Looks like 5.4 might in fact be Siege

[George Costanza]

Yeah 5.4 is Siege of Orgrimmar (GC have said about priests or some class that they don't want to add something mid expansion (5.2) :/. But the sooner we get Nazgrim on the throne the better . Though I'd be surprised if Taylor survived.

[Ringthane]

You realize for the ones at risk, that's not a content patch? If you like heroics, you can farm them even without a raid. You like pet battles? You do them.

If you're a raider, when the content is done you are done. 5.5 would have to include a raid.

It's content for people who aren't raiders.

And by that logic, the content's over the first time you finish a dungeon - raid or otherwise. So why do you keep coming back week after week, if the content's over, and the content is all you care about?

[BLSTMASTER]

Whatever happens in 5.3 must be HUGE for alliance to go into siege mode (and to get horde players to go against Garrosh)

[Kralljin]

It is very likely that 5.4 will be Siege, since there's nothing left to deal with after ToT.

Questing Experienced established 2 Enemies, Sha and the Mogu.

The Sha obviously played the main enemy during questing so they were dealt first in 5mans and Raids.

5.1 brought Garrosh and his evil plans on the table with abusing the Sha.

5.2 you will now deal with the Mogu threat that was established during questing after that, there's nothing left to deal with aside from Garrosh, since they do not implemented a new "threat" or possible raid content with 5.2.

In Wotlk for example, they brought the Argent Tournament with 3.1 already into the game, which was turned into a Raid with 3.2.

5.3 will set up the Siege, 5.3 will probably end up in an epic battle for Pandaria where Garrosh unleashes something (7th Sha?) which then turns the majority of the Horde against him and Alliance and Horde Rebellion work to together to contain the thing Garrosh unleashed.

Garrosh will have no choice but to retreat to Org with his loyalists and hole up in the city.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

It is very likely that 5.4 will be Siege, since there's nothing left to deal with after ToT.

Questing Experienced established 2 Enemies, Sha and the Mogu.

The Sha obviously played the main enemy during questing so they were dealt first in 5mans and Raids.

5.1 brought Garrosh and his evil plans on the table with abusing the Sha.

5.2 you will now deal with the Mogu threat that was established during questing after that, there's nothing left to deal with aside from Garrosh, since they do not implemented a new "threat" or possible raid content with 5.2.

In Wotlk for example, they brought the Argent Tournament with 3.1 already into the game, which was turned into a Raid with 3.2.

5.3 will set up the Siege, 5.3 will probably end up in an epic battle for Pandaria where Garrosh unleashes something (7th Sha?) which then turns the majority of the Horde against him and Alliance and Horde Rebellion work to together to contain the thing Garrosh unleashed.

Garrosh will have no choice but to retreat to Org with his loyalists and hole up in the city.

Then it's going to have to be that ToT lasts at least 8 months, or we'll have a year without content again like DS.

And I may not come back after leaving again due to lack of new content.

[Deleted]

Only a patch (5.3) to build up the Rebellion and the Alliance managing to get to Durotar? Way too soon. 5.2 barely touches on Garrosh's doing.

[zaneosak]

Then it's going to have to be that ToT lasts at least 8 months, or we'll have a year without content again like DS.

And I may not come back after leaving again due to lack of new content.

Is it at all possible that ToT heroic modes will take 1-2 weeks in some cases to down a single boss ? If so maybe it can last 8 months. If Blizzard would just tune their raids to the point that you HAVE TO gear up to meet dps checks and such it would be doable. I know top guilds will class stack to get around the item level but maybe blizzard can plan for it and make you gear up, I know its not likely but not an unreasonable thought.

[Eon Drache]

To borrow an old line, "Too soon, Executus."

Let's run some numbers, because that's what we in WI do best. Keep in mind Blizz said Non-Raid patches take 2 months, raids take 4.

5.2 - Feb/March 2013
5.3 - Apr/May 2013
5.4 (SoO) - Aug/Sept 2013
Blizzcon (Expansion V revealed) - Sept/Oct 2013
Expansion V released - Q3 2014.

Whoops, Blizz just lost another 3 million subscribers because there's nearly a year without any new content added to the game.

If Blizz learned anything from Cata, they will have another tier between ToT and SoO.

In what world would 5.2 and 5.3 be a month off each other? The most likely scenario would be;

5.2 - March 2013
5.3 - June/July 2013
5.4 - October/November 2013

Everyone seems to forget there could still be 1 sha left out there that we have yet to kill.

[Totle]

If I'm not mistaken (I probably am) isn't 5.2 suppose to be late Feb/early March?

So I guess we can see 5.3 sometime around mid April/late May since it will be a lore patch.

MoP came out at the start of Sept.
5.1 came out start of Dec.

With this in mind, it seems that we're on a 3-month trend.

We'll start the summer off with 5.3 in June and see 5.4 at the end of summer.

If they follow Cataclysm that had only 3 tiers, then we can assume that 5.4 will be delayed until Blizzcon and it will be Siege.

If they don't follow Cataclysm, then 5.4 will touch down at the end of summer and Blizzcon might announce 5.5 as the Siege w/o a lore patch between the two.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

In what world would 5.2 and 5.3 be a month off each other? The most likely scenario would be;

5.2 - March 2013
5.3 - June/July 2013
5.4 - October/November 2013

Everyone seems to forget there could still be 1 sha left out there that we have yet to kill.

Not one. I used two months to show it'll be late in the month.

Either scenario, we're talking 10-12 months without new content and thereby another DS.

Which reminds me, I have a thread about Garrosh to make.

[Teriz]

To borrow an old line, "Too soon, Executus."

