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I was lucky enough to be accepted into the World of Warcraft beta recently, so I thought I would start writing stories about my experiences.
We join our party in the midst of exploring a rather bland looking mine, trying to find a few trinkets from the lost buddies of an old miner, although rumour had it there was more down here, our adventurers didn’t worry about this much, as they were a fairly diverse lot, and could hold their own in combat. Our first adventurer, Keimon, a level 24 Warlock, barely remembers her past, but remembers that from a young age she seemed to have a fascination with the dark arts and demonic powers, as she grew, so did these powers until eventually she could control demons, and dark energies and harness them for her own good. Grok, a level 18 Priest, was the support of the group, he lived a fairly mundane life up until adulthood, where he left his home for adventure and riches. Blathos, a level 18 Paladin was a regular boy until at age 14, until his parents were killed while he was at school by a band of Defias looters, leaving him with no real choice except to join the order of the Silver Hand, where he was brought up as a follower of the light, and a fierce warrior. Speaking of warriors, our next adventurer, BigBandi (Level 23), is as mean as they come. Not a very sociable chap to say the least, but when you are in trouble, he will gladly intervene with his trusty axe and battle shouts. Our last adventurer, and the most mysterious, is Zeladrijn, a level 22 Rogue. There are many rumours around the tavern of him being a traitor of the Defias, which often arouses much tension between him and Blathos, but they manage to cope with it most of the time.
Moving on... as our adventurers move further into the mine, not having much luck finding the trinkets from the Defias miners, stumble across a band of goblins guarding a mysterious looking golden doorway... Zeladrijn suggests that we turn back, but the inquisitive nature of the rest of the party forces him to tag along. After slaughtering the goblin guardians, Blathos and BigBandi forcefully muscle the door open far enough for the rest of the party, and then themselves to squeeze through.
Keimon and her minion Huklos the imp look on as the door slams shut behind them. *Gulp*.
As our heroes take a moment to absorb their surroundings, they realise the extremity of what has been going on... all the Defias miners they saw along the way weren't just low-class scavengers... The Defias had an entire full-scale mining operation down here! It seemed that the entire party rapidly forgot the trinkets they were searching for, and were enthralled with the prospect of exploring.. even shutting down the mining operation, surely they would be local heroes, and rewarded greatly for their deed.
Driven on by the thoughts of fame, fortune and finally putting an end to the Defias, our group of 5 descends the winding ramp, slaughtering all goblin resistance as they go. As they reach the bottom, they spot a rather large looking goblin bossing the rest of the smelters around, also they see another golden door, surely this is where they must continue their journey, but between them and the door were many more goblin foes, including the boss himself.
A violent battle ensued, as freshly forged steel clashed with staves, shields and ethereal barriers. Eventually, after a long and bloody battle, the goblins lay slain, strewn across the floor of the great hall, among the corpses, a dear comrade, Grok lay slain. As he was discovered, and mourned by his fellow adventurers, they took a minute to remember all the times they adventured together, and how many times he had saved them from almost certain death with his healing magicks. Now, as the group’s curiosity was cast aside, and replaced by a lust for vengeance, they made a pact that Groks death shall not be in vain. But the pack was now without a healer, and this did not bode well. Suddenly, in a moment of inspiration, Keimon remembered a certain spell that she was taught by a master warlock, the summoning ritual. After using the demonic spirits to telepathically communicate with another adventurer willing to halt the Defias menace, she began to form these spirits into an ethereal portal, with the aid of her comrade’s spiritual energy. After a long period of summoning and rituals, Rhon, the level 20 Priest appeared within the hall. After greetings and the adventurers sharing a meal with each other to restore their strength and morale, BigBandi claimed the key from the overlord goblin, and opened the golden doorway.
As the door creaked open, our group noticed that there was yet another golden door blocking their progress just down the path, but this one wasn't the same as the others... it had chains and bars blocking it, and no figures of importance nearby that would possibly have access. When it seemed as if their journey was in vain, Keimon spotted a nearby cannon with some cannonballs and gunpowder nearby... hmm. Blathos and BigBandi, after having another little feast, summoned all of their strength and hauled the cannon into position, filling it with gunpowder, and then the heaviest cannonball they could find. Keimon conjured up a small fireball on her palm, lit the fuse and ran.
