Still no release date announcement

[Dreen]

Right? I don't often agree with you but it seems very unlikely Blizzard are pleased about this.

It may not make a huge difference to them. I'm not sure how large the crossover is between "NEEEEEEDSSSS to play CP2077 day 1!!!!" and "NEEEEEDSSSS to play Shadowlands day 1!!!!!" is, but it's going to be some amount of crossover (I remember even all the way back when I was playing DAoC and KotOR came out, a noticeable number of people were missing for a bit). And any isn't great. Mid-November vs early December was plenty of clearance, as after a week or two the most obsessive players of CRPGs will have either finished their first run-through, or burned out, and be back to MMOs or whatever.

So them stepping on each other isn't ideal.

On the other hand, if the actual raids are not until January, esp. mid-January, it might not make all the much of a difference.

- - - Updated - - -



All of this?

Seriously?

Fuck's sake mate. No. This year has been hell for a lot of businesses, and even ones relatively well-prepared for the situation, like Blizzard seem to have been, have seen a noticeable drop in productivity as people adjust to new situations, new ways or working, less access to teams or hardware/software (or different access), and so on.

Shit like "all of this" is exactly the kind of stuff gamers get mocked for, frankly. It's completely unrealistic nonsense.

Well i think back when WoW was "the big thing" it wouldnt have mattered much since everyone would prioritize it over most games either way. but even i have some casual friends that would put WoW on hold for 1-2 weeks and play cyberpunk instead. Also feels like blizzard cares alot about the casual audience and i think the overlap for casual gamers that would play cyberpunk over wow might be a lot bigger than one would assume.

[Nyel]

Well i think back when WoW was "the big thing" it wouldnt have mattered much since everyone would prioritize it over most games either way. but even i have some casual friends that would put WoW on hold for 1-2 weeks and play cyberpunk instead. Also feels like blizzard cares alot about the casual audience and i think the overlap for casual gamers that would play cyberpunk over wow might be a lot bigger than one would assume.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the most hyped game of the last years. Shadowlands doesn't even come close when it comes to hype levels and popularity. In no way would Shadowlands win a direct battle with Cyberpunk 2077 (not sure if it matters though). Shadowlands is just the umpteenth expansion for a decaying giant, Cyberpunk is a brand new franchise by one of the best game developers out there.

[ClassicPeon]

Pre patch is really great for leveling up new characters though. I haven’t leveled a new one in half a decade because I already had every class, but I’m leveling a Vulpera Monk now in BfA and it’s a really good experience.

I've also been leveling new alts. The only experience i've had slight issues with is the time it takes from 40-50. I think thats a bit too long but it might be leveling fatigue just in generel

Other then that i havent been able to start the hoa prequest on my new lvl 50's but thats another story

- - - Updated - - -

Cyberpunk 2077 is the most hyped game of the last years. Shadowlands doesn't even come close when it comes to hype levels and popularity. In no way would Shadowlands win a direct battle with Cyberpunk 2077 (not sure if it matters though). Shadowlands is just the umpteenth expansion for a decaying giant, Cyberpunk is a brand new franchise by one of the best game developers out there.

AC: Valhalla and Cyberpunk are probably more closely related in terms of hype then Shadowlands is with any of them.

Personally i wish they wouldnt come out so close to eachother

[Usernameforforums]

Right? I don't often agree with you but it seems very unlikely Blizzard are pleased about this.

It may not make a huge difference to them. I'm not sure how large the crossover is between "NEEEEEEDSSSS to play CP2077 day 1!!!!" and "NEEEEEDSSSS to play Shadowlands day 1!!!!!" is, but it's going to be some amount of crossover (I remember even all the way back when I was playing DAoC and KotOR came out, a noticeable number of people were missing for a bit). And any isn't great. Mid-November vs early December was plenty of clearance, as after a week or two the most obsessive players of CRPGs will have either finished their first run-through, or burned out, and be back to MMOs or whatever.

So them stepping on each other isn't ideal.

On the other hand, if the actual raids are not until January, esp. mid-January, it might not make all the much of a difference.

- - - Updated - - -



All of this?

Seriously?

