Cue the Fanfare! Alpha Invites are Going Out!

Well, to paraphrase a certain Terran, Hell, it's about time.

Invites are finally going out for the Alpha for Warlords of Draenor. Yes, it looks like they're sticking with the name Alpha, but that's fine, because FINALLY!

I'm sure many players will be opted in to test out the new expansion, but to warn everyone:

There is no guarantee this time. Without the Annual Pass, we won't all get to participate. Some of us will. I think you can especially expect some of the big WoW personalities to get access, because this sort of testing is also a kind of marketing. Still, don't expect the Warlords AlphaBetaGamma whatever to be as wide-open as the Mists one was. I am cautiously hopeful that I will be able to participate, but I don't expect to, and neither should you.

But the fantastic news is that, with the test going public, sources like MMO-Champion, Wowhead, and WoW Insider will be able to show us lots of stuff from the game that previously had to be handpicked by Blizzard.

We can expect a pretty nice flood of information over the coming weeks, and indeed, over the coming months.

Remember, though, that everything can change a lot (when I got into the Mists beta, the Jade Forest quest chains were wildly different, and oh boy, Monks got some changes as well.)

Still, this really starts the clock on releasing the game. In the past, I believe that the Betas have lasted 4-6 months, which suggests we'll be getting the new expansion as early as October, though I still have fingers crossed for September.

Anyway, this is the biggest milestone between announcement and release, so it's good to see it happening. And I will be checking quite frequently to see whether my invite has arrived...