Of course the group expected enemies... quite a few in fact, with an explosion of that magnitude, they probably woke up quite a few that wouldn't have noticed them otherwise, but none of them were prepared for what they saw next. As soon as the dust settled, hordes of Defias Pirates came streaming out of the smoking doorframe, Machetes in hand. After a huge battle, and many injuries, many of which Rhon struggled to heal, the party stood victorious over the bodies of their slain foes. A quick bite to eat and a sip of water later, our adventurers were ready to carry on with their quest.
After the brief interval, our adventurers step through the shattered doorway, only to stop right where they stood, stunned by the sight that beheld them. A pirate ship. A gigantic, full size, fully manned pirate ship. As the entire party gazed along the walkway, and the decks of the pirate ship, they noticed hundreds, nay, more of pirates taunting them, jeering from the sides of the leviathan vessel, inviting them to try to run the gauntlet as they sharpened their blades and readied themselves to defend against the intruders.
Our party of companions knew that the task before them was mammoth, and that there was a high possibility of total annihilation. As they looked back behind them, they remembered how long they had been down here, their supplies were short, they had lost a beloved comrade, and they were in the core of a secret that the Defias definitely didn’t want to become public knowledge, the situation seemed somewhat.. bad. At that exact moment, the leader of the ship, and the overall Defias kingpin himself leaned over the top deck of the ship, and proceeded to say a few words to the intruders, the pirates suddenly silenced. "Well, heroes, you've made it this far? I guess you know what we're up to know, quite a cunning plan you must admit, building a secret army to overthrow the weakened Stormwind, thank the heavens for the scourge, Wouldn't have been possible without them. Anyway, you bore me heroes, deal with them." Even through the huge noise of the jeering and charging, Blathos instantly recognized the face of the kingpin from the wanted posters he saw at 14 years of age, the face that had haunted his dreams for years, and to this day. It was the face that many people saw leaving his house that day, so long ago. Driven by a sudden bloodlust that was forbidden by the Order, he wielded his mighty hammer and shield, and led the party onwards, towards the ship.
Finally, our adventurers reached the gangway to the ship, with only the priests holy enchantments and shields acting as barriers between their enemies steal and their own flesh. Keimon's dark magic and demonic minions viciously ripped at her enemies, tearing them from the very existence of this world, Blathos blocking blows with his worn, beaten shield and cracking his foes bones with his iron mallet. BigBandi defending himself with only the hilt of his own axe cleaved at his enemies flesh with a bloodlust to match Blathos. Rhon, although exhausted, continued to cast the holy shields and enchantments that kept her party going, rejuvenating and invigorating them at the cost of her own spiritual energy. Zeladrijn deftly dodged his enemies blows, knocking them unconscious and crippled with a combination of striking at key pressure points and a mix of his own special poison, which he spread on his daggers regularly. Combining all of their unique talents, the group was easily cutting their way through the hordes of enemies that made them fight over every inch of land they gained. Eventually, after what seemed like endless toil, Keimon and Rhon were exhausted from lack of spiritual energy, when Keimon reached inside herself to deliver that final killing spell, she just couldn't find it, and Rhon had nothing left either, no more shields or rejuvenation enchantments, they were both drained. Blathos and BigBandi were experiencing crippling wounds, but continued to fight on as Keimon and Rhon replenished their reserves of what was called Mana in these times. In a final, desperate flurry of the worst demonic spells conceived by humankind, what seemed like a fountain of rejuvenating energies and a whirlwind of axes, mallets and daggers slaying enemies as if they were paper, the waves subsided, the pirates were afraid, they were running, screaming of the hellish things they had seen happen to their comrades and friends. It was only now that the heroes regained their sense of direction, and realised they had made it to the top of the ship, to Van Cleefs quarters.