Fuck's sake mate. No. This year has been hell for a lot of businesses, and even ones relatively well-prepared for the situation, like Blizzard seem to have been, have seen a noticeable drop in productivity as people adjust to new situations, new ways or working, less access to teams or hardware/software (or different access), and so on.

Shit like "all of this" is exactly the kind of stuff gamers get mocked for, frankly. It's completely unrealistic nonsense.

EDIT - Also, and I think this applies more to CDPR than Blizzard (who don't have a horrific rep for crunch in recent years, though they definitely used to do it a lot), I bet it's vastly harder to get people to do "optional" crunch when they're working from home, because you're not in this kind of peer-pressure environment. At a business, when they crunch, you see everyone around you crunching, you are all getting food delivered together, someone brought in a bunch of sleeping bags or whatever, and there's strong social pressure on you to crunch. Working from home, though, that isn't there. You don't know exactly what other people are doing (especially if you're actually working hard - it's literally impossible to do real work and monitor a bunch of people on Zoom or whatever at the same time), and your spouse and kids are around to bother you and observe and comment on exactly how much you're being overworked (and you can see how much you're missing out on even more). I guess maybe you can squeeze an extra hour or so out of people instead of a commute but that's not like crunch hours, which tend to be more like several extra hours/day.

Its not about needing to play day one, its about feeling left out week 2 when everyone is talking about it. Its the same reason why people watch movies in theaters as opposed to waiting for home release.

[Eurhetemec]

Well i think back when WoW was "the big thing" it wouldnt have mattered much since everyone would prioritize it over most games either way. but even i have some casual friends that would put WoW on hold for 1-2 weeks and play cyberpunk instead. Also feels like blizzard cares alot about the casual audience and i think the overlap for casual gamers that would play cyberpunk over wow might be a lot bigger than one would assume.

Realistically, much of the "casual" audience has already pre-ordered both, but particularly SL, given the pre-patch and so on. I have several casual friends who play WoW (unfortunately not so much in my time-zone, but whatever), and they all already bought SL, in fact most of them did months ago.

So it's more whether people will actually be playing SL when it launches or not.

Cyberpunk 2077 is the most hyped game of the last years. Shadowlands doesn't even come close when it comes to hype levels and popularity. In no way would Shadowlands win a direct battle with Cyberpunk 2077 (not sure if it matters though). Shadowlands is just the umpteenth expansion for a decaying giant, Cyberpunk is a brand new franchise by one of the best game developers out there.

Meh.

CP2077's hype levels are down massively over the last few months. It's still pretty hyped, but I daresay everyone who is super-hyped about it already pre-ordered it, and likewise everyone who was excited about SL already pre-ordered that. The impact is unlikely to be large either way.

Your colour commentary is pretty amusing at least, in a Eeyore-ish sort of way.

- - - Updated - - -

Its not about needing to play day one, its about feeling left out week 2 when everyone is talking about it. Its the same reason why people watch movies in theaters as opposed to waiting for home release.

Those are the exact same thing in practice.

[Usernameforforums]

Realistically, much of the "casual" audience has already pre-ordered both, but particularly SL, given the pre-patch and so on. I have several casual friends who play WoW (unfortunately not so much in my time-zone, but whatever), and they all already bought SL, in fact most of them did months ago.

So it's more whether people will actually be playing SL when it launches or not.



Meh.

CP2077's hype levels are down massively over the last few months. It's still pretty hyped, but I daresay everyone who is super-hyped about it already pre-ordered it, and likewise everyone who was excited about SL already pre-ordered that. The impact is unlikely to be large either way.

Your colour commentary is pretty amusing at least, in a Eeyore-ish sort of way.

- - - Updated - - -



Those are the exact same thing in practice.

Not really

[Eurhetemec]

Not really

Great argument, super-compelling. It's obvious that anyone who is going to get upset about people "talking about" a game in week 1 or 2 is going to be either pre-ordering that game or buying it in week 1-2. An awful lot of games sell about 80-90% of their full-price copies in the first week or so.

So the actual impact is very similar. I am skeptical that there are many people who rush out to buy something in week 2 when they didn't buy it in week 1 anyway. That kind of FOMO person doesn't wait that long.

