Things missing from 6.1?

[Pua]

So, what is not finding its way into 6.1?

We know we’re getting more garrison missions, as well as a jukebox, Twitter interaction and a selfie-taker. The heirloom tab touted for launch will finally find its way in, as will the delayed blood elf models (also supposed to be in for launch). The legendary questline moves on, undoubtedly with another grind that’ll require weeks of killing bosses for not much else. I’ve also heard tell of an Iron Docks questing area, but there’s not much about that yet – and if it’s going to find its way onto the PTR, that’ll presumably mean another several weeks before we see the patch itself. Maybe it’ll go live by March?

After the longest content drought in the game’s history, and the lightest expansion ever launched, their first patch (also very light) is going to take them four months to deliver.

We can stick a pin in this for the time being, though. Maybe I shouldn’t have expected the longest development period and biggest team World of Warcraft has ever had to deliver something more than their lightest expansion.

But there are three things I’m particularly disappointed not to see.

1) Tanaan Jungle. So, er… What happened to this? Another zone that probably should have made it into the launch content, didn’t, and was presumably going to make it in for 6.1. Anyone know what the deal is here? Has it just been Abyssal Mawed?

2) Flying. It seems flying is a thing of the past, and no proper argument has ever been put forward as to why this is from a design point of view. Of course we know it’s to slow people down, but it was originally stated to be ready for 6.1. Where is it?

And most importantly:

3) Dungeons. Where are they? BlizzCon ’13 had Hazzikostas proclaiming that they’d “heard the feedback” about patch dungeons and that they were going to “try and do more of that”. What’s happened? Is this just more cut content?

Now maybe I’m just ill-informed, and I’m comfortable that might be the case. If people want to correct me on the above three questions with something I’ve not seen, I’ll thank you in advance.

But it seems to me that the community has largely been delivered the middle finger with this expansion, and that’s not going to change any time soon.

Shame.

[Imnick]

I think you're ill informed here?
Tanaan Jungle would have been nice but it was never promised for 6.1.
Flying has had plenty of design arguments put forward for it, and removing it was entirely a design concern, not a production one. You may not agree with them, but that does not mean they were not there. It was never promised to be re-added in 6.1, or in fact ever.
Dungeons were promised "eventually" but again, also not necessarily in the first patch. While in Cataclysm dungeons were added in their own patches, in Wrath they usually accompanied raid tiers, so there's not really any predicting when that's going to happen.

I don't even think this is "the lightest expansion ever released", there's a massive amount of content and an enormous raid tier, but I don't really want to get into that argument.

[Ranaka]

I agree with you on a lot of this. A lot of these additions are things that feel delayed in order to get the game out. Personally, I would have been happier waiting 2-3 more months for this expansion and played something else in the meantime.

The flying, though, was never stated to be added at any point. They keep repeating the "We're still deciding when/if" line.

I've not like everything they've done through the game's history, but I've always been able to find something that I've enjoyed. I remember being so excited and digging the leveling content. I raved about what I had seen for the first two months. Now, between garrisons automating everything and reading the patch notes for 6.1, I can't help but feel like Warcraft has turned into a one-trick pony.

[Traveler Voltin]

I think you're ill informed here?
Tanaan Jungle would have been nice but it was never promised for 6.1.
Flying has had plenty of design arguments put forward for it, and removing it was entirely a design concern, not a production one. You may not agree with them, but that does not mean they were not there. It was never promised to be re-added in 6.1, or in fact ever.
Dungeons were promised "eventually" but again, also not necessarily in the first patch. While in Cataclysm dungeons were added in their own patches, in Wrath they usually accompanied raid tiers, so there's not really any predicting when that's going to happen.

I don't even think this is "the lightest expansion ever released", there's a massive amount of content and an enormous raid tier, but I don't really want to get into that argument.

The goal was tanaan for 6.1 which they failed like everything else

[Imnick]

The goal was tanaan for 6.1 which they failed like everything else

Do you have a source on that? I'm pretty sure that's just something people convinced themselves of but which was never stated.
Given that Tanaan is presumably where the last raid tier is I'm not terribly surprised they're holding it back.

This community is really really good at guessing things, then taking other people's guesses as promises from Blizzard, even though Blizzard never said anything of the sort.

[Lochton]

1.: Maybe - 2.: Not really - 3.: Please, wouldn't mind exploring more dungeons.

Pff... I know what has higher prio than number 2, sadly it isn't in 6.1 either - Tabard UI

[Pua]

Just quickly, I should point out, that I never said they promised anything. Now, of course, sensible people know that a promise doesn’t have to start or end with the words “I promise”, but we’ll ignore that for now – it’s not really the point.