"Well, well, well. You actually made it up here? How many of my men have you slain, 100, 200? I'm actually quite impressed to be honest. But you see, them men? From the mines, untrained, barely armed with suitable equipment, fodder. Now, as you see, these men, these are my elite. Dragonhide armour, mithril weapons and the finest training that we have to offer, and, as you may notice, you are outnumbered, seven to five, I do believe that you will lose." His words flowed, as if from the very mouth of a snake, but this did not worry our adventurers, weapons may not be able to penetrate dragonhide armour, but demonic and arcane magicks can. As the Defias elite began to arrange themselves into a battle formation, Blathos used whispers to communicate with the rest of his party. "You guys focus on his soldiers, Van Cleef is mine, he killed my parents, I want my revenge." The other members of the group understood instantly, and began to pick out targets they would focus on. As the Defias began charging, Blathos flanked to the right, as did Van Cleef, the elite kept left, as did Keimon, BigBandi, Zeladrijn and Rhon also kept left. As Rhon cast her holy enchantments and shields on her allies, so too did Keimon unleash a barrage of flesh-ripping projectiles and curses, rendering a few of the elites crippled and in tremendous pain.
On the other flank, Blathos soon found out that Van Cleef was an extremely adept fighter, as he blocked with his gigantic two handed sword, and proceeded to strike back with blows that felt as if they would shatter Blathos's already battered shield. The elite were defeated rather easily, but the rest of the party knew better than to interfere with Blathos's fight, and so they merely watched. Van Cleef, becoming desperate now that his elite were slain began lunging and thrusting with bloodlust at Blathos. Remembering his Paladin training, Blathos blocked, defended and parried these blows, and waited for the correct moment to strike. Just as Van Cleef was about to unleash another strike at Blathos, he was too late in noticing a hammer forged of Iron crash down upon his cranium, and then a shield battering him, breaking his nose and most of his jawbone. Blathos took a dagger from his rogue companion, and without remorse sawed off the head of the leader of the Defias, and then, along with the rest of his party, promptly collapsed into a heap.
After many hours had passed, and what remained of the supplies had been consumed, the party slowly ambled out of the cavern where the now derelict ship was anchored. After limping unhindered through a back passageway out of the cavern after days of fighting and wandering, our explorers all sucked in their first breath of fresh air with great pleasure. Our group of companions now strode through the fields and roads leading back to Sentinel Hill, the human outpost in an area plagued by Defias, but today it was clear and empty, today it was unhindered and the crops were blooming. Upon entering the tower, our heroes presented the head of Van Cleef to Gyran Stoutmantle, head of the human resistance to the Defias, upon which he promptly exploded into shouts of praise and joy for our heroes. All of the town met upon that hill later that day to thank the group for what they had done, except for one dwarf, who walked up gingerly to Keimon, and tugged on her robe.
"So, did you get those trinkets I asked for?"
"Drat."
The End.
We join our party in the midst of exploring a rather bland looking mine, trying to find a few trinkets from the lost buddies of an old miner, although rumour had it there was more down here, our adventurers didn’t worry about this much, as they were a fairly diverse lot, and could hold their own in combat. Our first adventurer, Keimon, a level 24 Warlock, barely remembers her past, but remembers that from a young age she seemed to have a fascination with the dark arts and demonic powers, as she grew, so did these powers until eventually she could control demons, and dark energies and harness them for her own good. Grok, a level 18 Priest, was the support of the group, he lived a fairly mundane life up until adulthood, where he left his home for adventure and riches. Blathos, a level 18 Paladin was a regular boy until at age 14, until his parents were killed while he was at school by a band of Defias looters, leaving him with no real choice except to join the order of the Silver Hand, where he was brought up as a follower of the light, and a fierce warrior. Speaking of warriors, our next adventurer, BigBandi (Level 23), is as mean as they come. Not a very sociable chap to say the least, but when you are in trouble, he will gladly intervene with his trusty axe and battle shouts. Our last adventurer, and the most mysterious, is Zeladrijn, a level 22 Rogue. There are many rumours around the tavern of him being a traitor of the Defias, which often arouses much tension between him and Blathos, but they manage to cope with it most of the time.
