BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[Dracullus]

i think he is just posting why people would think of, not that he think this is true and 8.3 is scrapped

some of then actually make a bit of sense, Wod was scrapped too

I don't think there was some planned 6.3 that was scrapped. I think WoD was just planned as one year expansion. Then they realized you can't just put more people to work on expansion and get it done faster. There are bottlenecks during expansion development.

Of course many stuff were cut from this expac, so who knows. But as I said in previous post, we had rumors that WoD will have just 2 tiers even before it launched.

[Tech614]

A mix of patches being more "late" than legion timeline, by legion time we got 7.3 by now. Meaning BFA is a whole patch late.
And probably some BFA haters who want this expansion to end also added into the mix.

We got 7.3 by now but 7.3 didn't actually unlock the argus raid, 7.3.5 did which came out in January. 8.3 like 8.2 will unlock the raid 2 weeks after releasing so it's not really comparable in any way shape or form, 8.3 is more comparable to 7.3.5 and both likely release around the exact same time 2 years apart from each other.

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I don't think there was some planned 6.3 that was scrapped. I think WoD was just planned as one year expansion.

This is exactly the case, with WoD they wanted to transition to yearly xpacs. They failed, and quickly went back to 2 year xpacs with Legion and BFA. The next xpac will 100% release some time around august of next year, because that is their 2 year schedule and the next raid will release sometime in January cause again... that's on their 2 year schedule.

[Syegfryed]

I don't think there was some planned 6.3 that was scrapped. I think WoD was just planned as one year expansion. Then they realized you can't just put more people to work on expansion and get it done faster. There are bottlenecks during expansion development.

Of course many stuff were cut from this expac, so who knows. But as I said in previous post, we had rumors that WoD will have just 2 tiers even before it launched.

there is ton of content scrapped from wod, it was going to be a big expansion, but they abandon to work on Legion, pulled the last patch from nothing, trowed Archimonde and the selfie patch

they scrapped the ogre continent too.

but i don't think 8.3 will be scrapped, things who are planned will be thats for sure, but i think its going to be a "minor major patch" to close the expansion with a raid, maybe one warfront, and maybe some allied races before the 9.0 pre-patch

[Nyel]

This is exactly the case, with WoD they wanted to transition to yearly xpacs. They failed, and quickly went back to 2 year xpacs with Legion and BFA. The next xpac will 100% release some time around august of next year, because that is their 2 year schedule and the next raid will release sometime in January cause again... that's on their 2 year schedule.

Where does this myth come from? The idea of annual expansions was existing long before WoD and they never tried to actually achieve that with WoD. It was never intended/planned as a shortened expansion, it was cut because of several reasons. Fahralon was planned for WoD, Shattrath raid was planned for WoD, Ogre stuff was planned for WoD, Grommash was planned as the final expansion boss, the list goes on and on. All they wanted to achieve were shorter droughts between expansions (MoP and WoD both had the longest droughts ever) which they ultimately achieved in Legion, at least for once.

[huth]

What does this prove though? "You know more about the future of WoW at Blizzcon" - you musn't be Nostradamus to predict that. This is just another weird statement as it pushes every possible 8.3 talk towards Blizzcon.

It proves that you will stop at nothing to keep your "WoW ends with 8.2.5" narrative alive, even though there's no support for it.

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Where does this myth come from?

Blizzard saying so. I.e. it's not a myth.

[Nyel]

It proves that you will stop at nothing to keep your "WoW ends with 8.2.5" narrative alive, even though there's no support for it.

When there are questions why people think there might be no 8.3 I just answer them what some of the arguments for "no 8.3" are. I'm tired to constantly say I was conviced that 8.3 could happen because of plausible arguments so no, it's not my narrative. There are just several (good and bad) reasony why a lot of people think 8.2.5 is the end (it's not only in this forum and by no means only me btw).

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Nyel you've been pushing BFA to be over for awhile, always ragging on BFA for the entirety of its length.

[Nyel]

Blizzard saying so. I.e. it's not a myth.

Blizzard never said WoD was planned as part of an annual expansion cycle. As I said their idea for annual expansions is as old as WotLK and nothing that came to their mind with/for WoD.

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Nyel you've been pushing BFA to be over for awhile, always ragging on BFA for the entirety of its length.

Again, please look at every WoW forum, YouTube channel or "WoW news outlet". It's not solely me who "pushes this narrative".

I think everybody knows that I despise BfA yet it makes me not resistant to a) good arguments and b) interesting story twists. That's why I'm still around.

[Vladier]

Don't mean anything to you, yet for a lot of other players. If those points would be meaningless we wouldn't even have this discussion everywhere surrounding 8.3. As I said, being open to arguments in a discussion makes sense. I was 100% sure we won't get 8.3 yet I see the possibility of 8.3's existence because of arguments that were made. I am torn, 50:50 for 8.3's existence and non-existence. Both sides have good arguments.

No offense but "if those points would be meaningless we wouldn't even have this discussion" might as well describe "discussions" with conspiracy theorists or Flat earthers. An inane argument can become a point of discussion as well as a reasonable one.

Let's dissect the arguments you present:

Poor reception of BfA in general

The reception of WoD was so poor that Blizzard remade an entire zone pretty much from scratch, which meant that they had to push back Tanaan Jungle and cut a raid in Shattrath and zone of Farahlon. They did this in alpha. BfA is at the stage where their patch contnent is long finalised, and since the Eternal Palace is a final raid neither in feeling nor rewards (Azshara drops neither Mythic mount nor AotC quest item for a mount hinting at the future), that means that there already is a true final raid in the works.

