Blizzcon 2013 and next expansion

[Banawani]

They hinted at a possible 5.5 patch, so it could go a bit like this.


But that would still leave almost a year between 5.4 and the next expansion, and even with a filler patch, it looks too close to how they've been doing it in the past with WotLK and Cata. I would like to see them stick to their current model of releasing patches.


So maybe we'll see a small 5.5 patch with daily quests, new scenarios etc, maybe the big yet unannounced feature, and then later a 5.6 filler raid like Sunwell or Halion.

And then it could look like this




That would stick to the current model - about 6 months for a new raid, little stuff in between - and yet there would only be about 3-4 months between the last content patch and the release of the next expansion.

In any case, they either have to bring the expansion out quicker than we expect, or provide a good amount of extra content between 5.4 and the next expansion, or it will be ICC/DS all over again.

T14 was 5 months total, including the grace period of MSV so people could level and gear up and not miss content (which is why they gated that tier). From ToES release, it was more towards 4 months.

Next expansion is 100% going to be at Blizzcon 2013.

5.4 is going to come out around September 10th. Give or take a week.
Blizzcon is will start on November 8th, Announcing the new expansion. (Roughly 2 months after 5.4).
Beta will most likely begin very soon after. They will probably tell us friends and family testing has already begun at Blizzcon.
June 10th, 2014 will be the release date for World of Warcraft's 5th expansion.



Just my guess based off what we know (Blizzcon date), Blizzard's track record for raid tiers (almost 6 months apart exactly), and what Blizzard's stated goal is (not wanting the last tier to drag on like ICC and Dragon Soul).

I don't think it actually will be at Blizzcon in the sense you're thinking. It might be shown, but it won't be the feature of the event. They'll probably announce X5 a month or so after 5.4 and showcase some features of X5 at Blizzcon.

---------- Post added 2013-05-04 at 03:41 AM ----------

I've never seen them say that there'll be 4 months between 5.2 and 5.4 and it sounds unrealistic. 5.3 isn't even out yet.
The schedule is already wrong. I doubt it was ever meant to be a definite thing anyway.

There was a blue post a number of months back that planned to release major content patches 4 months apart and minor ones in between that. There is already a part of the patch in launcher and it's not even 2 months since 5.2 (March 5/6), while it's not even May 7 (which would be 2 months exactly.

What's unrealistic about it? They gave about 4 months for ToES (the final raid of the tier) which featured the hardest boss of the tier, which was due to gating explained earlier.

[xenogear3]

I can assure you that the next expansion will not be earlier than July 2014.

My guess is more like Sept 2014 or even go back to Nov 2014.
The best release date is still a little bit before holiday.

[Banawani]

Here, the schedule to pretty much exact quarterly timing.

http://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/screen...mal/193766.jpg

[Deleted]

There was a blue post a number of months back that planned to release major content patches 4 months apart and minor ones in between that. There is already a part of the patch in launcher and it's not even 2 months since 5.2 (March 5/6), while it's not even May 7 (which would be 2 months exactly.

What's unrealistic about it? They gave about 4 months for ToES (the final raid of the tier) which featured the hardest boss of the tier, which was due to gating explained earlier.

I think what they meant is 2 months for a minor patch to come out and then another 4 months for the next raid. If you look at the release dates.

MoP release
25th September

Patch 5.1
27th November

Patch 5.2
5th March


That's 2 months from MoP release to 5.1 and 3 1/2 months from 5.1 to 5.2 (so almost 4 months). That's almost 6 months from MoP release to the second raid tier in 5.2

If they release 5.3 in May, it'll be another 2 months between patch 5.2 and 5.3. They'll likely continue like that.

[Banawani]

Mop Release: you couldn't raid for the first week and the PVP season hadn't started yet.

Uhh yeah, that's exactly what I said, 2 months after 5.3.

[Deleted]

Mop Release: you couldn't raid for the first week and the PVP season hadn't started yet.

Uhh yeah, that's exactly what I said, 2 months after 5.3.

You said that Blizzard said they would release major content patches 4 months apart, but they haven't and they probably won't.

