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Burning Crusade in alpha testing

Blizzard has employees' friends, families testing upcoming expansion on the condition that they can't tell anyone…oops.

With World of Warcraft the hottest massively multiplayer online role-playing game going and an international blockbuster, there are few limits to what players would do to be the first to get their hands on the game's first expansion, The Burning Crusade. Except of course, keep it a secret.

The developer has begun a Burning Crusade Friends and Family Alpha Test for relatives and associates of its employees, but before the prospective testers can play the expansion, they must read an end user license agreement, helpfully posted online.

While the agreement is posted on the game's official Web site on a page accessible to anyone with the URL, it contains a clause strictly forbidding participants from even acknowledging the program's existence:

"The existence of the Friends and Family Alpha Test and all elements thereof (including without limitation this Agreement) is confidential, and you agreement to maintain secrecy associated with the Friends and Family Alpha Test until such time that Blizzard releases such information publicly."

A Blizzard representative confirmed for GameSpot that Burning Crusade is currently undergoing internal testing at the company.

When the Burning Crusade releases later this year, it will feature two new playable races, an extended level cap, flying mounts, and more. For more information on the expansion, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.

80 Comments

  • xmodfreak2011

    Posted Sep 6, 2006 4:32 pm GMT

    This game will be the BEST GAME ON THE FRIGGIN' PLANET!!!!!!!!!! im gonna buy it the day it comes out!

  • q_oats GameSpot staff member

    Posted Aug 29, 2006 4:31 pm GMT

    test posting test

  • q_oats GameSpot staff member

    Posted Aug 29, 2006 4:25 pm GMT

    test post

  • q_oats GameSpot staff member

    Posted Aug 29, 2006 4:25 pm GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • q_oats GameSpot staff member

    Posted Aug 29, 2006 4:23 pm GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • taggerung000

    Posted Aug 25, 2006 5:05 pm GMT

    i am glad that wow has made it back up to the top 10 lol...

  • _Sam_

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 9:31 pm GMT

    I don't have any of the other games, but I'm probably getting this one

  • ryan-man

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 8:43 pm GMT

    omg they need your password of your account for beta how lame is that,
    account can be lost if you play beta how gay is that.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 2:17 pm GMT

    the people who made wow must be like billionaires

  • doc_leisure

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 1:55 pm GMT

    Won't come out until 1st Quarter 2007 !! Level 60 for 6 more months!!

  • DarkKefka

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 11:18 am GMT

    Must be more careful next time.

  • Narroo

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 10:49 am GMT

    oops! Next time put it in bold!

  • FrankieLA

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 10:38 am GMT

    My name is FrankieLA it has been 1 year 3 months and 4 days since I had my last taste of WoW. I have been recovering well and have found enjoyment in seeing the sunlight and going to bed before 1 AM. I have also learned that riding a bicycle around the beach has done me well.

    I do not miss WoW though Dead Rising and Madden 07 has been the new drug of late. BUT I am a WoW survivor and you can be too.

  • The_Code

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 10:18 am GMT

    sooooo expect it in what November

  • death919

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 10:17 am GMT

    Sweet, hope it's out by the end of the year. But dammit I hope they're not serious when they say they're taking away the PvP ranking system, which some people have put hundreds if not thousands of hours into only to have their rank taken away.

    That'd be sweet if they added a new BG also. I hope the expansion pack's awesome!

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 9:56 am GMT

    sweet!!

  • solidmaster

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 9:00 am GMT

    gief TBC now!

  • radioactive1wiz

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 8:11 am GMT

    Blizzard trys to perfect their games to make them that addictive that they cant be sued for it lol but still addict pple as many of you prolly were i was in the closed and open betas for wow and it was buggy and it took bout 2 months testing one bug i remember i reported was that some men in wetlands were under water lol it not a major bug but it still would lower quality slightly (you can see the pirates now on the dock were they deserve to be ) and im also in this beta because i took part in the contest (to answer all you pple there was a contest on test realms) so ill tell you when it out ... lol ill be too busy playing

  • ElementalFire

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 7:59 am GMT

    Sweet! Can't wait for it!

    Oh, wait, that's right. I don't play WoW.

  • drollia

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 7:18 am GMT

    if it is just in alpha testing now, I wouldn't think that it would be out this year

  • Veer-zaara

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 7:13 am GMT

    Can't wait for this game!!!

  • ele975

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 7:10 am GMT

    sweet! me and some friends are going to PWN S0M3 N00BS!!!

  • peeweeshift

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 7:04 am GMT

    yeah acid twisters comment holds some truth to it. unless they can the public beta which is more likely. I think they won't have a public beta because of the level cap and stuff like that

  • Yamakasi2003

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 6:34 am GMT

    Well this is pretty obvious. They had people playing the game at E3, how could it not be in Alpha testing?

