Warlords of Draenor Release Date

[Aeluron Lightsong]

People used the same arguments during the MoP Beta cycle. They claimed that there is no way possible that the MoP Beta could be a longer beta cycle than the Cata Beta because
(1) They don't have to redesign the old world, which is apparently what made Cata take so long
(2) They promised content would be released faster
(3) They couldn't possibly leave us in DS for more than 6 months given how boring and what a terrible raid it is.

Guess what? Despite all of that, the MoP Beta actually lasted LONGER than the Cata Beta did. The arguments are near carbon copies of the arguments people are making now for a faster expansion release and much shorter Beta cycle. I have yet to see a reasonable argument why history will suddenly reverse itself.

Any one expecting less than a 5 month Beta cycle is deluding themselves. History says it is more likely set to be a 7 month Beta cycle, so expecting 5-6 months is being optimistic. The window for a pre-July release to even be possible is quickly closing.

Maybe if we had new talents and new classes sure.

[Tiberria]

Maybe if we had new talents and new classes sure.

The exact same arguments were made about MoP and how it would require so much less development time than Cata because it seemed that it was so much less ambitious in its scope. The reality is, the more expansions this game has, the longer the development cycle just because of the increased complexity of the game. I can see the cycle staying the same (or maybe being 1-2 months shorter) with the increased development team size, but expecting an early spring release is really silly.

[Marquize]

I'm hoping that it won't even take 4 months, but I just can't believe it'd take anything less, looking at how long it took for MoP to be released after being announced, I'd say it's not looking very good... I'm hoping for 4 months, I'm expecting close to a year so well, I'm preparing to unsub while I wait. After all, if I'm gonna continue to play the game with the amount of content that is currently in there, I'm gonna get very tired of the game very fast and just not have any will to play the game when the expansion finally comes.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

The exact same arguments were made about MoP and how it would require so much less development time than Cata because it seemed that it was so much less ambitious in its scope. The reality is, the more expansions this game has, the longer the development cycle just because of the increased complexity of the game. I can see the cycle staying the same (or maybe being 1-2 months shorter) with the increased development team size, but expecting an early spring release is really silly.

Except the new talent system WAS changed in MoP. We had a new race and a new class, new talent system. Now? We don't have any of that. That is what I'm saying.

[Zka]

expecting an early spring release is really silly.

I have the same opinion about july or later release predictions. Now what?

[cyqu]

is hoping for january unrealistic?

i heard it was at the beginning of December.

[Tiberria]

Except the new talent system WAS changed in MoP. We had a new race and a new class, new talent system. Now? We don't have any of that. That is what I'm saying.

Right, but we have garrisons, which are a significant amount of development time. We have the same amount of new zones. We have 2 new cities that need to be designed. MoP's shrines weren't really full fledged cities, and both shrines are basically reverse copies of each other.

While there isn't a new class or race, they do need to finish new models for every race, which is probably many times more work than a single new race would be. I am not buying the argument that they will release it with the new models half finished and have some races have to wait months for them either. That won't be acceptable, both because there will be QQ from people who don't have the new models yet, and because the entire game will look like absolute crap if they have new and old models mixed together.

The item squish and gear redesigning will require a massive amount of testing too. I really can't see this expansion being any less significant in terms of content or testing cycle than MoP was. And, everyone was underestimating how long MoP would take and making the same faulty arguments that we would see it in a 2-3 month Beta back then too.

[Kuja]

Given the history looks like September-November.

Blizz is swearing it wont take that long, but they always say they want to release content faster, which never happens.

They said in Blizzcon that they have like 350 artists and devs now, and previously like 150 (Or something along those lines, can't remember) so they're able to do stuff quicker.

[stormgust]

Guess what? Despite all of that, the MoP Beta actually lasted LONGER than the Cata Beta did. The arguments are near carbon copies of the arguments people are making now for a faster expansion release and much shorter Beta cycle. I have yet to see a reasonable argument why history will suddenly reverse itself.

Guess what? Cataclysm and any expansion prior had a F&F Alpha. MoP didn't. I've yet to see your argument, as to why SoO should last longer than even ICC. I've yet to see one reasonable explanation how you inexplicable can distort timeframes in your favor. [If you allow for ad hominen arguments: It's probably the same way you distort statistics and leave out variables unsuited for your points in any discussion concerning resto shamans]

Any one expecting less than a 5 month Beta cycle is deluding themselves. History says it is more likely set to be a 7 month Beta cycle, so expecting 5-6 months is being optimistic. The window for a pre-July release to even be possible is quickly closing.

Care to elaborate why it's being optimistic that WoD beta being as long as MoP beta is optimistic?

[Faroth]

The exact same arguments were made about MoP and how it would require so much less development time than Cata because it seemed that it was so much less ambitious in its scope. The reality is, the more expansions this game has, the longer the development cycle just because of the increased complexity of the game. I can see the cycle staying the same (or maybe being 1-2 months shorter) with the increased development team size, but expecting an early spring release is really silly.

Actually, they've all been 5-6 months of beta testing I believe.

