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I did not write this article, it is from this guys blog: http://sc2betablog.blogspot.com/
For a while now I haven't been letting myself think the beta is soon just because pessimism makes waiting easier.. but this article cracked me.
I am now officially actively waiting until the end of the month for news about the beta's release.
Article:
So we're all eagerly waiting together for that wonderful morning when we boot up and check www.blizzard.com or www.battle.net or www.starcraft2.com and see the top news article "Starcraft 2 beta will begin ". The question is, when will that wonderful day come? This post is a list of a couple key things that blizzard representatives have unveiled that have led me to believe that the Starcraft 2 beta will be announced on March 31st, 2009.
Why that specific date? It happens to be the 11 year anniversary of the release of Starcraft. Blizzard proved that they are aware of these significant historic dates when they announced Diablo III on the anniversary of Diablo II's release at the BWWI '08.
To reinforce this, in a recent article from www.starcraftwire.net we were given a list of Starcraft 2 details that Blizzard rep Xordiah released at a German gaming event. I would link to the article but starcraftwire.net seems to be down at the moment. The article listed a number of facts that no one new much about like Dark Pylons and big SCVs and a week or two later Q&A Batch 49 revealed to use the Mule (Big SCV) and Dark Pylons. This gives us reason to believe that everything Xordiah said was true.
The signifcant detail she released was that Blizzard had set a beta date internally and were just waiting until the right time to unveil it to the public. If this is true then it's extremely encouraging to my theories. Blizzard would not set a date even internally that was really far away. Blizzard never gives us dates more then a week or two in advance, they probably don't set dates internally unless they are fairly certain of them. The further away the day is the less certain they would be since there would be more unforseen variables to account for.
This then comes full circle with my theory. If they set a specific date in advance the date must have some significance. Otherwise they would simply say, "When we feel it's ready then we'll announce the beta." They've chosen a specific date in advance because the date has some significance. Blizzcon is too far away for it to be the date because of what I explained in the previous paragraph. They wouldn't set a specific date that far in the future. The only significant date for Starcraft coming up before then that I can think of is March 31st, the 11th anniversary of Starcraft's release.
Some other clues to a beta announcement coming soon is the recent introduction of the new battle.net account system. This hints at blizzard gearing up for the introduction of battle.net 2.0 which will first be tested in the Starcraft 2 beta.
Additionally at the Blizzard support site there is an icon for Starcraft 2 that currently leads nowhere but it's clear that they are even preparing their websites for the start of the Starcraft 2 beta.
So we'll just have to wait and see, I'm sure Blizzard's site will see a ton of traffic next Tuesday whether or not they make any announcement. Everyone expects something for the anniversary whether it's the beta or the second battle report.
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Kennigit
Canada19447 Posts
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That is basically 100 percent identical to my "theory" behind the beta. When you pull that leaked German info (which turned out to be correct) they specifically said Blizzard had a "target" date for the beta... knowing blizzard who doesn't make target dates too often the anniversary seems to be the perfect fit. And of course you combine the recent activity with Bnet and the other beta page.
To me it's gona come down to the Battle Report 2. If we see it this week, then I am very confident that a Beta will be announced on the anniversary. If we still have NO br2 by the time next week comes around, I am expecting just the BR2 on that day and maybe just a hinting about future beta "soon".
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Well here is hoping that you are right, and that this article can be taken as fact. But- blizzard doesn't hav ea really good track record wehn it comes to this kind of thing.
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Sweet, I cracked someone! Anyway, yeah I'm being pretty optimistic in that article but the pieces seem to fit. I'm excited so I have no qualms with getting other people excited. Even if there's no battle report this week I'm gonna be expecting BR2 AND a beta announcement that day. I don't see BR2 coming out after the beta begins because there's gonna be so many leaked videos even that very first day. I know I play to put my very first beta replay up on youtube and on my blog right after I play it for nostalgia's sake.
But yeah, even if BR2 isn't out by next week they could announce the beta start on March 31st, then still release BR2 before the beta actually begins. The nice thing about this theory is that we only have to wait a week to see if it pans out or not  .
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I worry that this is all a set-up for the day after.
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That would be an insanely elaborate April Fool's Day joke... They would have started laying clues months in advance. And like only a few hardcore nerds like me and Pufftrees would have caught on. I would totally commend Blizzard if it was a joke. Then I would probably become a paranoid schizophrenic thinking that everything I see is a clue left from Blizzard trying to trick me about an up coming beta test...
