Oh wow guys....the game will be released much later than most expected.

[pros17]

I think they are waiting to see what GW2 does.

[PHOENIXZERO]

Oh FFS.....

well they won't release before AP starts to run out so anyone who thinks it will be out before late Oct is foolish

Yeah, okay... Six or seven months of total BETA time, blowing away Cataclysm's nearly five month BETA which had a overhaul of the old world and 1-60 questing on top of the new zones and raids and two and a half to three months left when we're already nearly the end of it with raid testing. The only fools are ones that keep using the AP as a reason for it to be released in late October or later. The Annual Pass's purpose was to try and stabilize subscriptions during the fourth and first quarters, it did its job. The Annual Pass had 1.2 million people on board out of 10.2 million, tell me how in any way it makes sense to hold off on the release of something for what would amount to be less than 10% of the user base. I say less than 10% because not all of those APs started on the announce date, that's a cumulative total over the course of six months.

I think they are waiting to see what GW2 does.

Blizzard DOES NOT release expansions around guise of thwarting "competition" they release content patches at best and Blizzard isn't going to sit on their thumbs and hold off on releasing a finished product just to see what Arenanet is going to do. 5.1 coinciding with GW2? Sure. MoP? No.




Please Blizz for the love of Benji announce the date soon so we can stop this crap. >_<

[jearle]

Blizzard DOES NOT release expansions around guise of thwarting "competition" they release content patches at best and Blizzard isn't going to sit on their thumbs and hold off on releasing a finished product just to see what Arenanet is going to do. 5.1 coinciding with GW2? Sure. MoP? No.

Blizzard will do whatever is in its best interests, they won't hold onto 'finished product' (when is anything in MMOs truly finished though eh?)
but they will surely ship unpolished shit to steal thunder from the competition. If Arenanet announce GW 2 was going to be released August 27th, you damn well know Blizzard would release MoP earlier in August regardless of the state of the game. The simple fact is during this part of an xpac is when the game gets stale for most people and they unsub. If those people unsub for a new mmo it is much harder to get them to come back to your mmo than to keep them rolling along playing unpolished content.

Those people who bought the annual pass (who aren't interested in D3) are probably getting pretty pissed about how long this xpac is taking I would gather and might be ready to jump ship by the time this all pans out.

[lordjust]

well they won't release before AP starts to run out so anyone who thinks it will be out before late Oct is foolish

Yeah because the approximate 2 mio AP holders are worth more than the other 8 mio people playing the game and having DS for 10-11 month with less content and lower difficulty (LFR and normal) than ICC are fun and loosing 1-2 mio people because of it (like in WotLK) is fun for Blizzard and its investors. It even fits with Blizzard's plan to release add-ons and content faster and the fact that we are already testing raids and like 90% of content is finished.

[Bristae]

Yeah because the approximate 2 mio AP holders are worth more than the other 8 mio people playing the game and having DS for 10-11 month with less content and lower difficulty (LFR and normal) than ICC are fun and loosing 1-2 mio people because of it (like in WotLK) is fun for Blizzard and its investors. It even fits with Blizzard's plan to release add-ons and content faster and the fact that we are already testing raids and like 90% of content is finished.

<sarcasm>Yep makes sense to me! :P Forget all logic and everything around that prove otherwise! this is it! December release! because it has to be! Mommy and Daddy then can buy me it for Christmas! woots! along with more spray tan and weights so I can look like my idols on Jersey Shore! </sarcasm>

[Methusula]

<sarcasm>Yep makes sense to me! :P Forget all logic and everything around that prove otherwise! this is it! December release! because it has to be! Mommy and Daddy then can buy me it for Christmas! woots! along with more spray tan and weights so I can look like my idols on Jersey Shore! </sarcasm>

Love it! Good show old boy!

[Conscious]

Probably why they're hesitant about even giving ball-park dates.

