When will the new expansion be announced?

[Travio]

There's a strong possibility of a 5.5, giving them time to wrap up any loose ends from MoP and start to more full seed the next expansion's storyline within the game in the form of, potentially, scenarios, quest chains, and the pre-expansion events. If 5.4 would have to last 8 months or more to see us through to a new expansion launch, I can almost guarantee we'll see a 5.5.

(Source on 5.5 possibly existing: http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comm...aria-patch-5-2 )

Also from that same source, they discuss odd number patches as 'content' patches, with even number patches being 'raid tier' patches. Take that as you will.

[Chrysia]

I fixed the post, meant May not April for 5.3. BUT (see above post) you're all missing the point. It isn't an "I want quicker content" rant. It's a question about why they've chosen to pace it this way. 5.0-5.3 is most likely going to be 9 months long for all of it (late September through to touch August) Then August through to touch April is 8 months for just 1 patch with 1 raid. Why was it decided to pace this way? 5.0/5.1 raid tier could have had an extra month or so and things would have been fine. I really didn't hear much complaining about 5.2's release, other than it seemed too fast. Why did they speed us up, only to slow us down when we have the least amount of new things to play with?

---------- Post added 2013-04-06 at 04:46 AM ----------



I'm near positive they've said a few time 5.4 will have 1 raid and it'll be SoO. And I might be speculating, but I don't think it's very far off to decide SoO will have 5-8 bosses. They've already described ToT as MoP's big raid tier, so it's pretty safe to assume SoO will have less than 12 bosses. Most likely 8 like Dragon Soul.

Yeah, I'm assuming. Because we don't know anything. Nobody outside of Blizzard does... but that's why I made this. To speculate and assume. They've said a lot about how they want this expansion's pacing to go, and they've sped it up, but it looks like we're in for the same type of slow-down we have every end-of-expasion... and it's directly their fault. I don't blame the hard-core players. People will QQ on the first week about being bored with a patch. People kill a boss 1-2 times and are bored with it. If we get stuck in 5.4/5.5 longer than 5.0/5.1 or 5.2/5.3 and we have less to do... it'll be directly their fault and a big letdown since they've been telling us they'll avoid that this time.

You can't make an argument based entirely on assumptions, and have it sound anything but asinine. I can find no source for your claims, at all. Just your suppositions that Siege has to be the only raid, and has to have 8 bosses.

There's also the fact that 8 very solid bosses could outlast a 12 boss raid easily. It all depends on what they do with it.

[Grunhither]

There's a strong possibility of a 5.5, giving them time to wrap up any loose ends from MoP and start to more full seed the next expansion's storyline within the game in the form of, potentially, scenarios, quest chains, and the pre-expansion events. If 5.4 would have to last 8 months or more to see us through to a new expansion launch, I can almost guarantee we'll see a 5.5.

(Source on 5.5 possibly existing: http://www.blizzplanet.com/blog/comm...aria-patch-5-2 )

Also from that same source, they discuss odd number patches as 'content' patches, with even number patches being 'raid tier' patches. Take that as you will.

Yeah, everyone knows the 5.1/5.3/5.5 stuff is filler between the 3 raid tiers. This is a discussion about why they've chosen to make the biggest raid tier and content patch 5.0/5.1 the shortest in this expansion, and then 5.4/5.5 the longest, when it'll probably provide the least amount of content.

[Evil Inside]

They're already making the next expansion, they're always ahead like that.

[Chrysia]

Yeah, everyone knows the 5.1/5.3/5.5 stuff is filler between the 3 raid tiers. This is a discussion about why they've chosen to make the biggest raid tier and content patch 5.0/5.1 the shortest in this expansion, and then 5.4/5.5 the longest, when it'll probably provide the least amount of content.

Because of the necessities of the development cycle. They can't hold off the second raid tier longer than they did. The hardcore raiders would get too bored. Even the semi-hardcore guilds on my realm were clearing heroic, and the not-hardcore at all guilds were either done raiding, meaning all normal cleared, or slamming their faces against the first heroic bosses just to say they were doing something. Delaying further would cost subs.

Unfortunately, there's really no way they'll manage an 18 month expansion cycle, so that extra time always gets tacked onto the end of the expansion, rather than the beginning.

It's not a "decision" at all. It's simply the facts of their development times weighed against the patience of the playerbase.

[Travio]

Yeah, everyone knows the 5.1/5.3/5.5 stuff is filler between the 3 raid tiers. This is a discussion about why they've chosen to make the biggest raid tier and content patch 5.0/5.1 the shortest in this expansion, and then 5.4/5.5 the longest, when it'll probably provide the least amount of content.

5.0/5.1 was about 6 months. (October to March)
5.2/5.3 is going to be about 6 months. (March to September)
5.4/5.5 can comfortably sit at about 6 months. (September to March)
Not sure where you've come to the conclusion that 5.2/5.3 is going to be the shortest cycle and 5.4/5.5 the longest.
Hell, they could shave a month or two off both the 5.2/5.3 and 5.4/5.5 cycles and things would still comfy.