Tanaan Jungle would have been nice but it was never promised for 6.1.

I’m sure Lore was the blue poster who said that it was planned for 6.1, having been taken out of the launch content that it should have been a part of. I’ll have a hunt for the post to see.

Flying has had plenty of design arguments put forward for it, and removing it was entirely a design concern, not a production one. You may not agree with them, but that does not mean they were not there. It was never promised to be re-added in 6.1, or in fact ever.

That’s true, the design arguments were crap, but they did exist. Fair play. But again, it was heavily cited that flying would return in 6.1 and I even recall the discussions about how it was going to be an involved quest chain rather than just pitching up at a flying trainer and coughing up 5k.

Dungeons were promised "eventually" but again, also not necessarily in the first patch. While in Cataclysm dungeons were added in their own patches, in Wrath they usually accompanied raid tiers, so there's not really any predicting when that's going to happen.

To be fair, Imnick, I recall saying at the time Hazzikostas made the comments he did, that he never said Blizzard would put dungeons in. His exact statement was they’ll try and do it, not that they necessarily would. Many people argued that this was the reason we got so few in the launch content and, if I recall correctly, even that was cut down.

Was Razorfen Downs not supposed to be a new heroic? I’m sure I heard that talk somewhere (though it could easily have been a wish-list thread).

In any event, it now seems that patch dungeons are a thing of the past as well – I say this, because we’ve not heard hide nor hair or them.

I don't even think this is "the lightest expansion ever released", there's a massive amount of content and an enormous raid tier, but I don't really want to get into that argument.

Well, let’s face it, it is. You’d have to be able to tell me an expansion that launched with less content after a 14 month wait and, quite obviously, you can’t.

[Deleted]

Tanaan Jungle and Iron Citadel is coming with 6.2 or 6.4 depending if wod is a two tier raid expansion or not. they havent told us yet.
I am disappointed to not see daily hubs like in MoP and dungeons - with an ilvl similar to lfr - troughout the expansion.

[AeneasBK]

Troll OP. Try harder

[Imnick]

But again, it was heavily cited that flying would return in 6.1 and I even recall the discussions about how it was going to be an involved quest chain rather than just pitching up at a flying trainer and coughing up 5k.

You are remembering players talking to other players, and have mentally inserted a promise from Blizzard somewhere into there.
This is what has happened for everything on your list.
Blizzard at no point said "we're going to give you flying back, as a quest chain" nor "in 6.1". What they have consistently been is vague, and what they have consistently done is update features which make flying less important, implying that they're just not planning on bringing it back.
And flying isn't even a production concern, you can see from using gliders that they didn't skimp on the geography or anything.

Razorfen Downs (and Blackfathom Deeps and whatever the other one was) was something the developers did during downtime between expansions and never planned to be a heroic.

We've not seen hide nor hair of the final raid tier though, so I guess it's never coming. Nor will there be any future balance patches. Or expansions. It's not just because when you show a WoW fan something in development, they demand it immediately.

Troll OP. Try harder

It's certainly looking that way yes.
Either troll or very easily taken in by other wishful forum users, anyway.

[Lochton]

Forgot to add, OP, flight was cancelled for 6.1 - just incase you missed the many threads about it.

Though, wouldn't mind that tabard UI *looks in bank*

[Deleted]

Tanaan Jungle and Iron Citadel is coming with 6.2 or 6.4 depending if wod is a two tier raid expansion or not. they havent told us yet.
I am disappointed to not see daily hubs like in MoP and dungeons - with an ilvl similar to lfr - troughout the expansion.

I don't think anyone will be happy hearing the most expensive expansion yet has only 2 raid tiers... Especially with Farahlon cut from the plan and 6.1 being what it is.

[Arvandor]

after q1 we will see where the sub numbers are..

after this, flying return faster than light with a cheap blizzard excuse..

[megasus]

The heirloom tab touted for launch will finally find its way in, as will the delayed blood elf models (also supposed to be in for launch).

Well, If I remember correctly, they stated pretty clearly during Blizzcon 2013 that some models might be released in patches. TBC races were explicitly stated as something with lower priority. So, I wouldn't go so far as to say they were supposed to be in for launch. I'm surprised they managed to get almost all of them in... there would probably be less if they didn't delay the expansion.

3) Dungeons. Where are they? BlizzCon ’13 had Hazzikostas proclaiming that they’d “heard the feedback” about patch dungeons and that they were going to “try and do more of that”. What’s happened? Is this just more cut content?

