Cataclysm is not coming out sooner than we think

[Glassjaw]

For all you people saying 3rd quarter 2010: The final patch of this expansion is already on the PTR. Say it comes out in a month or two, that would leave almost an entire year with no patches or new content. I would see a lot of people quitting during that time.

Blizzard wants to keep the content rolling because people tear through it so quickly. They don't want you getting bored with nothing new to do for that long. I would guess this new expansion will arrive when the robin makes his nest. Springtime!

[Tuug]

Seriously, you would have to be retarded to base your idea off of the announcement trailer made SPECIFICALLY for blizzcon, which was obviously in the middle of LK expansion.


BlizzCon announcement trailer =/= actual cinematic.

+
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAOxY_nHdew
=
You.

[Throrion]

Says common sense bud. Its not coming out any further then May dude theirs many hints they gave us.


Edit:

Lol are you serious? Beta will be out before 2010 it was said at blizzcon. It's going to be around the time icc launches. Common now bud. No ones gonna wanna play ICC that long. Especially with the hype of cata.

Sorry to say it, but this post is completely clueless. So yeah, Blizzard are putting tons of effort into an epic raid with 12 bosses and -three- five man instances only to let people play it for about 8 weeks before releasing an expansion? Yeah, right, someone obviously didn't play back when Blizzard regretted the Naxx 40->TBC failure. Common sense, please.

Besides, the beta has not even started yet and that will take at the very least 3 months of testing. Probably more.

[Bowen]

the nax - tbc fail you say they regretted

Would that be like the we realize the mistake about rewarding raiding items for badges in tbc and plan to avoid this in wotlk, even more content in wotlk than tbc (spoiler) can be face rolled unless you have uber awesome 25people for hard modes. ?

[seam]

2nd quarter 2010 at the latest. 6+ months of one patch? I doupt they would ever do that.

[Abani]

Actually it is coming as soon as we think.

Icecrown will drop no later than the start of December.

There's no way they'll release a raid during Xmas holidays, where everyone is off school and work.. Blizzard most likely will have a reduced staff due to folks on holiday.

It's a terrible idea, and I highly doubt would happen. I'd see them releasing it in January before they released it mid December.

Icecrown Citadel has been in development since the start of WOTLK development, at least in some form.

And during the entire expansion's lifespan, they slowly but surely have been working on it. (One would assume.)

Naxx, Recycled.
Malygos, new area and model but very small single encounter.
Same as Maly but less new things in the visual department.
Ulduar was the only all new, bigtime raid in this expansion.
ToC recycled bosses. some new models and textures.. But small raid that was rushed, and causes connection issues.
Not a massive undertaking, that was.
VoA I don't even consider a raid instance, and even if I did.. Nothing new there except some fight mechanics..


So.
Tell me. How is Icecrown anything but less than 2 months away?

It isn't.
It couldn't be.

This raid has had the most internal testing, as no doubt it's been in the works since Wrath's release.
It's had the most focus on it, as it's the end all raid for this expansion.
It is pretty much or close to complete from what I've been hearing since Blizzcon.

You people are morons if you think it's going to sit on the PTR for months because it needs large amounts of testing done.

People over exaggerate the PTR's importance.

New raids are not released there for players to party with new bosses before anyone else.
It's not put on there because the raid is vastly incomplete and buggy.

That's why Blizzard has their own testers. The bulk of the work is already done.
The PTR is for feedback from the playerbase. To gauge reactions to the new content from said playerbase.
To see how the public fares for better or for worse in the new content.
To put finishing touches on sound, models, textures, encounters, etc.
And to hammer out any kinks still left.

It will be on the PTR for about a month I gather.
Maybe until mid November.
But I think Icecrown is coming very soon, there's no reason to.
Besides Cataclysm (which I'm sure is at least partially a different team), they've had nothing else to develop all this time.
Especially since there's no other raids left.

3rd Quarter 2010? That's asinine. So pretty much 1 year from now is the expansion's release?
No.
Anyone that takes Gamestop's estimated release dates to heart is an idiot.

April/May is the LATEST I see Cataclysm being released.

That leaves us with almost 6 months of Icecrown if it is released at the most likely date.
No way will they have that happen.

Cataclysm is the breath of fresh air into their deteriorating game world.
The playerbase feels it. Hell, even Blizzard has said that they aren't happy with WOTLK.

They aren't going to allow their biggest cash cow to grow stagnant for that long.
It doesn't matter how epic Icecrown Citadel is. It will only entertain the masses for so long.
Plus that would be detrimental to all their hard work, as the great feeling players will certainly have after experiencing it will turn to loathing after the 2-3 month marker.

Unless they have plans for a lead in patch to Cataclysm, to hold people off for an extra month or two. I cannot see them realistically releasing them game any later than their 1.5 year release window. Which April 2010 would be 1.5 years since Wrath's release.

Blizzard would lose so much business if the expansion is released without any new content since IC, at the 2 year since Wrath's release mark.

[Tinkle]

I'm presumably intelligent and making you feel like an idiot of monumental proportions makes my penis inflate to the size of equally monumental proportions!

You could have just said this and probably got more people to read it. Though your post was well thought out, it was just too much for the "in" crowd.

[Chimbles]

2nd quarter 2010 at the latest. 6+ months of one patch? I doupt they would ever do that.

People agreeing with me is a sign of progress. I fully endorse this bold new direction.