Again, the next expansion was already in development before MoP hit - so it's already had at least seven months of development, with most likely more (I'd feel comfortably saying nine months at this point).

[Grunhither]

You can't make an argument based entirely on assumptions, and have it sound anything but asinine. I can find no source for your claims, at all. Just your suppositions that Siege has to be the only raid, and has to have 8 bosses.

There's also the fact that 8 very solid bosses could outlast a 12 boss raid easily. It all depends on what they do with it.

Why did I say it "has to"? I said it most likely will because they've said in the past it was a perfect number of bosses for DS and that large raid tiers work best in the middle of an expansion. That doesn't mean I think that's what "has to happen", but the most likely outcome when speculating.

My argument isn't based on only assumptions any more than most arguments are. Almost all arguments have assumptions, otherwise it's called a fact or a form of information. And, I don't really have an argument other than I think their pacing is bad and doesn't really line up with what they've been telling us. The first patch/raid tier of an expansion always has the most to do, the most changes, and the most to occupy time. Always. That has no correlation to how fast players can burn through it, though. It only addresses the amount of content given out. They directly made the largest amount of content in MoP the shortest patch. Even if 5.4 and 5.5 "outlast" 5.0 and 5.1, that doesn't mean they delivered more content. That just mean they make it hard enough to gate people from getting bored.

---------- Post added 2013-04-06 at 05:06 AM ----------

5.0/5.1 was about 6 months. (October to March)
5.2/5.3 is going to be about 6 months. (March to September)
5.4/5.5 can comfortably sit at about 6 months. (September to March)
Not sure where you've come to the conclusion that 5.2/5.3 is going to be the shortest cycle and 5.4/5.5 the longest.
Hell, they could shave a month or two off both the 5.2/5.3 and 5.4/5.5 cycles and things would still comfy.

5.0/5.1 is the shortest cycle and had twice as much to do than 5.2/5.3 and 5.4/5.5 most likely will. I've said that like 5 times

[Travio]

5.0/5.1 is the shortest cycle and had twice as much to do than 5.2/5.3 and 5.4/5.5 most likely will. I've said that like 5 times

If that's what you said, then I take it back - the reason I said it was because someone at some point in the thread insinuated that the 5.2/5.3 would be the shortest - I think my mind jumped to it being you because a) I saw your avatar on the screen at the same time and b) you were the one making the argument about the most content having the shortest time. But traditionally in all the development cycles, the sum of the patches has less content than the original expansion but each patch is given more time than the original expansion - with the exception of TBC, which Blizzard has admitted they really screwed the pooch on their choice of release order with: popping out Black Temple in 2.1 really kinda screwed over the rest of the expansion and forced Sunwell to be created.

[Grunhither]

Because of the necessities of the development cycle. They can't hold off the second raid tier longer than they did. The hardcore raiders would get too bored. Even the semi-hardcore guilds on my realm were clearing heroic, and the not-hardcore at all guilds were either done raiding, meaning all normal cleared, or slamming their faces against the first heroic bosses just to say they were doing something. Delaying further would cost subs.

Unfortunately, there's really no way they'll manage an 18 month expansion cycle, so that extra time always gets tacked onto the end of the expansion, rather than the beginning.

It's not a "decision" at all. It's simply the facts of their development times weighed against the patience of the playerbase.

It's still a decision. They still decide when it's time to move on, and I really think player progression is taken with a grain of salt especially concerning hardcore players. Hardcore raiders will get bored if a patch lasts 3 weeks or 3 months. It doesn't matter, that's what makes them hardcore... they just do things faster and commit more time to the game. But, look at WoW progress... there were still tons of servers getting Server Firsts on Heroic Sha of Fear when 5.1 was almost over. 5.1 could have easily lasted another month, and it's looking like 5.2/5.3 is gonna last about the same. They said 5.3 would be out "sooner than players expect", and with it comes item upgrade and probably dailies that make it easier to get your hands on ToT normal ilvl gear... which drastically speeds up progression.

People are also WAY less likely to cancel sub at the beginning of an expansion than they are at the end. If 5.1 would have lasted 1-2 more months, you wouldn't have seen that many un-sub b/c so many people were still leveling up alts, gearing multiple characters, and farming rep. At the end of an expansion, people un-sub b/c they realize a lot of things become pointless with a new expansion on the way. The longer you make the final raid tier of an expansion has direct effect to the amount of people who un-sub. They'll most likely offer the annual-pass with a beta key to help with that problem again, though.

[Deleted]

I would say at nexst blizzcon. But i think that maby not, because will i heard they will relasace some titans infomations. And i think people will not beable to handle titan information, AND a new xpack

[Banawani]

6.0 is planned according to blizzard for Q4 2013. So it will probably be announced after 5.4 goes live (probably a couple months after it goes live).

