Spooncraft

Saw this today and in order to make sure word keeps spreading I’m throwing it down. Mike over at WOW Insider got an anonymous tip regarding the WOTLK Alpha. With all the news about the beta site being active if only forbidden, I don’t really see this as much of a surprise. Looking at history and the general time table as well as Blizzard’s claims that during Blizzcon last year you played the expansion and that this year in the coming WWI08 in Paris you’ll get to see the latest Wrath developments; it’s easy to do the math and figure WOTLK will be fleshed out this year and released next Spring or Summer. I told you Wrath was going to be hitting Beta this summer…

WoW Insider has confirmed through anonymous sources that the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, is in closed alpha status, and that various players are being invited to check it out, under a strict NDA.

Alpha is part of the software release life cycle — a software product in development goes from alpha status to beta status (sometimes including a “closed beta,” where a limited few are invited to preview and test the software, and an “open beta,”, where anyone can download and try out the beta), to “release candidates” and then “gold” (the final version, used to print the media to be available for sale). This doesn’t tell us anything about the timing of the expansion’s release (especially since Blizzard historically takes their time going through this cycle), but it does tell us that Wrath’s content is in a playable and mostly completed form — quests, game mechanics, and items are in, even if specific flavor text, names, and even textures are not. [via wowinsider]