Battle for Azeroth Launch Date - Summer 2018?

[Aleksej89]

Unless blizz was intentionally playing dumb, the info revealed at blizzcon and the following interviews show us that the BFA is incredibly bare-bones and under developed.

Blizz would need to work many times faster than for any other expansion if the BFA was to be released in 2018 at all.

I would hate to think how many features they would cut in such a rush...

[Cryptoriana]

Still going with june-august

[Felfaadaern Darkterror]

They've planned the novel to release in May 2018, and it's to get people hyped for the xpac, so I'm guessing they've planned the xpac for July. As we all know, things don't always go according to plan.

[Evilmoo]

Unless blizz was intentionally playing dumb, the info revealed at blizzcon and the following interviews show us that the BFA is incredibly bare-bones and under developed.

Blizz would need to work many times faster than for any other expansion if the BFA was to be released in 2018 at all.

I would hate to think how many features they would cut in such a rush...

On a contrary, they said they started working on it as soon as legion went live and they presented intro cinematic that was due only next year, i think they are at least on very playable alpha stage that can be put up on PTR, just PTR is occupied by antorus atm.

[Serenais]

I believe that a summer release is not unrealistic, or, at the very least, it's what Blizzard is banking on right now. If they didn't, they would save the intro cinematic for a large gaming convention like E3 or Gamescom. I wouldn't be surprised if the BFA beta was shorter than the one for Legion or WoD - BFA isn't adding anything as big as garrisons or the artifact system (someone might mention warfronts, but that's effectively just another instance with additional triggers). On top of that, they are putting some large BFA features into 7.3.5, so those will not prolong the 8.0 beta itself.
That being said, it all depends on when 7.3.5 will get released. If they take their time and release it in February or March, then summer release is next to impossible.

[schwarzkopf]

LOL. What a bs graphics..

Not understanding something does not make it bs....also, it is termed a spreadsheet just FYI.

Hope those two snippets help you in your future endeavours.

[Rumred]

Aug would be the soonest i could see it. My guess at the moment is Beta by May/June with launch between Sept and Nov

[Narveid]

Unless blizz was intentionally playing dumb, the info revealed at blizzcon and the following interviews show us that the BFA is incredibly bare-bones and under developed.

Blizz would need to work many times faster than for any other expansion if the BFA was to be released in 2018 at all.

I would hate to think how many features they would cut in such a rush...

Barebones? They had 2 zones done, ready to play at BlizzCon. If anything I think it is WoW giving way to esports and other games, not WoW lacking information to give.

[Deleted]

I too think very late summer/early autumn. I think they did a good job in Legion to hold back some content (raids especially) for some time. Makes me want to have faith in them (again).

[Hyrja]

September 4th 2018

[Mushkins]

They haven't announced the alpha/beta yet. Legion alpa/beta was announced at Blizzcon 2015. They set up servers few weeks later and we got Legion on august 30th. So my prediction is late 2018

[McFrotton]

They broke the 77 days cycle with Antorus on the 28th.

yeah because of thanksgiving only, else it would be up already.

[Sentynel]

announcement was 3 months later than Legion

This absolutely has zero weight on the release date.

[McFrotton]

Unless blizz was intentionally playing dumb, the info revealed at blizzcon and the following interviews show us that the BFA is incredibly bare-bones and under developed.

Blizz would need to work many times faster than for any other expansion if the BFA was to be released in 2018 at all.

I would hate to think how many features they would cut in such a rush...

most of the feature are only idea at this point and nothing is implemented yet. during the deep dive they did not have any answers, they only had a vague idea of how stuff would work.

[HitRefresh]

Unless blizz was intentionally playing dumb, the info revealed at blizzcon and the following interviews show us that the BFA is incredibly bare-bones and under developed.

Blizz would need to work many times faster than for any other expansion if the BFA was to be released in 2018 at all.

I would hate to think how many features they would cut in such a rush...

Yes, they are. Every time they've talked too much they've regretted it because the community backlashes. So it's better to say very little, and by the time the game releases they can finally show what is actually making it into the game.

[Deleted]

This absolutely has zero weight on the release date.

Well announcement 3 months later, alpha starts 3 months later - but release is faster for sure. Why? Well.... because i want it.

We are in delay. No matter how often people try to tell us "But thus time it is different because Blizzard is much faster". Every xpac we see unrealistic estimates like for legion when alpha started in november and people hoped for a feb/march release.

I would say it is gonna take 9-10 months from alpha to xpac. For Legion it was 10.5 months... so it is pretty optimistic. People hoping for 5 or 6 months are again very very far away.

[Tarkam]

In the WoWChakra Interviews Shani Edwards and Ray Cobo interview the game producers said that "The goal is to have Battle for Azeroth launch before the end of 2018." That their goal is to launch BfA before the end of 2018 means that they aren't certain that they can release BfA before the end of 2018 but that it's what they're aiming for. If they're not certain that they can release BfA in 2018 there's no chance that BfA releases in the summer of 2018 and autumn seems unlikely as well. If BfA releases in 2018 it will be in the end of the year.

[styil]

Greetings Everyone,

while we don't have any official info on it yet, i believe the next Expansion will release sometime in the summer of 2018. The June,July,August period. Probably August.

why?

well, in the past when a new expansion was announced it only was with a feature trailer during Blizzcon(except for Legion which was announced at gamescom) and the cinematic at a later date, in recent history usually during Gamescom(again except for Legion, which showed the cinematic at blizzcon).

with Blizzard already revealing the Cinematic Trailer now, they will not have anything to show of during next years gamescom. And Gamescom is their greatest platform in the EU. So showing up their without anything exiting like the new cinematic, they have either to launch it prior to the next gamescom, or just shortly after it.

This is still a 9 Month period. so it seems feasible. And since Legion, Blizzard seems to be keeping up with content far more reliable then in the past.

Also the new book is to release in mid March, which would lead nicely to a pre-patch during June/july (Antorus would then be already 6 Months open)

what do you think?
is this possible? or will they delay it till Autumn or even Winter? or be even quick and we get it in Spring?

The actual in game systems seemed much further behind than Legion's at Blizzcon 2015 which ended up launching 10 months later. So I wouldn't be surprised if BfA was at least 10 months away.

[Steampunkette]

Following their 77 day planning, if they try to hold to that schedule which missing a deadline does not preclude, we should see 7.3.5 on January 10th, the Pre-Patch on June 26th, and the launch of BfA on September 11th of 2018.

That said. I think Antorus is being delayed by 2 weeks -because- of the timing of the expansion launch. It might be viewed in poor taste to have WoW's "All Out War starting with the destruction of a very tall structure" start on 9/11. At least in America.

Which could push everything back 14 days. January 24th, July 10th, and September 25th.

[Deleted]

In the WoWChakra Interviews Shani Edwards and Ray Cobo interview the game producers said that "The goal is to have Battle for Azeroth launch before the end of 2018." That their goal is to launch BfA before the end of 2018 means that they aren't certain that they can release BfA before the end of 2018 but that it's what they're aiming for. If they're not certain that they can release BfA in 2018 there's no chance that BfA releases in the summer of 2018 and autumn seems unlikely as well. If BfA releases in 2018 it will be in the end of the year.

They dont even promise stuff like that. They said they gave up on faster expansions and want to focus on more content. Statements like they arent sure that BfA will be released before 2019... one can ignore it. I would say it is the normal content draught before an expansion.