New expansion before christmas?

[pastar]

They have not even beta tested the xpac there is no way. Beta usually last 5-6 months. Even if they go into beta the day after blizzcon the earliest you will see the game is March and that's unlikely. Also if it were to come out for Christmas that would mean that 5.4 has only been out for like 3 months.... 3 months to finish the last raid in this xpac? When DS was over a year? Never going to happen. Not to mention that this tier is 14 bosses compared to DS's 8. They made the tier bigger so it would last long enough for them to push out the new xpac. That being said they have also stated that DS lasted WAY to long. As I said earliest you will see it is March. I myself see late April early May.

[sajin0084]

The expansion would be a massive commercial failure if they simply announced it and immediately released it in December. Ignoring how they would be skipping beta testing, they would be skipping marketing. "Here's our new expansion, it's out next week, go buy it" doesn't work, especially amidst the PS4 and Xbone hysteria.

My prediction? Prepare to be disappointed in how slow Blizzard always is. I'd like to say it'll come out in May, but it could just as easily be August. Going from announcement to release before April, for Blizzard, is impossible. They could increase the size of their development team a thousand fold but they'd still sit on the game "until it's ready."

Many games have announced and released with a couple of months. Apple does this also. Playsstaion and xbox were what? 4 or 5 months? Short periods are better as you can maintain hype. 6 weeks is more than enough time to market.

[Sicarius87]

But what if there is no 5.5?

They've already confirmed another patch after 5.4 and its not an expansion. So 5.5 is happening.

[Grand Crusader Absalom]

Blizzard have been saying for a long time they want xpacs released earlier.
Of course, it just didn't happen at all.
Although, maybe, just maybe, with all the people from Titan being moved onto WoW, we possibly could expect an earlier release date but I'm guessing no earlier than June/July.

[Xpando]

Nope ... if anything we wont see a beta till april or may if anything is happening .

[ChristopherHansen]

Blizzard has the largest team ever on World of Warcraft and the most efficient. With that they have been releasing content faster than ever there is no way siege lasts more than 6-7 months.

[ringpriest]

I voted early 2014. If a new expac isn't out before summer of '14, sub numbers are going to plunge. (And I suspect they've already plunged about as much as they 'safely' can.)

[pastar]

I voted early 2014. If a new expac isn't out before summer of '14, sub numbers are going to plunge. (And I suspect they've already plunged about as much as they 'safely' can.)

lol. Do you not pay any attention to any other mmo than wow? 250k subs is safe. Wow came out at the perfect time is why it got millions of subs. It will keep declining untill it hits around 500k-1mill subs then it will steady out untill "Titan" is released. There are 20+ mmos that make profit and put out steady content with less than a mill subs.

[Chirri]

I find the poll options to be ... not right for my personal hopes. I expect at least 6 months of 5.4, but wouldn't be surprised with 8 or possibly even 9 months, at which point my guild will likely no longer be active, til the next expansion lands, so I may simply cancel my sub around March. We should have the release date for the new expansion by then, or at least a firm Quarter estimation, with no one being surprised if it gets pushed into the Quarter immediately following the initially announced release estimation.

Hoping for Spring, will be disappointed but not surprised with Summer, will have cancelled my sub by Autumn unless suddenly playing one of my currently very low alts rivets my attention.

[Zandalarian Paladin]

I'm not sure I'm following some of you guys. If you guys remember, patch 3.3 during Wotlk was released on December 8, 2010, and ended on October 12th with the pre-release of cata. I remember the devs saying that this was a HUGE mistake on their side: never a patch should be that long (10 months). During cataclysm, patch 4.3 was released on November 29th, 2011, and ended on august 28th, 2012. This time around, blizzard stated the same thing: While it went faster than Wotlk, it was still too long. It basically took them 9 months before the pre-release of MoP.

Patch 5.4 was released on september 10th, 2013 - blizzard also upped their development time considerably. Seeing how they're planning to do a pre-expansion patch release (5.5, anyone?), my bet would be that WoD should be released around june/july. However, we all know that blizzard would never release an xpac during summer - it is basically the worst time to do a release. My bet would then be right before summer, or right before school. So either april/may, or august/september. I'd go with the 1st choice, though.

[EruptorNZ]

I'm forecasting a may release, but it could be sooner than that depending on how well the beta goes.

