World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Releases This Year - Pre-Orders Now Available

[kamikaze148]

I'm not really sure where any of this "OMG ITS SO RUSHED" mentality is coming from. So Blizzard didn't announce the game a year ahead of time...does it really matter? There's literally no evidence what so ever that this expansion has been rushed other than people somehow thinking that reveal to release date encompasses the sum of development for the video game.

Pretty much this. Some genuine Pepega takes in this thread. Blizzard could have been working on this since BFA, since Shadowlands start, who knows?.

Not to say that the timeframe proposed doesn't warrant some genuine skepticism, given the patterns of announcement-release we have had for other expansions in the past, I would much rather be optimistic that the team have learnt from the errors of the past, and I guess the proof will be in the pudding come beta release time if this is a rush job or how far the team are actually along (and where I will personally reserve my judgements for)

[Tziva]

why in the heck did they omit the soundtrack? Like I'm glad we seem to being going back to the artbooks and mousepads, but not having the soundtrack in the box seems really silly.

Ugh, didn't even notice this. The soundtrack has been a big reason why I've purchased the physical CE over the digital editions in the past.

[Xilurm]

Did previous versions not have mousepads and artbooks?

Either way, all I have to say about this CE is that it's better than the FFXIV Endwalker CE. The statuette and plush are nice and all but I think I'd get more use out of the mousepad and artbook tbh. Not to mention it was way more expensive.

[Sluvs]

Pretty much this. Some genuine Pepega takes in this thread. Blizzard could have been working on this since BFA, since Shadowlands start, who knows?.

Not to say that the timeframe proposed doesn't warrant some genuine skepticism, given the patterns of announcement-release we have had for other expansions in the past, I would much rather be optimistic that the team have learnt from the errors of the past, and I guess the proof will be in the pudding come beta release time if this is a rush job or how far the team are actually along (and where I will personally reserve my judgements for)

The problem is the lack of an alpha and beta six months before release. No matter how you slice it, it is not good.

The only reason why i am not 100% negative about this is because they were extremely hesitant to announce it when the iron was hot.

[Wonderment2]

Unless this has been in-house tested to hell and back. This seems way to bloody early.

If the expansion is so far ahead in development I don't get why the announcement was mostly people discussing the zones over actually showing them....

Edit: I don't mind the discussion approach but like if the expansion was 8 months from launch at the most then they should have had a much more technical in-depth look.

[FossilFree]

So much for the preorder AR I guess. I'm starting to think the leaker just misinterpreted the Dark Ranger unlock as an AR.

[Icelin]

I will be waiting until I see more features and updates to this expansion before I will pre-order.

Shared that sentiment. With this announcement on the release date.. not really getting the: we will show off new features vibes. I think they pretty much plan on solely sticking with what they advertised. (Which was pretty much close to nothing..really early development vibes..) Which isn't good enough for me to purchase this expansion.

this year? lmao. Dead on Arrival.

Seems intentional doesn't it.

They really want to ruin themselves as much as possible before they get fully bought by Microsoft.

I don't think Microsoft will intervene. Or maybe they are just over confident that these IPs that have been run into the ground will still be able to grab interest.

This news on an early release, didn't really come as a shock to me. They have been throttling other IPs. So I am not surprised to see it hit here finally. This is where I do not share same views as the company. I'd rather see the project/expansion cancelled. Than to have a poor product, with poor reviews be distributed to the public.

Which is sad because I felt like this expansion could've had a lot of potential. (Loved the theme) Still.. what is the alternative option? To have people working on the project discredited and ridiculed. (By a lot of consumers or other people in the industry.) Overworked due to crunch that will happen. (More so with that release date..)

I wasn't surprised to hear about this. Just doesn't make any logical sense, 2 Diablo games (Immortal and Dablo 4) and Overwatch get development for four years. Here we have World of Warcraft that can't even get an expansion development time of two years. Something seems wrong.

People missing the real news coming out today:

https://www.wowhead.com/news/lil-urs...rd-shop-327440

Nice to see a reincarnation of mighty Ursoc again. He is a little over tacky for me, they could've done less on him and it really pop. I would still probably get it... if I had an actual desire to play the game. Just overall pretty nonsensical news that is not making a good impression. An expansion that will have development less than two years.. has never happened before..

See they didn't have to make a nonsensical news statement. We could've had this little guy (cute shout out from last weekend btw) and with Wotlk classic shipping out this year. The early release date for Dragonflight was not a necessity. Maybe they will reconsider this mistake, allow further development time and more content to be added. I would not be surprised if this does not happen but I will keep an open eye out for when they advertise the expansion next. To see if any changes have been made and if they are actually listening to the consumers.

[kamikaze148]

The problem is the lack of an alpha and beta six months before release. No matter how you slice it, it is not good.

The only reason why i am not 100% negative about this is because they were extremely hesitant to announce it when the iron was hot.