  • Autolycus

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 6:23 am GMT

    im so glad i have my life back. this update is meaningless to me. Enjoy your WOW slavery!

  • Flamingpostman

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 6:00 am GMT

    agree with acidtwister, when the patch came out yesterday, the servers went down for 4 extra hours of maintenence, and even then it took 5 minutes to mount, soo many people were joining the BG's it was lagging the server and they had to restart it about 3 times.

  • Naruto

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 5:49 am GMT

    I hope Burning Crusade is going to be good,

  • stryker1234

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 5:24 am GMT

    I agree with acidtwister, when the patch came out yesterday, the servers went down for 4 extra hours of maintenence, and even then it took 5 minutes to mount, soo many people were joining the BG's it was lagging the server and they had to restart it about 3 times.

  • AcidTWister

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 4:32 am GMT

    Patch 1.12 just came out with public testing taking a little over a month.

    Burning Crusade is starting Alpha testing in late August. Even if the beta starts soon, I smell a small delay coming. Unless Blizzard only wants to Alpha test the expansion for about a month (late September), then closed beta for a month (late October), and public beta for 2 months. But that's nowhere NEAR enough time to get all the bugs out of the content that will come with that expansion.

    Even after the month that the CONTENT PATCH 1.12 was being publicly tested, the day that the patch came out, servers went down. Raid bosses were (and still are) bugged due to a new threat system. Players couldn't enter raid instances, because the new Cross Realm Battleground system took up the same servers as instances, and all instance servers were full.

    That's just a content patch, and 2 aspects of the game that would seem insignificant, yet caused game breaking gameplay. In the expansion pack, flying mounts, a new profession, two new races, cross faction classes, an entirely new Arena pvp system, A WHOLE NEW CONTINENT, and a level cap are just SOME of the things that can have game breaking affects that come out if not tested properly.

    WTB more beta time PST

  • Cybercrrash75

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 4:28 am GMT

    aw come on why should it be a secret that alpha testing started, the important thing is that no one tells what happens IN the beta. All the hidden features and places that blizzard doesnt want to tell anyone

  • maskero2000

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 3:16 am GMT

    FLYING MOUNTS SWEETNESS

  • Romanticide

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 3:11 am GMT

    yay for WoW!

  • Willdyer10

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 2:37 am GMT

    Cool, i've always wondered about this game and i've thought of getting it becasue it has great reviews and millions of people play it but I dont like medievil games i'm hoping that the expansion pack brings it into the future a bit . It does look good though

  • sorcloudtidus

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 1:09 am GMT

    Woot! Here's hoping the expansion comes out soon!!!

  • elliooo

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 1:06 am GMT

    yay, new skins and more levels to grind..worth $50?

  • jakeboudville

    Posted Aug 24, 2006 12:57 am GMT

    Can't wait for the game to get completed

  • MisterX850

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 11:24 pm GMT

    when the alpha beta will be release ?

    thanks in advance for your answer

  • dengue_metal

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 11:20 pm GMT

    So gamespot knew through the end user license agreement?

  • gamerchikrpg

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 9:52 pm GMT

    lol who could keep that a secret? i'd be all like "im playin burnin crusade b*tches!!!!" and then i'd curse blizzard's horrible servers....yet still play the game.

  • rykh

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 9:47 pm GMT

    I bet it goes through testing pretty quickly, since its just an expansion. The basic code was already layed out. That is the best part of expansions.

  • Big_Red_Button

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:59 pm GMT

    Yay.

  • gamestar412

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:59 pm GMT

    So how is the beta going to work? Is it free with a pre order or will it be given to players with long play times like they did with CoH/CoV?

  • acidicdot

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:51 pm GMT

    Lame? Blizzard takes forever with anything, get over it.

  • veracity024

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:48 pm GMT

    just what the world doesnt need

  • Chainblast

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:28 pm GMT

    Either Tom Chilton of Jeff Kaplan said the Burning Crusade beta would shortley follow the release of patch 1.12. I would expect the beta to start within a week.

  • FRoStYisGoD

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:21 pm GMT

    yep beta is coming soon

  • ruttness

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:18 pm GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • BigAug

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 8:00 pm GMT

    I think the release of such information is simply blizz's way of hinting that the beta is very close now. I mean think about it, over the past few weeks they've started throwing all kinds of BC info out. The beta has got to be mere weeks away now, with a larger 'open' beta in 1-2 months. November release maybe Im just being hopeful but I just want the damn expansion to come out already. I like im sure most have gotten bored of running the same stuff over and over, I really dont raid full time anymore b/c my work schedule and there is only so many times you can run deadstrat...

  • gertish

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 7:55 pm GMT

    Not a big suprise.

  • dEaThAwAiTs013

    Posted Aug 23, 2006 7:23 pm GMT

    I wonder how hard Blizzard is going to come down on the testers to find the snitch. Investigate all the testers, or just fire them all and postpone the tests till later?

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