9.0 General Discussion

[Queen of Hamsters]

That's not happening. September at the latest, Blizzard will lose an enormous amount of money if they give us one year (??) of 8.3. It will be worse than Tanaan Jungle WoD patch. Do you honestly think there'll be anyone left in the game is they as much as DARE give us 11 months of freaking Visions?

There's a reason there won't be a 8.3.5. I expect them to release Shadowlands earlier than other xpacs, BfA has been pretty much abandoned at this point with 100% of their focus on SL.

Yes, there will be.

This hyperbole forgets that WoD didn't have content delivered prior to Tanaan to ALSO keep players occupied. BfA, does. Wanna know how much money they made on that bad year of WoD? 800 million USD.

So yes, there will be players, they'll still be making money. Corona can't be wafted away as insignificant just to pander to fickle people who will always return anyways. If SL needs to be delayed, that's all there is to it. And if it goes on, people will have time to play anyway.

And no, BfA has not been abandoned. It has had a full patch cycle, they've added changes and new things beyond the final patch. This is a completely normal expansion cycle that some people blow up into something that it simply does not represent.

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If you watch the end of Toweliee last stream. He mentions Monday is going to be a big day... I can neither confirm or deny Monday to be a hype day. I'm just a humble messenger.

Hmm, so maybe datamining on Monday, playable Alpha Thursday?
That would be so much better, I have to say.

Hope lives!

[Dracullus]

If you watch the end of Toweliee last stream. He mentions Monday is going to be a big day... I can neither confirm or deny Monday to be a hype day. I'm just a humble messenger.

It's his speculation that datamining will be few days before Alpha. Personally I think they may do it 8.3 style - first reveal, then build release and launch soon after that.

But for sure he will know few hours or even day earlier that Alpha is coming.

[GhostPanini]

Hmm, so maybe datamining on Monday, playable Alpha Thursday?
That would be so much better, I have to say.

Hope lives!

Is there a reason why they can't just release the Alpha without datamining first? If things are encrypted but prepped on the alpha servers then all they would have to do decrypt it and send out invites.

I am not a Network engineer or software developer so I don't know the ins and out. Maybe someone who is can chime in.
@Dracullus

It definitely could be like that, that would make sense. I guess we could see Ion in his home office talk about it on Monday.

[Marlamin]

Is there a reason why they can't just release the Alpha without datamining first? If things are encrypted but prepped on the alpha servers then all they would have to do decrypt it and send out invites.

I am not a Network engineer or software developer so I don't know the ins and out. Maybe someone who is can chime in.

They could, but don't generally give entirely encrypted clients to users as that's more of an internal thing and has a performance impact.

[Lahis]

Your right, I was hoping that they could do the leveling changes and ability unpruning before they finish the beta. Though I guess that to much wishful thinking.

Though I don't think we are going to play 8.3 next year. November/December is likely

Shadowlands seemed behind schedule even when unveiled in last Blizzcon. They hardly had anything concrete for it.

And now Corona has shut down the world. Sure Blizz can work from home, but it will still cause massive delays.

[Sondrelk]

Shadowlands seemed behind schedule even when unveiled in last Blizzcon. They hardly had anything concrete for it.

And now Corona has shut down the world. Sure Blizz can work from home, but it will still cause massive delays.

They had stuff for it, about the same as BfA did. The difference is just that Shadowlands does not seem to have a big centerpiece that could be polished up for Blizzcon, instead seeming to focus on improving the groundwork, which makes the announcements feel smaller.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Shadowlands seemed behind schedule even when unveiled in last Blizzcon. They hardly had anything concrete for it.

And now Corona has shut down the world. Sure Blizz can work from home, but it will still cause massive delays.

Shadowlands isn't necessarily behind schedule since Blizzcon, they've had a bit of time developing right up until Feburary, that is when things slowed down. If the shutdown lasts pasts August then yeah it will not be out in 2020.

[GhostPanini]

Shadowlands seemed behind schedule even when unveiled in last Blizzcon. They hardly had anything concrete for it.

