Eric Flannum recently posted a lengthy blog post on the Guru forums, discussing statements made by many frustrated fans who weren’t chosen for closed beta testing.
Those of you who are freaking out really need to calm down. Not all of the invites have gone out and certainly not everyone who has been invited has said anything. There are a lot of media involved in this event and a lot of people who aren’t media as well. Remember, we are still in a closed beta phase right now and those beta testers are all under NDA.
A lot of you seem to assume that the only people who are playing in the closed beta are friends and family and that no “real” fans are playing the game. I can assure you that we don’t have nearly enough friends to fill even a modest closed beta and that plenty of “real” fans have and will play the game. As Mike said in his letter we are letting press into this particular event and we are in general letting them talk about their experience. Those who are not press are still under strict NDA.
We never promised that this feb event would be without NDA and we never said this feb event was an open beta of any sort. What we did say was that we are ramping up to larger and larger events and even gave a monthly timeframe. We are sticking to that promise. I hope this helps keep things in perspective.