Still no release date announcement

[tomten]

Lol "possibly up to 5 months", if they delay to 2021, it'll be Jan. Its not in THAT bad of shape.

How do you know this and why are you stating it was fact? Couple weeks ago it was impossible to delay at all lol.
In that same tune. I know it will be delayed to 2021. Start of Q2. Prove it wrong or prove yourself right. I'll wait

[Nyel]

The game is ready as it is.

They could've done tuning or fixing during the weeks when the raids aren't open yet.

Delaying it is just a waste of everyone's time.

Covenant abilities are still a mess for many classes, tuning (even initial tuning) hasn't happened yet, legendaries are in many cases crap, trinkets are in many cases OP, there are still major bugs preventing you from continuing the SL story, The Maw is still an empty and unfun place...

It's not ready.

Even pre patch has some severe bugs (e.g. Alliance unable to start BfA etc.). Pre patch wasn't ready to be released but they still chose to do to give players something, but in the end I'm not sure if it was the right decision. I enjoy it, but some things shouldn't have made it to live servers.

[Agrossive]

Most of your arguments here are just "i think its too soon".

Doesnt seem to be much thought process behind this at all

Well any launch early dec conflicts with releasing raids that would be around Xmas which they wouldn't do so it will have to be later.

[tomten]

If we have to minorly inconvienience a few people to make the expansion actually good.. yeah Id say that is a trade unquestionably well worth it.

What makes you so sure the delay will actually make the expansion "good"?

[whoisqnx]

Well any launch early dec conflicts with releasing raids that would be around Xmas which they wouldn't do so it will have to be later.

Unless they push the raid to January

[Nyel]

Well any launch early dec conflicts with releasing raids that would be around Xmas which they wouldn't do so it will have to be later.

It's easier to launch Shadowlands December 8 and delay the raid until mid January than delaying the whole expansion until January. And it makes a lot of sense to separate SL launch and raid release, it gives players more time to prepare for the raid - which is a good thing, especially over the biggest holiday period in the West.

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Unless they push the raid to January

There's a 0% chance for a Castle Nathria opening on live servers in 2020.

[Spiritguide]

When 5.4 releases for FFXIV

[exsanguinate]

never will it happen in mid december. if you take race to world first into account, it will definitely not happen over christmas. no idea what blizzard thinks about it.

[whoisqnx]

It's easier to launch Shadowlands December 8 and delay the raid until mid January than delaying the whole expansion until January. And it makes a lot of sense to separate SL launch and raid release, it gives players more time to prepare for the raid - which is a good thing, especially over the biggest holiday period in the West.

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There's a 0% chance for a Castle Nathria opening on live servers in 2020.

Yea i completly agree. My bet is still on early Dec release and the raid in Jan.

[Donald Hellscream]

never will it happen in mid december. if you take race to world first into account, it will definitely not happen over christmas. no idea what blizzard thinks about it.

The race to world first is irrelevant if the raid opens in January, nowhere does it say Blizzard has to open the raid shortly after expansion launch, they could release it within the first two weeks of December and open the raid the 1st or 2nd week of January for all we know.

[Raisei]

I've heard a couple of reliable streamers mention 2021. Given the sad state of the beta and the pre-patch, I'd say that's about right. Don't expect Shadowlands before December, "at least".

Let me make a wild guess. Bellular the clickbaitiest of clickbaity youtubers?

You need to understand something about "reliable streamers". They. make. money. of. drama.

Drama sells a lot better then sitting in front of the camera and telling everyone how cool and great everything is, hence why people like Bellular make every video title sound like the servers are being shut down tomorrow.

It is exactly the same pricinple as with the glossy magazines you can buy in the super market for a few cents that scream from the title at you about the marriage problems and deadly deceases of "famous" people. You should ALWAYS take this with a huge grain of salt.

For now the only realiable source we have says SLs will release this year.

The pre-order was set for 12/31st as the latest date. Crossing that line will force them to offer full refunds to everyone (which they already do, but then it will simply not be a choice anymore) not to mention the PR backlash of delaying the expansion a second time. So they will move heaven and earth to get it done before christmas.

