Shadowlands in 2021

[TheHodedOne]

Shadowlands wont be delayed to 2021 but content that wont be finished in time will be cut off and moved to 9.1

Yeah it seems that way now, hell they have been doing that since Cataclysm, only that this time is going to be much worse.
At best I expect release date to be in December. At worst a 2021 spring release date, arguing the outbreak for the dealy.

[Casperite]

Yeah it seems that way now, hell they have been doing that since Cataclysm, only that this time is going to be much worse.
At best I expect release date to be in December. At worst a 2021 spring release date, arguing the outbreak for the dealy.

They do not need to "argue the outbreak for delay". It is literally a global issue that is affecting everyone and everything. It either affects the release date or not, not arguing about it.

[Pohut]

So when do you think they will announce that SL has been delayed?

Considering how successful Classic is they can easily delay it until 2021. Classic will tie the playerbase over until then.

[Muajin76]

Think Blizz will release SL a few months earlier if CV goes well into the summer?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Think Blizz will release SL a few months earlier if CV goes well into the summer?

I very much doubt they get more done while doing home office, especially the ones living out of their car.

[Huggykaze]

Shadowlands wont be delayed to 2021 but content that wont be finished in time will be cut off and moved to 9.1

Sooo... Same old, same old? Then it will be cut from 9.1 because reasons.

[Nyel]

Think Blizz will release SL a few months earlier if CV goes well into the summer?

1. Corona will get well into Summer, the peak in the Western hemisphere will come around April and then it will get slowly better, look at China. Wuhan is slowly opening up again but the infection could easily flare up again if they losen the containment regulatories. In the West we reacted... very slowly. Italy and Spain are examples for this, Germany did a bit better overall. The situation in the US is hard to estimate.

2. If they want to inevitably damage WoW even more after BfA they for sure can rush release Shadowlands that hasn't even been tested at all.

Don't worry, not even Blizzard is greedy enough to do this.

[Huggykaze]

1. Corona will get well into Summer, the peak in the Western hemisphere will come around April and then it will get slowly better, look at China. Wuhan is slowly opening up again but the infection could easily flare up again if they losen the containment regulatories. In the West we reacted... very slowly. Italy and Spain are examples for this, Germany did a bit better overall. The situation in the US is hard to estimate.

2. If they want to inevitably damage WoW even more after BfA they for sure can rush release Shadowlands that hasn't even been tested at all.

Don't worry, not even Blizzard is greedy enough to do this.

Well, China also reacted very slowly, slower than the west to be honest - the virus began last year December. There is also the case of China literally enforcing quarantines. That's not gonna happen in the west (at least at such level), so our control over the spread will naturally be lower.

The April peak term is really an educated guess at best. European experts say there's no way of knowing, some US experts hope it's April etc. Japanese experts agree on April being the peak, but keep in mind that the virus has hit Japan much earlier than Europe. Living here though, I can't say Japanese reacted in any way similar to Europeans and Americans. I mean, central areas of Yokohama and Tokyo are still considerably crowded and some places say the business hasn't been better in months.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: it's pointless to try predict anything at this point, especially based on whatever info we get from China or Japan - for cultural and political reasons. I honestly wouldn't expect SL before the end of the year, my bet would actually be January 2021 at this point, but while Blizzard may not be greedy enough, but Activision-Blizzard certainly is, so an earlier release is 100% possible in my book.

[Nyel]

Well, China also reacted very slowly, slower than the west to be honest - the virus began last year December. There is also the case of China literally enforcing quarantines. That's not gonna happen in the west (at least at such level), so our control over the spread will naturally be lower.

The April peak term is really an educated guess at best. European experts say there's no way of knowing, some US experts hope it's April etc. Japanese experts agree on April being the peak, but keep in mind that the virus has hit Japan much earlier than Europe. Living here though, I can't say Japanese reacted in any way similar to Europeans and Americans. I mean, central areas of Yokohama and Tokyo are still considerably crowded and some places say the business hasn't been better in months.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: it's pointless to try predict anything at this point, especially based on whatever info we get from China or Japan - for cultural and political reasons. I honestly wouldn't expect SL before the end of the year, my bet would actually be January 2021 at this point, but while Blizzard may not be greedy enough, but Activision-Blizzard certainly is, so an earlier release is 100% possible in my book.

China didn't react slowly, they underestimated the hazard. After they realized it containment of Wuhan and the entire province began almost instantly. I mean Europe has already begun with quarantines, all borders are basically closed in the European Union and in some countries entire cities are shut down (or in some cases, the entire country like France for example). Infection rate in Spain and Italy is crazy and it'll dramatically increase in Germany and France over the next weeks as well. The European Union underestimated Corona way more than China. Can't really talk about the US.

