7.0 - anytime soon? Or has Blizz set unrealistic standards for themself once again?

[Kanogan]

As much I'd like to see a new expanion as well, I actually do hope we get a 6.3. I want to know what's up with Faralon and I'm sure WoD's story hasn't fully ended yet.

[huth]

They are likely to claim that any content released between 6.2 and 7.0 will only prolong the wait for 7.0, that's what they've said in the past.

They tried the whole, adding another raid whilst we wait thing in Wrath, it more or less ended up as a wasted effort.

A single-boss 1 room raid. Not a tier. At a time when they had a much smaller team to work with as well. A third tier in WoD would be about the time when the team size increase should really start to show itself.

[Deleted]

(also, do these 2 minor pacthes count as ACTUAL patches?)

Those minor patches that introduced raids with double number figures of bosses? Just as well you were never around in Vanilla for the dozen or so patches we had then; I shudder to think what you'd have made of that.

[Noctifer616]

A single-boss 1 room raid. Not a tier. At a time when they had a much smaller team to work with as well. A third tier in WoD would be about the time when the team size increase should really start to show itself.

We don't actually know where all those new people went. Resource allocation isn't public. We also don't know how many internal projects never see the light of day. There are so many things we don't know which makes things extremely complicated to judge. We basically have to wait and see.

[Deleted]

And that's perfectly fine.

Pointless discussion without any data though, so w/e.
Just a bunch of flaming and yelling on the Internet..

[Alvito]

They are likely to claim that any content released between 6.2 and 7.0 will only prolong the wait for 7.0, that's what they've said in the past.

They tried the whole, adding another raid whilst we wait thing in Wrath, it more or less ended up as a wasted effort.

RS was a truly shitty raid. It was both unimportant and uninteresting. It is so bad most forget it or never went. SWP was also added after the fact too. BT was supposed to be the final BC raid and we ended up getting something fun with a cool questing area. They did have a lot longer to work on Quel Damas and SWP then the train wreck that was Ruby Sanctum.

[Cebel]

They will announce it at Blizzcon. There is no way they wouldn't do that. I guess it will release sometime before or after the movie releases.

That covers every day except the date the movie comes out. SOoo that seems likely. Very bold prediction sir.

[Noctifer616]

That covers every day except the date the movie comes out. SOoo that seems likely. Very bold prediction sir.

Considering that they don't have control over the movie release date I would say that the movie has no impact on their release schedule.

[Khaeli]

I think the fact that mmo-c couldn't make an accurate time of arrival for wod until a month before release means that blizzard is on a really wacky schedule and honestly anything could be possible with blizzard.

I really wouldn't be making bets like this until blizzard gives us more info... Which may not be until blizzcon.

[Deleted]

That covers every day except the date the movie comes out. SOoo that seems likely. Very bold prediction sir.

Well i wasn't clear enough :P Shortly after or before the the movie. Movie releases 10th June 2016. So my guess would be 7.0 releases May/June or July/August.

[Alvito]

I think the fact that mmo-c couldn't make an accurate time of arrival for wod until a month before release means that blizzard is on a really wacky schedule and honestly anything could be possible with blizzard.

I really wouldn't be making bets like this until blizzard gives us more info... Which may not be until blizzcon.

Which would blow away any shot at it coming out in the year time period they talked about. Without the months of beta testing they do the next expansion would be a heap of unfinished unbalanced crap. For some reason it was become a very popular topic that Blizzcon will come 7.0 will go live the next Tuesday giving us one final month of WoD. There is just no way that is happening.

[Deleted]

A single-boss 1 room raid. Not a tier. At a time when they had a much smaller team to work with as well. A third tier in WoD would be about the time when the team size increase should really start to show itself.

They would have to start working on that tier immediately, if even that would be enough time. Making a whole tier is lot of work, and will severely delay 7.0. Don't count on it happening.

- - - Updated - - -

RS was a truly shitty raid. It was both unimportant and uninteresting. It is so bad most forget it or never went. SWP was also added after the fact too. BT was supposed to be the final BC raid and we ended up getting something fun with a cool questing area. They did have a lot longer to work on Quel Damas and SWP then the train wreck that was Ruby Sanctum.

That's a myth, Sunwell Plateau was planned from the very start and is not something they just threw together prior to Wrath, it's been confirmed by Blizzard themselves, sadly I don't have the quote bookmarked as of now but hopefully someone else reading this does...

[Skul]

Blizzard has shown time and time again that they are incapable of making good on the promises of "faster content" in any context.

Them doubling their work force has done nothing but cause us to have even longer content drought and WoD has had the least amount of content of any expansion to date for its time furthering this perception.

I expect WoD final tier to be over a year long (again) and for Blizzard to once again make the same exact excuses for lackluster delivery. What we need is a 50% sub loss to force their upper-managements hand and get whoever is controlling their current timelines canned.

