It's the end of March...

[Deleted]

The last zone is Suramar, unless they pull another Tanaan Jungle - that for sure is going to go well with the player base.


We actually were promised a lot of things (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6yloLhomVs&t=1h03m15s and the following 5 minutes). The only thing actually in is PvP.


It needs to be in, otherwise it's WoD all over again - where you had nothing to do after Garrisons were done.


They'll always have to weigh returning/current players versus new players brought in by the movie. And honestly, most people probably aren't even going to try WoW, and most of those who do, won't pay. Their savest bet is in fact counting on the established player base, and alienating those by pulling another WoD is a no go - and that's not even assuming that the movie will flop (at which point the crowd actually watching the movie, and the playerbase should have a rather large intersection).

Oh is that what you call adventure mode? The event system, wich is pretty much like the rare mob system we have on live? Surely that is mostly coded already.

They better stagger out the raids again, so i totally disagree with you. You will have to no-life if they release the raids at launch, and i really don't want that. The new Challenge modes and raids have to be staggered to give heroics some time in the sun. Otherwise everyone will just skip them.

As for the established base, i could agree but we know that isn't the reality. Otherwise classes wouldn't be getting dumbed down.

They want to atract a new audience and the movie is the best way to do that. I am 100% sure that the pre-patch will be in the heels of the movie and the expansion soon after. Worst case scenario i can see this delayed till august for the expansion itself, but legion in some form will for sure drop in the heels of the movie.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Legion will launch by it's deadline day. Whether it is ready or not.

Otherwise Blizz is going to have to deal with cancelled pre-orders by the truck load.

[Stellan]

Legion will launch by it's deadline day. Whether it is ready or not.

Otherwise Blizz is going to have to deal with cancelled pre-orders by the truck load.

Blizzard has multiple games which are on release schedules. The schedule for Legion is that it's coming out in September. The state of the alpha/beta has nothing to do with anything.

[Pua]

why people still consider wod to be rushed when we had 14 months of 5.4 is beyond any comprehension.

I'd strap in for a repeat.

[Caliph]

it'll be done when it's done ok. And it'll be done in october. sorry

[Malagan]

Blizzard has multiple games which are on release schedules. The schedule for Legion is that it's coming out in September. The state of the alpha/beta has nothing to do with anything.

This simply is not true. Legion has not been scheduled for a September release. Blizzard set the last date of summer as the absolute latest point it may be released to indicate a release block. That date is essentially worst-case-scenario. Plus, they said the expansion would be released in the summer following the movie, which releases in June.

[Crillam]

This alpha is like no alpha before. Only 1 zone remains to be opend (Surumar). They have released all dungeons I believe. They have done many raid tests, every artifact quest is complete, or maybe there is 1 left I am not 100% sure. This is almost like a finished beta so once they do the beta it will only be for a few weeks, if they even do a beta because this alpha is technically beta. But yeah, ignore what I just said and keep crying that there is no beta yet.

[Kaesebrezen]

Only 1 zone remains to be opend (Surumar).

And now look back in what timeframe zones opened in previou alpha/beta/testing periods.

We're at 4 months of testing and one out of five zones is still missing

Mists of Pandaria had all 7 of it's zones open 3 months after the start of testing, and they still did redesign Jade Forest.
WoD had all zones open 2 months after the start of testing.
Cataclysm had all zones available 2 months into Beta (alpha primarily focused on the redesigned world).

USing "Omg so many zones are already available" is absolutely no indicator how far we are. Actually, compared to other expansion testings, Legion testing at this point seems far slower than anything previously.

Now look at what is still missing in Alpha:
- One Zone
- Adventure Mode
- Challenge Mode
- Order Hall Campaigns for 9 classes
- Profession dailies and quests
- One spec
- Garrison 2.0 for many many classes

Aside of dungeons - pretty much nothing is even remotely close to being finished. The majority of features is still missing.

[Stellan]

This simply is not true. Legion has not been scheduled for a September release. Blizzard set the last date of summer as the absolute latest point it may be released to indicate a release block. That date is essentially worst-case-scenario. Plus, they said the expansion would be released in the summer following the movie, which releases in June.

Get back to me in June when Legion has not released.

[Donald Hellscream]

Get back to me in June when Legion has not released.

to be fair what you quoted didn't say it would be released in June..