You're right, it's quite pointless to predict anything but we know for sure the worst is yet to come. And this is nothing that will be dealt with within weeks. This will take the entire first half of the year, if not the entire year.

[Huggykaze]

China didn't react slowly, they underestimated the hazard. After they realized it containment of Wuhan and the entire province began almost instantly. I mean Europe has already begun with quarantines, all borders are basically closed in the European Union and in some countries entire cities are shut down (or in some cases, the entire country like France for example). Infection rate in Spain and Italy is crazy and it'll dramatically increase in Germany and France over the next weeks as well. The European Union underestimated Corona way more than China. Can't really talk about the US.

You're right, it's quite pointless to predict anything but we know for sure the worst is yet to come. And this is nothing that will be dealt with within weeks. This will take the entire first half of the year, if not the entire year.

Following the thing from the very beginning, I can't agree about China's reaction, but let's agree to disagree. I'm going OT now anyway

Yup. There is also the case of people realizing, over time, that it's not going to kill you just because you're infected, and unless you are old or with some other serious health issues, it's not much more than a flu (most cases are actually symptomless afaik). Iirc there is also no possibility of getting reinfected, so my bet is that life will return to normal for most of us within a month or two, but for game development it will have further reaching effects tbh. People will come back mentally drained, some teams may temporarily lose leadership etc.

Edit: I've been having a slightly increased temperature (37*C for half of the time with single hours at 37.5*C) for the past few days, so while I didn't see a doctor (Japanese government suggests you only do that if you have an above 37.5*C temperature for 4+ days in a row, so I don't want to create chaos or spread infection over nothing), I'm pretty sure I got myself infected. I keep working from home, I feel normal, no sore throat, no runny nose, no cough. I'm a 29yo male in... well, less than stellar physical condition :P

[ravenmoon]

1. Corona will get well into Summer, the peak in the Western hemisphere will come around April and then it will get slowly better, look at China. Wuhan is slowly opening up again but the infection could easily flare up again if they losen the containment regulatories. In the West we reacted... very slowly. Italy and Spain are examples for this, Germany did a bit better overall. The situation in the US is hard to estimate.

2. If they want to inevitably damage WoW even more after BfA they for sure can rush release Shadowlands that hasn't even been tested at all.

Don't worry, not even Blizzard is greedy enough to do this.

Corona will be gone by next month. Thus says the Word of the Lord !

[SNES-1990]

Judging by BFA, Shadowlands will be released this year whether it's finished or not.

[MrLachyG]

For this to happen not enough time with Corona has passed. They need at least another 4+ weeks for this to be a plausible reason.

depends how much working from home impacts the overall product and how productive they are at home. to be honest if it means they release a more polished game in 2021 than a buggy game in 2020 I will be ok with that

- - - Updated - - -

Judging by BFA, Shadowlands will be released this year whether it's finished or not.

I mean I would like to think that they would go to the executives who pushed for a rushed release of BfA and show them what that resulted in and tell them to back off. they need a beta for 5 months, not 3.5 like BfA

[Eosia]

they didnt reduce anything for classic,its different people,and its like 2 or 3 max,as there is no actual development going on,also by some peoples opinion,the 1 good 1 meh xpac doesnt even exist as for some the game was crap completly since expansion X or Y

Where did they say all development has ceased?

[Metzindown]

Don't worry, not even Blizzard is greedy enough to do this.

Blizzard: "Challenge accepted sir."

[huth]

Where did they say all development has ceased?

Why should they say that? They never did any to begin with.

[glowpipe]

Considering how successful Classic is they can easily delay it until 2021. Classic will tie the playerbase over until then.

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/game/status/eu

Classic 1 full server. Retail 22 full servers EU, Classic 2 full, retail 26 full NA&Oceania. Classic is no where near the playerbase of retail. Classic will not tie the playerbase, considering the majority of players is playing retail, and not classic. If SL is delayed to late 2021, its going to be bad for all of us.

[Ielenia]

Considering how successful Classic is they can easily delay it until 2021. Classic will tie the playerbase over until then.

You assume the majority of the modern WoW player base likes Classic, to "tide them over". Which, considering the # of full servers on both Classic and Modern, does not seem to be the case.

Please refrain from making ludicrous claims.

[deenman]

Where did they say all development has ceased?

huh?they didnt because there is no such thing as ''development'' on classic,its just fixes and some tweaks they feel are needed in some areas

[Onikaroshi]

huh?they didnt because there is no such thing as ''development'' on classic,its just fixes and some tweaks they feel are needed in some areas

They're probably currently "developing" TBC, by developing I mean adapting it to the current client and figuring out how to implement.