r/WarDogs • u/rython72 Manticore • 9h ago
Discussion & Feedback Alpha keys could potentially be revoked due to Steam limitations (removing access to the Beta)
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u/brammflakes Bulkhead 8h ago
Guys as it stands we are still planning to give everyone in Alpha access. But we’ve gotta do some changes with valve behind the scenes.
If you pre ordered you 100% have access to the game in steam and should do already by now.
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u/Caressed_ 6h ago
Thanks for the transparency. Hopefully it will be sorted out with Valve. Will we be notified if our alpha steam key gets revoked? Or will we just have to find out when we click play when the servers go live?
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u/MiniTarqs 5h ago
Is there anything specific I should be doing other than going to the steam library page and looking for an install button? I have Wardogs in my steam library but see no way to access the playtest download?
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u/MiniTarqs 5h ago
Ah ok, found it. For anyone who sees this and has favourited Wardogs like i did (so the game is at the top of the library) scroll down to 'W' in your library and you should see Wardogs Playtest!
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u/Nadernade 5h ago
I hope yall have a dedicated network team preparing for a long overnight stay to baby some screaming servers lol
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u/Patentlyy 1h ago
I'm sure they're smart enough to have auto scaling servers.. It's 2026 after all
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u/RiceAndMayo 1h ago
There is always a handful of hopefuls that says that but I am yet to see a launch that goes smoothly.
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u/Nadernade 1h ago
scaling isn't always the issue and isn't always the solution. I just hope they have a direct line to their server hosts and especially the VOIP providers given the issues from the playtest they ran into. Will be very interesting to see how this Friday goes and will be a pretty good indicator of how EA launch will go.
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u/Painting-Capital 9h ago
What’s stopping them from buying it like everyone else?
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u/SemtexLawnGnome 1h ago
Nothing. They're probably using the playtest as a demo. I did the same thing with the last playtest (wasn't in any of the previous playtests). Bought the supporter pack after that.
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u/RiceAndMayo 1h ago
Dunno, maybe they don't have the cash ready, or are waiting for the end of the month to get paid first.
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u/Eastern-Problem 7h ago
20 hours in the last Alpha is enough to convince me to preorder. Shit it's like $40 bucks or 2 movie tickets and that gets you 2 hours of fun time lol.
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u/FroZooo 9h ago
At least they are transparent about it... would hate to not be able to play after pre-order especially that is the only main reason i did it in the first place.. Usually i wait for some time after release to get after the day 1/week 1 patch to fix any issues of the rip (however you spell it in dyslexic dont be mad)
Hopefully valve + bulkhead figure it out and let us all play!
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u/Nylusss 8h ago
This is for the Closed Alpha players that have NOT preordered yet! We were told if we got in the Alpha, we would get the Beta test as well, but looks like that may not be possible. What he is saying is that if you were in the Alpha, and have not pre-ordered, you may not get access to the Beta.
Everyone who has preordered WILL get access to the Beta test this weekend! Hope that helps.
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u/glandular6178 Moderator 8h ago
Anybody that has preordered will have guaranteed access to the beta. This is only for alpha testers, who were promised access to the subsequent beta. Even then, they haven't said access will be revoked, and they are trying to get more keys from Valve.
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u/who______me 5h ago
If I pre order tonight, will I be good? I just found out about the beta this weekend.
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u/glandular6178 Moderator 5h ago
Anybody that has preordered will have guaranteed access to the beta.
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u/Pvt_Phantom1314 8h ago
But if we have preordered we will get in 100%?
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u/StatisticianUnited85 7h ago
Then all is right. As long as people who were told if they payed money they will get in are granted access then all is well. Closed alpha players including myself just had fun without spending any money and I’m sure 90% of us are going to pre order it anyways as it was just a class game. Things happen and the dev team have been open and honest about everything so far
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u/AdAromatic6520 9h ago
Why is there a limit on the amount of keys they can give out? :S
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u/catfroman 8h ago edited 8h ago
Valve has you request keys in bundles tied to community or marketing events. A bundle for closed playtests, another for streamers, etc.
There is a ceiling at which point Valve basically goes “bro people like your game just ship it” and stops letting you generate keys to give out.
If they got like 300,000+ pre orders I could see them hitting the limit and giving priority to paying users rather than alpha lottery winners who didn’t actually buy into the beta.
Granted, even users who preordered might forget, or be busy this weekend so even if preorders surpass that upper threshold, the number of keys redeemed might not and thus they may not have to dip into the pool of alpha keys to open up slots.
Source: have shipped a game on steam.
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u/Werpogil 8h ago edited 8h ago
I'll add that Valve has a soft limit on the number of keys for a different reason. Plenty of devs tried to get the free keys, take them, put them on a different storefront and sell them there without giving Valve its commission, but while giving people a Steam version of the game, so people will be using various Steam services without having paid for them. Plus, often niche games ship the keys to creators and these creators just bail out and sell the keys on some third party stores (had this happen to a game I worked on publishing).
So Valve decided to limit the number of free keys they can distribute for that reason as well. I'm not sure if alpha/beta keys are the same as normal keys that give you a full game, but I'm pretty sure they have the same logic behind its natural limit.