[Tyrilion]

It's 4 weeks for something that's in the work for at least 2 years, what kind of improvements do you expect? xD

If you compare the beta build from today with from 4 weeks ago - well, except balance nearly nothing at all changed. Same bugs, same systems, same everything except that night fae isn't the way to go for my spec anymore. Thank god they delayed SL for these insane improvements, so I can experience a truly polished game.

just because you dont like the systems doesnt mean we all agree with you, balancing and bug fixes are nice to be done prior to the release, if they dont think its ready its not ready

[Eurhetemec]

The pre-order was set for 12/31st as the latest date. Crossing that line will force them to offer full refunds to everyone (which they already do, but then it will simply not be a choice anymore) not to mention the PR backlash of delaying the expansion a second time. So they will move heaven and earth to get it done before christmas.

Yup. And they're still running ads, right now, after the delay, saying "2020".

So I don't think there can be much doubt that SL will release in 2020, in some form. Whether it's in great shape or not depends very much on how much they're able to do before that release.

I am slightly mystified by all these people who think it can't relelase in December because of raids - Blizzard could clearly delay the raid opening into the first half of January without causing any real problems, if they released on Dec 1st/8th/15th. Fixing the inevitable major post-launch issues is more of a problem, so I expect they'll be aiming for the 8th or earlier.

[thilicen]

never will it happen in mid december. if you take race to world first into account, it will definitely not happen over christmas. no idea what blizzard thinks about it.

Can we just get rid of this idea that they couldn't just delay the opening of the raid to january? It's really that simple.

[ff50dccd-a222-42f3-a786]

6+7=13 the prophecy is real !

[Thage]

I'll be honest, I hope they keep it delayed and don't announce a release window until they're 150% confident in their release. Take the short-term hit in subscribers on the chin and push out a decent product. If that means running the invasion event a little longer than planned, or adding in something extra like they did with Ruby Sanctum during the Year of ICC, so be it. If that means a drought and them having to square up and tell the investors things aren't super special awesome for one quarter for a change, so be it. This game brings in more than some countries' GDP, they can take it on the chin once in a while and focus on a polished launch after the wet shart that was BFA from a design standpoint.

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When 5.4 releases for FFXIV

Early December sounds like a reasonable window for SL launch, with the raid delayed until early January so they don't have to worry about the world-first race and stuff until everyone's home from vacation.

[Naramag]

For me it's hopefully a sign that Blizzard is going back to release it "when it's done". And I think that would be great.

[ClassicPeon]

Let me make a wild guess. Bellular the clickbaitiest of clickbaity youtubers?

You need to understand something about "reliable streamers". They. make. money. of. drama.

I watch Bellular for his lore content, which is quite good. I know how over the top and cringe he can be though.

That being said i dont think i've even heard Bellular say this. I wonder who this guy counts as "reliable streamer"

[Alcsaar]

A worldwide pandemic says hi. The 6 month promotional stuff happens every 6 months regardless. Nice to see the desperate spinning though.

If it needs delay until 21, so be it.

I'm sure COVID had a bad impact on their development, but lets not kid ourselves or make excuses for Blizzard. SL was looking far behind in development already even back at the last Blizzcon when they announced it. I instantly told my buddy afterwards seeing the announcement "Wow, that looks beyond unfinished, their answer for every question was 'We don't know yet'" for how every system was going to work".


Also, just take a peek at the last few expansions and you can see a clear pattern of failure in regards to design and implementation.

[Ulfric Trumpcloak]

Let me make a wild guess. Bellular the clickbaitiest of clickbaity youtubers?

You need to understand something about "reliable streamers". They. make. money. of. drama.

Drama sells a lot better then sitting in front of the camera and telling everyone how cool and great everything is, hence why people like Bellular make every video title sound like the servers are being shut down tomorrow.

It is exactly the same pricinple as with the glossy magazines you can buy in the super market for a few cents that scream from the title at you about the marriage problems and deadly deceases of "famous" people. You should ALWAYS take this with a huge grain of salt.

For now the only realiable source we have says SLs will release this year.

The pre-order was set for 12/31st as the latest date. Crossing that line will force them to offer full refunds to everyone (which they already do, but then it will simply not be a choice anymore) not to mention the PR backlash of delaying the expansion a second time. So they will move heaven and earth to get it done before christmas.

I said reliable streamers. Bellular is not even a streamer.