I wouldn't be too surprised to see beta testing start soon after Blizzcon. I expect a release in next spring. Blizz repeatedly said they want to roll out new expansions faster, and I have yet to be convinced otherwise.
Summary of interviews posted on the frontpage yesterday.What makes you believe we won't get 5.5?
Last edited by mmoc337835b501; 2013-08-21 at 01:00 PM.
didnt wotlk come december?
Go out? Do something else? The fact that it may last a year is not bothering me, although a full year of SoO is highly unlikely.
It wouldn't be the fastest, MoP woudl still be fastest.
Vanilla WoW - November 23th, 2004 - Lasted for approx 2 years and 2 months.
TBC - January 16th, 2007 - Lasted for approx 1 year and 10 months.
WotLK - November 13th, 2008 - Lasted for approx 2 years and 1 month.
Cataclysm - December 7th, 2010 - Lasted for approx 1 year and 9 ½ months
MoP - September 25th, 2012 - Lasted for ????
If next expansion would come out next fall (late August at earliest), it would still give MoP a lifetime of approx 1 year and 11 months.
Also, considering Blizzard (afaik) is aiming for expansion-cycles of 1 ½ year as opposed to the earlier 2-year cycle, it would put next expansion in the spring of 2014. Taking a quick guess I'd say April 15th or 22th (always launches on Tuesdays), which will give a possible beta period of around five months if the beta is launched along with the announcement, which will absolutely come at Blizzcon in November.
I expect them to want to release it in February, but might be pushed to March/April.
It is amazing how you believe because they will most likely announce it at BlizzCon, that in turn means it must take a long time after that to be released. They started working on it a very long time ago. I'd assume it is in a healthy Alpha stage, nearing F&F beta. I would expect closed Beta near Blizzcon for media, and an announcement for closed beta at BlizzCon, possibly with some kind of gimmick ... Blizzcon attendees in person and online passes get into beta? Some kind of AP deal again? Or a basic invite scheme. An open beta somewhere in January (at least the effort to get everyone signed up for beta invites in). Bringing us our pre-xpac patch sometime in early February leading to the late February early March release.
Just as valid of a path as you saying it will be more than a year for no reason at all. The truth is, we all KNOW there is an xpac in development. What we don't know at this time for certain is the name and theme of the xpac. Most people are speculating between Azshara and Legion, with others hoping for Dream or Isles; with the latter easily being a subset of the other two.
You almost assume that they have made no progress on the xpac until they mention it at BlizzCon.
Which is more likely? There are barely into alpha stage ... or they are close or into an internal beta phase and they are polishing as much as they can to really show off at blizzcon to try to create a lot of hype and anticipation for the game?
How much hype could they generate if they are really far behind? How much excitement and desire to continue playing if they make it seem like it is a year off? They know the mistakes of the past. With the already noticeable loss in subs, I'm doubting they'll intentionally do anything else to stir the pot.
My only concern is if they have two teams ... one works on one xpac each, we possibly have the cata xpac team working on the next one maybe it'll be the bc team?! lol I hope it will be a great xpac for everyone's sake. I highly doubt we are more than 7-8 months away from the release of it though.
Also if blizzard want's to keep a steady sub count they might wanna release some content before 4 quarters pass..
Cool your jets, man. They've been releasing content like crazy in MoP. I'm sure they will keep us busy whichever route it goes.
Normal is the name for the mental disorder present in the majority of humanity.
Xinjun
If you conciser WoW as a career path, then I truly feel sorry for you. The new patch hasn't even been launched yet and some kids have already started moaning about its, potentially, long duration. Play the game as it is, and find other, meaningful stuff, to excel in.
Going with spring/early summer release this time.
And no, I am 100% sure it won't be next fall as it will mean 1 year again which Blizzard simply can't afford this time around.
I wouldn't be surprised if they already tested internally. They may surprise everyone of us with a lot faster release
Next expanison released March/April 2014, there I called it
I sincerely wish one-year-span doesn't come as a surprise to anyone; we should be long past this realization.
Last edited by mmoc560053bb87; 2013-08-21 at 01:16 PM.
My personal opinion is that 6-8 months would be acceptable. Especially with LFR and how the game has changed, the pace is much faster than it was during ICC. 10-12 months was ridiculously long and thank god I didn't raid DS.
SoO looks good so it's not that horrible to let it last long.