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Betawatch: April 13 - 19, 2013

Being able to blow up transparent villains seems kind of comforting right now.

If you've been looking at Firefall longingly and wishing you could get in on the game, the open beta has finally been announced to start on July 9th. That means everyone can get in on the destruction of various science fiction beasties. By contrast, Origins of Malu has had to push its own closed beta back slightly, with a revised date to be announced shortly.

Ragnarok Online 2 and Lost Saga are both moving forward in their testing routines, with the latter hitting open beta and the former kicking off several in-game events for testers. Runescape 3 has also started its testing, The Lost Titans has moved into open beta, and War Thunder has opened a US beta server. Not too bad considering everything else going on this week.

As before, there's a full set of tests in the list past the break. If something's snuck in a functioning cash shop without us noticing, feel free to let us know in the comments, or just discuss your testing experiences (where it would not violate NDAs).



Open testing phase


Massively considers a game to be in open testing if it has open, public signups and plans for a server wipe before its official launch. Self-described "open beta" MMOs that have soft-launched with functioning real-money cash shops will not be listed.

Broken Realm (R2Games): Announcement, Signup
DK Online (Aeria): Announcement, Signup
DUST 514 (CCP Games): Announcement, Signup, /r/
Heroes & Generals (Reto-Moto): Signup
Ragnarok Online 2 (Asiasoft Online): Announcement (region limited)
Salem (Paradox Interactive): Announcement, Signup, /r/
Scarlet Blade (Aeria Games): Announcement, Signup
SmashMuck Champions (Kis Studios): Announcement, Signup, /r/
SMITE (Hi-Rez): Announcement, Signup, /r/
Soul Captor (Gamania): Announcement, Signup
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Online (CyberTime Systems): Announcement, Signup, /r/ (Russian-only)
Taikodom (Gamersfirst): Announcement, Signup
The Aurora World (Aurora Interactive): Announcement
War Thunder (Gaijin): Announcement, Signup, /r/ (fka World of Planes)
Warframe (Digital Extremes): Announcment, Signup

Closed testing phase


We consider an MMO to be in closed testing if it features either future test signups or an ongoing semi-private beta/alpha that cannot immediately and freely be accessed by the general public. Some are restricted by NDAs.

Age of Wulin (gPotato): Announcement, Signup (Asia, EU)
Aurora World (GBE Games): Announcement, Signup
Black Prophecy Tactics: Nexus Conflict (Gamigo): Announcement, Signup
Born to Fire
(Aeria): Announcement, Signup
Bounty Hounds Online
(Wicked Interactive): Announcement, Signup
City of Steam (Mechanist): Announcement, Signup, /r/ (running periodic beta events)
Dawntide (Working as Intended): Announcement, Signup, /r/ (development on hiatus)
Dota 2 (Valve): Announcement, Signup, /r/
Dragon Born (KoramGame): Announcement, Signup
Dragon Crusade (Aeria): Announcement, Signup
Dragon Knights (Aeria): Announcement, Signup
Dragon's Prophet (Sony Online Entertainment): Announcement, Signup
Earthrise: First Impact (SilentFuture): Announcement, Signup (testing starts "soon")
Eldevin (Hunted Cow Studios): Announcement, Signup
End of Nations (Trion): Announcement, Signup, /r/ (beta on hold)
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (Square-Enix): Announcement, Signup
Firefall (Red 5 Studios): Announcement, Signup, /r/ (open beta starts 7/9/13)
Grecca (Banbox): Announcement, Signup (in "open" alpha)
Ingress (Google): Announcement, Signup
Legend of Edda: Vengeance (GamesCampus): Signup
Lime Odyssey (Aeria Games): Announcement, Signup
Line of Defense (3000AD): Announcement, Signup
Living After War (Alaplaya): Announcement, Signup
Maestia (Gravity Interactive): Announcement, Signup
Marvel Heroes (Gazillion): Announcement, Signup (launching 6/4/13)
Neverwinter (Cryptic/Perfect World Entertainment): Announcement, Signup (open beta starts 4/30/13)
Origins of Malu (Burning Dog): Announcement (testing delayed)
Otherland (gamigo): Announcement, Signup, /r/ (development in limbo, possibly canceled)
Renaissance Heroes (ChangYou): Announcement, Signup, /r/
Star Conflict (Star Gem): Announcement, Signup, /r/
Starlight Story (Aeria): Announcement, Signup
Starlite
(Project Whitecard): Announcement, Signup (fka Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond)
Tamer Saga (PopAce): Announcement, Signup
The Elder Scrolls Online (Zenimax): Announcement, Signup
The Missing Ink (RedBedlam): Announcement, Signup
The Mummy Online (Bigpoint): Announcement, Signup
The Repopulation (Above and Beyond): Announcement, Signup, /r/
The War Z (Hammerpoint): Announcement, Signup
Traveller AR (Ingz): Announcement, Signup (beta on hold)
UFO Online (gamigo): Announcement, Signup
Universal Monsters Online (Bigpoint): Announcement, Signup
Venus Rising (FoxySoft): Announcement (fka Orgia Romanus; adult MMO, possibly NSFW)
Waren Story (Aeria): Announcement, Signup
Warface (Crytek/Trion Worlds): Announcement, Signup
WildStar (Carbine/NCsoft): Announcement, Signup
World Alpha (World Alpha): Announcement, Signup
World of Warplanes (Wargaming.net): Announcement, Signup, /r/
Xulu Universe (Xulu): Announcement, Signup (testing on hiatus)

Subreddit links helpfully provided by Steven Eyerman!

Betawatch is Massively's weekly report on the latest MMO alphas, betas, and other games still meandering toward an official launch. From ArcheAge to World of Warplanes, it's covered here, complete with sign-up links so that you too can perform the unpaid quality-control work otherwise known as game testing. Drop us a comment if we've missed one!