Battle for Azeroth Alpha/Beta General Discussion

[Hitei]

alpha scheduled for early new year (probably 2nd/3rd week Jan), likely a release Sept/Oct.

You think there's going to be a 9-10 month alpha/beta cycle on an expansion that seem to have all of its zones mostly done?

[Floopa]

You think there's going to be a 9-10 month alpha/beta cycle on an expansion that seem to have all of its zones mostly done?

yes. anyone hoping for a summer release will be disappointed, and they wont delay release to christmas because 12-13 month tiers are not popular.

if you wanted a summer release, the alpha would've been released to f&f after blizzcon.

[WukeWiking]

yes. anyone hoping for a summer release will be disappointed, and they wont delay release to christmas because 12-13 month tiers are not popular.

if you wanted a summer release, the alpha would've been released to f&f after blizzcon.

What if the f&f alpha has already been?

[Hitei]

yes. anyone hoping for a summer release will be disappointed, and they wont delay release to christmas because 12-13 month tiers are not popular.

if you wanted a summer release, the alpha would've been released to f&f after blizzcon.

It will be 4-7 months after testing starts. Like every other expansion in the history of the game.

[Floopa]

What if the f&f alpha has already been?

it hasn't to my knowledge. if it has then i'm wrong

[Shadochi]

yes. anyone hoping for a summer release will be disappointed, and they wont delay release to christmas because 12-13 month tiers are not popular.

if you wanted a summer release, the alpha would've been released to f&f after blizzcon.

They stopped doing f&f alpha with legion when it became opt in for both alpha and beta.

[Floopa]

They stopped doing f&f alpha with legion when it became opt in for both alpha and beta.

well no, they didn't. but f&f alphas just go out alongside alpha for press/sponsors.

what changed, i guess, is that alpha went from being an unplayable mess to a short demo experience for press to see.

[Shadochi]

well no, they didn't. but f&f alphas just go out alongside alpha for press/sponsors.

what changed, i guess, is that alpha went from being an unplayable mess to a short demo experience for press to see.

It's no longer friends & family alpha if everybody has a chance of getting it by opting in/entering key giveaways.

What f&f used to be is what the name suggests, and it stopped because people would still get the files from their servers and datamine them, so might as well let the strangers just play alpha.

[Floopa]

It's no longer friends & family alpha if everybody has a chance of getting it by opting in/entering key giveaways.

What f&f used to be is what the name suggests, and it stopped because people would still get the files from their servers and datamine them, so might as well let the strangers just play alpha.

f&f still get keys to use though, it's not like that 'benefit' or 'guarantee' or 'perk' stopped. i think at this point it's semantics being argued more than anything.

[Hitei]

f&f still get keys to use though, it's not like that 'benefit' or 'guarantee' or 'perk' stopped. i think at this point it's semantics being argued more than anything.

What it's called doesn't really matter. The more important point is that if it starts in January or February, the game will release June-August at the latest.

[Shadochi]

f&f still get keys to use though, it's not like that 'benefit' or 'guarantee' or 'perk' stopped. i think at this point it's semantics being argued more than anything.

But it's not only f&f that get the keys, because in that case retail servers could be called blizzard employ servers since all blizzard employees get the game (was the case at least in vanilla, mentioned in a panel this year).

f&f alpha means that friends and family are the ONLY ones (other than devs ofc) that get access to that test phase.

Now it's just Alpha

[Floopa]

What it's called doesn't really matter. The more important point is that if it starts in January or February, the game will release June-August at the latest.

And i'll say anyone who's expecting a summer release (perhaps late summer is possible, given Sept 21st is technically the end of Summer) will be disappointed. mid Oct/early Nov is far more likely given how little they've done

[Shadochi]

And i'll say anyone who's expecting a summer release (perhaps late summer is possible, given Sept 21st is technically the end of Summer) will be disappointed. mid Oct/early Nov is far more likely given how little they've done

If you compare the BfA demo and Legion demo then BfA is ahead of Legion in terms of development (2 zones, 2 dungeons, 2 Allied races in BfA; compared to 1 class and a part of their starting experience in Legion). So a summer release IS possible.

