlessly. The second link is the client. Even if you can't register an account, I'd recommend that you begin downloading now. As far as the signups go, try and try clicking the link over and over again. It took me at least 30 tries before the page finally loaded :P.

Cheers, and I hope to see everyone in-game ^_^.

[bluemicrobyte]

the signup page is currently down :( but I'm going to sign up as soon as it comes back online. When you say the pages are lagged out do you mean it takes a while to load, or it almost doesnt work and you have to be lucky to make it work

[BSTRhino]

I got signed up yesterday when it was about 5:00 AM EST. Also known as 11 PM last night my time.

It works, just sometimes you run into the 'action cancelled' page and you need to refresh the page to try again.

[Nahotnoj]

Finally! Now to download...

[Graeme]

Ungh . . . this IRC conversation outlines my grief:

<Radlin-VV> I leave WoW downloading throughout the day and of course one of my siblings stops it right after I leave the house
<Frotworth-CoS> Destroy them!
<Radlin-VV> Wish I could, this is so annoying. I planned my night's work around being able to play WoW for a bit
<Volocies-VV|Work> heya radlin
<Radlin-VV> Now I can't play it until at least sunday
<Radlin-VV> Hi Volocies
<Frotworth-CoS> God damn you Envin, now I have the Doublemint Gum song stuck in my head.
<Frotworth-CoS> Oh, he's not here, lol
<Radlin-VV> And Sunday I'll likely be wrapping up homework, tuesday I have a large test, so monday is ruled out as well. I won't get to play open beta until mid week next week :/
<Frotworth-CoS> Use your Force Powers.
<Frotworth-CoS> Force Get Work Done and Still Have Time for the WoW Beta.
<Volocies-VV|Work> you might as well wait to retail Rad.. lol
<Radlin-VV> I know X_x
<Radlin-VV> It's very annoying :/

So I guess I won't see you in open beta guys :(. I'll try to get a bit of gameplay time in there, but we'll see I guess . . .

[BSTRhino]

Awwwh... and I really wanted to quest with you Radlin.

Too bad though, I might not be able to make it either. I tried downloading it last night. Download speed: 0.00 KB/s, Upload speed: 0.00 KB/s. Strange thing was, I was connected to about 7 different people. I've just got a 56k, show me some mercy!

I calculated that, if I left my machine on day and night, it would take 8 days to download WoW. Of course, I don't have all day and night, so it'd be more like 30 days.

[Dark_Viper]

Downloadin right now..

26% finished
ETL: 10H 17M
Downloaded: 660.66MB
Download Rate:35KB/s
Uploaded 735.20MB
Upload rate: 47KB/s

Wheres My F***in 2.025MB/s im connected to 148 people and im only doin 35.. The Blizzard Downloader is crap...

anyway my name is DarkViperReborn.. see you there ;)

[Graeme]

The Blizzard Downloader is crap...

No kidding . . . The problem is that they use 100% of your upload bandwidth (ie. you can't cap it), which in effect cripples your download speed as well. I generally get upwards of 350 KB/s with most torrents, but since my upload bandwidth is being completely sapped out, my download is also being crippled X_x.

I calculated that, if I left my machine on day and night, it would take 8 days to download WoW. Of course, I don't have all day and night, so it'd be more like 30 days.

Hahaha, well, I can see if I can find a torrent link that's non-blizzard for you. Then if you cap your upload properly you should be able to use all of your download bandwidth for getting WoW. Give it a full day and you should have it . . . the problem will be finding an external torrent link.

Edit: That wasn't bad at all . . .

For anyone having trouble downloading the Blizzard Open Beta due to bad download speeds, try this link here:
http://66.90.75.92/suprnova//torrents/2984/WoW(2).torrent (note: This link is being tackled by Blizz fans so it may be down or it may take a few tries)

I haven't verified that it works, so it's up to whoever wants to try it. You'll have to use your own bit torrent client (may I recommend Shadow's Experimental BT Client http://www.bittornado.com/download.html ). After you install right click the link above, save as and save onto your desktop. Then you simply double click the torrent link on your desktop and shala, click where you want it to download to, click ok and you're good to go.

Now, the advantage to this is that you'll be able to cap your upload speed as stated above. Generally it's a good idea to cap it at half of the total speed you're capable of. ie. I can upload 40 KB/s, so I cap at 20 KB/s.

Good luck to whoever tries this, and take note that I haven't had the time to test the above link, so if the download doesn't work properly, it's not my fault ^_~. I am 95% sure it will work correctly though. It's also less of a download because whoever initially set up the torrent zipped the files. On a negative side, this also means you can't continue your download from the Blizz Downloader on this one :/.

Anyway, happy hunting in WoW everyone :).

[InfestedFenix]

but then how come sometimes my download speed is greater than my upload speed
btw: im connected to 35 other people

[Graeme]

but then how come sometimes my download speed is greater than my upload speed
btw: im connected to 35 other people

I didn't say your download speed would be less than your upload speed (Or at least I hope I didn't ^_~). Basically what happens with Blizzard's BitTorrent is this:

The Blizzard BT client doesn't cap the upload bandwidth your computer uses. Thus it uses 100% of your upload bandwidth. This, in effect, will cripple your download speed (not necessarily bringing it below the upload speed though). I'll give an example:

My upload bandwidth limit is 40 KB/s. Blizzard uses more than that limit (approx. 45 KB/s), leaving me with essentially no upload bandwidth. However, in order to download something, the computer still needs to communicate with the server (or in this case other computers) it is downloading from. This is where it would need a wee bit of extra upload bandwidth. Since it's already being used though, we experience cutback on the download speed.

So instead of getting my usual hefty 350 KB/s, I get a sad little 50 KB/s-ish download speed. It isn't bad, but it definitely isn't great.

[bluemicrobyte]

Heres some advice: forget the blizzard downloader and go to file planet. sure they may be a small wait, maybe even half an hour to an hour, but when its your turn you'll get a dedicated speed of at least 100kb/sec which is what I did after only downloading 200mb in an hour with blizzards downloader.

and I sure am lucky, I decided to head down to my schools computer lab earlier today and see if the signup pages were back, and I ran into my friend along the way so we both signed up and just when I got home the signups were closed! at least I got my account :)

[Exedore]

Although it may be a little late, you can use NetLimiter (http://www.netlimiter.com) (free trial) to cap the upload bandwidth used by the Blizzard downloader. I did that, capping the upload to about 2/3 of my maximum and my download rate more than doubled. Blizzard has been told about this issue every time they put out a new patch to download, yet they still haven't done anything about it.