Another 8-12 months with Soo?

[chezwickcheese]

Beta will most likely start in Feb and will run for 6 months. So we're looking at another 8 months of 5.4. That's a LONG time considering we've already been in 5.4 for a while now. With no content being released until 6.0, Blizz is really under the pump.

[Freshmint]

ICC was out for the better part of a year wasnt it? I wouldnt be surprised if they did it again.... All the expansions have released in November am i correct? thats almost a year of hype they can build before they release annual pass 2.0 or preorder deals.

TBC launched in Jan, WotLK in Nov, Cata in Dec and MoP was in Sept. So not necessarily November, but they do tend to target Fall/Winter

[Deleted]

WoD opt in beta is starting pretty soon, so my guess, April/May launch.

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Beta will most likely start in Feb and will run for 6 months. So we're looking at another 8 months of 5.4. That's a LONG time considering we've already been in 5.4 for a while now. With no content being released until 6.0, Blizz is really under the pump.

Beta has never run for longer than 4 months, and it's high unlikely that will be the case now. Also WoD is scheduled for 2014 Q2.

[geewhiz80]

Beta will most likely start in Feb and will run for 6 months. So we're looking at another 8 months of 5.4. That's a LONG time considering we've already been in 5.4 for a while now. With no content being released until 6.0, Blizz is really under the pump.

I really doubt they will want to push for another 8 1/2 months before releasing WoD. They saw what happens when you leave only one raid for 10+ months with Dragon Soul, I'd like to think they're smart enough to learn from their mistakes. I think we'll see either a mid-Dec or early Jan beta start, followed by 3-4 months of testing and a late spring - early summer release.

[Treeba]

It's not a case of me thinking the players are not there, it's a well established fact that no company releases major games during the summer months. Your comparison of the summer months and the holiday season is apples and oranges.

Pretty sure SC2 came out in July. I'm pretty confident they wouldn't hesitate in the slightest to drop WoD at any point in the summer if it's ready.

[chezwickcheese]

I really doubt they will want to push for another 8 1/2 months before releasing WoD. They saw what happens when you leave only one raid for 10+ months with Dragon Soul, I'd like to think they're smart enough to learn from their mistakes. I think we'll see either a mid-Dec or early Jan beta start, followed by 3-4 months of testing and a late spring - early summer release.

Blizz will never rush a beta so it will most likely run for 6 months. Even if WoD beta starts in Jan that's still another 7 months of 5.4 at least.

[Marxman]

Blizz will never rush a beta so it will most likely run for 6 months. Even if WoD beta starts in Jan that's still another 7 months of 5.4 at least.

I'm not sure how that's "most likely" since every beta so far has lasted less than 5 months, and WoD has the least content that needs to be tested from what we know.

I'd be *shocked* if beta didn't start in January and WoD wasn't out the door by late May.

[Daetur]

It's not a case of me thinking the players are not there, it's a well established fact that no company releases major games during the summer months. Your comparison of the summer months and the holiday season is apples and oranges.

Blizzard themselves released StarCraft II, I repeat, STARCRAFT II- a huge, major title, on July 27th to incredible success. Blizzard themselves released Diablo III, another massive company title, on May 15th to major sales success. Do you really think that June is therefore out of the question for Warlords?

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I'm not sure how that's "most likely" since every beta so far has lasted less than 5 months, and WoD has the least content that needs to be tested from what we know.

I'd be *shocked* if beta didn't start in January and WoD wasn't out the door by late May.

Catacysm's beta was 5 months, not less, and Mists's was 6.

Beta testing has gotten longer every time for Warcraft expansions, with no exceptions thus far. Warlords could absolutely be the exception, but I don't think we're going to see a beta as short as BC's or Wrah's (3-4 months). 5-6 months is, I feel, likely.

[Conscious]

Another 8-12 months of SoO will spell disaster for this game, they can't afford anymore losses.

My guess is they'll push it out by the springtime. I don't know what good it will do because without a class or race, the appeal just won't be there anyways.

[geewhiz80]

Blizz will never rush a beta so it will most likely run for 6 months. Even if WoD beta starts in Jan that's still another 7 months of 5.4 at least.

While they do have a couple announced major features, they don't have to do a whole lot of tweaking to balance for a new class, or new spells (since everything I've read leads me to believe there won't be any new spells), I don't think they'll have to beta test WoD nearly as long as they have with past expacs. Honestly I just don't want to see 8-10 more months of SoO since there won't be another major content patch between 5.4 and 6.0.

