WoW TBC Beta Client Live, confirms Ray Tracing
- By Craig Robinson
- March 23, 2021
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Update: The WoW TBC Beta has gone live. Check your Battle.net game version to see if you have access. Please remember there are no TBC Beta keys available, so players need to sign up for battle.net’s beta preferences tab in their account settings to be eligible for beta flagging.
Blizzard Entertainment’s Blizzard client, aka the Battle.net client, has accidentally allowed some people to download the WoW TBC Beta early. However, it is not intended.
On March 22 2021, the Battle.net Client allowed very specific players to download the TBC Beta client. However, the Beta servers are not live, meaning there was nothing to log into. Fortunately, these players found that there were several settings and a login screen, detailing some interesting information, with the biggest being Ray Tracing.
RTX ON for Burning Crusade Classic! pic.twitter.com/Fk24aR9KjX
— MrGM (@MrGMYT) March 23, 2021
For some reason, Ray Tracing is a graphic setting in WoW Classic Burning Crusade. The feature is one of the newer pieces of tech in the Nvidia Graphics Cards. The technology launched with the Nvidia 20 series for the better performing cards, as well as in the recent 30 series.
The technology allows for a more realistic simulation of light. How that will look in-game in yet unknown. Players who downloaded the WoW Classic Burning Crusade client found that the login or beta servers were not life, and so are unable to actually play the game.
The reason why is because the WoW TBC Beta is not actually out yet. World of Warcraft’s community manager, Josh “Lore” Allen confirmed it was a bug. It appears that keeping beta clients installed means they get automatically updated when a new Beta build enters the Content Distribution Network. Blizzard is likely building a playable Beta Client ready to ship when the Beta invites role out. This is a known issue, with players getting early downloads of the Shadowlands Beta in 2020 before it was initially launched.
Hey hi hello Burning Crusade beta has NOT begun and no one outside of Blizzard has been flagged for access yet.
— Josh Allen aka devolore (@devolore) March 23, 2021
There's a bug causing something to show up on the launcher for some people - this has nothing to do with whether or not you'll have access when it goes live.
ok xoxo
But the good news from the story is that the WoW TBC Beta appears not too far away. There was a recent update to the internal Alpha that Blizzard employees have access to. Blizzard is likely more than confident with the way the product is heading, and so the Beta is likely very close. Now is the best time to prepare for TBC, has the game’s launch could only be a few months away.