8.0 announce and release speculation (with data)

[Bigbazz]

They will announce next XP in 2018, they said already that Legion was going to be a long expansion, Blizzcon will probably be hyping Argos.

[Deleted]

People act like "It's not even 1 year old". Well WoD was only 10 or 11 months when Legion was accounced so nice logic there guys and girls

I think it'll be announced sometime in summer.

[deadman1]

5-7 months for the final raid tier would be a perfect time frame. This would allow weaker guilds to have extra time to clear the raid tier, as well as giving people who have cleared the raid more content to do in the form of a new dungeon and/or quest line.

No that's not what I mean.

I mean if it comes out in November and lasts til about April, then there will be April-September of content drought if they plan on making 2 year release windows.

So that's 11+ months after raid release or 5-7 months after the 5-7 month raid window.

[Deleted]

Most likely, they will announce the next expansion at Gamescon instead of Blizzcon much like they did with Legion.

No its Blizzcon this year. 8.0 in February next year? JOKE OF THE DAY....

[TheRealDavidTwo]

I mean, 7.3 is going on the PTR tonight.. potential late August/early September launch... maybe leaving 7.3.5 for November? Maybe Blizzcon then, yes. But if they wanted to try and keep with the theme of fast content, I still see a potential, a POTENTIAL(get 'yer panties in a bunch, kiddos) Gamescom announcement. At least, the announcement. With 95% of the reveals at Blizzcon and a beta following Blizzcon like last time.

[Seasz]

Those who just said 7.3 will be revealed at Gamescom...

Lul

[In Ogres We Trust]

I hope its Gamescon as well, do we know for a FACT that 7.3 is the last major patch? Could they do a 7.4 or 7.5 exploring Argus?

7.3 is the last major patch of the expansion. Also, it'll be the same as LGN launch, i.e. announcement at Gamescom coupled with the major details at BlizzCon.

[acf]

Lo and behold, how convenient for Blizzard to drop the 7.3 announcement and PTR deployment today of all days

Gamescon announcement might still be a stretch, but looks like they are committed to the Legion patch every 11-week model at least.

[CaptainV]

I dont think its a stretch tbh, because I suspect WoW is no longer blizzards MMO focal point.

There was a recent recruitment add for blizzard hiring devs for a new MMO, and namely indicated towards the Diablo Franchise which has not had a new game in quite some time since RoS.

Its likley going to be a Diablo MMO announcement at Blizzcon, Gamescom might be expansion 8.0 after all.

[Gyrotex]

People who keep insisting on expansion announcement no earlier than Blizzcon haven't been paying attention.

As someone said above - they've been doing a decent job of keeping to the original schedule of 0.5 patches, and we have no reason to believe that any of their pre-announced plans are "slipping". At least not yet.

They HAVE been using Gamescom as a prominent stage to announce stuff, and by the time Gamescom happens we'll be ready for the next SUBSTANTIAL bit of information.

I fully expect them to announce 8.0 at Gamescom, and release 7.3 to Live around the same time.


Blizzcon 2017:

- VERY LIKELY reveal of the secret project they've been hiring major names for internally. VERY LIKELY a mobile game related to Diablo Universe.
- More E-Sports
- More details on WoW 8.0


8.0 release 3-5 months after Blizzcon.

[stgeorge78]

I now believe Blizzard is going to skip WoW announcement this year and dedicate this year to announcing a potential Overwatch expansion (which is now their #1 game toppling WoW).

They will announce the next and final WoW expansion next year. The game will then move into maintenance mode where it will get minor patches and far reduced staff while Blizzard restructures the company around going all-in on Overwatch and Overwatch League.

It's also way more likely Blizzard will invest in alternate games in the Overwatch universe (possibly try to entice their single player and non-eSports fans with an Overwatch single-player campaign in the expansion).

[Deleted]

I think they will announce at Gamescon to allow full presentations and panels at Blizzcon. Basicly, the same concept as they did with Legion. It fits because they've claimed 7.3 would be the last content patch of Legion. 8.0 has to be releasing in 2018.

[Deleted]

Interesting thread. My guesses, based on their development cycle for the expansion and trade show timing -- as well as industry experience creating product roadmaps. I'm including the remaining development for Legion to illustrate the timeline:

2017
July - 7.3 PTR
August - New expansion (8.0) announcement at Gamescom
Late August / Early September - 7.3 release (Argus story & world content)
Late September - 7.3.5 PTR
November - 8.0 demo at BlizzCon
Late November - 7.3.5 release & Argus raid

2018
January - 8.0 alpha
April - 8.0 beta
Late June / Early July - 8.0 release

8.0 release could fall a little farther into 2018, but I do not anticipate as long of a content drought between 7.3.5 and 8.0 as we've seen in previous expansions.

The Season 4 Gladiator Achievement is not in the 7.3 game files, but the Season 5 Gladiator is. This means for me that the Season 4 Achievement is granted before 7.3 hits the servers. Its like 3 to 4 month until then.

Furthermore Argus is maybe one of the biggest updates ever made. Its like a little xpack (1 new world with 3 new zones, 1 dungeon, 1 raid). I guess this means in Blizzards logic that 7.3 patch is big enough for 1 year of fun until 8.0.

[smaktat]

Seeing as that Legion has been the largest content expansion ever released, then it would make sense for a later release date. To name a few big things, we've had larger raids, more raids, larger dungeons, more dungeons, constant visual / mini-game updates and continual world / PvP mini events throughout. It's honestly thrilling to see the game get so much attention, where it felt like it was on a neglected decline.

[DeicideUH]

My guess is that the announcement will be in Blizzcon. This gives them more time to polish whatever they have to show for 8.0.

I can see next expansion coming as late as the last trimester of 2018, but the wait may not look so long if there's some content released after the announcement. Both WoD and Legion were announced after the previous final raids were available. Both had no patches between the announcements and the expansion.

In contrast, if 7.3.5 comes out around november, with the new tier, then they'll have a few months before alpha/beta needs to be opened. There may also be a patch 7.4 with a small raid like Trial of Valor that they could release to further keep us entertained while we wait for 8.0. Such a small patch may even include a few systems planned for the new expansion or a short storyline that leads to it. It may have some sandbox content that, while boring in the long run, could provide us a month or two of things to do.

[Deleted]

Interesting thread. My guesses, based on their development cycle for the expansion and trade show timing -- as well as industry experience creating product roadmaps. I'm including the remaining development for Legion to illustrate the timeline:

2017
July - 7.3 PTR
August - New expansion (8.0) announcement at Gamescom
Late August / Early September - 7.3 release (Argus story & world content)
Late September - 7.3.5 PTR
November - 8.0 demo at BlizzCon
Late November - 7.3.5 release & Argus raid

2018
January - 8.0 alpha
April - 8.0 beta
Late June / Early July - 8.0 release

8.0 release could fall a little farther into 2018, but I do not anticipate as long of a content drought between 7.3.5 and 8.0 as we've seen in previous expansions.

They won't announce it at Gamescom.

Gamescom WoW panels will be about 7.3 or 7.3.5.

We'll probably get Next expansion information at Blizzcon.

[In Ogres We Trust]

They won't announce it at Gamescom.

Gamescom WoW panels will be about 7.3 or 7.3.5.

We'll probably get Next expansion information at Blizzcon.

We'll get an expansion announcement at Gamescom.