Blizzard has provided some gaming sites with beta keys for Warlords of Draenor, the new expansion to their MMO World of Warcraft. The rush for these events, where a coveted beta key can be snagged, is enormous.
A few days ago, mmorpg.com had already offered 500 beta keys for Warlords of Draenor. They were gone faster than one can pronounce C’Thun correctly (the “h” is silent).
Now the site decided on a reckless stunt and announced that they would soon have more keys available – a fateful mistake. Especially since they named an exact time frame when they would release 500 keys to the fastest clickers. Hot-blooded and determined WoW fans who wanted their key showed up at the specified time with the F5 key pressed down, bombarding the site so hard that the servers crashed.
Craig McGregor from mmorpg.com later stated that they had never experienced such a rush.
Of course, no news posts could appear, nor could any orderly process take place. Somehow, they managed to keep their promise and funnel 500 keys into the database. They were gone in less than 60 seconds.
They have 4000 keys available for July. However, they have learned from mistakes and are moving away from the summer clearance sale principle of “Whoever grabs it first can take it home.” The remaining keys will be announced in a civil manner, and then a 3-day raffle will be held.
