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Dawn Of War: Retribution Beta Kicking Off January 31

And will run until the God-Emperor decides it's time call it. Or Feb. 24. Whichever.

Dawn of War II: Retribution’s beta will begin as early as this Jan. 31, 2011 and will run until around Feb. 24, according to a recent announcement on the game’s official community site. All the stand-alone expansion’s races and their respective troops will be available to participants, and all the content’s new maps will be unlocked.
 
As the posting points out, this beta is intended for users to help Relic test this latest expansion’s Steamworks support, which is unfamiliar ground for the series. Dawn of War II and its Chaos expansion, if you remember, are Games for Windows Live joints.  

 
 
== TEASER ==The new Steamworks support (as we’ve previously mentioned back in September)  will allow users access to the Steam suite of online goodies, including Steam chat, achievements, and matchmaking in Retribution. It’ll also give Relic the ability to push out patches faster, allow content preloading, and take advantage of Steam weekend deals.

Want in to the beta? Good news if you're a die-hard: all Dawn of War II owners who bought a game through Steam will be given access on Feb. 8. Key members of the Dawn of War community will receive invites on Jan. 31 alongside press, and pre-orderers of the expansion will get an invite on February 1. The posting notes that no open spots will be made available, so these are, unfortunately, the only three ways to get in.    

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Lamashtu

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Edited By Lamashtu

Beta now open to anyone who's signed up on the DoW2 community site before the 25th.
 
Hope GB will do a beta stream like they did with SC2. Brad getting stomped in an RTS is always entertaining.

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JaroLeman

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Edited By JaroLeman

Rekkon this might tempt me back

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leburgan

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Edited By leburgan
@SmAsH:  What are you talking about? The games have you install steam and then put your code in. They required GFWL and steam. Bought both games in store and they are now on my steam and can be downloaded and played without a disk.
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Xealot42

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Edited By Xealot42
@SmAsH:  
According to the steam support article you can register DOW2 retail cd keys on Steam.  I'm not even sure that you can install the game without logging into your steam and GFWL accounts.  It always seemed weird to me that it used both of those.  I also seem to remember some drama about some outlets not selling the game because it forced you to install their competitors software. 
 
 
I really hope there are some new last stand heroes and maps added.  I don't play much MP but I really like last stand and that same map with the same waves is getting pretty old at this point.
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SmAsH

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Edited By SmAsH
@Kordesh said:
" @SmAsH said:
" @Garadon said:
" I think if you just own the game on Steam you'll get the beta. And everyone owns it on Steam since it requires activation with Steam. "
Yeah no. It doesn't require activation with Steam..... "
Actually it does from my understanding. I believe  it's actually based around Steam similar to how Empire: Total War was. That is to say, it's completely integrated with it and it's multiplayer component is entirely governed by it. That being said, the Steam playform for it is great, so I have no problem with this. That being said, "it's going to be on Steam anyway so you should have gotten it on Steam" is not a good excuse. Fortunately as I mentioned earlier, they're looking to make sure boxed users get into the beta as well. "
The first two games cannot be activated on Steam unless you bought it on Steam. One of the ways to get into the beta is by having purchased Dawn of War 2 and/or Expansion then being able to access the beta. The Dawn of War 2 games were GFWL.
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Underwhelmed

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Edited By Underwhelmed
@Tennmuerti: DoW2 was a huge surprise to me. I bought it without reading a single thing about it, i mean i loved DoW1 so it seemed like a no brainer. I actually played a few maps and kept waiting for the part when I was going to get to start deploying troops and building structures, because that is what you did in Skirmish mode so why wouldn't you?
 
 By about the 3rd map, I realized that this was it, no bases, no endless building, just a small party of troops, lots of loot and a series of small pitched battles between me and the objectives, and by then i honestly didn't care. It was a completely different game than the first, but it was also a really great game. 
 
In a way, it makes sense. I mean DoW is still totally playable, so why simply re-invent it?
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Tennmuerti

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Edited By Tennmuerti
@phrosnite said:
" @sins_of_mosin said:
" I was so sad that DoW2 was a action rpg instead of an RTS like the first game.  I sure hope they go back to what made DoW so popular in the third game if they ever do one. "
You are in the minority and yes there will be DoW3. The DoW2 games are as popular as the previous ones. "
I kind of liked both DoW 1 and 2 but for different reasons.
Dow1 had great campaigns and expansions gave huge amount of hours of re-playability, also enjoyed the multiplayer side of it.
Don't really dig DoW2 multiplayer, but the single player campaign was fun, <3 RPG like loot and character progression.
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Garrett_Hal_Rayburn

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This expansion looks fuckin Great!

