Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Chickat]

Azshara has been always portrayed as a ver4y powerful entity, even when she was "just" a night elf. The biggest demons (including Mannoroth) feared her power and thought only Kil'jaeden, Archimonde or Sargeras would be above her, and that was 10,000 years ago, before she turned into a Naga.

Azshara being final boss of a tier (or even of an entire expansion) wouldn't be strange.

Arthas wasn't even that strong 1 on 1. It was his army and power to raise it again and again that made him a ferocious foe. I would put a full scale Azshara invasion with old god backing on the same thread level of the Cataclysm power wise, but shes smarter. She could actually win. She wont of course but you know what I mean.

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That's certainly plausible.

My bet is late June 2018. Could just be me being optimistic though.

[Smokinya]

Jaina being the key art character also doesn't really mean much. IIRC it was Thrall both the year WoD was announced (and he's pretty irrelevant most of the expansion) and the year MoP was announced (even less relevant), and Sindragosa the year Cata was announced (completely unrelated).

So all we really know is that Kul Tiras will probably be involved in some way.

Actually that's an incorrect statement, Garrosh represented Warcraft the year that Warlords was announced I was at that Blizzcon and have the key art poster to boot. In my opinion while the key art hasn't mattered much pre-wod it's starting to matter again now.

[Nyel]

Okay I don't get where you guys are getting the September 2018 release date from, you do realize 7.3 is likely to launch at the end of August and with the raid in October/Nov, right? Then you'll have the pre-patch and the beta running at the same time shortly after the raid is released.

It'll be early summer at the latest, not september. They didn't want 2 / 3 years between each expansion.

Early summer? So June / July? Not going to happen. Blizzard won't release an expansion in summer, Antorus won't last for only 6 months (pre patch will reduce the lasting time of Antorus by another 4-6 weeks so pre patch in May which makes Antorus the shortest living final tier of any expansion), the alpha+beta won't be just half a year or so etc.

I remember how people were claiming Legion would be released in late spring because they can't release it later... well, it was September (okay, 30th August) when Legion launched. To expect the release of the new expansion less than 2 years after the Legion launch is pretty naive, to expect it during peak of Summer is just the cherry on top of that.
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And there are still people argumenting against a Kul'Tiras setting / Kul'Tiras being part of the expansion? Really? After all the hints (armor set name, map on the armor set, Jaina as poster girl)? That's funny.

[Tartys]

Okay I don't get where you guys are getting the September 2018 release date from, you do realize 7.3 is likely to launch at the end of August and with the raid in October/Nov, right? Then you'll have the pre-patch and the beta running at the same time shortly after the raid is released.

It'll be early summer at the latest, not september. They didn't want 2 / 3 years between each expansion.

You think in June 2018, I suggest September... how can 3 months of differences becane 3 years?
Sempember is speculated considering a very similar Legion timeline.


In November 2017, the Argus raid will be launch and we do not know if we got other patches after 7.3. Probably during Blizzacon, Mike Morhain will announce Beta: "soon", that's means January: about 2 months after the raid.

It's plausible to think about a 5 months of beta... then, during the summer, could be be the pre-launch event and in september the new expansion.
Legion was released on August 29 2015, probably we got 7.3 again 29 August, September 2018 are quite exactly 2 years passed (early September sound more resonable).

[Drekmar]

You think in June 2018, I suggest September... how can 3 months of differences becane 3 years?
Sempember is speculated considering a very similar Legion timeline.

September 2018 if they reveal it at Gamescom, later if at Blizzcon.

[Hitei]

Actually that's an incorrect statement, Garrosh represented Warcraft the year that Warlords was announced I was at that Blizzcon and have the key art poster to boot. In my opinion while the key art hasn't mattered much pre-wod it's starting to matter again now.

I stand corrected, but still don't think all that much stock should be placed in the art. Even if it is related to the expansion, we have no idea what sort of involvement that indicates.

[Marlamin]

I think it's a mistake to base release date guesses on previous expansions. They've clearly sped up their development pipeline with Legion.

[Nyel]

I think it's a mistake to base release date guesses on previous expansions. They've clearly sped up their development pipeline with Legion.

And where's the proof for that? They did not deliver content patches faster than before (we really can't use WoD as example here as it only had one content patch) and nothing indicates that the next expansion will be here so much sooner than the usual 20-24 months after the previous expansion.

[Marlamin]

And where's the proof for that? They did not deliver content patches faster than before (we really can't use WoD as example here as it only had one content patch) and nothing indicates that the next expansion will be here so much sooner than the usual 20-24 months after the previous expansion.

There has generally only been about a week between a patch hitting live and the next major patch hitting PTR. PTR has basically been up constantly with new content during Legion. From a datamining standpoint we've basically been busy all year, with little downtime to fix up tools and stuff like that. It's quite the different experience.

[Therougetitan]

The parrot is right as always.

Really shows how much time they gained from sacrificing WoD with the consistent patch content Legion has offered. Every PTR has so much datamined in the early builds, its like they've been sitting on it for awhile. They're ahead of schedule now and they can use that momentum to keep going forward. Not gonna claim to know when the expansion drops but it doesn't feel like it will be a year long wait this time.

[Nyel]

Again, what has changed for the non-dataminers? They did not give us patches faster than before, they did not give us bigger patches with more content (not talking about 7.3 here), it's just the same as it has been in Cataclysm or MoP. Pretty sure the patch content in MoP was even more than the patch content in Legion.

