Countdown to Trademark: Predict EXP 5!

[zox2]

A Blizzcon w/o any WoW Xpac related panels at all? yeah.. like that's going to happen.

I'm already pretty hyped about those panels. Can't wait!

[Arbs]

Even if Beta starts right after Blizzcon, that would still give them 6 months minimum between News and Release.

Thats all they need 6 - 8 months of SoO than Pre-Expansion patch.

- - - Updated - - -

We always hate the latest expansion until something else comes along.
Its simply popular to complain about it, but when the next one comes out people will complain about that instead and realise MoP was not as bad as they made it out to be.

Hell there we people who complained about TBC & Wrath during those expansions even though lots of people praise them.

[Absintheminded]

OP, where's the supporting evidence for strongly believing the expansion won't be announced at Blizzcon?

@gamedale @marathal But then you guys would just say: What a lame Blizzcon. We already knew all this info.

[Synstir]

Did expansions ever got announced at Blizzcon?
I think all of them where known before Blizzcon, am I right?

[Absintheminded]

Did expansions ever got announced at Blizzcon?
I think all of them where known before Blizzcon, am I right?

Are you?

You sound uncertain.


I think maybe you should have taken some time to try to actually research.

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edit

According to WoWWiki and Wikipedia, the first expansion was. I'm not looking at the other dates, don't care.

http://www.wowwiki.com/World_of_Warc...urning_Crusade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzcon#BlizzCon_2005

[zox2]

Did expansions ever got announced at Blizzcon?
I think all of them where known before Blizzcon, am I right?

Known: yes, announced: less so.

[Airwaves]

Yeah, if you disliked MoP, you were just a hater period. MoP is/was a superb expansion, and a nice change of pace. I think when we look back on it, it's going to be remembered fondly.

Next expansion will be darker in tone I guess.

Then explain to me why me and everyone i know that played wow since launch got so bored that we all left? We played all of cata. I realy liked mop at the start but by 5.2 it was so boring.

[TheReptorGekko]

But the announcement isn't coming at Blizzcon, god da!"#¤%!

from the recent Ghostcrawler interview

Tencent: I think Patch 5.4 is the last patch in this expansion. Have you started next expansion? Will it be announced in this year's BlizzCon?
Ghostcrawler: Patch 5.4 is the last content patch, but we will release some bug fixes and balancing patchs after that. We will also release a preview content patch before new expansion. BlizzCon is a good time to tell something about that.

this seam to hint an announcement at blizzcon. also I know you talk abut it being announced but in http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/blog/1049...6_07_2013#best it only say "World of Warcraft (PC): Check out what patch 5.4 has to offer!" I guse if they had a big there they hype it some more before the announcement meby I am wrong but I don't see any hint at gamsecon but now we have at hint at it being at bilzzcon. anyway all we do is guse and only time will tell

[Baladash]

I can really see them fucking around with us and trademarking names that would be either BL, Azshara or Emerald Dream.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if they trademarked all on the same day:
WoW: Burning Citadel
Wow: From the Depths
WoW: Into the Dream

We wouldn't know WHAT to do.

[Deleted]

OP, where's the supporting evidence for strongly believing the expansion won't be announced at Blizzcon?

I have made several threads on this in the last couple of months, which is also partly why you see so many people defending my theory nowadays. It simply makes sense.

Check out this thread for the full theory: ( Gamescom Thread ).

I'll sum the different arguments up for you below. Some of them kind of blend together, but they still kind of deserve individual bullet-points.

In the past, it is true that most expansions have been announced at Blizzcon. However:


- Both Blizzard and the players wish to avoid another long and dragged out final raid tier, like Dragon Soul and Icecrown Citadel.

- Blizzard have mentioned how they want to achieve shorter development cycles, not longer ones, to avoid players leaving like they did around DS and ICC.

- In the past, new expansions have always been announced the month before the final raid patch is out. Gamescom, which they've marketed quite a bit, falls on that exact month. Blizzcon, however, is 2 months after the final raid patch of MoP. They likely announce it before to make sure we have something new on the horizon, and stay interested / subbed. Announcing it at Blizzcon would therefore give us 3 months of not knowing anything about WoW's future. Bad marketing, and bad for stockholders.

- In the past, new expansions have always been announced 8-11 months into the current ones (save for TBC, which was 12). This is likely because it's around halfway through the full production of the new expansion, and they need the latter half for testing, marketing, and polish - something they can only do after the announcement has occurred. Blizzcon is 15 months into MoP, which, in the case of a Blizzcon announcement, would either mean they left themselves very little time for that crucial phase of the development, or that we're looking at around a year of Siege of Orgrimmar. Both options are very unlikely and undesirable.

- In the past, they've needed 15 months between announcement and release. This got reduced to 11 months for MoP. It could perhaps be cut to 9-10 for EXP 5 if they're further streamlining content and development, but that still means 9 + 2 (11) months of Siege of Orgrimmar. That's as long as DS lasted.

