WotLK Beta-Key: Blessing or Curse?

Well, I finally decided that I would keep the beta-key and not pass it on to my fellow guildie who I know was also very very keen to have one. It was such a hard decision.

So - Thursday morning I started to download it - all 1.24 GB or something. We have fast broadband. It still took something like 6 hours. Finally got the loady screen thing - it said I needed another patch - another 1.24 GB. I left it going and went to bed.

Hurrah - Friday morning - can get in. I managed to get on on Sephrenia - but I have to change my name - I pick Sephrenya - it's close enough. I'm in - Argh! No buttons in the right places, no grid, no clue what the hell to do or where to go. I saw someone say you can get to Northrend from SW so I portal to SW. While there I get sidetracked by the barbers shop...


I go to the harbour in SW - it's very impressive. I get on the HUGE boat and set off. New loading screen - very exciting. OMG! Icebergs. We're here - I can't even remember the name of the place. Son wants a go, so I log out (it's taking too much time in the middle of the day anyway) and let him go in to make a DeathKnight.

I chat to my guild friend on MSN - that very morning he received his own Beta Key - I'm soooo happy.

Son makes a DK and plays happily until the servers go down. I get back from my afternoon shopping and try to log in - an hour and a half later - right at the time I need to put my little girl to bed, I finally get online. My druid has also been transferred, along with 11500 gold he borrowed from another guild friend - BIG TIP if you get a beta key - transfer all your gold to the characters in turn before you copy them to the test realms. I have now passed over that gold to Lorienne and set her on the way too.

I cook some dinner for Barkie and me and then find that the beta has gone down for a patch. It's kind of good because I'm trying hard to stick to my "no play on a Friday" rule, but it's very frustrating.

So - Saturday morning - get up and try to log in - another 538 MB patch to download. I have never been so annoyed at having something new and exciting in my life. I bet when I've downloaded the patch I still won't be able to get on because there are simply too many people trying. How anyone can actually TEST any of this is beyond me. I really think if Blizzard want stuff testing they should actually make it test-able. Not being able to log on and try is immensely irritating.

If I ever get back online I'll tell you a bit more about all the "girly" things I've found - I need to get to Dalaran to visit Breanni the pet collector :)