Blizzard could've avoided 99% of this QQ if they'd named the patches 4.0.8 and 4.1

[godofslack]

That may well be true, but the idea of it being September is only true if you take 8 weeks plus 4 for each patch. The reality is you could just as easily take it as 2 weeks each patch and say it will be out in early April. That's equally unlikely, with May/June sitting nicely in the middle of the given time range and therefore seemingly much more likely.

Let's do the math, with the average length being 8 weeks. We are 1 week into PTR today, so that leaves 7 weeks +8 weeks for firelands. 7+8= 15 weeks, which is just under 4 months, 4 months from March is July. And that's assuming that none of the test periods go over their average length (and firelands probably will) and there isn't a delay from when 4.1 hits live and 4.2 hits the PTR (which there almost surely will be). So, I may of made a mistake about by accidentally thinking that there are on average 12 weeks per PTR patch, but, it's still a long period of time.

[Nume]

Quoted directly from the interview.

That quote was made when 4.1 was first released on PTRs. From what Blizzard has said since, they decided not to include firelands and to release 4.1 earlier. Zarhym posted about this:
"A good amount of development progress had already been made on Firelands by the time we decided it would be better to release it in the following patch. Because of that, a lot of information about what is now considered 4.2 content was already in the game files for the initial 4.1 PTR build. This just reinforces what Bashiok said about 4.2 being scheduled for release on the PTR shortly after 4.1 goes live.

Development for both patches is currently well in progress. "
In other words they had a lot of the development ready to go, but decided not to include it later. This quote by Basihok also seems to indicate it will be released in less time than a traditional content patch with a raid:
"Our plan is to package features like raids, dungeons, and daily quest hubs into smaller content updates and release them as soon as possible, rather than wait and release them as large but infrequent updates."

[shadowkras]

People will QQ even if blizzard releases a new raid every week, discussing this is stupid if you think about it.

[godofslack]

That quote was made when 4.1 was first released on PTRs. From what Blizzard has said since, they decided not to include firelands and to release 4.1 earlier. Zarhym posted about this:
"A good amount of development progress had already been made on Firelands by the time we decided it would be better to release it in the following patch. Because of that, a lot of information about what is now considered 4.2 content was already in the game files for the initial 4.1 PTR build. This just reinforces what Bashiok said about 4.2 being scheduled for release on the PTR shortly after 4.1 goes live.

Development for both patches is currently well in progress. "
In other words they had a lot of the development ready to go, but decided not to include it later. This quote by Basihok also seems to indicate it will be released in less time than a traditional content patch with a raid:
"Our plan is to package features like raids, dungeons, and daily quest hubs into smaller content updates and release them as soon as possible, rather than wait and release them as large but infrequent updates."

The quote was from when they decided to remove the Firelands from the PTR. So it's fairly recent.

[Falrinn]

What we are seeing is a partial return to the vanilia model of patches. Rather then having 3 massive content patches, there will be a good 6+ content patches of moderate size. They will still probably be quite a bit bigger then some of the patches we saw in vanilla, where there were patches like 1.12 "Drums of War", which added two world PvP objectives that no one used. Or perhaps 1.10 "Storms of Azeroth", which added some new gear and weather effects without any new dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, or major outdoor areas.

[Deleted]

There WILL Always be something to QQ about.

[Gouky]

you are a fool Mister.

1. no raid, no new Set.

2. no new raid, no new PvP season

3. no new PvP season, no new PvP gear.

4. Epic gems are not even mentioned in 4.1???

5. ZG and ZA gear will drop same gear as before, but with different stats.

so what is the point of the patch then anyway???

[Shamslam]

Preach. The WoW community is filled with the loudest crybabies ever. I played RuneScape for years and people never cried about stupid shit like they do in WoW.

Edit: The Vanessa VanCleef storyline was awesome!

Funny thing is Runescape (sadly) does it right with updates nearly every week, or at least they did when I played. You could never get upset about lack of content when they were constantly updating the game.

