Diablo 3 Beta

There will be[1] a Diablo III Beta Test, which Mike Morhaime stated is to occur in the third quarter of 2011[2].

This article covers every common question about Diablo 3 and Blizzard beta tests, with numerous quotes from Blizzard employees inserted where relevant.

• All news items related to the Diablo III Beta Test.

Beta to Begin Summer 2011

Mike Morhaime, during the May 9, 2011 Activision-Blizzard conference call, stated that the Diablo III beta shall commence in the third quarter of that year, and that internal testing had already been underway for a week[3].

Bashiok further clarified the timeframe[4]:

The 3rd quarter reference in the earning's call today was a calendar quarter, meaning that we're aiming to launch the Diablo III beta between July 1st and September 30th. Keep in mind that it's our current goal, and of course that can change as development continues.

Previously, an announcement about the start time for the beta test was expected in the Q1/2011 Activision/Blizzard conference call, scheduled to take place in early May, 2011. [5]

Thomas Tippl:D3 development continues to go well, and we’re very excited about the game... I’m looking forward to sharing more news about the game, and our upcoming beta, during the next conference call.”

Will there be a Diablo III beta test?

Yes. This was always all but certain, but it was officially stated in various interviews from Blizzcon 2010.[6][7]

Christian Lichtner: There will be a closed beta. I can say that. We definitely will have that. It’s incredibly important for us to get feedback from people. You know, we only want to put a game out there when it’s done. For example, when ''World of Warcraft'' had its really long beta, everyone thought it was madness. It was like “Who’s gonna buy this game? People have been playing it for free for months!” And all it did was make the game better. We need it. We need people playing the game and giving feedback, so we can make the game better.

Prior to this, Jay Wilson spoke about the benefits of beta testing. [8]

AG: Blizzard has always been great at showing games to people at an early stage and I'm interested in that idea. Do you think there are risks of showing games to people early? What's your philosophy behind that?

Jay Wilson: There's only a risk – this is going to sound snarky – but there's only a risk to your ego. If your game is good then people will recognise that it's good. If it's not good, then you need to learn from that and make it better. A lot of the times I think people don't want to show their game early. It's something that some clutch close to their chests – they don't want something that misrepresents them. I can understand that, but the thing is – players only remember the last thing you showed them. So if you show them something and they're like "oh my god that was horrible" then you go "oh geez, then let's go back and make it better". But at least now you know why, at least now you have some information.''

One of the reasons why we actually prefer a really long window before we release a game is because we want a lot of feedback; we want to hear what people like and don't like about it; we want to give them several opportunities to play it before release. We play our games constantly before we release them; we give them to the other development teams and we get feedback. We do very long betas and alphas that we include a lot of people – not just from the fanbase, but from the game industry as a whole. We get a lot of other game developers playing our games – months and months before we release – and I would say, look at the success of Blizzard games. If other companies think it's a risk, a bad idea... obviously it's not, because we've done very well on that front.

How do I register for the Diablo III Beta Test?

You already are, if you have a Battle.net account and have completed a Beta profile. Blizzard maintains a support page with detailed instructions on accomplishing this.

In order to be eligible to participate in future beta tests, you must create a beta profile. A beta profile is a snapshot of your current system specifications. It includes such information as how much RAM you have, available hard drive space, your graphics card and driver, and other information about your system. We gather this information to ensure that we are able to test our games on a wide range and distribution of systems.

You can see more information about this in Blizzard's Beta Opt-in FAQ.

What will be in the Diablo III Beta?

A beta test needs to include enough of the game to keep people testing and giving feedback on software/hardware issues, and the developers want to make sure that (especially) the opening sections of the game are as good as they can be and will suck in new players. The whole game is very seldom included in a beta test though, especially not for a non-MMORPG like Diablo III.

On the 19th of April, 2011, Bashiok made a post in the battle.net forums[9] giving insight into the design team's intentions of keeping the game close-to-the-chest so players can be surprised when they have it in their hands, and also reveals some of what the testers can expect from the beta itself.