Let's run some numbers, because that's what we in WI do best. Keep in mind Blizz said Non-Raid patches take 2 months, raids take 4.

5.2 - Feb/March 2013
5.3 - Apr/May 2013
5.4 (SoO) - Aug/Sept 2013
Blizzcon (Expansion V revealed) - Sept/Oct 2013
Expansion V released - Q3 2014.

Whoops, Blizz just lost another 3 million subscribers because there's nearly a year without any new content added to the game.

If Blizz learned anything from Cata, they will have another tier between ToT and SoO.

That time span between 5.2 and 5.3 is a bit too tight. We're probably looking at March for 5.2, and June/July for 5.3. Then you'll see 5.4 in Q3 at some point with 5.5 hitting early next year.

So in short, here's the cycle (IMO);

Q3 2012: 5.0
Q4 2012: 5.1
Q1 2013: 5.2
Q2 2013: 5.3
Q3 2013: 5.4 (next expansion announced)
Q1 2014: 5.5


If 5.5 is released in February 2014, they could conceivably release 6.0 in August 2014. That would be 6 months. The trick is the timing of 5.5 and the start of beta-testing of the next expansion.

[Woobels]

It is very likely that 5.4 will be Siege, since there's nothing left to deal with after ToT.

Questing Experienced established 2 Enemies, Sha and the Mogu.

The Sha obviously played the main enemy during questing so they were dealt first in 5mans and Raids.

5.1 brought Garrosh and his evil plans on the table with abusing the Sha.

5.2 you will now deal with the Mogu threat that was established during questing after that, there's nothing left to deal with aside from Garrosh, since they do not implemented a new "threat" or possible raid content with 5.2.

In Wotlk for example, they brought the Argent Tournament with 3.1 already into the game, which was turned into a Raid with 3.2.

5.3 will set up the Siege, 5.3 will probably end up in an epic battle for Pandaria where Garrosh unleashes something (7th Sha?) which then turns the majority of the Horde against him and Alliance and Horde Rebellion work to together to contain the thing Garrosh unleashed.

Garrosh will have no choice but to retreat to Org with his loyalists and hole up in the city.

Questing also established the Mantid/Klaxxi, but they are pretty much dealt with for now unless I'm forgetting something.

[Myzou]

I expect 5.4 to be a Hozen/Jinyu inspired raid, to be perfectly honest.

Putting an end to the century long battle. Maybe the 7th Sha will be the final boss of that patch.

There's nothing insinuating the 7th Sha will be dealt with in the Siege, but Blizzard made it clear there are 7 Sha. We've only seen 6.

[Deleted]

Ruby sanctum was the end of wrath.

It's tier 10.5, whether you like it or not, that's what it is.

So yes, my argument does matter, because you and the other guy are wrong.

ICC was not the end of Wrath.

Ruby Sanctum was more the premice of Cataclysm than the end of Wrath.

[Adramalech]

I, for one, am quite confident that 5.4 will be SoO. Wrathion's words only make me more sure of it.

[Xilurm]

But then MoP will have less raids than Wrath...

5.0 = 3.0 - Starter Raids.

5.1

5.2 = 3.1 - Ulduar.

5.3

5.4 = 3.2 - ToC

5.5

5.6 = 3.3 - ICC.

Get what I'm saying?

[Video Games]

But then MoP will have less raids than Wrath...

5.0 = 3.0 - Starter Raids.

5.1

5.2 = 3.1 - Ulduar.

5.3

5.4 = 3.2 - ToC

5.5

5.6 = 3.3 - ICC.

Get what I'm saying?

Not really since cata had less raids than wrath and already less bosses than mop has.

[Xilurm]

Not really since cata had less raids than wrath and probably less bosses than mop is going to have.

Yeah but Cata was a failure. Look at 4.1. It was meant to be a raid but they scrapped that.

[Azrile]

My guess is 5.4 will be the last patch with the SoO. The devs have stated, and so far have delivered upon much more rapid content patches. I also think there is going to be a lot of pressure from mgmt on them to get the next expansion out without a 9month delay.

---------- Post added 2013-01-28 at 02:13 AM ----------

Well we know what their goal is:

5.0 = Sept 2012
5.2 = March 2013
5.4 = Sept 2013
6.0 = March 2014

The only question is how much they slip from their targets.

That is exactly what I am thinking also. They have already told us the whole 2 month-4 month thing. My biggest fear about 6.0 is that because they have been putting out 5.1 and 5.2 so fast, they are actually not putting as much resources into the next expansion now as they did in previous expansions. But I think overall, you have it exactly correct with their plans.

---------- Post added 2013-01-28 at 02:17 AM ----------

It's certainly not ready right this very instant, but I would be surprised if we find ourselves in mid-March and we still haven't seen 5.2 hit live servers. 2 months is pretty typical for a PTR cycle.


As far as dokhidamo's speculated timeline, remember that Mists of Pandaria was released about 20.5 months after Cataclysm rather then roughly 2 years like previous expansions were. If Blizzard makes expansion 5 in a similar amount of time, then we should see it in May/June of 2014, a late Q2 release. Hardly definite, but it is something to consider.

EDIT---

Oh, and If Blizzard were to actually hit their 18-month goal, then it could be as early as March/April 2014. That's a late Q1/early Q2 release date.

People have said the same thing about every beta and every PTR since WOW began. The internal dev testing is far ahead of what we have on PTR and as it gets close to release time, they will dump a ton of very polished stuff on the PTR the last 2 weeks. Every beta is the same way.. 6 weeks before launch, there are a ton of people saying everythign is broken, then with 3 weeks left, most everything is fixed.

[Deleted]

Pretty certain we'll see 4 tiers this expansion, which gives the next expansion a fall 2014 release date.