Blizzcon 2013 / WoW expansion

[Pann]

...which I feel I should inform you that Blizz has already stated that they're not going to repeat the year-long lull that happened after DS.

Apparently they weren't going to repeat the year long lull that happened after ICC I don't think we can say for sure that there will not be a year without content until we see a firm release date for the next expansion.

[Evil Inside]

Oh, good call on the annual pass! Forgot about that!

Betting it would be pretty much the same deal too:

Guaranteed access to WoW Expansion #6 Beta
Dablo III + D3 expansion for free
Some new Ballerina Pony
Some new pet

They said they'll be pumping out content much faster, and til now have kept their word. Assuming they keep this trend then they wont need another annual pass to keep subs.

[mvaliz]

Apparently they weren't going to repeat the year long lull that happened after ICC I don't think we can say for sure that there will not be a year without content until we see a firm release date for the next expansion.

I've never seen a quote for that about ICC/Cata.... whereas I've DEFINITELY seen a quote about Pandaria not having it.

I'll see if I can dig around for it. Was a few months ago...

[ro9ue]

Oh, good call on the annual pass! Forgot about that!

Betting it would be pretty much the same deal too:

Guaranteed access to WoW Expansion #6 Beta
Dablo III + D3 expansion for free
Some new Ballerina Pony
Some new pet

I have a feeling a lot of people were disappointed with the lack of content during the entire year they committed to last time. It would have to be one amazing Ballerina Pony for me to do the Annual Pass again.

[Skribble]

lets hope they deliver on all their pomises.,.

[mvaliz]

They said they'll be pumping out content much faster, and til now have kept their word. Assuming they keep this trend then they wont need another annual pass to keep subs.

...may I point out the other trend that's sadly keeping up called "Significantly larger loss of subs". More content =/= good enough content for people to want to stay. IE: The right Idea, but the wrong implementation. Not everybody wants to be a full-time Raider anymore...

Also, do consider that the Annual Pass goes far deeper than just "WoW subs". I'm MORE than betting that Diablo III's expansion is going to be presented more like a "relaunch" of the game, because they probably REALLY want to establish a second cash-cow like WoW - especially at the continually falling WoW subscriptions.

[Jtree]

There was a thread on this weeks back with a great chart showing Blizzard's past expansion cycles and timing, and projecting what will come:

As you can see, expansion announcements have come 8-11 months after the release of the previous expansion. Beta testing a new expansion takes ~6 months. Blizz has events at Comic Con in July, Gamescon in August, and PAX in September. One of those would be a great announcement opportunity, with the beta beginning late in the year, around the time of Blizzcon. If they wait for Blizzcon to announce, I expect the beta would start immediately afterwards.

I guestimate the next expansion releases between April and June of next year.

Edit to add: Also, the expansion announcements have been coming before the last patch released, making sure people have something else on the distant horizon even when they know the current expansion is drawing to an end.

Now that I think about it, that may be a great argument for a summer announcement. How long was ToT being tested on the PTR? That's probably the announcement window.

[mvaliz]

I have a feeling a lot of people were disappointed with the lack of content during the entire year they committed to last time. It would have to be one amazing Ballerina Pony for me to do the Annual Pass again.

Honestly I don't expect it to be a year-long gig again (as I've said above, Blizz is apparently claiming it won't be). But I wouldn't be surprised if it's a 6 month-ish waiting period. Probably some flex-time depending on how far along Xpansion 6 is in development.

[Pann]

I've never seen a quote for that about ICC/Cata.... whereas I've DEFINITELY seen a quote about Pandaria not having it.

I'll see if I can dig around for it. Was a few months ago...

I can't find the quotes now but I am sure I remember them saying that they would not have another year long tier when Cata was released.

...may I point out the other trend that's sadly keeping up called "Significantly larger loss of subs". More content =/= good enough content for people to want to stay. IE: The right Idea, but the wrong implementation. Not everybody wants to be a full-time Raider anymore...

Also, do consider that the Annual Pass goes far deeper than just "WoW subs". I'm MORE than betting that Diablo III's expansion is going to be presented more like a "relaunch" of the game, because they probably REALLY want to establish a second cash-cow like WoW - especially at the continually falling WoW subscriptions.

I am not so sure that another Annual Pass is going to work this time around of course it will be popular but I think that its popularity will be amongst those who do not need convincing to hang around those who are having doubts will be far more cynical.

[mvaliz]

I am not so sure that another Annual Pass is going to work this time around of course it will be popular but I think that its popularity will be amongst those who do not need convincing to hang around those who are having doubts will be far more cynical.

Agreed.... the only question remains is, what is Blizz listening to? The voice of the consumer - or their accountants saying "Well, sir, it helped lock in over a million people before!"

...and never, EVER, underestimate the power of the impulse buying mentality. Looked how it worked for the PS4 six-months before its release! :P

Lastly, as somebody said above - it's got to be "one amazing Ballerina pony to get me to get the pass again". Who knows how Blizz may sweeten the deal this time around. Hell man - they might even throw in the next expansion for free. That would get a lot of people impulse-buying right away!

[fangless]

Giving 6.0 away with the year contract seems logical to me.

They would have to hope the player stays around for at least 9 months to make the same amount of money.

$40 + ($15x9) = ~$180 = one year of subscription time w/ free expansion

[Pann]

Agreed.... the only question remains is, what is Blizz listening to? The voice of the consumer - or their accountants saying "Well, sir, it helped lock in over a million people before!"