Fair points to be honest. I'm under no delusion that the timeframes on paper are concerning...the general playerbase needs time to play, test and give feedback on the additions to the expansion, and then fine tune before release, and 6 months is concerning. I would say the core systems and everything to launch an expansion is pretty much already in place, its just if Blizzard will A: actually listen to player feedback this time, and B: Have time to make those changes before launch.

[Zorachus]

I wonder if Blizzard will do a bait and switch? Tell everyone now the game is releasing before end of year, get all the preorder money now.


Then around Thanksgiving time announce the delay to Spring 2023 ( the true original release date ). And this news of Dragonflight releasing this December is total BS and Blizzard themselves knows it not coming out this year.

[Magnificent Madmartegan]

Well hopefully the beta comes out soon. Though that being said I really don't know why people are freaking out more than they already do. Except for going to the "new" talent tree system, dragon-riding and upgrading professions there's nothing "new" this expansion. They are getting rid of the missions table, getting rid of legendaries, there's going to be no AP system grind or azerite gear, no covenants (though apparently Renown is sorta staying around as its gonna be merged into the new reputation system). They are literally cutting away all these crazy systems that people have been complaining about for years, so I could honestly see a expansion taking no where near as long as they usually take to get done or go thru Alpha/Beta testing. I mean think about it.... the time between the last patch of a previous expansion and the new expansion coming out has been relatively about the same amount of time (too long) and that's with all the crazy systems they keep coming out with that take a insane amount of testing and balancing. With all that going away they'll have more time to work on the few systems that we are getting. All of which (except for the talent trees) don't require balancing or too much tweaking.

[HansOlo]

Shared that sentiment. With this announcement on the release date.. not really getting the: we will show off new features vibes. I think they pretty much plan on solely sticking with what they advertised. (Which was pretty much close to nothing..really early development vibes..) Which isn't good enough for me to purchase this expansion.


Seems intentional doesn't it.



I don't think Microsoft will intervene. Or maybe they are just over confident that these IPs that have been run into the ground will still be able to grab interest.

This news on an early release, didn't really come as a shock to me. They have been throttling other IPs. So I am not surprised to see it hit here finally. This is where I do not share same views as the company. I'd rather see the project/expansion cancelled. Than to have a poor product, with poor reviews be distributed to the public.

Which is sad because I felt like this expansion could've had a lot of potential. (Loved the theme) Still.. what is the alternative option? To have people working on the project discredited and ridiculed. (By a lot of consumers or other people in the industry.) Overworked due to crunch that will happen. (More so with that release date..)

I wasn't surprised to hear about this. Just doesn't make any logical sense, 2 Diablo games (Immortal and Dablo 4) and Overwatch get development for four years. Here we have World of Warcraft that can't even get an expansion development time of two years. Something seems wrong.

Nice to see a reincarnation of mighty Ursoc again. He is a little over tacky for me, they could've done less on him and it really pop. I would still probably get it... if I had an actual desire to play the game. Just overall pretty nonsensical news that is not making a good impression. An expansion that will have development less than two years.. has never happened before..

See they didn't have to make a nonsensical news statement. We could've had this little guy (cute shout out from last weekend btw) and with Wotlk classic shipping out this year. The early release date for Dragonflight was not a necessity. Maybe they will reconsider this mistake, allow further development time and more content to be added. I would not be surprised if this does not happen but I will keep an open eye out for when they advertise the expansion next. To see if any changes have been made and if they are actually listening to the consumers.

Thank you for the analytical insight and bold texts. It's is truely facinating that everyone is hivemind-woke and graduates from IT/buisness schools.

I still want to challenge you.

How do you know where they are with the project - and how do you exactly compare earlier releases with this. You got insights on:

1)Staffing compared to earlier releases.
2)Resources compared to earlier releases.
3)Marketing/project mangement in general compared to earlier releases.
4)Which audiance are they targeting compared to earlier releases(now that you think it doesn't have enough content).
5)Are we in a pandemic or other global issues?

Can you wrap these up as well in bold?

[Zorachus]

More I think about it, no way Dragonflight comes out this year.

Heck to come out in December, and no beta yet, that'd only be like 5 months of beta testing before release. Which as far as I know has never happened, typically 6 to 8 months is the norm for beta, which puts the release more like Feb to April.

But there hasn't been an official friends and family alpha test announcement yet either? Has there? So beta might not start till August.

I'm still saying Blizzard knows the real release date and it's certainly not Nov / Dec this year, most likely March / April 2023, but Blizzard will be quiet now to take in the preorder money, then around Thanksgiving time announce the delay ( which isn't an actual delay )

[HansOlo]

More I think about it, no way Dragonflight comes out this year.

Heck to come out in December, and no beta yet, that'd only be like 5 months of beta testing before release. Which as far as I know has never happened, typically 6 to 8 months is the norm for beta, which puts the release more like Feb to April.

