Heirlooms and Beta Testing Cataclysm

Oops, what have I signed up for?

I logged into my Battle.net account very very carefully yesterday. I actually logged in looking for some (any!) information about transferring Bind on Account gear between servers. I’ve read the blue posts that mention possible cross faction transfers between characters (same server assumed) but there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer to whether these items can really be moved to a character on the same account but on another realm.

Surely the only way this could be handled is via Battle.net integration into the in-game mail system? If Battle.net is going to enable us to add players from other games and other servers onto our Friends list, I imagine that if cross realm mail is possible, it’d work in a similar manner. Or the alternative could be some kind of heirloom item management on the Battle.net website itself.

I noticed that there’s a link under Manage My Games on Battle.net that I never noticed before (remember, this is the first time I’ve logged into the service by choice – not to try and regain control over my hacked account or signing up because Blizzard made me). The link reads Beta Profile Settings.

Beta testing for Battle.net? They’re going to add more functionality into the account management? Sure, let’s sign up!

I downloaded the application (again, very carefully) and let it read my system information and register my account. Then Battle.net presented me with three options.

Which beta tests would you be interested in?

Diablo universe
Starcraft universe
Warcraft universe

Yep. I was totally wrong – nothing to do with Battle.net testing. This must be the place to register your interest in becoming a Beta Tester for Blizzard’s upcoming games and expansions. Like Cataclysm.

So I think I’ve registered. From memory, Blizzard randomly selected a portion of players to become Beta testers of Wrath of the Lich King in 2008 from a huge pool of interested parties. There’s no guarantee that by opt-ing in that you’ll be selected. I’m sure their selection criteria is based on choosing a wide variety of computer systems (it’s technical testing too) and then trying to include players with a long length of play time and players much newer to World of Wacraft, and of all ages and countries.

I’m not sure if I actually want to be selected. If you Beta test you can’t regain the time spent in Beta playing/leveling your character. It would be a fascinating to see what doesn’t work – and then thinking to yourself “thank god they changed that quest” when you get to the live servers. Perhaps it would feel like your own behind the scenes glimpse into the making of the game.

And of course you get to see it first. But I also believe that you’re marring the experience somewhat. There’s just something so mad about racing through the Dark Portal and jumping in as the Burning Legion attack your base camp or hopping that first boat to Northrend and squabbling over mobs in the early leveling zones that you only experience at the start of an expansion. And it’s the kind of experience I’d like to have with my friends.

Anyway now that I’ve opted in I’ll let it be decided by luck. Either I’m chosen or I’m not. Would you Beta test if you had the chance?

And why am I so interested in Bind on Account items? I’m thinking about leveling a new character before Cataclysm and, preferably, when things start winding down over the Christmas holidays. The problem is, Cassandri is swimming in Emblems and Stone Keepers Shards on Barthilas. Yet I have Bind on Account items (including 2 trinkets that I can reuse) on my Shaman on Caelestraesz. And I’d much prefer to level my new character on Caelestraesz where the leveling guilds are nice. I might even make some new friends.

I thought that perhaps I could just start running Heroics on Xata in order to buy a weapon and a chest item on Caelestraesz and roll my new character there, but then I calculated just how many Wintergrasp dailies I’d need to do to earn 320 Stone Keepers Shards and how many heroics it would take to earn 65 Emblems of Conquest. The answer was: too many.

It seems like a huge time investment on a character that I don’t intend to play in the future in order to benefit another character altogether!