And now Corona has shut down the world. Sure Blizz can work from home, but it will still cause massive delays.

Sure no doubt they are behind, Corona shut down the world but if anything online gaming will be the least hit. A lot of the work can be done remotely. Of course there are challenges in moving the whole company remotely but things will be delayed weeks not months. I think they wanted to get SL out August/September but delays happened before Corona and then Corona push stuff thing back further a couple weeks.

Being realistic here not optimistic. Of course if we start seeing Blizzard employees getting fired because they people are play/paying due to the virus then that is a different story.

@Marlamin thanks for the update!

[neocount]

Sure no doubt they are behind, Corona shut down the world but if anything online gaming will be the least hit. A lot of the work can be done remotely. Of course there are challenges in moving the whole company remotely but things will be delayed weeks not months. I think they wanted to get SL out August/September but delays happened before Corona and then Corona push stuff thing back further a couple weeks.

Being realistic here not optimistic. Of course if we start seeing Blizzard employees getting fired because they people are play/paying due to the virus then that is a different story.

Not to mention that productivity has been shown to go up when employees can work from home.

[Sondrelk]

Not to mention that productivity has been shown to go up when employees can work from home.

Not necessarily for Blizzard though. Workers react differently to changes in their work enviroment. There are probably loads of developers who work better now that they don't have to wake up early, just as there are probably loads of who work worse now that they have to entertain their homestuck kids, or not being able to get direct input from their project leader.

[Hyrja]

If you watch the end of Toweliee last stream. He mentions Monday is going to be a big day... I can neither confirm or deny Monday to be a hype day. I'm just a humble messenger.

He was talking about a possible dataminable build monday/tuesday and alpha will hit a day or two later.

[infinitemeridian]

Not to mention that productivity has been shown to go up when employees can work from home.

This isn't a universal rule.

[Feral Druid ist Op]

Source? I just googled it and can't find anything confirming this claim.

the cloak is caped on 125 resistance google better next time

[Nyel]

Not to mention that productivity has been shown to go up when employees can work from home.

This most likely isn't the case during a worldwide crisis though. During normal times? Absolutely. But not while a pandemic is causing chaos.

[Ersula]

This most likely isn't the case during a worldwide crisis though. During normal times? Absolutely. But not while a pandemic is causing chaos.

You think Bobby Kotick cares about that? For blizzard it's a question of if the expansion releases in q3 or q4 of 2020, not 2020 or 2021. They've released unfinished expansions before.... it's called (the last 4 expansions)

[Queen of Hamsters]

You think Bobby Kotick cares about that? For blizzard it's a question of if the expansion releases in q3 or q4 of 2020, not 2020 or 2021. They've released unfinished expansions before.... it's called (the last 4 expansions)

By that logic, the full game and every expansion has been released unfinished.

[Valysar]

the cloak is caped on 125 resistance google better next time

But maybe in 2-3 months the item will up resistance by +6 after a hotfix, who knows

[Vasoka]

the cloak is caped on 125 resistance google better next time

This literally means nothing. They can increase how much resistance you get or give you a random +50 a month from now just because.

[Sondrelk]

But maybe in 2-3 months the item will up resistance by +6 after a hotfix, who knows

The lack of a true 8.3.5 does make it less likely, but there is still a definite chance for an event similar to the event where the Artifacts got infinite AP. Probably not going to happen for at least another month though, need to make sure everyone has a chance to exhaust all their options for power increases.

[kaid]

The lack of a true 8.3.5 does make it less likely, but there is still a definite chance for an event similar to the event where the Artifacts got infinite AP. Probably not going to happen for at least another month though, need to make sure everyone has a chance to exhaust all their options for power increases.

We already have seen a 100% xp bonus and the making of essences available to alts in an easier fashion if you play those alts so I think it is likely they keep doing stuff like that instead of having just one big .5 patch the stuff that would normally be in such a thing are just trickling out over time. I would also kind of expect before this is done they do some massive boost to corruption mitigation so people can go full on tentacle beasts for a month or two.