Moving on... as our adventurers move further into the mine, not having much luck finding the trinkets from the Defias miners, stumble across a band of goblins guarding a mysterious looking golden doorway... Zeladrijn suggests that we turn back, but the inquisitive nature of the rest of the party forces him to tag along. After slaughtering the goblin guardians, Blathos and BigBandi forcefully muscle the door open far enough for the rest of the party, and then themselves to squeeze through.
Keimon and her minion Huklos the imp look on as the door slams shut behind them. *Gulp*.
As our heroes take a moment to absorb their surroundings, they realise the extremity of what has been going on... all the Defias miners they saw along the way weren't just low-class scavengers... The Defias had an entire full-scale mining operation down here! It seemed that the entire party rapidly forgot the trinkets they were searching for, and were enthralled with the prospect of exploring.. even shutting down the mining operation, surely they would be local heroes, and rewarded greatly for their deed.
Driven on by the thoughts of fame, fortune and finally putting an end to the Defias, our group of 5 descends the winding ramp, slaughtering all goblin resistance as they go. As they reach the bottom, they spot a rather large looking goblin bossing the rest of the smelters around, also they see another golden door, surely this is where they must continue their journey, but between them and the door were many more goblin foes, including the boss himself.
A violent battle ensued, as freshly forged steel clashed with staves, shields and ethereal barriers. Eventually, after a long and bloody battle, the goblins lay slain, strewn across the floor of the great hall, among the corpses, a dear comrade, Grok lay slain. As he was discovered, and mourned by his fellow adventurers, they took a minute to remember all the times they adventured together, and how many times he had saved them from almost certain death with his healing magicks. Now, as the group’s curiosity was cast aside, and replaced by a lust for vengeance, they made a pact that Groks death shall not be in vain. But the pack was now without a healer, and this did not bode well. Suddenly, in a moment of inspiration, Keimon remembered a certain spell that she was taught by a master warlock, the summoning ritual. After using the demonic spirits to telepathically communicate with another adventurer willing to halt the Defias menace, she began to form these spirits into an ethereal portal, with the aid of her comrade’s spiritual energy. After a long period of summoning and rituals, Rhon, the level 20 Priest appeared within the hall. After greetings and the adventurers sharing a meal with each other to restore their strength and morale, BigBandi claimed the key from the overlord goblin, and opened the golden doorway.
As the door creaked open, our group noticed that there was yet another golden door blocking their progress just down the path, but this one wasn't the same as the others... it had chains and bars blocking it, and no figures of importance nearby that would possibly have access. When it seemed as if their journey was in vain, Keimon spotted a nearby cannon with some cannonballs and gunpowder nearby... hmm. Blathos and BigBandi, after having another little feast, summoned all of their strength and hauled the cannon into position, filling it with gunpowder, and then the heaviest cannonball they could find. Keimon conjured up a small fireball on her palm, lit the fuse and ran.
Of course the group expected enemies... quite a few in fact, with an explosion of that magnitude, they probably woke up quite a few that wouldn't have noticed them otherwise, but none of them were prepared for what they saw next. As soon as the dust settled, hordes of Defias Pirates came streaming out of the smoking doorframe, Machetes in hand. After a huge battle, and many injuries, many of which Rhon struggled to heal, the party stood victorious over the bodies of their slain foes. A quick bite to eat and a sip of water later, our adventurers were ready to carry on with their quest.
After the brief interval, our adventurers step through the shattered doorway, only to stop right where they stood, stunned by the sight that beheld them. A pirate ship. A gigantic, full size, fully manned pirate ship. As the entire party gazed along the walkway, and the decks of the pirate ship, they noticed hundreds, nay, more of pirates taunting them, jeering from the sides of the leviathan vessel, inviting them to try to run the gauntlet as they sharpened their blades and readied themselves to defend against the intruders.