I think the plan is to release dungeons along raids in a patch and then scale older dungeons up to create a greater pool. They wouldn't have that much of a purpose if they were released now.
It would be a little bit to early to write off patch dungeons for this expansion.

[MoanaLisa]

You are remembering players talking to other players, and have mentally inserted a promise from Blizzard somewhere into there.
This is what has happened for everything on your list.
Blizzard at no point said "we're going to give you flying back, as a quest chain" nor "in 6.1". What they have consistently been is vague, and what they have consistently done is update features which make flying less important, implying that they're just not planning on bringing it back.
And flying isn't even a production concern, you can see from using gliders that they didn't skimp on the geography or anything.

Well, not quite. I don't want this to turn into a flying thread (because we have one already) but a year before launch Bashiok made a post (since taken down) which spoke of quest chains and the like which would culminate with flying in 6.1. A few months after that they said that plans had changed and that they had no idea if or when flying would be available. "Wait and see" was the plan well before launch.

I don't remember anything about Tanaan jungle being set up for 6.1. And then dungeons: If there are going to be any more of those they'll come along after BRF. Blood elfs were announced as going to be late long before launch. All of this was pretty much old news before launch.

So bottom line all of this 'missing content' for 6.1 was just plans, supposition on the part of players, exaggeration and other smoke and mirrors. Blizzard is very much not talking these days about anything. Holinka says watch the patch notes. If they never say what they're planning on doing then no one can complain about anything being missing.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't think anyone will be happy hearing the most expensive expansion yet has only 2 raid tiers... Especially with Farahlon cut from the plan and 6.1 being what it is.

Well, I guess we'll see. If they can avoid going for a year with nothing new at the end of the expansion a lot of people will be happy enough about that.

[Pua]

You are remembering players talking to other players, and have mentally inserted a promise from Blizzard somewhere into there.

No, that’s what you think I’m doing. I remember, pretty explicitly, blue posters saying that it’d be originally in for 6.1 and that it’d be a quest chain.

Commentary since then has potentially changed the plan, as Gehco mentions, but that doesn’t change the original.

Also, for the second time, I never said they “promised” it. If you’re going to get involved in a mature debate, you have to stop making things up. Honestly, it’s a prerequisite.

Blizzard at no point said "we're going to give you flying back, as a quest chain" nor "in 6.1". What they have consistently been is vague, and what they have consistently done is update features which make flying less important, implying that they're just not planning on bringing it back.

If by “updating features”, you mean “sorting out illogical flight paths”, they were given that feedback during beta in order to get it sorted out for launch.

Ironically, we could almost count it as another piece of content cut from launch.

Razorfen Downs (and Blackfathom Deeps and whatever the other one was) was something the developers did during downtime between expansions and never planned to be a heroic.

Aye, that could be true. Like I said earlier, I wasn’t sure if that was the heroic plan or something they just updated. I think they were both done during MoP, actually.

We've not seen hide nor hair of the final raid tier though, so I guess it's never coming. Nor will there be any future balance patches. Or expansions. It's not just because when you show a WoW fan something in development, they demand it immediately.

We’ve heard quite a lot about the final raid tier, and we hear a lot about future balance patches. We also know about the next expansion, because they’ve spoken of the Burning Legion closing out this one.

Either troll or very easily taken in by other wishful forum users, anyway.

Or less easily impressed by lazy game development.

[Puri]

What happened to follower leveling while assigned to buildings?

[megasus]

Blizzard is very much not talking these days about anything. Holinka says watch the patch notes. If they never say what they're planning on doing then no one can complain about anything being missing.

Seems like they learned their lesson. After all those accusations about broken promises and delays, they just won't talk about future stuff... what a great result.

[Ranaka]

Seems like they learned their lesson. After all those accusations about broken promises and delays, they just won't talk about future stuff... what a great result.

Typical Blizzard. They can't seem to make moderate shifts in anything. It's always about swinging the pendulum to an extreme. The company I work for is the same way and it's beyond aggravating.

[Nexsa]

Flying was removed from WoD to see how it could help us interact with the world and other players. I think it's doing a great job.

I log in, gather my garrison work orders, gather my mats from garrison mine and herbs. I then go to see what Garrison missions are finished and start up some new ones.

Now, from there I can either que up for a heroic dungeon or LFR from my garrison or if it's raid nights take a flight path which is close to Highmaul, then go raid, where I will then hearth back to my Garrison after raiding is over.

I might go to Warspear for my extra rolls in raids or to get queued up for Ashran.

All I know is, it's great being on the ground again and seeing more people interact.