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phrosnite

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Edited By phrosnite

 "February 1 – Access given to all DOW II Community site members that registered on our site before January 25 and to users who have pre-ordered the game on Steam."
 
If you want to get early in the beta but haven't pre-ordered on Steam because you want a box or whatever you can still get an early access.

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Kordesh

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Edited By Kordesh
@tankintheair315:  Yeah I saw that mentioned elsewhere a little bit after this announcement went up. Feeling much better about the whole thing now. Didn't particularly care about the beta part, it just didn't make any sense for exclude box/CE users, especially the CE users.
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leburgan

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Edited By leburgan
@Kordesh: According to TASKR on Game Replays they're going to do their darndest to get the CE people beta keys the 1st
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MeierTheRed

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Edited By MeierTheRed
@Fourman said:
" I am happy that they dropped GFWL and replaced it with Steam. GFWL was the only negative thing about the first two DOW2 games. "
Agree i didn't like the GFWL either. So im happy about the Steam support.
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phrosnite

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Edited By phrosnite
@sins_of_mosin: 
The MP is awesome. DoW2 and its expansion Chaos Rising have sold 2 million copies. On the community site there are very few people who want base building back. As I said... you are in the minority.
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sins_of_mosin

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Edited By sins_of_mosin

Doubt it.  There was a lot more buzz around the first game then DoW2 which came out and nobody seemed to notice. 
 
If they was smart, they would have created a new series for the action rpg and kept the RTS going.
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phrosnite

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Edited By phrosnite
@sins_of_mosin said:
" I was so sad that DoW2 was a action rpg instead of an RTS like the first game.  I sure hope they go back to what made DoW so popular in the third game if they ever do one. "
You are in the minority and yes there will be DoW3. The DoW2 games are as popular as the previous ones.
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sins_of_mosin

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Edited By sins_of_mosin

I was so sad that DoW2 was a action rpg instead of an RTS like the first game.  I sure hope they go back to what made DoW so popular in the third game if they ever do one.
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Fourman

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Edited By Fourman

I am happy that they dropped GFWL and replaced it with Steam. GFWL was the only negative thing about the first two DOW2 games.

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Beauty

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Edited By Beauty

Monday Night Combat had a child with Starcraft?! Nobody told me.  
 
disclaimer: I have no clue what this game is about and from this video, I dont care

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Geno

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Edited By Geno

Gonna mop up the noobs like I do in every beta.

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MuttersomeTaxicab

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Beyond stoked for this!

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lacke

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Edited By lacke
@Kordesh said:
That being said, "it's going to be on Steam anyway so you should have gotten it on Steam" is not a good excuse. Fortunately as I mentioned earlier, they're looking to make sure boxed users get into the beta as well. "
I get everything on Steam nowadays but any game that a requires Steam I'll get the retail box. Not because I want the box but because it's cheaper. Yes, retail stores where I live (Sweden) usually are cheaper than Steam when it comes to new releases and especially games with a "high production value".
 
The other side of the coin is, if it isn't Steam required then I'll buy the Steam version. Which is by conclusion more expensive than the retail box but I like the convenience of digital distribution. 
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Kordesh

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Edited By Kordesh
@SmAsH said:
" @Garadon said:
" I think if you just own the game on Steam you'll get the beta. And everyone owns it on Steam since it requires activation with Steam. "
Yeah no. It doesn't require activation with Steam..... "
Actually it does from my understanding. I believe  it's actually based around Steam similar to how Empire: Total War was. That is to say, it's completely integrated with it and it's multiplayer component is entirely governed by it. That being said, the Steam playform for it is great, so I have no problem with this. That being said, "it's going to be on Steam anyway so you should have gotten it on Steam" is not a good excuse. Fortunately as I mentioned earlier, they're looking to make sure boxed users get into the beta as well.
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SmAsH

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Edited By SmAsH
@Garadon said:
" I think if you just own the game on Steam you'll get the beta. And everyone owns it on Steam since it requires activation with Steam. "
Yeah no. It doesn't require activation with Steam.....
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eproo

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Edited By eproo

There is no surprise that Windows Live games are coming to Steam. GTA4 also did it. 

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Noodles

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Edited By Noodles
@jim_dandy said:
" Awesome. The worst thing about DOW2 was its using GFWL.

For sure. Getting into a Last Stand match (or any multiplayer match) was painful.
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tobygw

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Edited By tobygw

God of Dawn of War

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Kordesh

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Edited By Kordesh
@sammo21 said:

" No reason to whine about it.  If you were really excited, wouldn't you have pre-ordered this already? "

Yes, in fact I was so excited I pre-ordered the collectors edition!....which is only available as retail....through the THQ store. So yeah, wanted the CE? No beta for you. Plenty of reason to complain. 
 
edit: Looks like people have been prodding them, and they're going to be trying to get boxed copies a key as well
  
From Rock Paper Shotgun's Comments on this:

Someone asked this at SA, Jeff Lydell gave a short response:

We are working on getting physical box customers beta keys for Feb 1.

