No BlizzCon in 2012 - Battle.net World Championship

[Collected]

... expect MoP around Q4 (probably another november release)

Everything Blizzard has said points to sooner than that. They stated as recently as this week that they intend to release expansion content quicker than they have in the past. If MoP were released November 2012 that would put it 2 years after Cataclysm, which came 2 years after Wrath, which came 2 years after BC. To release XPac content 'quicker', they would need to release before Fall 2012. I'm sure they will. I actually think we're very close to the alpha/beta.

Also they said recently that the version of MoP played at Blizzcon was 'far into development'. Another clue that MoP is closer than some think. I'm sure they'll hit their Q2 target. Then they'll hold Blizzcon early 2013 and announce WoW X5 and Titan.

[Sargerus]

How can you not care for something that you've seen literally no assets for? For all you know it might cater to your exact specific tastes and be the best game you'll ever play.

Don't judge something before you know anything about it.

is a new MMO set into sci-fi/futuristic setting and being created by Blizzard. That's plenty of reason to be interested IMO

[TheRabidDeer]

Everything Blizzard has said points to sooner than that. They stated as recently as this week that they intend to release expansion content quicker than they have in the past. If MoP were released November 2012 that would put it 2 years after Cataclysm, which came 2 years after Wrath, which came 2 years after BC. To release XPac content 'quicker', they would need to release before Fall 2012. I'm sure they will. I actually think we're very close to the alpha/beta.

Also they said recently that the version of MoP played at Blizzcon was 'far into development'. Another clue that MoP is closer than some think. I'm sure they'll hit their Q2 target. Then they'll hold Blizzcon early 2013 and announce WoW X5 and Titan.

Blizzard has been aiming for annual expansions for the past 3 expansions. I havent heard anything about an alpha for MoP yet, and the beta is generally at least 3 months. If an alpha begins soon I could see a summer release, and it would make sense for it to be summer given when we got 4.3. A full year of just 4.3 wont sit well with most people.

[Smurflord]

Source to back this up?

No source, but there were some quotes from a while back about it being heavily FPS based. Now that could mean we'll be chucking spears and shooting bows, but more likely a sci-fi based game......or it could be something completely off the wall like a wild west, or WW2 game but I doubt it. At this point, no-one in the community knows anything, all we can do is talk about probabilities.

[Worgoblin]

What this means: Expect D3 in Q1/Q2 Expect SC2: HotS near Q3, MAYBE Q4 Expect MoP around Q4 (probably another november release)

Do you know how many subscriptions they'll lose if they try dragging 4.3 out all the way till November? Lot's.

[Doombringer]

We're also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

Right, I believe that.

D3 is going to be out 1st quarter, I'm betting; it is "done" but for some reason they're going back and making nibbling changes now. Heart of the Swarm... not sure on an ETA, but they're not exactly designing fresh systems or gameplay engines for this; it's effectively a Starcraft 2 Expansion. Mists of Pandaria is also an expansion, building off a set engine with set dev tools.

No more "jam packed" then when these games were in full development for the past few years...

[Deleted]

Im seriously starting to hate this company. I may even stop the annual pass .

[Sargerus]

There was rumors a while back about it being heavily FPS based. Nobody really knows shit.

What we know for sure:

-Is a next-gen MMO
-Blizzard team behind it is nearly 100 people, close to enter full production mode. This was said by Rob Pardo in Blizzcon 2011

[Tijux]

One more reason to quit wow.

[dim]

didnt last BlizzCon some guy asked Metzen why are they making BlizzCon this year when they dont have much to show.....one of rare occasions when Metzen didnt know what to answer :Pi guess, they have even less this year to show then

[Punks]

Why have a Blizzcon about shit we've already seen. Went last year and was semi-disappointed. Had a lot of fun but it was nothing compared to the Con of 09

[Phobas]

.....I had every bit of hope in Blizzard invested in the fact that Titan would be released in Blizzcon 2012....now its gone....dammit.

[Dejohn]

It doesnt matter when or how long the beta or alpha is going to be for MOP. They are not going to drop an expansion in the middle of the summer when they could stall a few months and release it for black friday or the holiday shopping season. Every expansion was released around this time other than TBC because it slipped past with delays. They make major bank on these expansions and they arent going to risk releasing in the summer when active player counts are at a lull. If they feel the player base is getting too vocal or subs are dropping more than expected during the pre summer they will simply drop Halion 2.0 which consists of 1 room with annoying trash that takes too long and 1 boss with a +3 item level over what is currently available.

[Rawt]

It's not like Blizzcon is a free festival for all, you know. Between the tickets and the sales to watch it online, Blizzcon likely made money for Blizzard.

That's not the point i'm making at all. It's about perception.