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On March 24 2009 01:29 inReacH wrote:
This then comes full circle with my theory. If they set a specific date in advance the date must have some significance. Otherwise they would simply say, "When we feel it's ready then we'll announce the beta." They've chosen a specific date in advance because the date has some significance. Blizzcon is too far away for it to be the date because of what I explained in the previous paragraph. They wouldn't set a specific date that far in the future. The only significant date for Starcraft coming up before then that I can think of is March 31st, the 11th anniversary of Starcraft's release.
i do agree with this, but i think it may be more likely for the release date of the new 'dota' game coming out april 14(which is relatively close anyway so maybe a moot point). regardless, they have 2 things to release:
battle report 2
beta info/release
knowing blizzard i would say they would try to stretch those 2 as far as they can go and maybe try to release the battle report on the aniversary along with some trivia or some kind of dedication to the length - and then release beta info on the 14th to take attention away from their 'competition'. generally since they only release like 1 game every 2 years or so i would imagine it can be tough trying to compete
even if you look at the converse and assume they release both info and battle report on the 31st i can't realistically see them just leaving that potential competitor without anything to take attention from it. but who knows
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We'll if they announce the beta on the 31st then they won't start the beta for at least a week or so. If the beta begins a couple days before the release of Demigod (the new DotA game you mentioned) the massive influx of information on the web is sure to take away from Demigod's release. But honestly, I don't really see blizzard being that sneaky about trying to undercut their 'competitors' (I put that in scare quotes because Demigod is a different genre from SC2 and from what I understand is being produced by a relatively small studio).
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On March 24 2009 02:01 rOlEx wrote:
We'll if they announce the beta on the 31st then they won't start the beta for at least a week or so. If the beta begins a couple days before the release of Demigod (the new DotA game you mentioned) the massive influx of information on the web is sure to take away from Demigod's release. But honestly, I don't really see blizzard being that sneaky about trying to undercut their 'competitors' (I put that in scare quotes because Demigod is a different genre from SC2 and from what I understand is being produced by a relatively small studio).
i wouldn't put it past them, i'm fairly certain that they release wow patches and info for other stuff on release dates of new games (i noticed they released all of the new macro mechanic info on the same date as dow2 which is far from coincidence) but yea, you're right if they do release it and have it up any time before that then it doesn't even matter
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Blizzard always is knowledgeable of competitors and usually takes the opportunity to steal some of their thunder. I was actually surprised that there wasn't more SC2 stuff right when DOW2 came out.. I was expecting something large (we did get the Macro mechanic).
But as far as MMO's they are cut-throat. Age of Conan and Warhammer both had their release dates tainted by very large wow content patches (like Sunwell Plateau). I honestly didn't realize Demigod was releasing next month so this just gives me more fuel that something big coming soon for us!
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I'm still waiting to see the results from the february comic contest. If I won that, I'd want the news before the beta was commenced.
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I'm excited for the announcement, but I probably won't get to play unless they open it to the public. I have tried for a month to get a beta key and either they ask too much for it [over 100 USD] or they have no actual intention in selling, but enjoy people making offers on it.
Woe is me.
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On March 24 2009 02:22 Salv wrote:
I'm excited for the announcement, but I probably won't get to play unless they open it to the public. I have tried for a month to get a beta key and either they ask too much for it [over 100 USD] or they have no actual intention in selling, but enjoy people making offers on it.
Woe is me.
Dude just pay any amount.
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I will really cry when, I won't be able to play Beta 
even more when it's only 1 month away
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On March 24 2009 02:43 inReacH wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 02:22 Salv wrote:
I'm excited for the announcement, but I probably won't get to play unless they open it to the public. I have tried for a month to get a beta key and either they ask too much for it [over 100 USD] or they have no actual intention in selling, but enjoy people making offers on it.
Woe is me. Dude just pay any amount.
I'm a student, I set of budget of $100.00 USD, which is quite a bit of money IMO, considering the actual game will be $69.99 CAD
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On March 24 2009 03:00 Salv wrote:Show nested quote +On March 24 2009 02:43 inReacH wrote:On March 24 2009 02:22 Salv wrote:
I'm excited for the announcement, but I probably won't get to play unless they open it to the public. I have tried for a month to get a beta key and either they ask too much for it [over 100 USD] or they have no actual intention in selling, but enjoy people making offers on it.
Woe is me. Dude just pay any amount. I'm a student, I set of budget of $100.00 USD, which is quite a bit of money IMO, considering the actual game will be $69.99 CAD
Meh why not compare the cost to your other forms of entertainment like going to a movie in theaters or a hockey game..
As far as the hours of entertainment rate/$ I think even the 1500 I paid for a beta key(and trip) is reasonable if you are planning on playing the beta as much as I am.
Seriously a movie 5$/hour for possibly shitty entertainment.. if you assume beta will be out for 4 months(which is a reserved estimation) and you play it 1.5 hours/day(also reserved imo) then you can pay up to $180 and still get 5 times the amount of bang for your buck.. and it's guarenteed to be better than a movie..
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Illegal servers FTW. It's not like you can't play the game without a beta key (ATLEAST THAT IS WHAT I HOPE O_O).
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hey that is also the date my milk expires.
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maybe its the day sc2 gets RELEASED. o.o
i wouldnt mind if they released it prematurely with all the bugs and stuff. could be fun huh
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EPT