[Floopa]

If you compare the BfA demo and Legion demo then BfA is ahead of Legion in terms of development (2 zones, 2 dungeons, 2 Allied races in BfA; compared to 1 class and a part of their starting experience in Legion). So a summer release IS possible.

you can believe that as long as you wont be disappointed when it doesn't happen

[Hitei]

What if we have a more extensive pre-expansion event though?
Imo pre-expansion events have historically been far too short. People had a lot of fun with the Legion one (and kept doing it even to the last day). And I expect the 8.0 event will include both the artifact send-off quests (since they need to be part of 8.0 due to them affecting class design) and then the Teldrassil and Undercity events.
Plus .0 patches are fun because you get to play around with your new class design, they are often imbalanced as hell (bad for pvp I know but fun for everything else), you get to rush through raid encounters you were previously stuck at and on Blizzard's side they can get a lot of information on their new class design (not useful for tuning ofc but useful for other metrics).

With Antorus starting on Nov 28, an 8.0 that lasts 2 months and an Aug 28 or Sep 4 release, you'd only have Antorus be the current tier for 7 months. Even if it is the classic 1 month, Antorus would last for 8 months as current content. This is the final tier of the expansion, 22 weeks are really not enough to progress through it. Heck it's not enough to get the creepy Mythic mount for your entire team unless you have it on farm from week 3. It needs to release in September and definitely not July else imo the last tier is current for too short

A couple things here.

1) They said that the storyline that "culminates" in Undercity and Teldrassil is predicated on you having Battle for Azeroth. Pre-expansion events themselves are universal. This means that those storylines are almost certainly in the expansion itself and not the pre-patch.

2) 7 months is longer than the previous raid tiers. I don't see why it would be a problem. Nor why they would delay the expansion and extend content drought for the entire playerbase so that the tiny minority of raiders can keep farming something they've been doing for months in order to all get the mount.

And i'll say anyone who's expecting a summer release (perhaps late summer is possible, given Sept 21st is technically the end of Summer) will be disappointed. mid Oct/early Nov is far more likely given how little they've done

How little they've done where? Most of the zones are very late stage, that is farther than many expansions were at release. There has literally never been a testing cycle longer than 7 months, and what they bring to Blizzcon is always a fraction of what they have done. Just because they haven't worked out exact timers on Warfronts (a beta testing determination) or similar things does not mean they are early in development. They have music pieces out for each of the zone previews they did. That is farther along than Legion was at Blizzcon 2015 (November, with an August release)

[Shadochi]

you can believe that as long as you wont be disappointed when it doesn't happen

Don't you worry, I've been a gamer for my whole life so I know how to differentiate between my hopes and expectations... as well as between fact and opinion

[Yarathir]

I doubt anyone who plays exclusively one faction is going to switch Just because the other side has a race that is the same as theirs but slightly different. You are still going to be in zones you dont like with aesthetics you dont like and allies you dont like.

Its very redindant to get bent out of shape now considering we dont know the requirements.
But if you really think you'll suddenly be playing an elf that is taller and purple than what u have now, or shorter and paler, and NOT just going yo play for a few days and abandon it cus you hate the faction, it would behoove you to get used to being that faction NOW wouldnt it?

I play mostly Alliance and Zandalari Trolls, Nightborne and upright Orcs have me planning to make at least 3 Horde characters.

And your point kind of falls apart when lore and the different customization options come into play.

[Lahis]

Don't you worry, I've been a gamer for my whole life so I know how to differentiate between my hopes and expectations...

Hope for minimum, expect nothing.

[Shadochi]

Hope for minimum, expect nothing.

Nah, hope for whatever you want, but know to set the expectations according to facts. And to also not be butt-hurt when your hopes haven't been met.

I guess the first step in getting good at the process is pretty much what you described, and as time passes you'll get better at creating valid expectations.

[Soulwind]

I play mostly Alliance and Zandalari Trolls, Nightborne and upright Orcs have me planning to make at least 3 Horde characters.

And your point kind of falls apart when lore and the different customization options come into play.

Same here. Well, maybe not Nightborne, I already main a night elf and I don't want to see the people I spent months helping joining the other faction that easily.

But with those six new character slots, and the toggleable PvP, I'm probably going to have three or four Horde characters.