https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/737

Well....this is interesting.

Thoughts?

that's interesting. I thought they said there would be an open beta

Interesting indeed

This just means they will have a crap ton of closed betas. I wonder when NDA will lift now......

This beta key giveaway to pretty much anyone counts as a semi-open beta, since its huge and available to grab to any one who is fast enough.

Open beta is a 2 edged sword.

If the game is not liked, players would either not buy or even withdraw their precious CE pre orders and whatnot.

BUT if the game was good, than an open beta would allow more exposure, and damage control could be done by emphasizing that its a BETA and that major changes are still planned.

Unfortunately there is no reason for an open beta since the number of pre orders alone might have payed the game off entirely (speculation), but if not its pretty damn close, and the risk for pre order cancelation won't make up for the benefit of extra purchases.

Money, profit is what matters to zenimax, that is clear, lets hope they dont suddenly need to add dragons to keep their game, the minute that happens, its doomsday for the game.

Is there a point of open beta? Pretty much everyone gets into beta now, so i dont see the point

I wouldn't freak out just yet. They said "traditional Open Beta". Doesn't mean none at all. Sounds to me like its more of a they are going to just invite everyone who signed up rather than just anyone can d/l and log in. Basically accomplishing the same thing but in a more controlled and organized manner.

Aren't we supposed to start with the sky is falling routine here too? So, the people who got the curse betas are part of the P2W group since they are in beta?

Sorry couldn't resist with all of the negativity surrounding this board lately. I'll go back to my corner now.

I don't mind this at all. I just want NDA to lift. An open beta pretty much means a NDA lift.

handing out 500k keys is pretty much an open beta. im sure the next test they wil hand out even more.

I haven't gotten any beta invites. If there is no open beta or I don't get to try it beforehand I will cancel that CE preorder. To not have an open beta to me is a statement from them that they have no confidence in their own game.

Some people, like me, preorder just in case there are supply problems closer to launch. Better to have it and not want it than to not have it and then be unable to get it. Amazon preorders don't require any payment until the game ships.

Say that to the other 500k people who got invites.. idk how you didnt get one.

Previously from that Support page it stated there would be an open beta. Also from other sources, for example from the TESO Facebook page from March 26 2013:

From ESO Twitter as recently as Jan 21 2014:

Similar statement earlier on Jan 14 via Twitter.

The change to the Support page was only just made. Up to today it read (taken from Google Cache dat stamped 04 Feb 2014);

It has been suggested that it has to do with the announcement that ESO has been given a 'M' rating from the ERSB on the 22 January. If so it seems rather belated. Also, even though it was not expected, it was pretty much certain that it would attract a PEGI 16 here in Europe (one year age less than ERSB M) so I am not sure that can be the reason. And really, what difference is an Age Gate for an account for Closed or Open Beta?

There is little to be gained from speculating. For whatever reason it does nothing to assuage the sentiments expressed widely that there are things to hide ( I don't personally hold that view, but it is out there) One of the core arguments I was using to answer that was that everyone had the opportunity to test the game before committing to a pre-purchase/ pre-order and base their decision on their experience of the actual game, not just rumours (much informed)

They suggest now that players can sign up for the Beta and "you will get an invite to a future beta event" implying everyone will get an invite that way. The problem with that statement is that it goes on to state "We will be holding several very large beta sessions that include beta key giveaway promotions before the game launches" if tickets are openly available to all via the Beta Invite application on the ESO site, what will the purpose of beta key giveaway promotions be? Not to mention the gating of such offers behind premium account pay gates like this Beta weekend by Curse for example (not available to non premium members until, after the beta starts from reading)

The other problem is that this will be limited now to only 'several' scheduled specific weekends between now and launch (less than two months away) and not everyone is able to play at weekends (work, sports, etc.)

By not offering a true Open Beta stage even if it were only for a few weeks, this limits that opportunity and to my mind reflects poorly on a company when they had previously stated on a number of occasions that it would happen. If, as seems likely now that it will also extend the NDA until launch then it is just handing ammo to the haters which is sad.

Hopefully an explanation for this decision will be forthcoming to counter the inevitable rumours and clarify just why this opportunity has been removed. And also clarify the position on beta key availability via the sign up option versus promotional giveaways.

Considering official launch is at least on march 31 (5 days early access), meaning they need everything ready by day 28'ish minimum.

Leaving little time for open beta, my bet would be 1 full week of open beta if they really want to allow it, but.........it's pretty tight..

At this stage open or closed its server testng, can't change that much this close, did they fix or change things complained about or reported in SwTOR or GW2 in open beta? Nope open beta = demo maybe teso wants players to exp the game without streamers ?

Maybe someone didn't get the memo?

Open Beta really is meaningless if you plan to play the game.

Well it seems like anybody can get in beta now anyways since places are giving away keys. And the way they announce you can sign up now to get a future invite makes it sound like anybody can get in if they want too.

The reason there is no open beta is because once players max their levels or whatever you want to call it in two weeks, they'll run out of content and quit the game.

I literally just got another key through curse.com for a friend. Like 10 minutes ago. There are still keys out there. If you're not trying to get one you're just being petty because you didn't get a personal invite from TESO. Just go and get one already.

Ha and i've actually waited at 2 am yesterday thinking they would go out like candy, but sadly they hadn't even updated to non premiums yet, after I got mine in the morning I was counting myself in the lucky ones.

Guess 500k keys are a whole lot of keys then since there still seem to be available.

might as well do Open beta... they just gave curse 500,000 beta keys to give out.. and they sent out an est 1 mil beta keys the other day..

I'm just wondering how this will affect the NDA being lift/relaxed, if at all.