Bornakk (Link)

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Get those opt-ins ready for the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm closed beta! The sundering of Azeroth is nigh, and you don’t want to be left out in the cold of Northrend when you could be enjoying the sun-drenched beaches on the goblin isle of Kezan. To ensure you’re opted-in and eligible as a potential candidate, you’ll need a World of Warcraft license attached to your Battle.net account, have your current system specifications uploaded to the Battle.net Beta Profile Settings page, and have expressed interest through the franchise-specific check boxes.

So get your opt-ins set up, updated, and ready; we're worgen real hard to get the beta going soon!

Link: https://www.battle.net/account/management/beta-profile.xml

Alright, it's official. The closed beta for Cataclysm is coming, and it's coming soon. To help you prepare for it, here's a walkthrough of some things you can do to get ready for it, and maybe even increase your chances of getting in.

1) Register early, and register often. It is a subject of contention whether registering early for Blizzard betas helps your chances, but it sure can't hurt them. Get your information in ASAP. If you have multiple accounts register for the beta on all of them, also encourage your friends who might not be aware of the good news to register. I'm not one to encourage account sharing, but it is always nice to have first hand information from friends.

2) Be unusual! The point of beta testing is to iron out big bugs, many of which are technical. After all, World of Warcraft is a computer game, so Blizzard needs to make sure that the game runs properly on the maximum number of potential computer configurations. How does this help you? Easy, if you're running an obscure system configuration (or say that you are) then Blizzard is going to be interested in seeing how Cataclysm runs on your machine.

3) Have a fast computer. I know, I know, this one doesn't really help you unless you've got $1500 lying around, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. Cataclysm appears to feature a graphics upgrade, albeit a minor one, over Wrath of the Lich King and the folks at Blizzard are going to want to have people testing their content who can experience it fully as it was meant to be experienced. There are no hard and fast rules for exactly what constitutes a fast computer, but suffice to say if you can run WOTLK comfortably on your system then this shouldn't be an issue.

4) Play a lot of WoW. In previous WoW betas there was a noted correlation between the people who got into the beta and the guilds that they were in. Players with a high level of raiding progression were noticeably more likely to recieve invites to the closed beta.

5) Cross your fingers. Whether or not you get invited will be in large part a function of how lucky you are, so good luck!

There isn't any new information on when the beta invites will go out, but rest assured, when we know so will you.