Guessing the new Shadowlands release date

[Sarethion]

To whoever voted November 3rd - thank you!

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What's the big deal with raids releasing over xmas break? Not like people are going to be having huge gatherings this year. And for the race guys, it's not like they would take time off from WoW anyways. If anything wouldn't xmas week be great for business because EVERYONE is at home playing the game? Mythic raiders are the only people I see being affected by a normal raid release schedule, and that's like what, 10% of the population? Does Blizz care?

World First Race has become a pretty huge community event in BfA and chances are that it will continue into Shadowlands. This matters because if there's going to be hundreds of thousand people watching, Blizzard can't really afford to release the raid when devs are on a Christmas break, because if any mechanical or balance issues come up then it won't be just a bunch of neckbeards who will get frustrated.

[superbipbip6]

in my opinion:

november is not an option, delaying SL is a VERY BIG issue, they didnt do it to gain 1 or 2 weeks, but way more

they always said 2020 release, and in the last message about delaying, they said " later THIS year". Postponing after 2020 would mean a SECOND delaying message, which seem, on term of communication undoable

For december: after the 15, there's christmas, and blizzard holliday, so seems strange

1 or 8 decembre seem for me the most possible choice, allowing:
- 6 or 7 weeks pre patch which seem legit
- 2 months for working on SL, which sem a big amount of time ' if they start to reallu work and listen communiocty...)
- allow the disapointed players who took holiddays to enjoy sl on hcristmas holliday
- release MM+ and raid 3 or 4 weeks after the release, at the very beginning of january


so for me, i'd say 1 or 8 december, and if i have 1 choise, it's 8 december

[Daevied]

I think it will be dec 1th too, but recently i have this crazy idea that they already have a fixed version of the game on the works that havent been put into the beta yet, so theyll need less thing to fix for an early release in mid nov.

[MadamSerenity]

In reading through the entire thread, I only saw this mentioned once and no one seemed to notice it, but EVERYONE saying they won't release it on Nov 24th due to Thanksgiving is forgetting that the entire game itself originally released on Nov 23rd. If they had no problem releasing the entire game right before Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure they would have no problem releasing SL right before Thanksgiving as well. Also, seeing that COVID is still a thing at least in the US, that may drive more people to stay at home and game and not go out to family get togethers.

I personally feel like it will be somewhere between Nov 17th-Dec 1st, but Nov 24th is still an option. Also, while the longest prepatch ever was 8 weeks, it was only one time. Prepatches have generally been between 4-6 weeks. That would be Nov 10th-Nov 24th. Dec 1st may still work as it is in the 8 week spread, but the latest it will probably be is Dec 8th.

I personally feel somewhere between Nov 17th through Dec 1st. I would ultimately like it to be on Nov 17th as it would then release in the US on the 16th, which is my birthday. However, it will probably be Nov 24th or Dec 1st.

I also feel how people said they wouldn't only push it by a few weeks, but the fact they gave a prepatch date means they are limited by how long they can stretch it. If they would have not provided a prepatch date and also not said released later this year, they would have more had more ability to push it out farther.

[Hinastorm]

All the Dec 8th people lol, I highly doubt they'd want to release on a date where the raid opening would fall 3 days before Christmas. Not only for players, but because they'll be short staffed to do any tuning/fixes needed.

I still think Dec. 1 is the only date that makes sense all around.

[Malefic]

All the Dec 8th people lol, I highly doubt they'd want to release on a date where the raid opening would fall 3 days before Christmas. Not only for players, but because they'll be short staffed to do any tuning/fixes needed.

I still think Dec. 1 is the only date that makes sense all around.

They won't release the raid this year with a December 8th release.

[Cerus]

A lot of people seem to think it won't be until 2021 when we get Shadowlands.

I'm here to tell ya there is a 0% chance that the game will release in 20021.

Legal reasons demand that the game be release in 2020, and Blizzard does not want, on any level, to release it afterwards.

They are not legally obligated to release an expansion at all let alone this year. They can delay it all they want. You pay for access to a service not the content itself.

[LorDC]

They are not legally obligated to release an expansion at all let alone this year. They can delay it all they want. You pay for access to a service not the content itself.

While they are not legally bound to anything, specifically saying "later this year" in their communications while not being 100% sure in 2020 release, is literally shooting yourself in the foot from a PR standpoint.

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In reading through the entire thread, I only saw this mentioned once and no one seemed to notice it, but EVERYONE saying they won't release it on Nov 24th due to Thanksgiving is forgetting that the entire game itself originally released on Nov 23rd. If they had no problem releasing the entire game right before Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure they would have no problem releasing SL right before Thanksgiving as well. Also, seeing that COVID is still a thing at least in the US, that may drive more people to stay at home and game and not go out to family get togethers.

Original launch was what? 16 years ago? Standards of quality and player expectations are on a whole another level now. In 2020 you just can't release stuff and say, "hey, we'll fix all the bugs after holidays".

[Nachtigal]

A lot of people seem to think it won't be until 2021 when we get Shadowlands.

I'm here to tell ya there is a 0% chance that the game will release in 20021.

Legal reasons demand that the game be release in 2020, and Blizzard does not want, on any level, to release it afterwards.

:thinking:

[Cerus]

While they are not legally bound to anything, specifically saying "later this year" in their communications while not being 100% sure in 2020 release, is literally shooting yourself in the foot from a PR standpoint.

