Should Antorus be released after Christmas?

[Fleckens]

OK its all coming back to me now

Cata was announced early cause it got leaked on MMO champ but it doesnt mean all the details was announced.

Blizz fucked up with cata but they have learnt there lesson why do you think end game cinematics are encrypted?

OK i will say my memory is very hazy what happened years ago but i will bank my reputation that blizz wont announce the next expac before the end of legion is shown1!!

Nice excuses, that doesn't explain wrath announcement though.

[Soisoisoi]

Just like that other guy who was convinced that the new xpac was gonna be revealed at gamescon OH boy did he get shit for that!!!

After all legion got announced at Gamescon? Pattern?

All iam gonna say is if blizz wants to spoil the ending to legion by announcing there new game at blizzcon before the raid then they have failed as a developer dont forget not all wow players frequent this forum. Its like if George Lucas told us about return of the jedi when we havent seen how Empire strikes back ends!!

Ok look into patterns all you want hell i know a crazy old lady who can look into my tea leafs and tell my future but it doesnt mean i take her seriously!!!

Difference was there was nothing to suggest it'd be announced at GamesCon, there has been multiple consecutive patches in this 77 day cycle. Also, it's hardly going to spoil the end of the expansion when they can show us the cinematics of the raid there and then, which no doubt they will - if not before. If people don't look up those things they certainly won't be bothered about looking up other BlizzCon info either.

[Tharkkun]

It's not that I dislike being stuck on harder bosses.. It's that I find the entire raid INCREDIBLY dull. To the point that even while progressing I have trouble getting myself to log in.

Even when we killed mythic mistress a couple weeks ago the thing that everyone in my raid felt wasn't happiness that the boss was dead, it was relief that we got a day away from her.

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As I said just above, my guild doesn't get excited when we kill bosses right now, it's entirely relief that we no longer have to progress on that boss

Tomb of soak this got extremely tedious fast because of all the soak this, soak that mechanics. When it becomes tedious instead of difficult it gets boring a lot faster.

[RoKPaNda]

It doesn't mattter, only like 5 guilds would be negatively impacted by a release just before the Christmas holiday. Everyone else can just enjoy the content whenever they get to it, even your average Mythic raider. Being in that 3% of the population that raids Mythic I don't really care, and anyone raiding N/H/LFR has even less reason to care.

[Deleted]

Based on past history, there's every reason to expect it to be 12+ months past the announcement date.

Legion - Announced August 2015, Released August 2016 (12 months)
WoD - Announced November 2013, Released November 2014 (12 months)
MoP - Announced October 2011, Released late September 2012 (12 months)
Cata - Announced August 2009, Released December 2010 (16 months)
WoTLK - Announced August 2007, Released November 2009 (15 months)
TBC - Announced October 2005, Released January 2007 (15 months)

There's a very consistent trend here that they release right at or a couple months past 12 months after the release date, so yeah, we are looking at November 2018 - January 2019 as the likely timeline.

The announcement date seems pretty arbitrary though since it's related to whenever there's a big event to announce at. It could well be that Blizzard have been ready to announce the new expansion for some time but they want to tell everyone at Blizzcon. An alternative method of looking at the dates is looking at final major patch release compared to expansion release:

6.2 - June 2015 - Legion August 2016 - (14 months)
5.4 - September 2013 - WoD November 2014 - (14 months)
4.3 - November 2011 - MoP September 2012 - (10 months)
3.3 - December 2009 - Cata December 2010 - (12 months)
2.4 - March 2008 - Wotlk November 2009 - (20 months)

Clearly the numbers are still all over the place but anywhere from 10 months on the optimistic side to 14 months on the high end. 7.3 came out in August so 10 months is June 2018, 14 months is October 2018.

The new release method is pretty smart. The raid may not be out yet but essentially all the work for it has been done, all that's left is the raid tuning. A good chunk of the Legion team have probably already been working on the next expansion since 7.3 released.

[Tojara]

We had Nighthold from what, January 17th until June 20th? I expect Antorus to be out in mid November using that timeline.

Obviously I don't want it to be out in mid November (I'd prefer early January), but I feel it's 95% likely to be November

[Moon-Man]

I like the environment, I like the models.. I fucking hate the bosses

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It likely will launch just after Blizzcon

They should release before BLizzcon, JUST to mess with the raiders.