The only time they do is when something is a "surprise". The only potential "surprise" with CP2077 is that it might turn out to be kind of mediocre (the gameplay has looked pretty bad in trailers, but trailers can lie in both directions on gameplay).

[apelsinjuice]

not even a date for the source event lol

[xenogear3]

Let me guess,

After a 4 hour long maintenance, ..., nothing.

Not even an announcement of an announcement.

[Daevied]

And here i am, only buying games other than WoW when they are like 50% on steam lol

[arkanon]

And here i am, only buying games other than WoW when they are like 50% on steam lol

50%? you gotta pump those numbers! 85% or bust mate, if it isnt $5 i aint buying it!

[Redsage]

It almost feels like they are not even trying. People really aren't unsubbing yet. So they are still making money. Meanwhile - just as an example - my characters has been sitting at 59 on beta in front of the quest to go into Torghast for seven days now. Check it out on wowhead under beta - quest: Torghast, Tower of the Damned. No one has been able to finish it. Normally a bug like that is addressed, even in beta. After all, what's the point of beta when people can't even finish the main storyline? That's a pretty big bug, especially when my perception was that they were mostly "tuning".

And not a single announcement on this. It's almost like blizz just gave people the month of october off. Again - they are still getting money. Customers seem to be more than willing to pay them even without an update of when it will be released. They can shill out crap like transmog's for 6 month subs and get money for literally doing nothing but keeping the lights on.

Can any of us really say this game is still worth the money for the next 4 months at $13-$15 a pop with nothing to do but level alts?

[apelsinjuice]

It almost feels like they are not even trying. People really aren't unsubbing yet. So they are still making money. Meanwhile - just as an example - my characters has been sitting at 59 on beta in front of the quest to go into Torghast for seven days now. Check it out on wowhead under beta - quest: Torghast, Tower of the Damned. No one has been able to finish it. Normally a bug like that is addressed, even in beta. After all, what's the point of beta when people can't even finish the main storyline? That's a pretty big bug, especially when my perception was that they were mostly "tuning".

And not a single announcement on this. It's almost like blizz just gave people the month of october off. Again - they are still getting money. Customers seem to be more than willing to pay them even without an update of when it will be released. They can shill out crap like transmog's for 6 month subs and get money for literally doing nothing but keeping the lights on.

Can any of us really say this game is still worth the money for the next 4 months at $13-$15 a pop with nothing to do but level alts?

game was supposed to release today, and torghast is not even working

[Becket]

Oh nice, third week whit nothing than new hair styles.... 5 hours to add nothing...

[Dystemper]

Oh nice, third week whit nothing than new hair styles.... 5 hours to add nothing...

Not very promising looking is it

[Toybox]

And here i am, only buying games other than WoW when they are like 50% on steam lol

Halloween sale on the 29th. I'm reading 428 Shibuya Scramble right now, but I'll be watching the sale with keen eyes. A friend got me a copy of Rimworld, so I've that to look forward to either way

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

CP2077 now December 10th. Pretty important.

There's only one game that's remotely relevant here and that's Final Fantasy XIV. Blizz has historically shown a willingness to wait until they make a move before making a directly competing move. I remember we were sitting around waiting for the 8.2 release date, and lo and behold we got it as soon as XIV gave their date for Shadowbringers.

Mark my words we're gonna find out Shadowlands is dropping "Early December 2020."

[Revamp Man]

There's only one game that's remotely relevant here and that's Final Fantasy XIV. Blizz has historically shown a willingness to wait until they make a move before making a directly competing move. I remember we were sitting around waiting for the 8.2 release date, and lo and behold we got it as soon as XIV gave their date for Shadowbringers.

Mark my words we're gonna find out Shadowlands is dropping "Early December 2020."

exactamundo my friend

[arkanon]

There's only one game that's remotely relevant here and that's Final Fantasy XIV. Blizz has historically shown a willingness to wait until they make a move before making a directly competing move. I remember we were sitting around waiting for the 8.2 release date, and lo and behold we got it as soon as XIV gave their date for Shadowbringers.

Mark my words we're gonna find out Shadowlands is dropping "Early December 2020."

Causation / correlation.

[Hinastorm]

Causation / correlation.

Assuming you're saying causation does not equal correlation (I don't think that is how you type it) this has happened too many times to just be a coincidence.