Wondering how the closed Beta process will work?

Blizzard has posted on their community forums an update regarding how invites will be distributed for closed Beta testing of the expansion.

FYI, all: We wanted to share this information about the upcoming closed beta test with you, in case anyone was worried about which play styles would be represented in the test (we haven’t started closed beta testing yet, but we’re doing some advance preparation by identifying and contacting some the invitees ahead of time).

The players we plan to invite to the closed beta test have a rather broad demographic, including PTR contest winners, BlizzCon attendees, some raiding groups, and other guilds and individuals as well. Since the expansion will contain a lot of content for a variety of play styles, we're definitely going to be accounting for that as we test the content.

Also, keep in mind that there is going to be more than one phase of the closed beta test. People who aren't in at the beginning of the test could be invited in a subsequent phase.

By the way, please don’t contact Blizzard to request an invite into the closed beta test. The invitees have been predetermined as discussed above and will be contacted in due time. Also, for those who do receive invites, we will not be asking you for your password or account information, so don’t be fooled by any scams.