[Apexis]

You were more likely delusional to think that they would be able to get to a point where their vision of this yearly expansion was truly realistic. We are still on the same time table as before. They will announce at Blizzcon and the alpha/beta will be sometime in the spring and the expansion will roll out somewhere before Blizzcon next year. If they do go to this yearly expansion process, it will most likely be the next one, because by then they should be able to only have to create raid content patches and not expansions anymore. By that time the sub levels in the west should so far in the tank that they can get by making just about any type of content they deem they want to make.

[Pann]

Blizzard has shown time and time again that they are incapable of making good on the promises of "faster content" in any context.

Them doubling their work force has done nothing but cause us to have even longer content drought and WoD has had the least amount of content of any expansion to date for its time furthering this perception.

I expect WoD final tier to be over a year long (again) and for Blizzard to once again make the same exact excuses for lackluster delivery. What we need is a 50% sub loss to force their upper-managements hand and get whoever is controlling their current timelines canned.

There is no promise of faster content from what they have said they have no intention of speeding up content delivery in order to release expansions quicker instead they plan to speed up expansions by releasing less content.

[Methusula]

RS was a truly shitty raid. It was both unimportant and uninteresting. It is so bad most forget it or never went. SWP was also added after the fact too. BT was supposed to be the final BC raid and we ended up getting something fun with a cool questing area. They did have a lot longer to work on Quel Damas and SWP then the train wreck that was Ruby Sanctum.

Every time I see someone say BT was supposed to be the last raid in BC, I expect to die of a massive brain hemorrhage. Sunwell was always planned to be the final raid. Do you really think they pulled a raid that good, with story that fit with the narrative so well, AND an entire zone with a massive quest hub, rep grind, and 5 man out of their asses?

[Thetruth1400]

With the WoW team having doubled for over a year now, and them saying WoD might only have 2 patches (also, do these 2 minor pacthes count as ACTUAL patches?), and we could look at yearly expansion, does that mean that 7.0 will come out in 6 months? Or is this just something that's all talk to get people hyped for no reason? What do you think?

It's hype, and stale hype at that. They've been saying for about three or four expansions now that they want "quicker turnover with content and yearly expansions." It hasn't happened yet, no reason to believe it is going to happen any time soon.

If we're lucky, we're going to see the next expansion a year from now. They've hinted that 6.2 isn't the last patch with their, "We have plenty more story left to tell" comment in one of the interviews recently. That coupled with the fact that we're still missing a few of those warlords we're so "eagerly" trying to fight, and there's at least one more patch this expansion, followed up by who knows how long of a gap.

If Blizzard knew what was good for them, which they probably don't judging by this failure of an expansion, they'd release 6.2 soon, then 6.3 in 4 months, then their next expansion in 6 months after that tops.

Every time I see someone say BT was supposed to be the last raid in BC, I expect to die of a massive brain hemorrhage. Sunwell was always planned to be the final raid. Do you really think they pulled a raid that good, with story that fit with the narrative so well, AND an entire zone with a massive quest hub, rep grind, and 5 man out of their asses?

Or, and now hear me out on this, Blizzard realized that they weren't going to have enough content early on in the expansions life cycle, and realized, "Hey, we need to crush out some quality content because we're not going to have enough." Then, they set about doing it, because at that point in time, Blizzard actually gave a shit about their customers and didn't just treat them like paychecks like they currently do.

[Skul]

There is no promise of faster content from what they have said they have no intention of speeding up content delivery in order to release expansions quicker instead they plan to speed up expansions by releasing less content.

That's actually a perfectly legit interpretation as well. And even WORSE for the player. I was at least giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are not tryign to intentionally screw the customer.

[Deleted]

It wonders me how people ask the same question again and again.

Don't trust blizzard even for a second, especially if it's regarding "rolling out faster expansions".

We have been betrayed every expansion. At every Blizzcon the say "next expansion is going to come much before than you expect"

Enough with the drama already. "We have been betrayed", can you exaggerate anymore? Did they sleep with your girlfriend? Report you to the IRS?

Also, where do you get the idea Blizzard owes you anything beyond what they currently offer and you pay for? Blizzard makes games, those are huge projects and those don;t always go as planned. Actually, they rarely ever go as planned. Blizzard decides when they are ready to release and what they will and will not do with the game. We are entitled to nothing, we have the option to buy expansions when they are released and we can start and stop our subscriptions as we please. If you don't like it, cancel. You do know that you can just come back when there is a new expansion you don;t have to keep playing?

[huth]

Enough with the drama already. "We have been betrayed", can you exaggerate anymore? Did they sleep with your girlfriend? Report you to the IRS?

Also, where do you get the idea Blizzard owes you anything beyond what they currently offer and you pay for? Blizzard makes games, those are huge projects and those don;t always go as planned. Actually, they rarely ever go as planned. Blizzard decides when they are ready to release and what they will and will not do with the game. We are entitled to nothing, we have the option to buy expansions when they are released and we can start and stop our subscriptions as we please. If you don't like it, cancel. You do know that you can just come back when there is a new expansion you don;t have to keep playing?

If a big project goes exactly as planned, something is terribly, terribly wrong with it. You just don't know what, yet.