Theory: No major raid for 4.1

[Healingsara]

Theory

Patch 4.1 will only bring a 1 boss hardmode raid at most.

Why

Timeline

Even if it's 3 months from now the majority of players would not have progressed very far in current raid content, let alone Heroic modes. Blizzard have already said it was a mistake to launch ToC so soon after Ulduar as many players missed that tier.

Allowing casuals to experience t11 as current content

I don't believe we'll be seeing any major nerfs, but the main step that will allow Blizzard to reach this design goal is getting players better geared through the new 5 man dungeons so they're better equipped to handle them.

Publicity/History

If a new raid was planned then it would only make sense for it to be the big announcement for 4.1. Apart from a comment made at Blizzcon there's been no word of a new raid. "But there's always been a new raid each major content patch" is null as they've shown many times that just because something has happened in the past doesn't mean they won't change their MO in the future. They've also shown with Halion that the don't need a "point 1" patch to release a new raid.

But what about the hardcores??

This is why I said no "major" raid. I believe that we'll see a 1 boss hardmode raid which will drop the new trinkets only. This will give people who have cleared all content something to do while stopping them from getting too far ahead in gear. I wouldn't be suprised if we didn't see this new raid on the PTR.

In conclusion, I think we'll be seeing 4.1 live sooner than expected, but it won't be what many are expecting.

[Hetrofi]

Who said 4.1 is coming this month, heck, no one even said it would come this year afaik

[Tussi]

I will eat an entire plate full of hats if there isn't a new raiding tier.

[Puffman]

Gonna be hard to fit a caster legendary into a single boss encounter

[Apple_Powah91]

Considering we have a new Ragnaros model already and Firelands was confirmed to be the 4.1 raid, yes we will have a raid in 4.1.

[Pandush]

Did you not see the legs on raggy?!!!

[Herecius]

I will eat an entire plate full of hats if there isn't a new raiding tier.

I'll eat your hats, and the plate they came in on if there isn't.

OP, this is not even close to all of the patch information. You can see a hint of a new caster legendary too, with the tag 'Caverns of Time,' implying that there will also be War of the Ancients in 4.1. Repeat:
This is only a fraction of what will be in the final 4.1 patch.

[Tremelizzer]

How do you think Blizzard is going to keep its subscribers if they don't release new raid content? A couple of heroic five-mans won't keep people occupied long, especially when loot is lower quality than what you can get in current raids (at least in heroic versions).

So no vanilla-styled major content patches. No way.

[Iamlampard]

op is this ur first major patch?

[godofslack]

Only problem with your theory is that achievements related to three bosses have already been data mined. Along with data for a Caverns of Time raid (including a pre-event and legendary).

[Swisted]

Your theory is broken by the salamander dude on the first page, hes more than likely a boss in the fireland raid, not to mention its called 4.1 "firelands" for a reason. there will be a major raid and we probably wont see the patch for about a month and a half if not more

[Zu]

New legs on Rag+Firelands being stated by blizz that it would be the first patch raid makes me consider firelands will be with patch 4.1....

Derp

[Healingsara]

How do you think Blizzard is going to keep its subscribers if they don't release new raid content? A couple of heroic five-mans won't keep people occupied long, especially when loot is lower quality than what you can get in current raids (at least in heroic versions).

So no vanilla-styled major content patches. No way.

Pretty sure we'll see 4.1 "soon", and then the new tier of raiding (and legendary) a month or 2 after that.

[conceit2]

Gonna be hard to fit a caster legendary into a single boss encounter

1% drop! xD

But seriously, i'll join the hat-eating club.

[godofslack]

Pretty sure we'll see 4.1 "soon", and then the new tier of raiding (and legendary) a month or 2 after that.

That still doesn't explain why a large amount of data is already placed on the PTR. There wasn't data on Halion (the dragon, there was data on Halion the staff) in 3.3 PTR.

[kerwyn]

Wasn't it already confirmed at blizzcon that Firelands would be patch 4.1, an 8 boss raid (and not confirmed as the only t12 raid, given blizzard's statement that they wanted more small dungeons per tier, we might be seeing another with it).

Combine that with a new ragnaros model, new firewalker model, and a potential glory mount model, your little theory is not holding much weight.

e: if we look at the ulduar release based on wotlk launch, we're lookin at 2ish months of PTR.

[Herecius]

Pretty sure we'll see 4.1 "soon", and then the new tier of raiding (and legendary) a month or 2 after that.

No, it would not be called '4.1' It would be called something like 4.0.7, since we're currently on 4.0.6.
Here is how the patch numbering system works:
Expansion.Tier.Minor Patch
4.0.6
We are on the fourth expansion, the initial tier, and the sixth minor patch. The original variations of minor patches were most likely in-house builds that were never deployed on live servers, and it was only the sixth incarnation of it that was approved for live release.
4.1 will be the fourth expansion and the first new tier. The technical designation for it will probably be 4.1.0

[Hecs]

Blizzard specifically explained that there are 6 bosses in Firelands.

[Melodi]

Sorry, there OP but the Firelands instance isn't just Rag (they showed another boss on the front page anyways). They showed the model of the dungeon and explained a lot of stuff in the panel for 4.1 at Blizzcon. They haven't even mentioned a large chunk of what they were planning to do that was stated in the panel yet in blue posts (Yes, it's always subject to change of course). There will be more stuff added, as there always is. Just give it time.

[Merin]

This is only part of the patch, there's other things confirmed for this patch that haven't shown up yet.