Beta Open Until MoP

Well this is different. I have to admit that I didn't follow the beta very closely in previous expansions, but the general schedule seemed to be to shut down the servers shortly before the expac release date.

However, Zarhym recently tweeted that things are planned differently this year:

"I've confirmed the current plan is to keep beta online at least until the launch of Mists of #Pandaria on Septemeber 25."

Unless there's a change in their plans and another announcement, I guess we'll be testing things on the beta all the way until the 25th of September.

I'm not sure if this is a good or bad indication. Good because it might mean that they're taking testing to the extreme and attempting to work out/find all bugs so MoP will be as bug-free as possible. Bad because it might mean that there are still just a ton of bugs and untested things that they can't get around to. In other words, behind schedule, which could lead to shortcuts, overlooking things, and/or putting more things on the back-burner in order to prioritize.

Maybe I really shouldn't be reading so far into this, and just be glad that I can continue writing up this Pet Battle guide and checking out the new features/pets. No early deadline on the beta means a little less stress/worry for me. Although there is still a deadline for all this data for WarcraftPets. :P