9.0 General Discussion

[razorpax]

I'm predicting they'll announce a December release in November with the raid release being pushed back to January.

First December Tuesday and a raid release 6 weeks later

[AngerFork]

First December Tuesday and a raid release 6 weeks later

IMO, this is pretty much the only way we see a December release, by pushing the raid to January. Otherwise, their workers who are already likely working long hours to get the game done are going to be stuck with potentially long nights fixing bugs right around the holidays.

If we don't hear a date in the next couple weeks, I also think it'll be safe to assume the date is in 2021. Anything less crunches them for marketing time on the new date as well as time to do the pre-patch event.

[Revamp Man]

IMO, this is pretty much the only way we see a December release, by pushing the raid to January. Otherwise, their workers who are already likely working long hours to get the game done are going to be stuck with potentially long nights fixing bugs right around the holidays.

If we don't hear a date in the next couple weeks, I also think it'll be safe to assume the date is in 2021. Anything less crunches them for marketing time on the new date as well as time to do the pre-patch event.

first week in december fits pretty well
7 week prepatch
plenty of time to fix the beta bugs
6 week gap until raid means a lot of fun gains for a majority of players without even the mid range guilds feeling rushed
lets players get used to how classes work

[Ersula]

first week in december fits pretty well
7 week prepatch
plenty of time to fix the beta bugs
6 week gap until raid means a lot of fun gains for a majority of players without even the mid range guilds feeling rushed
lets players get used to how classes work

7 week prepatch makes sense for an event like the huge Legion invasions. Honestly I'm loving all the new 9.0 stuff but not enough that it justifies a over a month. People who came back for the prepatch WILL unsubscribe/refund by then. Third week of November at latest

[AngerFork]

first week in december fits pretty well
7 week prepatch
plenty of time to fix the beta bugs
6 week gap until raid means a lot of fun gains for a majority of players without even the mid range guilds feeling rushed
lets players get used to how classes work

This seems overall believable, though there are a couple of questions I could see in the way of an early December release like this:

1. Can they finish up the main bugs/gameplay elements they need to by Dec 1? Especially if we are looking at a 6 week pre-raid gap, there will need to be a lot of things for players to do during those six weeks to hold interest until the first raid tier starts.

2. Is Blizz comfortable with players having 6 weeks to gear and grind Anima before the raid comes out? While they did do a pretty long wait for Battle of Dazar'alor, this would be the first tier of the new expansion.

3. How much time do they actually need to advertise the new date before it arrives? I've been presuming a month, but that is by no means what they are looking at time-wise. And if they do opt for Dec 1 or even Dec 8, they'll likely hold off on making that call until they feel for sure they are ready for launch.

4. Perhaps somewhat unrelated here, but BlizzConline is Feb 19/20. One would imagine that there will be some sort of Warcraft presentation at this, perhaps something around 9.1. If they wind up pushing the date until 2021, one would think they'd need to get the raid out and probably World First done before BlizzConline occurs so as not to compete with those same guilds for viewers.

[TomatoBisque]

I would be surprised if the game release->raid release changes from two weeks to six weeks. It would lead to a lot of people getting bored and would mess up the power curve of the raid because people would go in with pretty much complete soulbinds and more/higher ilvl legendaries.

[Dracullus]

I wonder if they can manage to release raid 5th January, in that case 8th December->5th January would be just 4 weeks gap, so only 1 week longer than usual.

[Makorus]

The Character Service sale ends on 16th of November.

Expansion release is the 18th, obviously.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Honestly I do like the system of
Talents you can't change (Shadowlands covenants)
Talents its inconvenient to change (Shadowlands Talents)
Talents you can change at will (Shadowlands Legendaries)

But maybe if they just went back to calling these talents, I do miss having legendary equipment tied to the story that you advance over time

Honestly that's an interesting trinity there. It honestly could be packaged as a glyphs-type system instead of talents/legendaries entirely.

Like you've got the big power that is pretty tough to change, the medium power that you can change with some hoop jumping, and the little power that you'd change on the fly as the situation demands.

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The Character Service sale ends on 16th of November.

Expansion release is the 18th, obviously.

Unless the event starts tomorrow I don't see a world.

[Makabreska]

Two weeks between launch and raid opening seems a little short, hope it's three weeks.

[Dracullus]

The Character Service sale ends on 16th of November.

Expansion release is the 18th, obviously.

Expansion release during 16% XP and reputation boost and less than month date reveal. Yep, make sense.

[Gurahk]

Really wouldn't mind if they delayed the expansion until early next year.

[Sondrelk]

So anyone want to bet on there being new stuff in the pre-patch this week?

I am willing to bet absolutely nothing that there will be absolutely nothing, but I will take any daring counter-bets.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

So anyone want to bet on there being new stuff in the pre-patch this week?

I am willing to bet absolutely nothing that there will be absolutely nothing, but I will take any daring counter-bets.

I hope /10chars

[Grimbold21]

So anyone want to bet on there being new stuff in the pre-patch this week?

I am willing to bet absolutely nothing that there will be absolutely nothing, but I will take any daring counter-bets.

By new, do you mean.................. the Scourge invasion?

[Sondrelk]

By new, do you mean.................. the Scourge invasion?

Anything related to the Scourge invasion really, whether that means the full on zombie invasion event or just a breadcrumb quest that leads to the datamined cinematic.
Doesnt have to be anything fancy, just curious whether anyone thinks there will be something new to do this reset.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Anything related to the Scourge invasion really, whether that means the full on zombie invasion event or just a breadcrumb quest that leads to the datamined cinematic.
Doesnt have to be anything fancy, just curious whether anyone thinks there will be something new to do this reset.

More endgame battle for Shadowlands.

[Warkratos]

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce...e-game-update/

This new NVIDIA article says that Shadowlands releases November.

[Sondrelk]

Speaking of that cinematic though. Anyone wonder why Turalyon is already in Stormwind keep taking hte place of Anduin when he isnt supposed to have been kidnapped yet? The Legion pre-patch managed ot make a distinction between before and after Varian goes to the Broken Shore/is killed.

Makes you wonder whether Blizzard intended the pre-patch events to start immediately, and Turalyon taking the place of Anduin is an artifact of that.

Or I guess maybe Blizzard just wanted the new WPvP achievements ot be available immediately.

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[IMG]

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This new NVIDIA article says that Shadowlands releases November.

That is absolutely not what it says. It states that ray-tracing will be added in November, which could be an indication of the proper release, or could be a completely separate event.

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More endgame battle for Shadowlands.

Remember during the end of Legion when the forums speculated a dungeon or mini-raid taking place in Gorribal in Silithus? Wonder what an equivalent idea to that could be for the end of BfA.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Makes you wonder whether Blizzard intended the pre-patch events to start immediately, and Turalyon taking the place of Anduin is an artifact of that.

The delay sorta screwed up their plans since the pre patch technically was made for the actual october release. Makes sense why Turalyon is there already.

Remember during the end of Legion when the forums speculated a dungeon or mini-raid taking place in Gorribal in Silithus? Wonder what an equivalent idea to that could be for the end of BfA.

Sadly not gonna happen if that sword is gonna be relevant soon(I feel like Blizzard won't do that). We'll see though..course if a dungeon or raid was to be in that sword we'd have Sargeras's voice talking to us(Like an echo not necessarily him but....magic..../dealwithit) Thats all I got.