Our party of companions knew that the task before them was mammoth, and that there was a high possibility of total annihilation. As they looked back behind them, they remembered how long they had been down here, their supplies were short, they had lost a beloved comrade, and they were in the core of a secret that the Defias definitely didn’t want to become public knowledge, the situation seemed somewhat.. bad. At that exact moment, the leader of the ship, and the overall Defias kingpin himself leaned over the top deck of the ship, and proceeded to say a few words to the intruders, the pirates suddenly silenced. "Well, heroes, you've made it this far? I guess you know what we're up to know, quite a cunning plan you must admit, building a secret army to overthrow the weakened Stormwind, thank the heavens for the scourge, Wouldn't have been possible without them. Anyway, you bore me heroes, deal with them." Even through the huge noise of the jeering and charging, Blathos instantly recognized the face of the kingpin from the wanted posters he saw at 14 years of age, the face that had haunted his dreams for years, and to this day. It was the face that many people saw leaving his house that day, so long ago. Driven by a sudden bloodlust that was forbidden by the Order, he wielded his mighty hammer and shield, and led the party onwards, towards the ship.
Finally, our adventurers reached the gangway to the ship, with only the priests holy enchantments and shields acting as barriers between their enemies steal and their own flesh. Keimon's dark magic and demonic minions viciously ripped at her enemies, tearing them from the very existence of this world, Blathos blocking blows with his worn, beaten shield and cracking his foes bones with his iron mallet. BigBandi defending himself with only the hilt of his own axe cleaved at his enemies flesh with a bloodlust to match Blathos. Rhon, although exhausted, continued to cast the holy shields and enchantments that kept her party going, rejuvenating and invigorating them at the cost of her own spiritual energy. Zeladrijn deftly dodged his enemies blows, knocking them unconscious and crippled with a combination of striking at key pressure points and a mix of his own special poison, which he spread on his daggers regularly. Combining all of their unique talents, the group was easily cutting their way through the hordes of enemies that made them fight over every inch of land they gained. Eventually, after what seemed like endless toil, Keimon and Rhon were exhausted from lack of spiritual energy, when Keimon reached inside herself to deliver that final killing spell, she just couldn't find it, and Rhon had nothing left either, no more shields or rejuvenation enchantments, they were both drained. Blathos and BigBandi were experiencing crippling wounds, but continued to fight on as Keimon and Rhon replenished their reserves of what was called Mana in these times. In a final, desperate flurry of the worst demonic spells conceived by humankind, what seemed like a fountain of rejuvenating energies and a whirlwind of axes, mallets and daggers slaying enemies as if they were paper, the waves subsided, the pirates were afraid, they were running, screaming of the hellish things they had seen happen to their comrades and friends. It was only now that the heroes regained their sense of direction, and realised they had made it to the top of the ship, to Van Cleefs quarters.
"Well, well, well. You actually made it up here? How many of my men have you slain, 100, 200? I'm actually quite impressed to be honest. But you see, them men? From the mines, untrained, barely armed with suitable equipment, fodder. Now, as you see, these men, these are my elite. Dragonhide armour, mithril weapons and the finest training that we have to offer, and, as you may notice, you are outnumbered, seven to five, I do believe that you will lose." His words flowed, as if from the very mouth of a snake, but this did not worry our adventurers, weapons may not be able to penetrate dragonhide armour, but demonic and arcane magicks can. As the Defias elite began to arrange themselves into a battle formation, Blathos used whispers to communicate with the rest of his party. "You guys focus on his soldiers, Van Cleef is mine, he killed my parents, I want my revenge." The other members of the group understood instantly, and began to pick out targets they would focus on. As the Defias began charging, Blathos flanked to the right, as did Van Cleef, the elite kept left, as did Keimon, BigBandi, Zeladrijn and Rhon also kept left. As Rhon cast her holy enchantments and shields on her allies, so too did Keimon unleash a barrage of flesh-ripping projectiles and curses, rendering a few of the elites crippled and in tremendous pain.
