This is so close on the heels of the Warhammer Beta Waita comic that I almost felt guilty. So I had a beer to fix that problem.

After having Mythic reps handing out Beta keys throughout the summer show season, it seems an unusual step to shut down the Beta servers till December as reported over on TenTon Hammer.

OK, so I won a Beta key in August at GenCon, but I'm not in, along with a bunch of other folks who blissfully kissed their golden tickets earlier this year.

Let me have another beer to put things into perspective.

The thing to keep in mind is that this is in fact BETA. If something big is broken, or the bug list is so full that they cannot move forward, Mythic is smart to shut it down until the big and little things on the list are fixed.

Here we enter into the side issue of player's increasing sense of entitlement. Beta is for TESTING of bugs, server loads, graphics and mechanics. It is not your "free trial period" and you are not entitled to an invite as a matter of course.

I better have another beer before I start ranting about some of the Beta testers I've known and loathed.

Gods only know how peeved I get when I am in a Beta with a bunch of morons who shout "OMFG, this game is sooo #&%$ BROKEN! It sucks &$%#! What a bugfest lololol Im not buyin this peece of crap!!11!" Uh, yeah buddy. That is what Beta is for. To identify issues, to have responsible testers reporting on same, and to get them fixed before launch. To expect flawless gameplay is to dispense with the need for Beta.

Now, if the game has officially launched, and you have paid for your retail version and it's still more buggy than a week old cow carcass... then you are entitled to complain as loudly as you like. You have purchased $50-70 worth of legitimate complaining rights.

One more beer now, to make sure that I don't care that I won't be chasing a Squig around any time soon....

I am busy as heck anyway, and so should you be. There are enough good games out there to keep us all occupied till December. I can wait... as long as my name is still somewhere toward the top of the list. Cause you know... I'm entitled.

If not... there's always more beer.

I am not even going to start a new forum post for the whining that I know you want to join in on. Just jump in on the wailing and gnashing of teeth in progress.

;-)#
Brasse