People said the same thing when many believed it would be delayed to begin with.

The overall consensus seems to be that people are happy they are working to making it better before releasing. Those pissed off are in the minority from what I’ve seen.

[sunnycutie]

Prepatch delayed two weeks
Shadowlands delayed two weeks

November 10th

[Gnomesized]

December 1st or 8th seem most likely. I voted 8th 'cause it's my birthday.

[Baneto]

I just cannot see them announcing a delay and then just delaying it for only 2 weeks, so I am going to guess end of november early december.

[Doffen]

In reading through the entire thread, I only saw this mentioned once and no one seemed to notice it, but EVERYONE saying they won't release it on Nov 24th due to Thanksgiving is forgetting that the entire game itself originally released on Nov 23rd. If they had no problem releasing the entire game right before Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure they would have no problem releasing SL right before Thanksgiving as well. Also, seeing that COVID is still a thing at least in the US, that may drive more people to stay at home and game and not go out to family get togethers.

I personally feel like it will be somewhere between Nov 17th-Dec 1st, but Nov 24th is still an option. Also, while the longest prepatch ever was 8 weeks, it was only one time. Prepatches have generally been between 4-6 weeks. That would be Nov 10th-Nov 24th. Dec 1st may still work as it is in the 8 week spread, but the latest it will probably be is Dec 8th.

I personally feel somewhere between Nov 17th through Dec 1st. I would ultimately like it to be on Nov 17th as it would then release in the US on the 16th, which is my birthday. However, it will probably be Nov 24th or Dec 1st.

I also feel how people said they wouldn't only push it by a few weeks, but the fact they gave a prepatch date means they are limited by how long they can stretch it. If they would have not provided a prepatch date and also not said released later this year, they would have more had more ability to push it out farther.

Yeah, I have voted 24th myself, and thats what I guessed in like June. But I think the book theory makes it likely to 1st of December, but thats just a theory. I gotta stick to my vote though, 24th!

However, Blizzard going "wild" and launch it on the 23rd instead, at their 16th anniversary, that would be cool. If they release it that week they might have a shot at doing their initial season plan, launching raid 8th of December and mythic race 15th. Heck, launching raid 8th and wait with mythic race first week in January. These days anything is possible. If more guilds could gear up in heroic for 4-5 weeks before the Mythic version it could maybe make the race interesting too.

[Incarnia]

I don't think they'll be able to sort it out to an acceptable level during the following months, so I do actually suspect it could even end up being delayed beyond 2020. My vote is for mid to end January of 2021. But I hope for early or mid of December 2020.

[Malefic]

I think it being further delayed until early 2021 is more likely than a 2-3 week delay at this point.

The dates that make the most sense are December 8th/15th with a raid release on January 5th.

[Astrasen]

mid december no1 is his right mind would delay a game for a month it's not even logical

[Cerus]

Of course they could delay that if they wanted to, but I clearly said in my post, nobody at Blizzard wants to do that because of the can of worms they would open, hence the release date clearly being at some point in 2020.

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typos are fun yuckity yuck

Either way though, I'm not wrong. Game won't release in year 20021 either :P

You actually said 0% chance because legal reasons demand they release it.

[Malefic]

Yes, thank you for being able to read. Legal reasons demand they release it in 2020 because of pre orders and them needing to have a tentative date attached to them in order to legally be able to sell them, hence "will release in 2020".

In order to extend and change that past 2020 they would have to jump through a lot of legal hoops (which cost money)in order to be able to change that date legally. Hoops that nobody at Blizzard is trying to jump through if they can get away with it.

Your problem was in assuming that just because somebody is legally obligated to do something, doesn't mean there aren't legal methods to get around said obligation. It's just that those methods aren't always preferred.

People really misunderstand the way the pre-order date thing works.

Based on EU law when pre-ordering a product a date associated with that product must exist, legally, a "by X date at the latest" is sufficient. This is because, in theory it's possible to pre-order something and have to wait years and years for it to be released while your money sits in the companies account being used to fund the company.

The only legal issue Blizzard will have with not sticking to before December 31st 2020, is that they mustn't deny a refund for anyone that has pre-ordered. That's it. Prior to that they're not legally obligated to provide refunds, however as soon as we get in to 2021 Blizzard are legally obligated to provide a refund if someone asks for one. That's literally it.

It happened with Warcraft 3 Reforged.

What kind of 'legal issues' are people imagining Blizzard would have if they don't release this year? Is a court going to demand they release the game? Are they going to be fined? If a product isn't ready, it isn't ready. The law with the dates only exists to give a point in the timeline where if the product hasn't released by that date, a refund cannot be denied. That's it.

People screaming about this whole legal issue when it happened 10 months ago with Warcraft 3 Reforged and there was no "legal problem then".

Blizzard have no legal issues with launching in 2021, because Blizzard are open with allowing people to refund a pre-ordered product.

Look at all the legal issues Cyberpunk ran in to with launch dates, that were official dates on the product. And delayed. Twice.

There is no legal issues.

[Protean]

Really.....every release is planned around other games dude heck remember WoD alpha??? 3 levels one zone and one dungeon released the day after wildstar

Prove it. Prove that every single release is planned around other games. I double dog dare you, because you can't, because they don't do it.