I do agree though, Blizzard should have just made it 4.0.8. Three new heroics are a big content patch and should be 4.1 but god...it caused so much bitching.

[Tigercat]

It's fun watching people yell and scream like the sky is falling because of blizzard daring not to release a major raid with a x.y patch. Too many kiddies these days that weren't around for vanilla and the large number of patches that went into it.

[ComputerNerd]

Or if players bothered to read the blue response explaining the lack of firelands in 4.1 instead.
The blizzcon announcement was made based on current plans at the time, and as we well know plans and progress can take unexpected turns.
They made a statement well in advance which got proven to be incorrect, get over it.
It is not the first time, and nor will it be the last.

[Chaoslux]

Funny thing is Runescape (sadly) does it right with updates nearly every week, or at least they did when I played. You could never get upset about lack of content when they were constantly updating the game.

I do agree though, Blizzard should have just made it 4.0.8. Three new heroics are a big content patch and should be 4.1 but god...it caused so much bitching.

Are you seriously compairing runescape updates with wow content patches?

[Gouky]

lol at all the fan boys, vanilla is long past people, wow is not the best game anymore, so we shouldn't take all the crap from bliz silently.

[godofslack]

I've only seen a single person complaining about it being called 4.1, it's hardly 99%; instead of glossing over the entire issue with the silly idea that it's all based off a foolish opinion it would be better to look at the issue as a whole, that's part of having an intelligent arguement.

[Deleted]

All of the QQ from everyone is the EXACT reason that Blizz do not usually give a specific date on patches or a date for expansions until very close to the release date or announce what is coming in patches early. Because if they delay it then its "OMGWTFBBQ" from almost everyone, even if it is delayed for only 1 week. No wonder we have to wait for MMO-Champion to datamine info, THEN blizz announce it officially. If all the kids shut up moaning all the time we might know more info on what is to come!

[Gouky]

All of the QQ from everyone is the EXACT reason that Blizz do not usually give a specific date on patches or a date for expansions until very close to the release date or announce what is coming in patches early. Because if they delay it then its "OMGWTFBBQ" from almost everyone, even if it is delayed for only 1 week. No wonder we have to wait for MMO-Champion to datamine info, THEN blizz announce it officially. If all the kids shut up moaning all the time we might know more info on what is to come!

right as if bliz would announce that, cata will be a total boring piece of crap???

[Doombringer]

4.1, 4.2, 4.whatever...

It's a good decision. Cata launched with a lot of raid content. Congrats to you if you've aced it all already... most have not. When 4.1 drops, my raid group will be finishing up BWD and halfway through Bastion. When we're not raiding, we'll have ZG and ZA to do, and that's a good thing.

[Nume]

Zarhym just posted recently, "Our goal, however, is not to delay Firelands further than it would have been in order to put out everything else in 4.1 first."
So he seems to think they will be trying to do like the OP said and release Firelands as fast as it would be had it been in 4.1. Who knows if that'll actually happen but just noting that :P.

[Senaelanna]

Blizz pushed the Firelands back because people asked them too. A lot of guilds hadn't finished the content. They don't rehash because its easier. Its a way to bring back old content no one goes to anymore. Would you have seriously gone back to ZA at all on an alt?

Pretty sure NOBODY asked to have new content pushed back. Good lord.

[Malefic]

People are incapable of reading inbetween the lines, or infact, reading at all.

People just see " No Major Raid in 4.1 OMFG GOING TO BE 6 MONTHS BEFORE WE GET NEW RAIDS "

This is how its going to happen;

No major raid in 4.1 means that the extensive testing which is required when a major raid is released won't be needed, as a quick analysis I'd be suprised if 4.1 came out after March. Meaning I would expect it within 3 weeks, tops.

That also means, 4.2 will be on PTR really quickly after 4.1 (Probably about ~2 weeks) 4.1 testing will begin and will probably be on PTR for about 6 weeks. Meaning 4.2 will come in 2-3months, just like it would have anyways.