[Therougetitan]

Again, what has changed for the non-dataminers? They did not give us patches faster than before, they did not give us bigger patches with more content (not talking about 7.3 here), it's just the same as it has been in Cataclysm or MoP. Pretty sure the patch content in MoP was even more than the patch content in Legion.

Assume you're talking about 7.2 which was just designed poorly not that it wasn't big. There was not much replay value or incentive in it. Also a lot of the content was divided. It may come off as an excuse but the 12 different class follower quest chains+mount scenarios did take up a lot of dev time. The sheer amount of artwork done for the patch was amazing. Twelve different class mounts is something we may never see the likes of again for a patch.

[Marlamin]

Again, what has changed for the non-dataminers? They did not give us patches faster than before, they did not give us bigger patches with more content (not talking about 7.3 here), it's just the same as it has been in Cataclysm or MoP. Pretty sure the patch content in MoP was even more than the patch content in Legion.

Honestly, I'm just talking about how I feel about this expansion, I haven't done any scientific checking on these claims and I might be entirely wrong on how this relates to live but dataminers being busy all expansion is a good sign of an improved workflow. Blizzard claims that the shitshow that was WoD mostly happened because of having to train a lot of new people that joined the WoW team. Whether or not it has increased the actual release of patches to live I'm not sure. I'm just saying there's a noticeable difference in how fast Blizzard is iterating right now. They have more grunt work done when patches hit PTR and that's generally very shortly after the previous PTR patch hits live. I feel like this is because most of their team has been trained and is doing actual work, with the people training them now also being able to do work again.

Again, this is just my opinion. The facts might or might not be against me, but it is my opinion that Blizzard is developing content at a much faster rate than before.

[Deleted]

Check out what Chris Metzen said about adding new races in this video (it's around 7:45):



Maybe Nagas are not impossible after all?

[Aprex]

Check out what Chris Metzen said about adding new races in this video (it's around 7:45):



Maybe Nagas are not impossible after all?

I really think there is not going to be any races but they will bring sub races i am pretty sure the art director teased it in the 2015 blizzcon



on 3:22
actually he kinda confirms it

[TriHard]

And where's the proof for that? They did not deliver content patches faster than before (we really can't use WoD as example here as it only had one content patch) and nothing indicates that the next expansion will be here so much sooner than the usual 20-24 months after the previous expansion.

Ehh, yes we fucking can? We can use WoD as much as an example just like with MoP. You do realize they tripled their development team during WoD, right?
And those guys started working on Legion.

A september release would mean we'd be facing yet another content draught, they cannot afford to do that any longer.

[Nyel]

Ehh, yes we fucking can? We can use WoD as much as an example just like with MoP. You do realize they tripled their development team during WoD, right?
And those guys started working on Legion.

A september release would mean we'd be facing yet another content draught, they cannot afford to do that any longer.

There will be a content drought. It's naive to think there won't be a "break" between Antorus and 8.0. As long as we're not having another 12 months of nothing after Antorus opening it will be fine. 8-10 months will work, bringing the release of the next expansion to September, which is most likely the correct release date.

Okay, they started working on Legion but as I said, Legion did not deliver more content (or did it deliver faster) than MoP. So what's the difference between MoP and Legion when it comes to that? WoD was a once-in-a-lifetime failure. It won't happen again and that's why taking it as an example is pretty useless.

[Tartys]

About Kul Tiras, IMHO the problem is not if Kul Tiras will play a role in the next expansion.. but WHAT kind of role will be.

To me sound renonable that Kul Tiras explorers find a new land... the one we see drawn on the map. I dont see how a so very tiny isle could became, even after a cataclysmatic event, a continent with the usual 5 zones.

We know the equip found is related to Kul Tiras because it is written in the filename, but there are no symbols that link it directly to the alliance city.
Also, on the equip we can see shells, typical of something that has been immersed in the water... maybe a continent re-emerges?

If we look at the map there is a area with an X... but all the rest of the map is a slightly darker tone and could indicate a submerged area from which it is accessed from that marked island with X.

http://wow.zamimg.com/uploads/screen...mal/640271.jpg

Maybe Kul Tiras will be the Alliance hub only or maybe the zone with the X is what remain of Kul Tiras after the Cataclysm and is our starting zone... and jaina will be very pissed off is allyance and horde move on Kul Tiras or maybe Jaina came to us to help her to free Kul Tiras from the naga/Old Gods/cultist influence.

So there are different option about how Kul Tiras could be involved...

Also, Kul Tiras it's an Alliance city and even now Horde players are complaining that Legion is too much "Alliance" refered.

September 2018 if they reveal it at Gamescom, later if at Blizzcon.

I consider September if they dont reveal at GamesCom... in that case can be in later august. But I dont think Blizzard wanna overlap last Legion raid release and the Beta... what why the beta to me will start in early 2018.

Marlamin is right about Blizzard is developing content faster than before... but content must be tested and I dont think could be done in less then 3-4 months...

[DelusionalBear]

There will be a content drought.

And I'm saying that expansion will be released on April 17, 2018. You know, just to irritate you a little bit You just seem so confident about this content drought haha

[Nyel]

And I'm saying that expansion will be released on April 17, 2018. You know, just to irritate you a little bit You just seem so confident about this content drought haha

Yeah because that's how it is since the very first expansion and instead of getting better it only got worse during later expansions. A content drought is quite normal for an MMORPG when they're transitioning from one expansion into the next.