So I guess it’s a wait and see thing.


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Seedofpower

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Edited By Seedofpower

FUCK YEAH! Prepare to get RAPED!

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deactivated-649f07b15d7b8

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It makes me so excited... for Company of Heroes 2. Each of these is like a checkpoint for CoH2's inevitable release!@

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neoepoch

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Edited By neoepoch

Great, because matchmaking in DoW2 was basically broken using GFWL. It took FOREVER trying to get into games and it was usually against dudes that were WAY better than you. Granted that last part may be because the game is lacking newer players, but still It was a supreme bummer getting rolled while still in T2. Hopefully Steamworks will fix some of those problems at least.

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crusader8463

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Edited By crusader8463

Meh, not a fan of Dawn of War 2's online. I enjoy the single player though. Like I did with Chaos Rising, I will wait for it to go on sale for $5 during some weekend sale.

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jim_dandy

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Edited By jim_dandy

Awesome. The worst thing about DOW2 was its using GFWL.
 
Emperor, bestow on me Your
righteous fury and Your furious
strength. Let me become the storm
that blasts the enemy from Your sight.

 
- Litany of War

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Garadon

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Edited By Garadon

I think if you just own the game on Steam you'll get the beta. And everyone owns it on Steam since it requires activation with Steam.

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big_jon

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Edited By big_jon

So because I got the games at a store I can't get in? That's fucked.
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sammo21

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Edited By sammo21

No reason to whine about it.  If you were really excited, wouldn't you have pre-ordered this already?

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Nentisys

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Edited By Nentisys

Goddamn I want this right now!

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phrosnite

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Edited By phrosnite

Yeap, beta! I love the Dawn of War games and I have the feeling that Retribution will be even better than the previous games.
 
For the Blood Handed God!!!

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Lazyaza

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Edited By Lazyaza

Nice, feb 1st for me then since I bought the game the day it went on pre-purchase on steam.
God I love Dawn of War, I own every single game in the series now and I can only hope relic keep on making more of these freaking amazing awesome games.

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GreyFox

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Edited By GreyFox
@Rawrnosaurous: 
You can try activating it on steam.
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Vorbis

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Edited By Vorbis

Wonder if this will include Last Stand or just multiplayer. Still, get to play as Imperial Guard, can't wait.

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zeox

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Edited By zeox

I think this will get me back into DoW2 in a big way. Steamworks is the way to go!

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leburgan

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Edited By leburgan

Sooooo excited. Preorderd day 1.

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Afroman269

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Edited By Afroman269

Sweet, I wasn't planning on getting the expansion but I'll at least be able to try out the new stuff.

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rawrnosaurous

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Edited By rawrnosaurous

Oh come on!!! I own the game but I didn't buy it from steam so I'm out?

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GreyFox

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Edited By GreyFox

I think I'm in then. looking forward to it, but is this a multiplayer only beta, as usual?
 
Edit: Yeah, the site says it's multiplayer.

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craven_fiend

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Edited By craven_fiend

Looks amazing.  

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Slow_pC

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Edited By Slow_pC

:)

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wyld

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Edited By wyld

poo
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BradNicholson

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Edited By BradNicholson
Dawn of War II: Retribution’s beta will begin as early as this Jan. 31, 2011 and will run until around Feb. 24, according to a recent announcement on the game’s official community site. All the stand-alone expansion’s races and their respective troops will be available to participants, and all the content’s new maps will be unlocked.
 
As the posting points out, this beta is intended for users to help Relic test this latest expansion’s Steamworks support, which is unfamiliar ground for the series. Dawn of War II and its Chaos expansion, if you remember, are Games for Windows Live joints.  

 
 
== TEASER ==The new Steamworks support (as we’ve previously mentioned back in September)  will allow users access to the Steam suite of online goodies, including Steam chat, achievements, and matchmaking in Retribution. It’ll also give Relic the ability to push out patches faster, allow content preloading, and take advantage of Steam weekend deals.

Want in to the beta? Good news if you're a die-hard: all Dawn of War II owners who bought a game through Steam will be given access on Feb. 8. Key members of the Dawn of War community will receive invites on Jan. 31 alongside press, and pre-orderers of the expansion will get an invite on February 1. The posting notes that no open spots will be made available, so these are, unfortunately, the only three ways to get in.