...and never, EVER, underestimate the power of the impulse buying mentality. Looked how it worked for the PS4 six-months before its release! :P

Lastly, as somebody said above - it's got to be "one amazing Ballerina pony to get me to get the pass again". Who knows how Blizz may sweeten the deal this time around. Hell man - they might even throw in the next expansion for free. That would get a lot of people impulse-buying right away!

The big question is how many of those million that took up the Annual Pass last time actually saw it all the way through? You only had to look at these forums a few months after DS was released to see threads complaining about the AP and asking how to get out of it cropping up with alarming regularity. I think this time people will still be tempted by whatever is on offer but they will not be afraid to just walk away if they find themselves in the same situation as last time; fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

[Doombringer]

Maybe a teaser trailer for World of Warcraft: Path of the Titans

But yeah, we should hear something soon. I'd like to see something on that chart up there about when the next expansion was 'datamined' by checking the US Patent Office. If I remember right, the title to every expansion was correctly found as a patent filing.

[Baine]

Starting from today.

Say aprox 1 month of 5.3 Takes us to July.
SOO 4 months Takes us to November (and announcment of beta testing the expansion)
3 Months of Beta Testing takes us to February for release.
During the three months of beta testing there would be the content filler to introduce the next expansion

.

Your scheduling makes no sense.

5.4. won't go live in July. Not before the end of august. And beta testing will probably take more than 3 months. Both Cataclysm and MoP betas took 6 months each (MoP beta began at the end of march and was released at the end of september).

[Jackkernaut]

Are we sure SoO is the last expansion?...
I mean vast parts of the expansion are about Sha and it corruption eventually leads to Yshaara'j.
It will be quite odd we ain't gonna face it....
What is that Final Titan Wrathion talking about? Timeless Island?!? Wrathion plans? Are mogu corrupted or were nuetral? Ra-Den been imprisoned to keep him at bay due it corruption or he was an experiment puppet for the Thunder King? Is there ANY connection between Sha and Mogu?

[Daswolfen]

BlizzCon isnt until November, 6 months from now, meaning patch 5.4 will be near its middle-end and that a new expansion would be hitting the stores soon. So wouldnt they announce the next Expansion long before November?

My personal theory is we will see the trademark registration sometime in early August, then they will have some basics at Pax Prime (the Hearthstone announcement at Pax East was probably to test the waters about releasing info in other venues besides Blizzcon. Its expensive to host something that and 2011 didn't give them the best good publicity) with a detailed reveal at Blizzcon and the public demo open starting then or very shortly after. That would put the next expansion right on target for Late April/May/Early June window and the stated goal of 18 months between expansions. I would expect 6.0 to hit sometime in March. Assuming a September 5.4 release, that would give about 6 months of SoO (about the same as ToT will be). They MIGHT release a small 5.5 PVP patch or something, but I highly doubt it.

[Jtree]

Maybe a teaser trailer for World of Warcraft: Path of the Titans

But yeah, we should hear something soon. I'd like to see something on that chart up there about when the next expansion was 'datamined' by checking the US Patent Office. If I remember right, the title to every expansion was correctly found as a patent filing.

I saw that discussed somewhere. IIRC, most expansions got filed 1-2 months before announcement, with the exception of Wrath which was trademarked only a day or two in advance.

[Pann]

As I see it, Blizz certainly learned the hard way the lesson of Cataclysm.

Many things in MoP are designed to not be like Cataclysm. Development constrains apart, I'm pretty sure Blizz have no intention to have another 6+ months hole in the expansions schedule. So 5.4 is the expansion end-boss raid? Fair enough. They can deliver a non-raid patch with loads of pre-events to the next expansion.

I mean, how many players who raid will clear 5.4 content the first 2 months? And how many players raid norm and hc modes really? I don't think Blizz need another raid in that expansion after 5.4, but they surely need a content patch or even 2, unlike Cata. They can then introduce whatever they want, post-Garrosh events, like the appointment of a new chief for the horde, the reconstruction of Orgrimmar, stuff with Zul and the remaining Zandalari trolls, and pre-events preceding the new expansion. In the hypothesis of a legion themed expansion, the opening of portals and demonic incursions, a new world boss in the form of a mighty (but not too mighty) Pit Lord or any evil bat winged bastard, flying Exodar, ready to move to Argus or to reunite with the Tempest flying saucer… or stuff with Wrathion. We're not done with the little whelp I guess.

We could even work with the Kirin Tor to find a cure for the gnome and their ridiculous short length, a legendary mighty-grow technomagical potion. How nice would that be? Kiddin of course. Maybe.

Unless there is some form of extreme gating I would imagine every single player that uses LFR.

[ReleaseDay]

if they dont release another expansion before mid november they will see way too many sub drops. Early september is optimal. Im not saying its guaranteed to happen, but blizz has stated they want faster expansions out to get new subs, old ones back + decrease current losses, aswell as the base wants faster xpacs. Waiting on next xpac announcement until blizzcon in nov = xpac release in 2014= another 3M sub loss. This would be very bad indeed.

[Arenis]

Nope. Most likely it'll work like this.

August/September - 5.4

November - Expansion V revealed

December/Janurary - Beta begins

Janurary/February - 5.5 patch, no raid, just additional content to tie MoP into Expansion V

April/May - 6.0 released.

May/June - Expansion V released

---------- Post added 2013-06-28 at 01:13 PM ----------


Titan isn't WoW2, it's not Universe of Starcraft, it's not Realms of Diablo.

IT IS A TOTALLY NEW GAME.

I really hope it comes out sooner
A year takes so long, and I've seen enough of Pandaria/Sha's and stuff by now.... And I doubt 5.4 will bring any new stuff to keep me occupied untill then :/