9.0 General Discussion

[Sondrelk]

This does give me a shred of hope they care about the game's integrity more than they did with BFA though.

I would have imagined that was obvious from how they actually have blueposts on their thoughts on design, and generally trying to explain their choices.

[Nagawithlegs]

That's.. wow. I'm torn between giving them my regards for actually doing the right thing that will result in more quality .. and being frightend that something is obviously not working to the degree that ActivisionBlizzard could be convinced to not release it early.

I'm glad they straight up admitted "cus COVID work is hard" instead of the ambiguous terms other teams have used about delays.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I hate that it's delayed but actually, I think that's a good sign. I would rather them put more work into it and get it later(when I'll actually have time/motivation to play) than get it sooner and it be a buggy nightmare.

And hey, we know when prepatch is coming now too.

Yeah definitely. Sucks for anyone that made plans already to no life that weekend, but from a gameplay standpoint this can only be good. It's an extra probably month that they can spend doing polish that otherwise would have had to wait for 9.1 or even 9.2.

Just so long as "polish" isn't "pull the rip cord."

[Nagawithlegs]

Just think for minute how Blizzard perfectly manipulated us. They created problem (very early release date and still many bugs), then they 'solved' it, now loudest voices in community (Asmongold, Preach) are praising them.

I'm not a fan of this baseless narrative that every single corporation is a machievellian James Bond villain mastermind who plans all their fuck ups.

[Blayze]

What were people expecting?
The virus has been delaying everything; WoW was never going to be the exception.

[therumblings]

I would have imagined that was obvious from how they actually have blueposts on their thoughts on design, and generally trying to explain their choices.

They've done really well this beta, from what I can tell. Obviously you have a few huge problems like Hunter's Mark and stuff like that, but delaying the game shows that they care, when they easily could have released it on the 26th, in the state it's in, and fix stuff in 9.1.

[Edward Wu]

What were people expecting?
The virus has been delaying everything; WoW was never going to be the exception.

Keep thinking it's the virus and not their fetish for developing dozens of interlocking systems that's making the expansion a nightmare to balance.

[Sondrelk]

Yeah definitely. Sucks for anyone that made plans already to no life that weekend, but from a gameplay standpoint this can only be good. It's an extra probably month that they can spend doing polish that otherwise would have had to wait for 9.1 or even 9.2.

Just so long as "polish" isn't "pull the rip cord."

It really does suck to be those people. It is not a problem for me directly but I had planned a levelling session with some of my guildmates on release, but seeing as she only got work off that day I have a feeling those plans might go down the drain.

And I agree, I really hope they keep covenants difficult to swap. Blizzard is so close to actually getting back to having RPG elements in the game again, giving it up now for some short term satisfaction from streamers would be a terrible choice for the health of the game.

[TigTone]

Last week of November or First week December.

Place your bets

[letssee]

lol shadowlands will still be shit LUL

no but for real tho, whats really going to change? just bugs

[Dracullus]

I'm not a fan of this baseless narrative that every single corporation is a machievellian James Bond villain mastermind who plans all their fuck ups.

Oh, we never know if it was intentional or or just turned out this way. I just present results - instead of rage, Blizzard get very positive responses for not finishing their product in time.

Last week of November or First week December.

Place your beta

Don't want to do this again. At this point I start to think they release main content in December and raid in January to get more feedback for balance.

[Nagawithlegs]

lol shadowlands will still be shit LUL

no but for real tho, whats really going to change? just bugs

They explicitly said it's endgame related, so it'll be Covenant ability tuning.

[Sondrelk]

What were people expecting?
The virus has been delaying everything; WoW was never going to be the exception.

Expecting Blizzard ot have taken Covid into account when they announced the release date earlier wasnt exactly unthinkable. The timeframe they gave as fairly close by, and their workers have had months to get used to their new reality.

Though I guess maybe the second wave hit them especially hard, who knows.
Not to mention that given their offices placement in the most liberal state in the states I think there might be some actual tension over voting season. I would definitely not put it past them.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

It really does suck to be those people. It is not a problem for me directly but I had planned a levelling session with some of my guildmates on release, but seeing as she only got work off that day I have a feeling those plans might go down the drain.

And I agree, I really hope they keep covenants difficult to swap. Blizzard is so close to actually getting back to having RPG elements in the game again, giving it up now for some short term satisfaction from streamers would be a terrible choice for the health of the game.

Yeah. I have to assume this is just a delay to keep balancing but calling out endgame as something they're fixing has me worried. Because all the endgame influencers are still ranting about pulling the ripcord.

[Dracullus]

They explicitly said it's endgame related, so it'll be Covenant ability tuning.

Most important are bugs I think. I see already people like Allcraft speculating about system changes and pulling ripcord, but they are dreaming.

[kaid]

Was not at all expecting that, especially pre-patch being pushed back as well, i suspect the release will be on November 10th.

At least this way prepatch being oct 13th means we probably have a much more traditional length of prepatch than a 2 week rush job as they frantically try to smooth rough edges. I am sure this hits them in the pocket book but a month+ is very likely the correct choice.

[Nagawithlegs]

The game isn't going to be made inherently worse if they pull the ripcord, but it'll be infinitely more generic/boring. Not boring enough to tank the expac WoD style but still disappointing.

I really doubt that's what they mean by endgame though, considering the "ability tuning" post they made just a few days ago.

[Sondrelk]

Yeah. I have to assume this is just a delay to keep balancing but calling out endgame as something they're fixing has me worried. Because all the endgame influencers are still ranting about pulling the ripcord.

I would like to hope that they want covenant balancing to be near perfect to preempt the people writing guides, as well as streamers from negatively impacting players choice of covenant by continuing to spread the idea that covenants are terribly unbalanced.

[kaid]

Yeah. I have to assume this is just a delay to keep balancing but calling out endgame as something they're fixing has me worried. Because all the endgame influencers are still ranting about pulling the ripcord.

Well one issue is the maw is pretty much barely implemented. That is probably what they are calling out most of the other stuff is tested and seems fine but given how important the maw should be there is fuck all interesting to do there at the moment.

[Valysar]

That's why they invited a lot of people today then. Sad but ok, if there is less bug...