[Wardley]

Looking at the older expansion isn't really valid. None of the patches were as fast as MoPs patches.

Actually - they were. Or faster. Average time between *raid patches* on WoTLK - about 4 months. Average time between *raid patches* in MoP about 7 months. Even if you go with MoP having the 2 'storyline patches' as well (patch 5.1 and 5.3) - it was still 3 months between the storyline patch being released and the next raid patch so not that much faster than WotLK.

And looking at Cata - that had 3 raid tiers with the 3rd tier being released 1 year and 1 month after the pre-expansion patch.
MoP has had 3 raid tiers - with the 3rd tier being released 1 year and 1 month after the pre-expansion patch

Time from when the final raid patch was released from WoTLK to when the pre-expansion patch was released for Cata - 6 months. And that was from after the Ruby Sanctum raid - which may have been always planned to be in the release schedule or may have been a 'quick raid' they put together because they released it was going to be a further 6 months before Cata was ready and it was already 6 months since ICC had been released, depending on who you listen to. And the 6 months between the end of WoTLK and Cata was the shortest period between expansions. TBC had a 7 month gap at the end, and Cata had a 9 month gap.

3.0.2 14-10-08 WotLK pre-expansion patch
3.1.0 14-04-09 Ulduar 6 Months
3.2.0 04-08-09 Call of the Crusade 4 Months
3.3.0 08-12-09 ICC 4 Months
3.3.5 22-06-10 Ruby Sanctum 6 Months

Then 6 Months until

4.0.1 12-10-10 Cata pre-expansion patch
4.1.0 26-04-11 Zandalari 6 Months
4.2.0 28-06-11 Firelands 2 Months
4.3.0 29-11-11 DSS 5 Months

Then 9 Months until

5.0.4 26-08-12 MoP pre-expansion patch
5.1.0 27-11-12 Landfall 3 Months
5.2.0 05-03-13 ToT 4 Months
5.3.0 21-05-13 Escalation 2 Months
5.4.0 10-09-13 SoO 4 Months

If they were even considering a date in the first half of 2014 they would've announced at Blizzcon that the beta program was going to start straight away. They'll want to run that for 4 months as usual so even if they start that before Xmas, it'll be May before that's finished - it might be possible for them to release it in June - just about.

[Tiberria]

Guess what? Cataclysm and any expansion prior had a F&F Alpha. MoP didn't. I've yet to see your argument, as to why SoO should last longer than even ICC. I've yet to see one reasonable explanation how you inexplicable can distort timeframes in your favor. [If you allow for ad hominen arguments: It's probably the same way you distort statistics and leave out variables unsuited for your points in any discussion concerning resto shamans]


Care to elaborate why it's being optimistic that WoD beta being as long as MoP beta is optimistic?

Because, the Beta cycle for each of the last 4 expansions has been longer than the Beta cycle of the previous expansion, and the Beta cycle generally increases in length by about a month for every subsequent expansion. Given that history, expecting the WoD Beta cycle to be the same duration as the MoP beta cycle is optimistic, because it has always increased in duration with every new expansion.

Do we know if WoD will have a F&F Alpha, and if it has started yet? It's entirely possible that they will go back to having one, but if that's the case, unless it started well before Blizzcon, them doing one would certainly not make the argument for WoD to be out any sooner be any stronger.

[Markluzz]

This same exact thread pops up every expansion with people hoping for a spring-summer release date then getting a fall-winter one.

Same arguments to, this is kind of old.

[Stingray]

The exact same arguments were made about MoP and how it would require so much less development time than Cata because it seemed that it was so much less ambitious in its scope. The reality is, the more expansions this game has, the longer the development cycle just because of the increased complexity of the game. I can see the cycle staying the same (or maybe being 1-2 months shorter) with the increased development team size, but expecting an early spring release is really silly.

The difference you seem to be missing is that the people who made those arguments about MoP must have been dumb. MoP blew up the entire talents/skills system and they had to re-balance the entire game, along with adding a new class that could play 3 roles, all at the same time.

For WoD, the argument is actually reasonable.

edit: and since this is a prediction thread, I'll say sometime between late April and the end of July.

[Myrandron]

Late Spring, early Summer. I'm guessing to see info on beta released within the monthish left of this year, and end of January at the latest. After that maybe beginning of the beta late February and going for about four to five months(six at the longest) with a release of the game late spring early Summer(Really late May early June maybe,)

[Pancaspe]

First Quarter for sure.

[Deleted]

they better release it in Q1 2014 or they will lose a lot of money, I am already unsubscribed and I figure millions will unsub until the expansion.

[Stinkybeard]

I hope they don't make us wait again like they did in Wrath. Remember 12 months of Icecrown Citadel?

I remember... painful...

[Deleted]

I remember... painful...

Frankly I enjoyed that time a lot since ICC was such an awesome raid and the gating made the raid enjoyable for a long time imo, also Season 8 was the best season ever <3

[Markluzz]

Maybe if we had new talents and new classes sure.

There are new stats to balance.