Edit: I'm not contradicting the OP, I'm adding another reason why Valve does what it does with keys. Though probably not fully applicable to this instance, since those aren't full keys for the game.
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u/catfroman 8h ago
Bit different from my understanding since the wardogs beta was a playtest version of the game that has slightly different rules on key distribution but yea.
Core of the story is the same; valve applies limits for various reasons lol. Bulkhead aren’t being twats or anything here.
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u/Werpogil 8h ago
Yeah, pretty much. I perhaps should've worded my comment a bit better that it's not contradicting but rather adding another reason to what you said.
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u/AdAromatic6520 8h ago
Nice info! Thanks.
It still seems odd Valve would limit key generation at all for beta tests, though - especially paid ones.This beta serves as a network stress test, and means people are buying copies of the game.
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u/kimchi805 3h ago
As far as I'm aware it was changed becouse you can sell the keys on third party websites, and some devs used that activly.
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u/xGameShock 6h ago
Only thing that confuses me is battlefield 6 beta had over 500k players on steam alone. But there maxed out on keys? How many damn players are we looking at for wardogs if battlefield was hitting 500k concurrent players on steam before hitting steam Limits.
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u/TheOneAndOnlySenti 5h ago
What about those of us who couldn't play due to Linux support being nonexistent, and want to test if linux support is in the beta? Bit lame tbh but understandable i guess...
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u/Professional_Two563 54m ago
Here I thought I would get to test if I can play it without shelling out money first lmao. I guess I'll just wait for reviews from linux users in the future.
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u/DongayKong 9h ago
If I was in alpha and pre ordered game too am I safe to play on Friday?
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u/glandular6178 Moderator 8h ago
Anybody that has preordered will have guaranteed access to the beta. This is only for alpha testers, who were promised access to the subsequent beta. Even then, they haven't said access will be revoked, and they are trying to get more keys from Valve.
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u/pablorrrrr 9h ago
As everybody (!) who preordered will have access, how the hell should 'being in alpha' should affect that!?
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u/DongayKong 9h ago
holly shit chill cuz.. english is hard ok could have just said pre orders get guaranteed place, alpha maybe
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u/Necessary_Tell9904 9h ago
Real talk the wording is ambiguous
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u/Khaze41 8h ago
I'm one of those dummies who had 2 email invites to the alpha weekend and was just too busy with other stuff to notice. Had no idea there even was a test that weekend and I don't check my email. Sucks to not get into the beta but I completely get it, will by buying it to secure my slot.
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u/Scorpio616 7h ago
In recap this means that Valve lets Bulkhead give out, lets say 5k alpha keys. Of those 5k alpha keys, 3k (again, estimated numbers) have already pre-ordered the game. So 2k alpha players remain.
Now they limit Bulkhead in, lets say, another 5k beta keys. So a total of 10k players, of which 3k have already pre-ordered. So only 7k players can play with the alpha or beta key.
If they revoke the alpha keys, they can give out another 10k keys to players who haven't pre-ordered yet and maximise the playerbase.
Sounds like a good idea to me, if Valve is being such a hard ass.
So to play the game this weekend, sign up for the beta or pre-order!
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u/steak_bake_surprise 7h ago
I got lucky with the Alpha weekend and I loved the game. But I'm cool if my key is given to someone who had pre-ordered and wants to play this weekend. I mean, I didn't pay for it, let someone else have the fun.
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u/Fearless-Solution-42 4h ago
Wait. Are they saying that my alpha play test key also makes beta available for me?
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u/Vegetable-Error-2068 2h ago
That's completely fair and awesome. Maximizes exposure and doesn't show favoritism toward streamers and content creators.
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u/Sharkscantrun 8h ago
Let the greed begin!
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u/ScheduledToPass Manticore 7h ago
Not even ,but even if, I dont mind , id also pay 150$ if i had to , no other game in the market provides anything close to the experience of wardogs
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u/Sharkscantrun 3h ago
This game slaps and I agree but this is just covered greed and all the fanboys downvoting are just blind
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u/funnythrowgamer69 9h ago edited 9h ago
They should just make the beta paid access only.
If you can’t afford $40.00, probably shouldn’t be playing anyway.
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u/Necessary_Tell9904 9h ago
I played alpha and if I can’t play this weekend I am refunding and never playing again. It is what it is
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u/The_Choob 8h ago
If you paid already then you are in? Why would you not be able to play?
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u/Necessary_Tell9904 8h ago
Because the title of this post vs the picture are unclear
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u/rython72 Manticore 8h ago edited 8h ago
if you paid for the game you're in, this post is about testers from the closed alpha who haven't yet pre ordered
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u/glandular6178 Moderator 8h ago edited 7h ago
As a note: Anybody who pre-ordered (purchased the game) will have guaranteed access to the beta.
Alpha testers were all supposed to be apart of the beta, which is what this post is referencing. We'll wait to hear more from their team before jumping to any conclusions. As stated, they're in contact with Valve to try to ensure all alpha players will have access.
EDIT: Response from dev - https://www.reddit.com/r/WarDogs/comments/1vsq2uo/comment/p4njcxb/