Numerous reports are coming in that the Wrath Beta keys are making their way to players now. Attendees of last year's BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, and the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France, received a card with a code for a "future Blizzard title" as part of their goody bags. Wryxian confirmed over at the official forums that the said title was Wrath of the Lich King and urged everyone to register their codes immediately. Players who do so will be prompted to enter the codes from the cards as well as their e-mail address, as Beta access information is sent through e-mail.

Reader Phi mentions that it doesn't matter when the codes were claimed. She registered her code right after BlizzCon last year while her boyfriend registered only yesterday after Blizzard's announcement, and both received their keys today. If you're one of the lucky few who attended either Blizzard event or managed to snag a beta code through other channels like eBay, registering the code should see you receiving invites in the mail. WoW Insider's Elizabeth Harper, who attended both, received two invites to the Beta eight minutes apart from each other. The official e-mail from prompts players to follow the step-by-step instructions over at Blizzard's official Beta page. Thanks to everyone who tipped this in!

Though this may not have been the case earlier this morning, CM Nethaera has just confirmed that invites to the Wrath beta are indeed going out via email. So if you're opted in to the beta, check your email! I know I will be checking it many, many times today. If you don't get in, never fear; as the NDA has been lifted, we will keep everyone fully informed of all the latest news right here on the Insider.

If you do get in, you'll be asked to create a temporary account using your email and a new password. So be very, very wary of any email that asks you for your current username and password, since this is almost certainly a scam. Also, verify that any links you click are located at worldofwarcraft.com (and not, say, wow-blizzard.net). The scams are only going to come faster now that the beta is really going on, so be careful.

Edit: I should have remembered to mention this. Beta invite is completely random from the pool of people who have opted in.

Ready Check is a weekly column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Kara or BT, everyone can get in on the action and down them some bosses. Sometimes I forget that WoW is set in a Medieval time period, so here's a little of that flavor...

So it's about 5 minutes until raid invites shoot out to the masses. You're sitting there, stacks of flasks and food in-bag, durability at 100%, waiting by the meeting stone until you have raid buddies to summon. You worked all day yesterday to gather the enchanting mats for your new weapon and are itching to try it out on something more than dailies. You're amped. You're stoked. You're ready to roll.

The clock ticks to raid invite time. You wait for the invite window to pop up. The guildie next to you starts firing up a summoning portal. People start populating the area around you. Still nothing. Over your class channel, the call goes out to see if anyone needs anything from the first 3 bosses. Well, crap. You don't. Things aren't looking good, and your status is confirmed when the radi leader puts out the notice to whisper so-and-so to get on the standby list.

What did you do wrong? How can you ensure a raid spot in the future? You may not like the answers.

I can't really say I'm surprised to the response to the question Calipsa asked. But what I am surprised by is why she asked it: she wanted to know if sending group or even guild invites without whispering first was rude, and players responded overwhelmingly that it was. Why did she think it wasn't? There's almost nothing more confusing than receiving a random group or guild invite, and considering that even spammers are using group invites to spam, it's just not something you want to do.

Now maybe she meant just whether a whisper was necessary or not. If a player is marked LFG, or they're a guildie you know is available for a group, or they've just shouted out "LFG for group quests" in a chat channel, then I'd say they're fair game for a ninja invite. You don't need to actually whisper them and confirm everything you do (well, it's still nice to do, but in those cases, I'd say you don't need to).

But yes, invites out of the blue are a no-no. Rude, maybe, annoying, yes, and usually a waste of time for both parties.