Blizzcon was always touted as being 'for the fans'. People were already increasingly upset about the ticket costs being raised more than 75% over the last 3 years. Add to that the 'drama' of last year's Blizzcon.

People are also fed up with Cataclysm. With MoP likely not being until fall, Wow's last Cata content patch a month or so ago, and the guaranteed beta for the 'yearbies' not starting until summer, there's half a year of some very unhappy customers. D3 could be the second coming of (insert something really cool here), but if history has shown us anything, people will still choose WoW as Blizzard's flagship game.

Add to that the inclusion of SWTOR and GW2 scheduled for around the same time as MoP, and it just seems (at least to me), it's a very bad time to cancel one of the few remaining fan-centric activities that Blizzard participates in.

[Punks]

It doesnt matter when or how long the beta or alpha is going to be for MOP. They are not going to drop an expansion in the middle of the summer when they could stall a few months and release it for black friday or the holiday shopping season. Every expansion was released around this time other than TBC because it slipped past with delays. They make major bank on these expansions and they arent going to risk releasing in the summer when active player counts are at a lull. If they feel the player base is getting too vocal or subs are dropping more than expected during the pre summer they will simply drop Halion 2.0 which consists of 1 room with annoying trash that takes too long and 1 boss with a +3 item level over what is currently available.

Why wouldnt they? And Black Friday? lol They will NOT wait that long. Losing too many subs, and with GW2 coming out VERY soon. Yeah it will be out at end of summer.

Kinda why they didnt want to have a Blizzcon.

2+2=4 not chair.

That's not the point i'm making at all. It's about perception.

Blizzcon was always touted as being 'for the fans'. People were already increasingly upset about the ticket costs being raised more than 75% over the last 3 years. Add to that the 'drama' of last year's Blizzcon.

People are also fed up with Cataclysm. With MoP likely not being until fall, Wow's last Cata content patch a month or so ago, and the guaranteed beta for the 'yearbies' not starting until summer, there's half a year of some very unhappy customers. D3 could be the second coming of (insert something really cool here), but if history has shown us anything, people will still choose WoW as Blizzard's flagship game.

Add to that the inclusion of SWTOR and GW2 scheduled for around the same time as MoP, and it just seems (at least to me), it's a very bad time to cancel one of the few remaining fan-centric activities that Blizzard participates in.

Very Spot on! About what I was thinking as well.

[MrKnubbles]

This is very disappointing news.

[Kiro]

.....I had every bit of hope in Blizzard invested in the fact that Titan would be released in Blizzcon 2012....now its gone....dammit.

Blizzard is in real trouble it seems. From recent leads of D3 fired, to a lead in Titan gone as well, it shows that they're struggling, and in no time soon are they going to pull themselves out of this slump they've been in to their old glory days. WoW is a good indicator with people leaving left and right. You can notice it on the message boards and fan sites with activity as in at times when there would be 1000 posts in a time frame on news, now there's 100-200.

MoP is releasing this year, and not the end of the year like we're used to. Blizzard is going to be in full-blown panic mode as you can see with two of their big projects in various troubles, and one expansion pack for a RTS that should have came out a long while back. MoP will release in summer this time, or end of, because they know that they can't rest with Guild Wars 2 and company getting soo much media and fan attention. Mix in the luke-warm response to the MoP expansion, and they're very-very concerned. I mean, they're not even cashing in on another Blizzcon, something it's fans looked forward to yearly. Which means they have nothing to show for it, which is of MAJOR concern because that means Titan is in massive trouble. You would think they'd show something off about it to get attention away from GW2 and company, but they have nothing.

This is when we see some major restructuring within Blizzard. Their time frames were out of control, and they're going to start embracing consoles now as well I'd bet. Maybe this will be the kick in the pants Blizzard needs to be a great dev again.

[Brazinger]

One more reason to quit wow.

You quit WoW just because Blizzcon is not taking place? Lol




I personally am happy that they focus on developing instead of this convention. They lose money for making Blizzcon anyway.

[Ibbi]

There wasn't a Blizzcon in 2006, so why are people freaking out.

2005
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2013

Oh noes we skipped another year, everybody panic!

[Dejohn]

Why wouldnt they? And Black Friday? lol They will NOT wait that long. Losing too many subs, and with GW2 coming out VERY soon. Yeah it will be out at end of summer.

Kinda why they didnt want to have a Blizzcon.

2+2=4 not chair.




Very Spot on! About what I was thinking as well.

I will remember this post and see who is lol ing. All these "thats way too long" posts occurred at the end of wrath too. They are owned by Activision. If you think they are going to release this product at the end of the summer which is just about the worst time to try and sell a video game to people you are mistaken. Unless they can release it at the same time as GW2 to try and crush that launch they will bite the bullet and make more money around the holidays selling xpacs. The diehards and season passers dont quit playing and paying for this game anyway. Its these people that allow blizzard to do this.