WOTLK Beta

[Enti]

Anyone else get invited? :)
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1919/betadp5.jpg

I'm assuming it's legit seeing as it's from noreply@blizzard.com

[bugilt]

Please be aware, there is currently no Beta or beta sign-ups going on for the next World of Warcraft Expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Should a Beta phase begin, we will post a notice on the official website.

As always, please be careful about giving out account information or passwords.

I would wait to see something posted.



We do not provide your personal information to anyone, Dozo, you may have entered your e-mail address somewhere else and had it tied to the World of Warcraft somehow.

Many people include it in their Myspace for example or perhaps a guild site. There are any number of ways to track that kind of information, advertising companies work non-stop on finding ways to get their product advertisements to the people who have the highest chance of buying it.

We have not sent out Beta invites.

A CM posted this 06/03/08

[Enti]

Please be aware, there is currently no Beta or beta sign-ups going on for the next World of Warcraft Expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Should a Beta phase begin, we will post a notice on the official website.

As always, please be careful about giving out account information or passwords.


I would wait to see something posted.I emailed blizzard account services and asked a GM ingame, waiting on their responses.. it's definitely from noreply@blizzard.com, the email they do use to send out this stuff.. not to mention the link does actually go to blizzard's website. lol

[iztehzha]

You can send emails with a false address.

If I knew your email address, I could basicly sent a email from that address.

So untill mmo-champion or some other websites (like wow-europe.com / worldofwarcraft.com) gives a headsup about open or closed-beta starts.. I wouldnt do ANYTHING.

Btw, you can check the link in the email?

[Enti]

You can send emails with a false address.

If I knew your email address, I could basicly sent a email from that address.

So untill mmo-champion or some other websites (like wow-europe.com / worldofwarcraft.com) gives a headsup about open or closed-beta starts.. I wouldnt do ANYTHING.

Btw, you can check the link in the email?I went to the link, it's actually on www.worldofwarcraft.com
not releasing the other part of it but yeah, it's actually off of the site.

[Fragmad]

Awesome, I also want betakey!! :(

I have got an scam email already though, seemed real but it actually pointed to a fake website. Anyways gratz.

BTW: The scam email looked _exactly_ like that.

[Eteocles]

Very clearly a fake. Blizzard wouldn't word it that way(Business Days as opposed to work days) and the simple fact that they will NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER ask you for, or to confirm, your account info in such a way. If you got into the beta you'd know it and they'd do every last thing through the wow/blizzard site and nowhere else; I was in BC Beta, I'm sure of this. :P

[neux]

Enti, it is really look fake no matter how you look at it

Don't sign you life away!!! (I mean your dukeout in epixz high lvl PWNER)

[Anahka]

I'd be very careful. VERY careful.

I see no info on both EU and US sites about people receiving an invite. I wouldn't trust this.

The fact that they say it's time-limited confirms it actually. Clearly a fake.

[sparvath]

I cant say anthing for the US version of WoW, but each time I open my European WoW theres a Blizzard message saying something like "we know you all are eager to join the beta testing of WotLK but there is no such thing going on right now and Blizzard has not send out any mails"

And there is no news about the Alpha test for friends and family of Blizzard is over.

So my money is on that this is clearly a scam.

[Ifalna]

That and it was leaked that the Aplha started all of like.. 2 weeks ago?

So I dont think there are beta invites on their way already, especially considering it was specifically said they were not being sent out.

[Xorn]

Without any links given it's hard to tell whether this is fake or not. In the european version you had to enter your password and account name in order to upgrade your account. In general I would be very very cautious here since I also received a lot of spam mails from my own mail addresses as sender ... except from that the links are the best way to tell whether this is fake or not I guess. :(

[zanthor]

Just because the page links to http://www.wor1dofwarcraft.com doesn't mean it's real. You have to make sure you verify the link's not been manipulated in some way. E-mail addresses are easy to fake, headers less so. Ultimately blizzard hasn't announced it, it's no on every news site from here to the moon, so I'd say that it's a good chance that beta invite is faked, I'd put it at 90% or higher.

In addition to the other issues pointed out, Blizzard wouldn't bother asking about the original ownership of the account. It's already covered in their TOS so by violating that you are already violating their policies, why would they beat the dead horse, they know it happens, they ban when they identify it clearly as an abuse, and other than that, it's just another $15/month in their pocket when it goes under the radar.

[Majestic_Clown]

I'm going to use big font for this:

I can confirm that the email you got IS FAKE

at this moment in time there is only The Friends & Family Internal Blizzard Alpha (Which im lucky enough to be apart of, only on 1 account tho :( )

There will be forum announcements when the beta goes live.

If you want to check for your self, look at the message source details, it should come from something like smtp.blizzard.com or something like that.