You’ve actually seen some of the first three Acts already, and we probably won’t be revealing too much more than what we’ve already shown. We really want to try to keep as much a surprise for you when you play through the game the first time as possible. We will be announcing all of the game systems though before beta, so there are a few things left as far as reveals go. While beta will obviously be a lot of fun, should you get the chance to get in and help test, it’ll only be a small part of the whole game. Some people want to know everything, but we’re really trying to preserve the surprise and wonderment (that we hope will come with exploring Diablo III) as much as possible.

Blizzard has been very careful about not leaking details about Diablo III's plot, so it's widely expected that they will not include more than Act One of the game, and will probably rip out some of the plot details from whatever they do release. Bashiok's quote above gives credence to this speculation.

It also seems that they'll want to test out the Arenas as extensively as possible, so the inclusion of those in the beta, either for Beta characters or for premade Arena characters, seems very likely.

What was in the Diablo II Beta?

The D2 beta took place in early 2000, and like all Blizzard betas in those days, there were only about 1000 testers, all of whom had a beta CD mailed to them. Modern betas start small and ramp up with more testers added over time, until far more than 1000 people are enabled to test.

The D2 beta was all of Act One, in exactly the same form it had in the final game. All of the same quests, NPCs, levels, waypoints, mnercenaries, monsters, items, etc. PvP worked just as it did in the final game as well. All five characters were available, and while they could be leveled up as high as you liked, only the first three tiers of skills were available; at Clvl 1, 6, and 12.

When will they announce the Diablo III beta test?

No dates have been given yet, nor will they until much closer to the start of the test. Blizzard typically announces their upcoming beta tests some months in advance, but a specific date isn't set until just a few weeks prior to the test's beginning.

Since they moved to the Beta Opt-In technology on Battle.net, Blizzard no longer runs major beta test sign up periods, since they already have a huge pool of potential testers.

How long will the beta test run?

Jay Wilson spoke on this during a video interview from Blizzcon 2010.

Geoffkeighley (via Twitter): someone has to ask this: When is the Diablo 3 beta gonna be?

Jay Wilson: Probably about six months before we release.

When will the Diablo 3 Beta Start?

Unknown. As with all dates related to Blizzard games, nothing is definite. Like Blizzard games, Blizzard beta tests begin when they're ready.

Blizzard likes to have their games well-polished and nearly complete before they begin the beta test. They do not rush to finish content while the test goes on; they merely polish and refine, largely based on tester input. Do not expect the beta test to begin until the game is nearly finished, and as of Blizzcon, October 2010, the game was nowhere near that state.

As of Blizzcon 2010, the more optimistic fans are hoping for the beta to begin in early 2011. More conservative estimates are for late 2011, or into 2012.

Will there be an open beta test?

Blizzard ran open beta tests after the closed betas on most of their early games, when they needed additional testers running a pared-down, demo-like version of the game simply to stress test the Battle.net servers. They did for Diablo II, which was called a "stress test" to stress the new battle.net infrastructure. Blizzard also held an open beta with a similar intention for World of Warcraft near the end of the beta cycle (but there were no open betas for the subsequent expansion packs). StarCraft II did not have an open beta, but it had a very large pool of testers. In the United States, simply pre-ordering the game at GameStop would give the player a key for the beta. However, it is much harder to retain a large amount of testers for an RTS, especially one as über-competitive as StarCraft II. This may not be the case for Diablo III, an ARPG.

What's an Alpha Test?

An Alpha test is run before the beta test, and is usually much smaller. The Alpha client is less finalized than the beta client, and is usually the first game build that's semi-complete and playable. Alpha tests are almost always private, and limited to employees, friends, and family.

What's a Beta Test?

Beta tests are large scale tests of a near-finished video game. To date, all Blizzard beta tests have been semi-public, with website signups drawing in thousands of public testers, who join Blizzard employees, their friends and family, fansite invitees, members of the media, employees at other gaming companies, and others. Beta tests generally scale up in size as they progress; starting with a few dozen testers, then gradually expanding to hundreds and then thousands of testers. In the old days this meant physically mailing out beta CDs; these days with the beta clients being shared via bit torrent, it means passing out more valid beta CD keys.