- Just because they might announce it earlier than Blizzcon this year, doesn't mean Blizzcon won't be packed with exclusive information. I expect tons of panels, trailers, cinematics, and cool announcements regarding the expansion. The one at Gamescom is likely a teaser, to get the hype and marketing machine rolling. This is likely to increase people's excitement about Blizzcon, rather than cut it short.

- Blizzcon is the likely place for the Diablo 3 expansion announcement this year, so having 2 expansion announcements during the opening ceremony is more likely to do harm than good. It'd be too crowded and scattered. Spreading the awesome announcements out over 2 major events, however, both gives them more time, and twice as much media attention.

[Absintheminded]

There is no reason to assume they need X amount of months after announcement for testing. Who's to say how far they are or aren't along in Alpha?

I'm not holding my breath and until I see stronger evidence to support otherwise, I'm going to go with GC's recent tweet stating that Blizzcon would be a good place to announce the new expansion. Why would I need any other reason? Certainly not going to buy into a lot of well-organized speculation.

[zox2]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if they trademarked all on the same day:
WoW: Burning Citadel
Wow: From the Depths
WoW: Into the Dream

We wouldn't know WHAT to do.

We would know we probably wouldn't get either of those...

[Hyve]

There is a lot of push for a Burning Legion themed Expansion, because of what Wrathion has spoken about, but there have always been mentions of events, and even main characters long before the expansions are due.

For those who've done their Netherwing Farming, I'm sure at least once you'll recall seeing Sinestra, flying to the Orcs to speak of a deal, and Deathwings name is mentioned. It would be many years after that, that Deathwing and this deal would come to light as a real issue. Perhaps the same can be said here?

[Immitis]

Sorry to burst your bubble but they've discovered a way around that. They register it in a country without a searchable online database for patents and then transfer it within six months to the US. They used that for hearthstone. It's all proper and legal and it means we won't be figuring out the expansion title that way anymore. We have to wait for Blizzcon.

wrong, heroes of warcraft (hearthstones other titles) was trademarked

[Hyve]

Wouldn't it be hilarious if they trademarked all on the same day:
WoW: Burning Citadel
Wow: From the Depths
WoW: Into the Dream

We wouldn't know WHAT to do.

Actually, they couldn't really do that.

Trademarks have to be used, you can't just apply for a Trademark to simply hold a name, it needs to be in use, either in development, or in some other format. While they could get away with it on the basis they're planning on those expansions, most likely the Office wouldn't allow them ...

[zox2]

I like the 6 month cadence of raid tiers, but I'd wish for a slightly longer last tier, to have some time to wrap up things to do in this expansion and to possibly have time to mess around in beta. If I'm so lucky as to get in that is...

[Korru]

MoP was bland, but yeah in some way it was better than Cataclysm.

[Deleted]

There is no reason to assume they need X amount of months after announcement for testing. Who's to say how far they are or aren't along in Alpha?

I'm not holding my breath and until I see stronger evidence to support otherwise, I'm going to go with GC's recent tweet stating that Blizzcon would be a good place to announce the new expansion. Why would I need any other reason? Certainly not going to buy into a lot of well-organized speculation.

Yes, there is. As a game designer (albeit on a much smaller and less significant level), I know how important testing and marketing is. As I've said, they probably announce the expansions way in advance of release because a) it gives them a lot of time to market it, and b) it gives them a lot of time to test and iterate upon the content once it's out in the open. Just giving people an expansion that is 95% finished and allowing them to test it for 3 months isn't going to let them keep a high quality on the content.

[Synstir]

Are you?

You sound uncertain.


I think maybe you should have taken some time to try to actually research.

---------------------------

edit

According to WoWWiki and Wikipedia, the first expansion was. I'm not looking at the other dates, don't care.

http://www.wowwiki.com/World_of_Warc...urning_Crusade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blizzcon#BlizzCon_2005

My post was directed at the person who posted:
OP, where's the supporting evidence for strongly believing the expansion won't be announced at Blizzcon?

In the past we all knew what was coming before Blizzcon. At Blizzcon features got revealed but the actual xpac was known.
I think this time around it will be the same. We will know what the name will be and what the overall theme will be.
Details will be shown at Blizzcon.

So my questions where a sort of answer to Absintheminded. :-)

[The Stormbringer]

I think it's most likely to be Burning Legion, but there's a strong chance for N'zoth/Azshara/Emerald Dream, or something completely different.

Also, this is an idea that's been tossed around before, but does anyone like the idea of a Hero Race? Imagine a Neutral Hero Race like say, Ethereals. Ethereals start off at say, Level 70. The restriction is that you have to have a Level 70 to get them! It would probably be a good way to jump-start popularity for an already popular race idea, which might make them a bit over-used... Even still, as a supporter of Ethereals and someone who would like to see either a revamp of Outland or an option to skip it all together (don't get me wrong, I love Outland), it might work out well!