[Deleted]

(\

And.. What? O_O Where did you see an Azshara Crater area? :S

It's been a BG floating about in the nether for years that was mentioned at Blizzcon during MoP's announcement. It was quickly ditched.

[MagicPenguin]

I hope there is no 'buy this and get into beta' this time round, considering beta may come out after blizzcon, I really hope people who go there don't get beta access due to going there.

[Nivena]

i would guess the following:

patch 5.3 in two weeks, end of may

patch 5.4 last week of august

announcement of next expac at blizzcon.

[Maelle]

I hope there is no 'buy this and get into beta' this time round, considering beta may come out after blizzcon, I really hope people who go there don't get beta access due to going there.

Some people who didn't buy the annual pass did get into beta, before some of the people that did, as it went in waves...

[Deleted]

I forsee 5.4 in October.

-> Next xpac released at Blizzcon, along with the next gen mmo.

>> I would say the next xpac release would be set around May 2014

and your wrong as this would need a beta before.... so no...
ID say blizzcon: next d3 xpack (booooring...)

[Isilbêth]

November 23, 2004: Vanilla
January 16, 2007: The Burning Crusade --> 2 years 2 months later
November 13, 2008: Wrath of the Lich King --> 1 year 10 months later
December 7, 2010: Cataclysm --> 2 years 1 month later
September 25, 2012: Mists of Pandaria --> 1 year 9 months later

For the 10th anniversary of WoW, I think that we can expect some important announcement relating to the next expansion of WoW during Blizzcon 2013, followed by a Beta in December-January and a release in April or May 2014 for the next expansion, as Blizzard told that they want to shorten the delays for the delivery of new content. But this is just speculation, of course.

[Deleted]

5.5 filler raid.

I think they learned from Wrath that a filler raid wasn't really worth it. Halleon or whatever that dragon was worth probably took quite a lot of resources to make, but few actually fought/defeated him as most had already gotten so tired of ICC that they had unsubbed until Cataclysm hit. It's the reason we never saw a filler raid after Dragon Soul, even though a lot of people cried out for one.

I don't believe for a second that Siege of Orgrimmar won't be out for the same amount of time as Dragon Soul was, Blizzard might indeed say that they will deliver faster, but they say a lot of things and don't always live up to it. The final raid of an expansion has always been reeeeeeally long.

[Deleted]

When can we buy virtual tickets n will we get the pet? Don't see a reason to get virtual ticket if not...why pay to see something that will be up on youtube minutes later anyways for FREE ?

[Strafer]

Why doesn't Blizzcon stream their show live?

[huth]

and your wrong as this would need a beta before.... so no...
ID say blizzcon: next d3 xpack (booooring...)

Which would fit in just fine between BlizzCon and May 2014. Expansion betas usually only take 3-4 months, with the exception of Cata since there was far more content to test.

Why doesn't Blizzcon stream their show live?

They do? What do you think the Virtual Ticket is for?

[Gimlix]

I forsee 5.4 in October.

-> Next xpac released at Blizzcon, along with the next gen mmo.

>> I would say the next xpac release would be set around May 2014

Nope. Titan won't come mate deal with it.

[starlord]

i figure the new xpac will launch this december or januaryish.

[Deleted]

I've never been wrong with speculating release dates.

I'm pretty certain Blizzcon will announce the new expansion and a new annual pass. Beta will start just after Blizzcon ends, with guaranteed access if you sign up for the pass. Then we'll see an Easter release for the next expansion.

For those wanting the expansion this year, I'm pretty sure we won't see it. Personally I'd love to get it this year because my end game is soloing, so vastly outgearing content is a plus for me.

[Deleted]

I wouldn't be surprised if MoP have a Epilogue patch, one with only content that will lead to the next expansion new patch with the launching raids.

yes I hope they will do it. Finally instead of some stupid event (or even lack of like it was before MoP), we will have proper introduction to new expansion.
I was thinking of Wrathion vision and Burning Legion invading Azeroth, that can't be main focus of new expasnion, because they won't make second Cata, we need to have new continent/planet. That could be a good pre-expansion lore patch where we defend against some small wave of BL and gathering strenght to launch assault on Argus (for example).
I hate when new expanions came out of nowhere and they feel out of place, we should have more lore that ties them.