What's the purpose of a Beta Test?

Beta tests serve multiple purposes, depending on the game.

The original Diablo beta test was called the "Battle.net Beta Test" since it was largely made to test Blizzard's new online gaming service. That the software contained the beta client of Diablo I was almost beside the point, since the game was small enough to be tested internally. The hard part was getting the online matchmaking of Battle.net functional.

All computer game beta tests are chiefly used to fix technical problems. Public beta testers have an enormously wide variety of computer systems, and ironing out all of the hardware and software issues keeps Blizzard's technical crew very busy. Numerous game bugs are fixed as well, as the influx of new players invariably find ways to break the game that the company's QA department didn't discover.

Beta tests are very useful to companies as they work to streamline the early player experience as well. Beta tests seldom include the entire game, but they always have the early portions of the game, including character creation and other opening content, since it's essential (especially for Blizzard games) that their games are immediately involving and enjoyable. This is one reason companies like to pull in a wide variety of testers; noobs and dedicated fans alike. Experienced players will skip past minor glitches.

How much actual game testing goes on in a beta test varies from title to title. RTS games like Starcraft 2 generally feature the entire game, but only the multiplayer portion. They can run for many months, as countless tweaks and changes are made to the unit stats as players find new ways to exploit units, and one race or another seems too powerful, or grows too weak as new techniques are developed.

RPGs sometimes include the entire game client, but are usually more limited. Diablo II's beta only included Act One, and only the character skills up to level 18. The D2 team knew they'd need to make changes and tweaks and balances to items and character skills and monsters post-release, but they knew players would need longer than they wanted the beta test to run to get deeply enough into the game to offer valuable input on overall game/item/spell balance. The D2 beta was chiefly used to test out the new Battle.net features, and to test the early aspects of D2 itself. They wanted to perfect the fun factor, leveling speed, early items, skills, monsters and quests. Larger game balance changes were made in post-release patches and were based on the input and play choices of hundreds of thousands of players, rather than just a few hundred beta testers.

How are Beta Testers Selected?

Blizzard passes out beta keys to their friends and family, to media, and to others in the industry. They also give out beta slots to various fansites, who may redistribute them as they see fit. Blizzard has also taken to including a slot in an upcoming Blizzard beta in the goodie bags they give out at Blizzcon or at WWI events.

There were no beta keys in the goodie bags at Blizzcon 2009 and 2010, though Paul Sams announced, during the closing ceremonies, that 1000 beta testers would be selected at random from the Blizzcon attendees. [10]

What makes a good beta tester?

It depends on what the test is trying to measure.

Many would-be testers like to stress (in hotly-debated forum posts) that they would be great testers since they play a ton, are very experienced gamers, etc. That may be true, but the mistake such players make is thinking beta tests are primarily about game balance. That's an aspect of such tests, but far from the only one. Blizzard wants a wide variety of testers: varied computer systems, varied locations, varied play experience, and varied game interest. They know rabid D3 fans will play endless hours, and probably find some bugs. They also know that such players will learn how to control the game very quickly, and will not be slowed by unclear help guides, cumbersome controls, and other such minor difficulties that can stymie new players.

Beta tests, especially those that do not include the entire game (like D2's) are largely about optimizing the early game experience. Seeing what players find helpful or confusing about character creation, early game quests, NPC interactions, using the interface, etc. And for that, total noobs are as or more useful than experienced players. In fact, since Blizzard usually distributes hundreds of beta slots through their fansites, slots that will go chiefly to rabid fans, getting lots of casual fans from Blizzcon attendees, other gaming promotions, and people selected via their B.net beta opt in service is essential.

What countries are included in the Beta Test?

This isn't known in advance. Past Blizzard tests have initially been US or North America only, since they usually start with just some hosting servers in the US. As greater server stability is achieved, more testers, from more locations, are allowed in. Blizzard has also been known to run beta servers in other countries where they expect a lot of players. It's quite likely they'll run a Korean Stacraft 2 beta, for instance.

Is there an age limit for beta testers?

Yes, in accordance with the game's age limit ratings, or expected ratings.