[Daetur]

While they do have a couple announced major features, they don't have to do a whole lot of tweaking to balance for a new class, or new spells (since everything I've read leads me to believe there won't be any new spells), I don't think they'll have to beta test WoD nearly as long as they have with past expacs. Honestly I just don't want to see 8-10 more months of SoO since there won't be another major content patch between 5.4 and 6.0.

There are approximately... 33 new abilities being put into the game through a new tier of talents. More if you consider that several of them function differently based on spec.

[Varabently]

Wow: 26 months (Nov 04-Dec 06)
TBC: 22 months (Jan 07-Oct 08)
WOTLK: 25 months (Nov 08-Nov 10)
CATA: 22 months (Dec 10-Sep 12)
MOP: 13 months so far

No new raid, no new content... So? Probably another 8-12 months with the same content?

What you need to consider is the time between the last patch and the next expac. Which is considerably shorter.

[chezwickcheese]

While they do have a couple announced major features, they don't have to do a whole lot of tweaking to balance for a new class, or new spells (since everything I've read leads me to believe there won't be any new spells), I don't think they'll have to beta test WoD nearly as long as they have with past expacs. Honestly I just don't want to see 8-10 more months of SoO since there won't be another major content patch between 5.4 and 6.0.

And I don't want to see 8 months of 5.4 but I think it will be inevitable. The beta periods have been increasing with each expansion. WoD might be the exception because of no new race/class

[geewhiz80]

There are approximately... 33 new abilities being put into the game through a new tier of talents. More if you consider that several of them function differently based on spec.

A fair point, but in the past they had new talents along with new abilities for each class/spec. While it will still require some balancing due to the talents, and the new spell modifications you'll get from 90-100, I don't think it will take as long to balance as say, an entire class (Monk/DK) or 5-10 levels worth of new abilities for 9-11 classes.

Again just hoping that we don't have Dragon Soul 2.0 on our hands here lol.

[Deleted]

Probably another 8-12 months with the same content?

This will be suicide for at least 2-3 million subs.

Not going to happen.

[jbombard]

I'm pretty sure when they were asked if they were going to release in summer they said they would like to get it out a lot sooner than that. That sounds like spring. Considering Wildstar is coming in the spring, if they don't have it out by then, they may find themselves losing a lot of subs. Like Quilzar said though, if they do wait they are going to be losing at least 2-3 million subs. 2 is what they normally lose in 12 months with no new expacks, but we usually have patches in that time frame. 12 months with no new content at all you are probably looking at more, if the competition manages to pull any away, you could be looking at well over 3 million gone.

[Mormolyce]

no chance they couldnt afoord it, no1 would stick with it for that long

You could say the same about the end of TBC and Wrath, but people did.

Actually the long tail of Wrath was quite popular in its way. Sure active raiders QQed endlessly about having no new content but people found other ways to amuse themselves - GDKPs for example. And lots of alt levelling. Achievement farming. And lots of casuals came back, it was so easy with the ICC buff.

[Daetur]

A fair point, but in the past they had new talents along with new abilities for each class/spec. While it will still require some balancing due to the talents, and the new spell modifications you'll get from 90-100, I don't think it will take as long to balance as say, an entire class (Monk/DK) or 5-10 levels worth of new abilities for 9-11 classes.

Again just hoping that we don't have Dragon Soul 2.0 on our hands here lol.

Dragon Soul wasn't out of the ordinary, actually. It lasted 9 months, which is perfectly average. Original Naxxramas lasted 8 months, Sunwell lasted 9. ICC was the outlier at 12, and DS was back to 9 months again. SoO will probably also be 8-9 months, and that won't be any longer than usual.

[geewhiz80]

Dragon Soul wasn't out of the ordinary, actually. It lasted 9 months, which is perfectly average. Original Naxxramas lasted 8 months, Sunwell lasted 9. ICC was the outlier at 12, and DS was back to 9 months again. SoO will probably also be 8-9 months, and that won't be any longer than usual.

Only 9 months? Really? Felt like way more than that. Still I hope it's not 9 months before the expansion.

[Daetur]

Only 9 months? Really? Felt like way more than that. Still I hope it's not 9 months before the expansion.

Well, it shouldn't be 9 months from now! If SoO lasts a total of 8-9 months, the expansion should be out 8-9 months from September 2013, when SoO launched. So, May or June 2014, in 6-7 months.