Machine translation
Machine translation — the official text prevails.
The beta tests have started. Currently, more than 500 selected players are testing Dofus! Come join them!
Sign up for Dofus now! We will call on you soon to test Dofus. Thank you for filling out these few fields. This will let us get to know you better, and especially help us determine what kind of platforms the game will run on.
Unofficial · reliability : confirmed · Machine translation
The official Dofus website, a game built entirely in Flash by Ankama Studio, was updated on October 16, 2003 to announce the opening of the closed beta. About 500 people were selected through two contests held beforehand, and invitations have already been sent out.
For players who weren't selected this time, the article notes that new slots will be handed out progressively as the beta progresses.
The tip is credited to a reader, Khalzaam, credited by the site for spotting it.
Unofficial · reliability : probable · Machine translation
According to Liche in his video The incredible early screens of DOFUS #1 (2003-2004), beta v1 was released on October 15, 2003. You can see a screenshot from this version with an Iop; on the map, the map-change tiles are not suns but gray and white tiles (source). You can also notice the Iop's hairstyle: the character's model has short hair, while the medallion image seems to have long hair — the Iop's hairstyle will change several times up to Dofus 1.13 (short hair / spiked hair). There seems to be only one chat channel, and there are no smileys. The interface had 2 buttons: one for spells and another for inventory and characteristics. Access to combat was through steles that opened an interface allowing PvP fights; the fights took place on maps separate from the rest of the world, similar to the Koli maps of the latest Dofus 2 versions. This interface also gave access to the friends list.
Characters' weapons were visible, and each character could only equip a single weapon type (for example, swords for Iops, staffs for Fecas). It should also be noted that there is no MP in the earliest beta versions — movement is handled with AP, 1 AP = 1 tile of movement, and melee attacks cost a fixed amount of AP. Finally, it seems that in this version all the classes (the first 10) were graphically ready, but some were not playable.