On the other flank, Blathos soon found out that Van Cleef was an extremely adept fighter, as he blocked with his gigantic two handed sword, and proceeded to strike back with blows that felt as if they would shatter Blathos's already battered shield. The elite were defeated rather easily, but the rest of the party knew better than to interfere with Blathos's fight, and so they merely watched. Van Cleef, becoming desperate now that his elite were slain began lunging and thrusting with bloodlust at Blathos. Remembering his Paladin training, Blathos blocked, defended and parried these blows, and waited for the correct moment to strike. Just as Van Cleef was about to unleash another strike at Blathos, he was too late in noticing a hammer forged of Iron crash down upon his cranium, and then a shield battering him, breaking his nose and most of his jawbone. Blathos took a dagger from his rogue companion, and without remorse sawed off the head of the leader of the Defias, and then, along with the rest of his party, promptly collapsed into a heap.
After many hours had passed, and what remained of the supplies had been consumed, the party slowly ambled out of the cavern where the now derelict ship was anchored. After limping unhindered through a back passageway out of the cavern after days of fighting and wandering, our explorers all sucked in their first breath of fresh air with great pleasure. Our group of companions now strode through the fields and roads leading back to Sentinel Hill, the human outpost in an area plagued by Defias, but today it was clear and empty, today it was unhindered and the crops were blooming. Upon entering the tower, our heroes presented the head of Van Cleef to Gyran Stoutmantle, head of the human resistance to the Defias, upon which he promptly exploded into shouts of praise and joy for our heroes. All of the town met upon that hill later that day to thank the group for what they had done, except for one dwarf, who walked up gingerly to Keimon, and tugged on her robe.
"So, did you get those trinkets I asked for?"
"Drat."
The End.
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Signing up for it? There was a sign up thing on 28/1/04 which started at 9pm eastern time and 6pm pacific time and lasted 7 days on blizzards website.
Sorry i couldn't be any more specific.
Sorry i couldn't be any more specific.
righhtt... I didn't read any of this, personally, i just laughed when i saw the topic title, Blizzard have only released Betas for Americans currently, They are also in phase 2 of this process.
They will be doing Europe Betas during the crouse of this year, meaning, They only be doing them later (just repeating for simple minded).
But as for now, how you got the Beta, i wouldn't mind knowing!
They will be doing Europe Betas during the crouse of this year, meaning, They only be doing them later (just repeating for simple minded).
But as for now, how you got the Beta, i wouldn't mind knowing!
There's also a Beta version of Halflife II out, but you can obnly really get hold of that via Kazaa or the Mule. Not much good from what I've heard, though: It's only realy half complete.
At the moment, the only betas which are still available for testing are the Lineage 2 open beta, which everybody knows about anyway, and the Ryzom beta, just do a google search to find it extremely quickly.
Tscully wrote:
> or sign up to
> newsletters of beta sites, these will regularly send you information
> about ongoing betas.
Do you know any?
> or sign up to
> newsletters of beta sites, these will regularly send you information
> about ongoing betas.
Do you know any?
Is there a European Beta now?
Betas are usually held using 'Signups' where you give them your details, and they pick participents based on the signup forms. I happened to get chosen for this, and for that I am grateful, you normally just have to know when a beta is taking place, or sign up to newsletters of beta sites, these will regularly send you information about ongoing betas.
How do you get into beta for games, do you have to pay or something???
Thanks for the support, if I get a few people interested in this, i'll probably write more, seeing as I enjoy writing stories of this nature for some reason, heh. World of Warcraft really is an amazing game, even in beta i have found it more polished than many retail games on the market right now. If anybody wants screenshots or information about anything inside the game, feel free to drop me a line on MSN at [email protected]
PS. If anyone here has World of Warcraft Beta, send me a message ingame, maybe we can group up for a few quests, name is Keimon.
PS. If anyone here has World of Warcraft Beta, send me a message ingame, maybe we can group up for a few quests, name is Keimon.
Looks impressive, but I can't be @rsed with reading it, due to length and content I'm not particularly interested in. Good job, by the look of things, though.
Obvious Gameaday entry.
Obvious Gameaday entry.
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