Legion will drop somewhere inbetween late june - late September as 21st of September is the latest they've given

[Wildtree]

Get back to me in June when Legion has not released.

I don't think anyone said that..

Legion is announced to be released no later than September 21th.. But certainly not earlier than June 21th.
June 21 - September 21 = Summer. And both "Summer", as well as originally "no later than September 21" were/are the announcements.

[Pua]

I don't think anyone said that..

Legion is announced to be released no later than September 21th.. But certainly not earlier than June 21th.
June 21 - September 21 = Summer. And both "Summer", as well as originally "no later than September 21" were/are the announcements.

The last earnings call said it would come out after the movie; so July is the best bet, but no announcement as of yet means August is more likely.

Slipping to September shouldn't surprise anyone.

[Belloc]

why people still consider wod to be rushed when we had 14 months of 5.4 is beyond any comprehension.

Really? You can't figure out why an people are saying that an expansion that has been almost universally panned was rushed?

Hint: Poorly designed content and lack of content.

[Youn]

The last earnings call said it would come out after the movie; so July is the best bet, but no announcement as of yet means August is more likely.

Slipping to September shouldn't surprise anyone.

Last Earning statement said after the movie. The Movie ultimate Warcraft Edition ticket said it would be out in the Summer Quarter. Drop dead deadline is said to be September 21st.

Summer 2016 is July 21st to September 21st.

The Pre-event patch is almost always 1 month before release.

Beta historically is about 100 days long.

So, when they finally announce beta add 70 days for when pre-patch will be. Add another 30 to determine when the release date is most likely to be.

There you go.

[Selah]

I'm starting to think that Blizzard has changed the way they're dealing with Alpha and Beta. Alpha is so much further along than any previous alpha and we see tons and tons of streamers and fansites in the alpha. We have raid testing, PvP testing, level cap testing, even numbers testing for specs, a lot of testing we wouldn't see normally until later into the beta. I suspect we'll end up seeing something similar to an open beta for people to "test" Legion content and try out the expansion, something that'll last about 4 - 6 weeks. During that time we'll probably see the pre-patch hit the PTR and have testing for things like the transition to the new transmog system. Just my two thoughts.

[Bristae]

I'm starting to think that Blizzard has changed the way they're dealing with Alpha and Beta. Alpha is so much further along than any previous alpha and we see tons and tons of streamers and fansites in the alpha. We have raid testing, PvP testing, level cap testing, even numbers testing for specs, a lot of testing we wouldn't see normally until later into the beta. I suspect we'll end up seeing something similar to an open beta for people to "test" Legion content and try out the expansion, something that'll last about 4 - 6 weeks. During that time we'll probably see the pre-patch hit the PTR and have testing for things like the transition to the new transmog system. Just my two thoughts.

I agree with you, but there are people here who will fight you to their dying breath on this. They don't see the truth in what you see and only remember what they want to remember. It's just not worth it. I have been just lurking mostly on this subject.

[Paulosio]

... and still no beta. Assuming beta launches at the earliest in April, and beta always takes at least 6 months, that means the game will launch in October 2016. They will even miss the release date they announced. That's 23 months of Warlords of Draenor with only 1 content patch, and 2 raid tiers over the whole expansion. That's no content for 16 months. Jesus fuck. Blizzard done fucked up this time for real.

Blizzard gave a definitive official confirmed latest possible release date of "On OR BEFORE 21st September"... So your theory about how long a beta "always" takes is wrong.

[Rizendragon]

lol you make no sense
by that logic, the game should be ready to release next month

never mind that people in this very thread have pointed out that there is still a shit ton not available in the alpha

you have no clue what you are talking about

You realize that the MoP beta was the longest beta to date and they scrapped Jade Forest 2 months before it released right?

The Alpha/Beta is in no worse state than the other Betas were when they launched. I'd give it another 4 months or so which has it right on target.

[Faroth]

Unfortunate for you and your claims, Beta has not ALWAYS taken 'at least' 6 months. Also unfortunate for you and your chicken little approach, Blizzard has never missed a release date for an expansion.

(emphasis mine)

Burning Crusade says "hiya!" though.

[Seranthor]

(emphasis mine)

Burning Crusade says "hiya!" though.

Yes, Blizzard delayed the release, however, that isn't what I said.You see, thats the thing, I cant find the original release date that they missed... and thusfar no one has been either able or willing to show that. So saying that they delayed it doesn't equal a missed release date.