They will get a choice: BLizzcon, or Mythic raiding.

Won't happen, but I't be funny to see some raiders getting butthurt.

[Onikaroshi]

They should release before BLizzcon, JUST to mess with the raiders.

They will get a choice: BLizzcon, or Mythic raiding.

Won't happen, but I't be funny to see some raiders getting butthurt.

Right, cause that wouldn't screw over the people who spent thousands on tickets, plane tickets, hotel rooms, etc.

[Kuruption]

God no, I hope it comes out in November.

[clevin]

I think the best times for it to release are right after Blizzcon (enough time before Thanksgiving for world top 10 guilds to clear it) or the week after thanksgiving (enough time before people start shutting down and going away for Christmas holidays).

[Deleted]

I think the best times for it to release are right after Blizzcon (enough time before Thanksgiving for world top 10 guilds to clear it) or the week after thanksgiving (enough time before people start shutting down and going away for Christmas holidays).

Most WOW players, including the Worlds First guilds, don't even celebrate Thanksgiving.

[clevin]

Most WOW players, including the Worlds First guilds, don't even celebrate Thanksgiving.

You != most. In fact I'd bet that most US players DO. More to the point, Blizzard does.

[God Save The King]

Most WOW players, including the Worlds First guilds, don't even celebrate Thanksgiving.

Even if you do, it's generally over in time for raid. I'll eat my thanksgiving dinner, then be on to raid that night at 8pm.

[Gigapants]

I find it very interesting how we view Tomb's issues as compared to something like Sunwell in the past. Low completion rate (at least until the wrath pre patch where everyone's dps almost doubled), if anyone screws up it's a wipe, etc... All things that were present in Sunwell. But as far as I am aware we look back fondly at Sunwell as being one of the pinnacles of hardcore raiding. I did raid sunwell prior to pre wrath patch (got through Felmyst) but wasn't really tapped into community sentiment outside of our own server at the time. I've exited the hardcore scene since then and really only do heroic and a tiny bit of mythic nowadays so maybe my perspective is a tad misaligned then what the reality is. Anyone care to explain?

[Adoxe]

No, what's wrong with you? ToS needs to end asap.

[Riistov]

IIRC Icecrown Citadel was released right around the December holidays.

Nobody is forcing you to raid during Christmas. It'll be ready for you when the holidays are over.

This sums up my feelings exactly. Unless you're going for world first, no guild is going to take your raid spot for missing time during the holidays.

Been raiding since BC and I've never been in a guild that was super strict on attendance around the holiday season (yes, even hardcore guilds).

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They should release before BLizzcon, JUST to mess with the raiders.

They will get a choice: BLizzcon, or Mythic raiding.

Won't happen, but I't be funny to see some raiders getting butthurt.

Ill take things that'll never happen for $1000, Alex.

[Heladys]

I want it released prior to or at Blizzcon. I'm prepared however for disappointment.

[clevin]

Even if you do, it's generally over in time for raid. I'll eat my thanksgiving dinner, then be on to raid that night at 8pm.

Yeah, again what you're not getting is that some people travel for the holiday (either the whole thing, long distance or to a relatives for the day) and that if you're doing a family gathering it's VERY unlikely that most people are going to blow off their family to go play WoW. That would be sad and pathetic.

FINALLY... they're not going to release that week or even likely the week before because even if you can't control your addiction, Blizzard people will mostly be off for those 4 days if not the entire week.

They'll either release the reset after Blizzcon or the one after Thanksgiving I would bet.

[Puri]

I am assuming 7.3.5 with the final AK at December 6th, with the raid opening a week later and thus a "full" christmas release.

[God Save The King]

Yeah, again what you're not getting is that some people travel for the holiday (either the whole thing, long distance or to a relatives for the day) and that if you're doing a family gathering it's VERY unlikely that most people are going to blow off their family to go play WoW. That would be sad and pathetic.

FINALLY... they're not going to release that week or even likely the week before because even if you can't control your addiction, Blizzard people will mostly be off for those 4 days if not the entire week.

They'll either release the reset after Blizzcon or the one after Thanksgiving I would bet.

I'm traveling home for the holidays. The family gathering is over by like 6pm. At 8, my grandparents are asleep and my mom is watching her shows. Most of my guild has the same experience. They're free to raid by the time it rolls around. (8PST). Very few feel the need to skip, and many don't really want to anyway.