Just loaded Diablo2.com, it showed ‘beta opt-in’. Did the first alpha go so well that they’re going ahead and skipping a second alpha test and jumping to beta mode?
the “on or before december 2021” is just their way of saying “some time this year” without hard committing to a date or timeframe. more than likely they have a date in mind and just don’t want to commit yet. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re aiming for the anniversary for release currently.
The first “test” was really just a marketing campaign. If you look in the Ts&Cs they only set aside 50 invites for their competition giveaway.
It would have been a much better look for Blizzard if they were just honest with the audience and stated that upfront, I think there would have been a lot less salt from the community. But that’s a marketing failure, not a developer failure.
So with that said, i’m hoping that this change in wording implies that they’ll open up the testing to more players to seek quality feedback from a wider audience (which is what testing is meant to be about).
I also noticed that during the most recent test they changed the wording to read “multiplayer tech alpha opt in” and then after the test concluded they changed it to be a “beta opt-in” as OP mentioned.
It was saying “Multiplayer Alpha Opt-In” on the bottom button earlier today.
They might need to update their web stuff.
Makes you wonder if the link actually work at all, or if they just picked the known Blizzard streamers and F&F peeps that they usually do. I’m hoping it’s a legit sign-up.
Diablo II: Resurrected announcement: February 19th, 2021
Diablo II: Resurrected Single Player Technical Alpha start: April 8th/9th, 2021(7 weeks since announcement)
Diablo II: Resurrected Single Player Technical Alpha end: April 12th, 2021
Diablo II: Resurrected Multiplayer Stress Test Beta start(my guess): May 27th/28th, 2021(7 weeks since Single Player Technical Alpha start)
Diablo II: Resurrected Multiplayer Stress Test Beta end(my guess): May 31st, 2021
Diablo II: Resurrected Release Date(my guess): Tuesday, June 29th, 2021
That would give exactly one month to release after Beta ends!
There’s really no wondering. If you are a streamer, you are getting an invite because A) You will play it; B) You will provide free advertising.
Everyone else likely gets thrown into a random queue. I’d be completely shocked if they told us the streamer allocation dips into the allocation set aside for the Technical Test. Rather, the Streamers would be categorized under the “media/press” exposure.