[voidopolis]

Just because the page links to http://www.wor1dofwarcraft.com doesn't mean it's real. dunno where that link is from but there is a ONE inplace of the L in world.... Thats typically how those fishing sites work. make it look a lot like the real address, but change something small.

like if I was fishing, I might use the address: worIdorwarcraft.com - did you notice I replaced the "L" for an "I" in that?

[Tdog]

Having been in the closed Beta for BC I can most assuredly say they did not go about it in this manner. They did not send me a time sensitive application but rather simply an invite and an authentication key.

If you also notice there is incorrect grammar usage and several typos throught out that page.

[Drizzit]

I wonder if i write an email to people saying "This is a scam. I will sell all your items and give all the gold away. I will respec you in an odd way so that you will need to be respeced to play, but cannot because of no gold. I will unlearn all your skills. Please send me your account name, password, and secret question. Thank you and have a nice day". I will probably get their accounts too lol.

[Gadzooks]

This is completely and utterly bullshit, this e-mail has been going around for a while, and a known fake.

A. Blizzard does not 'accept applicants". They invite either by earned reward (buying a Blizzcon ticket, etc...), special invitation (top guilds), or as with the BC Open Beta, they did it randomly.

B. The second paragraph starts with "However", but there is nothing in the first paragraph to require it. It's bad writing, nonsensical "proper English" by some scriptkiddy asshole who thinks they can fake proper sentence structure, proper grammar, and professional writing. "It will take 2-3 work days" should have been a HUGE red flag. They always think if they throw in a couple of 25 cent words it makes it look more "official".

C.Blizzard does NOT do a "first come, first serve" on beta invites. They invite a known number of people, and they do not "run out" of spots.

D. Blizzard NEVER requires you to give them your info - they know it already. Several Blues has stated several times, asking for info on their part is useless, when they have access to ALL of your info, including your phone number credit card number, and secret word.

E. Blizzard would never, and has never warned anyone with punishment in their official e-mails, especially for "sharing" a website address. The beta, when it starts, will be hosted on Blizzard servers, will not be secret, and the address of the page to enter your beta key will not be "secret".

Use your heads, folks. This is poorly written at best, and is an obvious phishing attempt. This is the kind of e-mail that leads to people getting their purplez sharded, because they don't *think* or research. Yes, it's exciting to think you're getting an invite, but until Blizzard announces the Beta (and they will), do not trust ANY invite to it.

I got an invite to the BC Open Beta (Clue - they always capitalize it), and all it contained was a key and a link to a website on the Blizzard servers, which allowed me to download the client - and then I had to transfer a character over to the test server via the normal character copy page. All within the Blizzard system, no need to give them my info, all done by logging into my existing account.

Also, the e-mail had NO graphics, it was text, nor was it from the Account Administration Team - AA has ZIP to do with the Beta. I really should pull up my invite e-mail, so you can see the difference.

Final clue - when the beta invites go out, you will know, it will be all over every forum and website and game page you can imagine, it's THE hottest ticket this year.

[Nepida]

IMO manually type in any websites that point to wow/blizzard if they need account info. There are too many ways to mask phishing sites and if you are just a little bit tired you may miss them.

edit: To enter a blizzard beta you will need to give them your account name and password and beta key but nothing else.

[Toned]

first sign that is fake was the email... they use donotreply@blizzard.com not noreply@blizzard.com

[Quix]

Blizzard invites for BC beta looked more like this:

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Beta Test
Welcome to the beta test of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade!
We’re excited to have reached the beta-testing stage for the expansion, and we’d be grateful to have your assistance in finalizing the content. There are a lot of new things to see and do in Azeroth and Outland, and we look forward to receiving any feedback you can offer on your overall expansion-beta experience, including quests, spells/abilities, monsters, zones, aesthetics, and more. We would also appreciate reports on any bugs you may find.
Read on to learn how to participate, and thanks in advance for your support in helping us put the finishing touches on the expansion.
Getting started:
You will need to upgrade an existing retail World of Warcraft account to connect to the Burning Crusade beta realms. Upgraded accounts will carry over to later testing phases for the Burning Crusade.
Please begin by logging in to the website below with the account name and password of the retail World of Warcraft account that you play on. From there, you will be able to upgrade the retail account to an expansion beta account, which will allow you to copy characters to the test realms, download the installer, and access the beta-test forums. Upgrading to an expansion beta account does not affect your ability to continue playing on the retail realms as well.
The key cannot be replaced, so please ensure you use it to upgrade the account you wish to use for testing.
ZXXX-XXX- Redacted for my Security XXXXR
After you have created an expansion beta account, we invite you to copy characters to our expansion realms. You will be able to bring over up to 4 level 55+ characters to travel through the Dark Portal.
Go to the following URL to copy up to 4 characters to the beta test realms: https://beta.worldofwarcraft.com/game/
Sending us feedback:
Bugs & Suggestions
We’ve set up an in-game method for submitting game bugs and suggestions, without the need to send us an email or exit the game. To do so, enter the chat console by pressing the Enter key, then type “/bug” or “/suggest” (without the quotation marks).