But there hasn't been an official friends and family alpha test announcement yet either? Has there? So beta might not start till August.

I'm still saying Blizzard knows the real release date and it's certainly not Nov / Dec this year, most likely March / April 2023, but Blizzard will be quiet now to take in the preorder money, then around Thanksgiving time announce the delay ( which isn't an actual delay )

When they made this statement, they also did the offical comitment. They can't release in Q1 2023 unless pandemic, global financial crisis etc. something that needs to satisfy the investors(and 'we are not ready' won't ever do that).

[Sluvs]

More I think about it, no way Dragonflight comes out this year.

Heck to come out in December, and no beta yet, that'd only be like 5 months of beta testing before release. Which as far as I know has never happened, typically 6 to 8 months is the norm for beta, which puts the release more like Feb to April.

But there hasn't been an official friends and family alpha test announcement yet either? Has there? So beta might not start till August.

I'm still saying Blizzard knows the real release date and it's certainly not Nov / Dec this year, most likely March / April 2023, but Blizzard will be quiet now to take in the preorder money, then around Thanksgiving time announce the delay ( which isn't an actual delay )

IIRC if they delay past the release date they gave, they have to offer full refunds, no questions asked. If they committed to this its because they believed they can deliver.

Now, what comes out of it is very much debatable. But this is a tough promise to break.

[HansOlo]

I wonder if Blizzard will do a bait and switch? Tell everyone now the game is releasing before end of year, get all the preorder money now.


Then around Thanksgiving time announce the delay to Spring 2023 ( the true original release date ). And this news of Dragonflight releasing this December is total BS and Blizzard themselves knows it not coming out this year.

The commitment is made and the statement is bound(borderline legal right for the investors). That means unless we are hit by global crisis, pandemic etc. i.e a good excuse, they will have to release it.

[Ihavewaffles]

Is the physical CE only on the Blizzard gear store now? I've snagged on Amazon on the past with free same-day shipping. Between taxes and shipping, the ridiculous price is even more ridiculous.

I always get the CE but this might be the very first expansion I don't.

What I'm wondering, if one buys the physical one, collector's ed. through the blizz gear store, one gets code in email ahead of time, or one has to wait until december to get box in actual mail, and not only until then get the new mount, transmog stuff etc. way later than everyone else...

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Of course I'll get the boxed Collector's Edition because I have all the others, but why in the heck did they omit the soundtrack? Like I'm glad we seem to being going back to the artbooks and mousepads, but not having the soundtrack in the box seems really silly.

they used to release stuff for the other games as well...where are my diablo 3 wings?..

[Ezyah]

Shadowland Alpha was Mid april, released mid november
If DF releases mid December (for christmas most likely), we already have 1 less month of alpha IF it was released right now ...

But I agree there are ess systems to iterate on...

[Tziva]

What I'm wondering, if one buys the physical one, collector's ed. through the blizz gear store, one gets code in email ahead of time, or one has to wait until december to get box in actual mail, and not only until then get the new mount, transmog stuff etc. way later than everyone else...

I doubt it. For one, even the official store is still run by a third party vendor. It doesn't ask or require your battle.net account info when you buy (at least as far as I went in the process - I didn't actually purchase) for them to know you've ordered it. Second, they fact the included all the upgrade/credit info on this announcement seems to indicate otherwise. Third, it's never worked that way before, although you also could get through other vendors before and -- at least at the moment -- that doesn't seem to be the case this year.

[Xilurm]

What I'm wondering, if one buys the physical one, collector's ed. through the blizz gear store, one gets code in email ahead of time, or one has to wait until december to get box in actual mail, and not only until then get the new mount, transmog stuff etc. way later than everyone else...

- - - Updated - - -



they used to release stuff for the other games as well...where are my diablo 3 wings?..

I doubt it. For one, even the official store is still run by a third party vendor. It doesn't ask or require your battle.net account info when you buy (at least as far as I went in the process - I didn't actually purchase) for them to know you've ordered it. Second, they fact the included all the upgrade/credit info on this announcement seems to indicate otherwise. Third, it's never worked that way before, although you also could get through other vendors before and -- at least at the moment -- that doesn't seem to be the case this year.

On the store it says...

World of Warcraft® Dragonflight Epic Edition Game Key

Use this digital key to unlock the Epic Edition of Dragonflight

I doubt they'd let players wait AFTER the expansion has released to actually give you the game. The goodies is understandable ofc.

[Cayde69]

On the store it says...



I doubt they'd let players wait AFTER the expansion has released to actually give you the game. The goodies is understandable ofc.

Depending on where you get it, normally the key comes to you right away. I believe in amazon there’s a digital purchases tab that has your key there. Normally when you can go to your account and select “upgrade” and enter the key whenever so your account is flagged to have this version when it opens up. I haven’t used a collectors edition in a very long time so idk how this works now.