[Travio]

Also, something that might be worth looking at, harkening back to 'tradition,' is that the announcement generally comes either right before or right after the launch of the final raid. That would make BlizzCon sound about right for an announcement of the expansion (and, with some hope, even an immediate run into beta) given the current estimated timeline of patch releases.

[Deleted]

If it's announced at Blizzcon 2013 we probably have to wait a bit longer for the beta and the launch of the expansion. Maybe beta around Jan 2014 and release around June/July 2014. And it's also likely there'll be a 5.5 in between.

---------- Post added 2013-04-06 at 10:24 AM ----------

6.0 is planned according to blizzard for Q4 2013. So it will probably be announced after 5.4 goes live (probably a couple months after it goes live).

The Blizzard product slate also set MoP around Q2 2012, the first Starcraft xpac around Q4 2011 and the first Diablo 3 xpac around Q2 2013 and Titan around Q4 2013, so don't count on its accuracy anymore.

[Grunhither]

6.0 is planned according to blizzard for Q4 2013. So it will probably be announced after 5.4 goes live (probably a couple months after it goes live).

5.0 was meant for Q3 2011 though and ended up being Q4 2011, so they're behind a little... which puts 6.0 Q1 2014

---------- Post added 2013-04-06 at 05:28 AM ----------

Also, something that might be worth looking at, harkening back to 'tradition,' is that the announcement generally comes either right before or right after the launch of the final raid. That would make BlizzCon sound about right for an announcement of the expansion (and, with some hope, even an immediate run into beta) given the current estimated timeline of patch releases.

If we get 5.4 in July-August and then a Blizzcon announcement for 6.0 in November, most guilds will probably have cleared 5.4 raid on normal. ToT has only been out like 3 weeks and most guilds are AT LEAST 4/12.

[Chrysia]

5.0 was meant for Q3 2011 though and ended up being Q4 2011, so they're behind a little... which puts 6.0 Q1 2014

Q4 2012 for Blizzard began in October. 5.0 was released in August, which would be Q3. Do you mean 5.0.4's bug patch?

[dope_danny]

Well i would highly imagine 5.4 will be out before november and if so, what else would they have for blizzcon but a new expansion? or is the seige or org meant to be another year of final tier again?...

[Kuja]

Siege of Org can't have as much bosses as TOT, unless RFC becomes part of it and it will have more bosses. So there's not as much time to spend and there's no new 5 player dungeons either, meaning 5.4 won't be the last content patch unless they want to remake the ICC incident again.

And it's very much likely that they are working on 7 expansions at a time, but not in the way you would think. Just planning. Where it takes place, what kind of plot it will have, will there be new classes and what kind of new races will be introduced and stuff like that.

[Grunhither]

Q4 2012 for Blizzard began in October. 5.0 was released in August, which would be Q3. Do you mean 5.0.4's bug patch?

The Blizzard Product Slate calls it "Expansion 5" instead of "5.0" and MoP was released September 25th, putting it almost Q4 instead of Q3 when it was expected to be in 3 weeks earlier.

Either way though, the Blizz product slate is wrong b/c it says expansion 6 will be out Oct-Dec 2013. If it won't be announced until Nov 2013 Blizzcon, it won't be out in time for Q4 '13 as planned.

[Chrysia]

Siege of Org can't have as much bosses as TOT, unless RFC becomes part of it and it will have more bosses. So there's not as much time to spend and there's no new 5 player dungeons either, meaning 5.4 won't be the last content patch unless they want to remake the ICC incident again.

I keep seeing this "Siege can't have as many bosses as ToT," and can't for the life of me imagine why?

[Travio]

If we get 5.4 in July-August and then a Blizzcon announcement for 6.0 in November, most guilds will probably have cleared 5.4 raid on normal. ToT has only been out like 3 weeks and most guilds are AT LEAST 4/12.

5.4 should start around September, roughly. I'm just basing on the current release schedule thus far. That gives them some time to have people run through SoO, and we'll be at almost the end of 5.4 for BlizzCon - BlizzCon hits in November, and 5.5 launches around... let's say the say time, maybe just after. By the time BlizzCon hits, X5 has had over a year of development time - the trick this year is that, with the announcement of the expansion pack, they also say they're ready to go into beta very soon - giving people some time to enjoy 5.5's content before they dive into the beta, and giving us X6 early 2014. Just a little guess based on their change to development practices (since, once they're done 5.4, that team can immediately go onto the next expansion's content and help speed it up).

I keep seeing this "Siege can't have as many bosses as ToT," and can't for the life of me imagine why?

It's to do with developer wording - ToT was described as Mist's 'big raid,' so people are assuming SoO has to have less bosses. But that could still mean 8-12 bosses.