------------------
The above is from my actual invite for BC. Things I note that tell me your WOLTK is a fake:

1. The email was in plain text.
2. Spelling & grammar correct & professional, It looks like everything else they write.
3. link was a secure blizzard owned website that could be verified with any "whois" service
4. They DID ask for my WoW account info, but the link was also posted by a blizzard poster on the wow forums & was a simple address that you could type in, & if you go there now, you can still see that its on the bliz domain & active.

[Evilseed]

By the way, there is a WOTLK beta going around. I know because I am in it :)

[Con7ent]

Yep way too many Grammatical errors to be legit. Blizzard is always very keen on phrasing things with professionalism, especially when they are telling you that you're screwed over in some e-mail :)

[Con7ent]

By the way, there is a WOTLK beta going around. I know because I am in it :)Don't you mean Alpha?

[Tonuss]

Sender addresses are easily spoofed, and web links can be made pretty confusing, I know that there are ways to put a legit web address into a URL that goes to another site (though you also have the other site's address in it, something like www.blizzard.com@www.hackerzomg.org ('*') ). You can usually see the actual email address by right-clicking the link and selecting Properties or viewing the email's source. Alternatively, you can manually type in the web address as they print it, making sure you're going to a legitimate address (ie, not using the "1" for an "L" in "world").

Asking on the Customer Service forum (or a GM, as you did) is also a smart thing to do. It never hurts to be sure.

[wrs]

I was in the BC beta, and they just sent a link for d/l of the beta client and a key code. Any email that wants you to verify your account is most certainly a scam.

[Vyndree]

Blizzard will NEVER ask you for your username and/or password.

You should NEVER enter your username and/or password into anything other than the official World of Warcraft client and/or the OFFICIAL forums.


Via the official forums customer service STICKY ('http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=965511383&sid=1'):

We'd like to advise our community of an e-mail that is being sent to some players pretending to be from our Account Administration Department and threatening immediate suspension or closure if you do not confirm your account information.

These e-mails are not from Blizzard. All account actions and inquiries will have the return address of Wowaccountadmin@blizzard.com; these phishing e-mails, in most cases have the return address of something close that may be overlooked if you are not paying close attention like: blizzzd.com.

Here is a sample of the e-mail that is usually sent.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q u o t e:
It has come to our attention that you are trying to sell/trade your personal World of Warcraft account. As you may or may not be aware of, this conflicts with the EULA and Terms of Agreement. If this proves to be true, your account can and will be disabled. It will be ongoing for further investigation by Blizzard employee's. This action is taken because we at Blizzard Entertainment takes these sales quite serious.

If you wish to not get your account suspended you should immediately verify your account. We need to confirm you are the original owner of the account. This is easiest done by confirming your personal information along with concealed information about your account.
You can confirm that you are the original owner of the account by replying to this email with:

* First and Last name
* Address
* Zip code
* Phone number Daytime
* Country
* Account e-mail
* CD-key, or a photograph of your CD-key that is located on your manual for World of Warcraft.
* Account name
* Account password
* Secret Question and Answer

And attach a screen shot of the key on your instruction booklet ( if possible). Reply to this with the information within 1 week, or your IP will be banned permanently, which will not let you play and/or make an account. Feel free to visit http://www.blizzard.com/support/wowbilling/ to contact us or for more information


Regards,
Account Administration Team

Blizzard Entertainment Inc
Account Administration Team
P.O. Box 18979, Irvine, CA 92623

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I can not stress this enough: No employee of Blizzard will ever ask for your password. Even if the e-mail looks legit, if it asked for your password it is not from Blizzard Entertainment.

Furthermore...

Also, from the Wrath of the Lich King forum:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=3121016012&sid=1



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q u o t e:
Please be aware, there is currently no Beta or beta sign-ups going on for the next World of Warcraft Expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Should a Beta phase begin, we will post a notice on the official website.

As always, please be careful about giving out account information or passwords.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For emphasis...

No employee of Blizzard will ever ask for your password.

[Xorn]

This notice is so small I can barely read that. :/

By the way, you have to type in your password / accountname to upgrade your account for the alpha BUT this happens only on the official page and, if I am not mistaken, blizzard does not invite somebody until now, every invitation comes from a blizzard employee. Family & Friends Alpha as it was called.

[hardc0re]

Think its fake but.. I really hope i get invited to wotlk beta since i wan not in the bc beta and i have 5 accounts on my mail.. "hope hope"