[hrugner]

I think beta testing hasn't worked in their favor for expansions. They get a good amount of beta testing from the prepatches so far as mechanics are concerned, and changes made due to conflicts with player tastes have not always been well received (worgen ladies, jade forest questing). I honestly don't think beta testing serves them as well as it used to, and that they would be better off releasing the first zone of the next expansion without a need to upgrade and with a limited or non-existent level increase.

All the same, I don't think they're done, so... probably not. I'll vote for before Christmas since that's the most entertaining option even if it's the least reasonable.

[Kellorion]

Im calling May 27th as the release date, random date popped into my head, its a tues too lol

[Seezer]

Blizz has often pointed out that they want 1 xpac a year released. It doesn't look like they will achieve that this time....Or will they?
How surprised would you be if, at blizzcon, they not only announced the next expansion, but also it's release date? of course it seems like a bit of a stretch, but maybe, just maybe.

Before christmas? Fuck no.

[Gerik]

Many games have announced and released with a couple of months. Apple does this also. Playsstaion and xbox were what? 4 or 5 months? Short periods are better as you can maintain hype. 6 weeks is more than enough time to market.

Blizzard would be the most successful video game studio of all time if they could sell expansion packs like Apple sells iPhones. They're not even remotely comparable products.

[Seezer]

Im calling May 27th as the release date, random date popped into my head, its a tues too lol

I would love for us to get it around that time. Or maybe before. Like March. I can't imagine doing SoO until may...

[vindicatorx]

no way on earth will we see one in the next 6 months. I would assume June, July, or August is when we will see the expansion

[Kellorion]

I would love for us to get it around that time. Or maybe before. Like March. I can't imagine doing SoO until may...

Im thinking a lead into the next xpac raid, ala RS from WotLK/Cata. Garrosh's trial, first signs of the (hopefully) Legion invasion , etc.

[Treeba]

They've already confirmed another patch after 5.4 and its not an expansion. So 5.5 is happening.

They confirmed a patch after 5.4, but they did say it could be 5.5 OR 6.0. There is always a patch between the last content patch and the release of an expansion. There isn't anything new or surprising and doesn't mean we'll get "real" content before an expansion. Most of the developer team switch to the next expansion after 5.4 dropped. They aren't going to pull a significant portion of them off now.

[Deleted]

The options in the poll are ridiculous. There is ZERO chance for an xpac before April. It is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY to have the xpac drop before summer. IT IS ALSO EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that they would drop an xpac during the summer lull. It is all but certain that the xpac will drop 3rd or 4th quarter 2014.

Why? Well lots of reasons, but the simplest to explain are:
* They will always have around half a year of public beta. For sure public beta hasn't even started yet, so if against all odds they would announce at Blizzcon "Hey guise, this is the next expansion, oh and beta us up on Monday", which would be against all precedent soon and make everyone go WTF, even then you would end up with May 2014 as the earliest possible release.
* They are releasing Diablo expansion next spring. OBVIOUSLY they are not retarded enough to compete with themselves. Much much more likely they see the Diablo expansion as good way to keep their fans busy, and happy, during the long wait until WoW xpac 5 drops a year after Blizzcon as usual.

Every expansion there is this silly wishful thinking with ppl saying "hey guys I bet next expac will drop sooner than most think!", and then most will think it will drop sooner, and then everyone will say the expansion was "delayed" because it didn't drop "sooner" but instead exactly when it always does, about 1-2 months before the Holiday season (except that one time, TBC, when it actually WAS delayed and dropped after the Holidays),

- - - Updated - - -

I think beta testing hasn't worked in their favor for expansions. They get a good amount of beta testing from the prepatches so far as mechanics are concerned, and changes made due to conflicts with player tastes have not always been well received (worgen ladies, jade forest questing). I honestly don't think beta testing serves them as well as it used to,

On the contrary, beta testing is essential, not so much as actual beta testing, but as a feedback loop where they weed out the bad ideas in front of the open discussion. Blizzard have lots of interesting ideas, but many of them aren't really GOOD ideas, and the extensive beta process is crucial to figure that out. WoW betas are in no way the same as say Microsoft betas or such, which are all about removing bugs. Much of the WoW implementation and even design hapopens during the public half year beta.