Shadowlands Pre-Patch Release Date - October 13, Shadowlands Launch Delayed

[Unholyground]

Depends. Some folks' jobs might not be as flexible.

I stopped taking time off for expansions because this can always happen, it does suck a ton for guilds though, mine was planning around the 27th for some get togethers for food and expansion. Luckily a lot of us can adjust as long as it happens before our heavy winter starts in late November. I am also lucky because I can play WoW during slow periods at work.

[Mazzic518]

Dangit I took the first week of November off!

[Onikaroshi]

The first raid doesn't open on release. Uldir released 3 weeks after BfA opened, I just looked it up. So if they open Shadowlands the week of Dec 1st, a release of the Castle Nathria would be fine the week of Dec 31st, or the week of January 1st.

They don't have to worry about Blizzcon, either, as it's pushed back to Feb, and can do 'What's next" and patch 9.1 stuff. In fact, them pushing the online Blizzcon back to Feb made me think they were pushing it just in case SL was delayed.

The raid, as it stands right now in the Beta, is ready to go. They can release it whenever. I'd bet the world first and mythic raiders would be okay with tackling it after the holidays. But it would be way less fun with everything else being broken and half-finished, during the holidays.

They aren't going to release the raid in the middle of the holidays, that's both christmas AND new years. I just don't see a dec release working in the slightest.

[Gravity2015]

Sadly I pre-purchased SL long ago and I'm eager to play it anyway. But I'm definitely cancelling my sub until the launch.

My plan exactly, I luckily just got. BETA last night and sub runs out in like 30hours, great timing - I’ll probably resub a month for pre patch shenanigans tho

[VinceVega]

With all the bad shit that's happened to everyone's plans this year, do you really think your issue is the greatest concern, to anyone? So you planned on taking time off to play a video game non stop, maybe use that time to do something else if you can't reschedule it. At least you have a job and time off, be happy about that this year. Some people...

What the hell^^
This is a forum for WoW. Of course i care about it. There is always something who has bigger problems than me. Sooooo....
I have a vacation where i can litterally can't do anything becaue nothing is open. I only work right now. Nothing else. So fogive me for looking forward to a week of gaming you arrogant whatever

[Rumred]

Says the guy wasting his time on a videogame forum.

Well seeing as we are in the middle of COVID-19 I am not sure what you want them to do with their vacation? Not like you can easily just go fly to rome or take a cruise atm for most people.

[MakeMeLaugh]

RIP everyone that already planed some time off for shadowlands launch lol.

[korijenkins]

I knew it. Where are all the " it will never be delayed" blizzard white knights

Probably talking about how delays are normal.

[Neotart]

RIP everyone that already planed some time off for shadowlands launch lol.

Welp, yup that was me...

[Hero2Zer0]

Not surprised its being delayed. Surprised it got approved to be delayed.

[Gadzooks]

Knew it was coming. Extremely disappointed and frankly I feel like it's a massive waste of time on their part too.


The covenant system is, by it's very design, not able to be balanced. They have proven for 16 years now that they can't balance the trinity of Class, Spec, and Gear. We flop from one FotM to the next almost every patch. There is a clear best and worst for everything.

How they thought adding in 3 new layers; Covenants, Soulbinds, and Conduits, to that system lasagna was going to solve the problem is beyond me. When you can't balance 3 aspects of your game, tossing in 3 more aspects which also need balancing is just stupidity and incompetence.

The only way the delay will matter is if they gut the entire system and remove the power the system grants, instead having it be an identity based cosmetically only. Sadly, they literally can't do that seeing as they've, once again ignoring the failures of BfA, designed their expansion around the systems.

WoW needs a new person in charge who isn't looking to reinvent the wheel each expansion. Someone who wants to modify the wheel would be great; using better materials, slightly modified design, etc. We don't need someone who looks at the wheel, ignores it and goes, "Hmm, lets toss something square on the back here, people like squares right?"

The rework to leveling alone was more work than they could handle. It needs to be done right, and it's maybe 50% there. The Covenant/Soulbind system is something that they need to do two expansions ahead of time, to evolve and develop it right. Torghast should have gotten a big chunk of the dev time spent on Covenants and conduits and all that.

Greedy? Naive? Hubris? Ego? Pressure from above? Over-ambitious? Dev burn out? Poor leadership? Communication breakdown?

Yes? Plus things we have no idea about.

[NewportsDentarg]

Welp, yup that was me...

Same. I'll reschedule though.

[javierdsv]

Damn, I'd swear they would release the unfinished thing they´re testing right now.
I take my words back, they seem to be learning. I´m, shook

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

As expected. From what i've heard the beta is full of bugs, broken specs, and a lot of conduits aren't working at all.

[Onikaroshi]

I am one of those who after 15+ years of Blizzard sticking to release dates is seriously surprised that they postponed this one. But I guess we should have expected it after they moved the WC remastered date.

And since Amazon with "New World" pushed the release...all bets are off now. Still hoping for a November release.

They're releasing prepatch, I highly doubt they're delaying too far out, if they were shooting for Dec or next year they wouldn't be releasing prepatch on the 13th.

[Baine]

Why didn't ion make this announcement?

Because he is not in charge of "producing" the game. The producer is.

[SniperCT]

You're living in some magical lala land if you honest to god believe they just found out TODAY, that "oopsies we're way behind schedule and won't make the time". Not one fraction of a chance they haven't known for a while that they're behind. Some people here would defend anything imaginable....

It's likely they were talking about delays and this week was the latest they felt comfortable pulling the trigger on a delay. Until now they likely hoped they could avoid that.

[munkeyinorbit]

Thats not white knighting.. if anything that was being realistic using previous experiences as their guideline. Never in a million years would anyone believe bliz would actually push it back. I wonder how Activision handled this lol..

Like WC3 reforged and 8.3 right? Oh wait. They were delayed. Way back when this was announced some wow experts said that they were not as far along compared to BfA and there was doubt about a 2020 release. People seem to be calm right now but 2021 is not out of the realm of possibility now.

[tyrlaan]

You're living in some magical lala land if you honest to god believe they just found out TODAY, that "oopsies we're way behind schedule and won't make the time". Not one fraction of a chance they haven't known for a while that they're behind. Some people here would defend anything imaginable....

There is an incredibly wide gulf between "they knew for a long time and have been lying" and "they just found out today"

Instead of putting words in my mouth, go work on a large scale project and understand how things work.

[munkeyinorbit]

What a fiasco. All this time and they can't say when the expansion will be released. Probably have cut the staff so much only the janitors are working on it now.

Yes. That is the reason. Janitors are doing the code.