Can I sign up multiple times?

Each Battle.net account entered in the Beta Opt-In is eligible to be selected. So if you have multiple accounts, yes. You can't submit the same account more than once, though.

Are there minimum system specs for the Beta Test?

Usually there is some minimum cut off point, but since the whole point of such a test is to see how wide a variety of systems the game will run on, Blizzard tries to keep it fairly generous.

How many testers will there be?

Early Blizzard beta tests were limited to just the 1000 beta CDs they pressed and mailed out. More recent tests with downloadable clients have grown far larger, and there will likely be many thousands or even tens of thousands of testers for Diablo III. Not everyone starts on the first day, of course. Tests start small and scale up, with more testers added over time as the server stability improves.

Are Previous Blizzard Testers invited to Diablo III Beta Test?

Only if you are already on the Blizzard's friends list. They do keep a list of good testers from past games, and add people to it when they reliably report numerous bugs, but the names on this list are kept private.

How to get in to the Closed Beta?

Aside from marrying a Blizzard employee or becoming one yourself, you could try attending BlizzCon or other such conventions, since they've been giving out cards good for future beta test slots at such events. Admins of popular fansites and employees of major gaming info sites usually get beta slots as well; sometimes they even have extras to give out to site regulars. There's no way to increase your odds of being chosen from the public sign up period though, since the criteria Blizzard uses to pick such people varies, and is largely random.

When and how Will the Selected be Notified?

Blizzard notifies a tester by sending an email with a valid CD-key and a link to download the client. Since they start their tests small and ramp them up over time, you might be in from the first day, or have to wait several weeks or months. [11]

In the event you are selected to participate in a beta test, you will receive an e-mail informing you and directing you to Battle.net Account Management, where you will be able to download the beta client and obtain a beta key.

Will I have to pay for the Beta?

Blizzard does not charge for beta test slots. They are sometimes sold, but eBay and other online auction services do not generally permit this.

Will the Beta be downloadable?

Yes. The days of mailed out CDs are long past, since Blizzard runs such large tests and the game clients are huge. Beta test clients these days are usually several gigs in size, and can take quite a while to download via torrent, even for fast connections.

What's a Beta Test like?

Generally, just like playing the game, albeit online only and with more bugs and server downtimes. There's no special procedure to follow, once you've got the client downloaded and your beta key working. You just start it up and play.

How do I report bugs?

Beta tests always have bug reporting mechanisms built in. There is usually an ingame command to send a message about a bug, and log files are compiled as you play, recording the game state and hardware/software issues. There are usually private beta testing forums on the official site, where testers can discuss the test and post technical issues.

Will the beta change as I participate?

Constantly. Beta tests usually have a new patch almost every day, with minor and major changes, bug fixes, and more.

Will I be able to talk about the beta test?

Most Beta tests come with NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) and many previous Blizzard betas did. They have not included an NDA on the last few World of Warcraft betas, or on the Starcraft II beta, and this seems to be a policy change. There is no reason to expect Diablo III beta testers to be bound by a confidentiality agreement.

Bashiok spoke on this in January 2011.[12]

Bashiok: I don’t believe we’re planning to impose NDA’s on future beta tests for any of our franchises. That’s of course subject to change.

Does Blizzard Expect Testers to Play a Minimum Number of Hours?

No, though they'd appreciate it if you played enough to find some bugs and give some useful feedback. Players who can't play, for technical or other reasons, are useful as well, since Blizzard wants to know what's stopping you.

Will beta testers be given notice before the testing ends?

Usually the end of a test is announced some weeks in advance.

How Long After Beta is Release?

This also depends. Some beta tests run right up until the release date, with the information from them being used for post-release patches. Others end weeks earlier, or are replaced by open beta/stress tests.

Rewards for Being Beta Tester

No free game. Sometimes top testers are credited in the game manual or online credits, and you might earn your way onto Blizzard's beta tester friends/family list, but the sneak peek at the game is the reward for most.

Do I get keep my beta character in the final release?

No, beta characters are always wiped from the servers before the final game. The clients are incompatible, items and skills change, it's not fair to give some players a head start, etc.