[savethetuna]

I think you need to actually look at the state of the clues and facts around... and re-evaluate. Also, Blizzard absolutely cares about losing subscribers. It is statistically harder to get a resub then a new subscriber. It's better to retain the subscription than to let it lapse. That is the purpose of the Annual Pass program. to retain as many subscribers as possible, by offering incentives to contract for a year. The incentives were fair as well. Not everyone took the deal, but enough did. Why do you do think when you have a magazine subscription they start hounding you like 4 months before your sub up to renew? because they know that statistically if you let it lapse chances are you won't renew. I know what you are thinking, but so what people WILL come back for MoP. you may be right. But if a sub leaves for 2 months, that's $30 lost per person. "But that's ONLY $30..." $30 is still $30 and it compounds fast. What if 10,000 subs unsub for that 2 months? that's not a lot right? but that's $300,000 in lost revenue! That could could be the pay for 50 Blizzard employees for those months! Big picture my friend... Big Picture.

I only called Oct/Nov because that's when I get out of basic training lol lame I know

But really blizzard does not care for losing subscribers and your whole paragraph of describing about losing money does not even touch blizzard's cash revenues. They've built up so much money over the years they can drop from 10 million subs down to 7 million and STILL bank day in and day out. Big picture man, big picture over the years.

[Methusula]

I only called Oct/Nov because that's when I get out of basic training lol lame I know

But really blizzard does not care for losing subscribers and your whole paragraph of describing about losing money does not even touch blizzard's cash revenues. They've built up so much money over the years they can drop from 10 million subs down to 7 million and STILL bank day in and day out. Big picture man, big picture over the years.

this is flawed logic my friend. They will ALWAYS take ANY steps they can reasonably take to make money. That includes incentives to keep subs in lean times.

[Worgoblin]

well they won't release before AP starts to run out so anyone who thinks it will be out before late Oct is foolish

Put me in the fool category then, because I believe there is zero chance it's not already out before September ends.

[schwarzkopf]

well they won't release before AP starts to run out so anyone who thinks it will be out before late Oct is foolish

LOL - as if they are just going to sit on it for 2 months whilst people leave.

No, people who think this expansion will take double that of previous ones - they are the foolish ones.

[dethlyhallows]

EDIT#4:
Guess what? Tides of War( the new novel that will set up MOP) wil be releasing in AUGUST, same time the MOP cinematic is supposed to be revealed. What does this all mean? September as I said or early October at the latest. October seems likely because it usually takes a month and some weeks after the cinematic launch for the expansion to go live. This cinematic launch will be August 16.
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2...ristie-golden/
http://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/2...gamescom-2012/

[savethetuna]

Yup I'm still calling an october release

[Count Zero]

Probably why they're hesitant about even giving ball-park dates.

lol, troof ... they've come nowhere near to announcing a release date and people are in a mad frenzy

[topitopi]

I initially said I was optimistically in a bubble hoping spring break, realistically hoping for july/august, but expecting september/october. Sad when Blizzard meets my expectations . Seriously though, I wanted this out earlier but oh well, looks great!

[Maconi]

Looks like GW2 will be releasing before MoP after all. Now even the hardcore WoW fanboys can give it a whirl for a couple months while waiting for MoP to come out.

[dethlyhallows]

I find it rediculous that it's coming so late... I hate that I had to maintain a one year contract for no reason (I don't play Diablo3 I just wanted Beta). Why did we even opt-in for beta if no one got picked. I am so pissed at Blizzard for not making it into this beta it infuriates me.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

September 4th MoP will go on sale. 3 weeks after the cinematic reveal, 2 weeks after 5.0, and 1 week after GW2.

[Lothaeryn]

GW2 is coming out on Aug 28, I doubt Blizz is going to be that bold to launch on the same day as them.

[Bristae]

Gloom and Doom.....

I seriously can't say anything else here. I can point out things. Some of you may know why I can't say anything else more. Let's just say i had a long talk with someone last night