Delayed patches (we're 4 months late compared to Legion's schedule; by the time of 8.2.5 release 7.3 was already one month live)

And Blizzard already told us that they didn't like Legion's spacing for patches.

8.2 as big as former final expansion patches

It's only slightly larger than the Tomb of Sargeras. And that "slightly" amounts to Mechagon. In fact, it could be considered the same size as the Thunder King patch for MoP, with one large plot of land, and one small one.

"Azshara is Gul'dan" (this would fit Gul'dan from WoD) being the introduction to 9.0

This doesn't mean that she has to be the final boss. In fact, Gul'Dan wasn't, he was a background character in the final boss.

Blizzard not once talking about 8.3 directly or mentioning it

Which is understandable, considering the amount of secrecy they went with in 8.2.5.

8.2.5 wrapping up war campaign

But doesn't do anything of note with the Magni plot, other than not-so-subtly dropping the hint that "true Battle for Azeroth" is actually found in that plotline, not faction war. Surprise, surprise - the planet dying, the thing that actually started this whole plot, is actually important.

[Nyel]

No offense but "if those points would be meaningless we wouldn't even have this discussion" might as well describe "discussions" with conspiracy theorists or Flat earthers. An inane argument can become a point of discussion as well as a reasonable one.

Let's dissect the arguments you present:

1. The reception of WoD was so poor that Blizzard remade an entire zone pretty much from scratch, which meant that they had to push back Tanaan Jungle and cut a raid in Shattrath and zone of Farahlon. They did this in alpha. BfA is at the stage where their patch contnent is long finalised, and since the Eternal Palace is a final raid neither in feeling nor rewards (Azshara drops neither Mythic mount nor AotC quest item for a mount hinting at the future), that means that there already is a true final raid in the works.

2. And Blizzard already told us that they didn't like Legion's spacing for patches.

3. It's only slightly larger than the Tomb of Sargeras. And that "slightly" amounts to Mechagon. In fact, it could be considered the same size as the Thunder King patch for MoP, with one large plot of land, and one small one.

4. This doesn't mean that she has to be the final boss. In fact, Gul'Dan wasn't, he was a background character in the final boss.

5. Which is understandable, considering the amount of secrecy the went with in 8.2.5.

6. But doesn't do anything of note with the Magni plot, other than not-so-subtly dropping the hint that "true Battle for Azeroth" is actually found in that plotline, not faction war. Surprise, surprise - the planet dying, the thing that actually started this whole plot, is actually important.

Well, we can dissect even more then...

1. "Grommash is the final boss of WoD" was still their plan during Blizzcon 2014, days before WoD launched. So at least that wasn't scrapped in Alpha nor in Beta.

2. This is only true about 7.1, that came too early. None of the other patches did. Yet BfA is 4 months behind Legion's schedule.

3. It offers two new zones, a mega dungeon and a raid. And yes, it's similar to 5.2 and Isle of Thunder yet it's marketed as one of WoW's biggest content patches. If there is 8.3 it will be nowhere near as packed/big as 8.2, alone due to timing.

4. He played a major role in WoD and his actions caused Legion to happen. Azshara played a major role in BfA and if the next expansion is N'zoth focused she basically caused the next expansion to happen.

5. This makes no sense. I am not talking about 8.3 contents, I am solely talking about the sheer existence of a patch with that number which in fact was not mentioned once.

6. I agree on that yet BfA has a lot of plotholes. We dealt with our artifact weapons in 7.3.5 so something related to that could easily be pushed to 9.0 pre patch or whatever. We'll most likely get another patch (8.3, 8.3.5, 9.0.x or whatever) with pre-order allied races, this could be the patch that focuses on lose ends, too.

As I said, besides all my hate for BfA, I try to listen to good and plausible arguments. This is the reason why I changed my mind about 8.3 and lean towards a 50:50 chance now. I don't want to push any narrative I just try to explain why people come to the conclusion that 8.3 maybe might not happen.

We might learn at Blizzcon about 8.3...

Btw I do see how tiresome and annoying this discussion is and I won't fuel it any further, I'm done with this topic in this thread, here's to new ones though.

[Arthzull]

Well, we can dissect even more then...

1. "Grommash is the final boss of WoD" was still their plan during Blizzcon 2014, days before WoD launched. So at least that wasn't scrapped in Alpha nor in Beta.

2. This is only true about 7.1, that came too early. None of the other patches did. Yet BfA is 4 months behind Legion's schedule.

3. It offers two new zones, a mega dungeon and a raid. And yes, it's similar to 5.2 and Isle of Thunder yet it's marketed as one of WoW's biggest content patches. If there is 8.3 it will be nowhere near as packed/big as 8.2, alone due to timing.

4. He played a major role in WoD and his actions caused Legion to happen. Azshara played a major role in BfA and if the next expansion is N'zoth focused she basically caused the next expansion to happen.

5. This makes no sense. I am not talking about 8.3 contents, I am solely talking about the sheer existence of a patch with that number which in fact was not mentioned once.

6. I agree on that yet BfA has a lot of plotholes. We dealt with our artifact weapons in 7.3.5 so something related to that could easily be pushed to 9.0 pre patch or whatever. We'll most likely get another patch (8.3, 8.3.5, 9.0.x or whatever) with pre-order allied races, this could be the patch that focuses on lose ends, too.

As I said, besides all my hate for BfA, I try to listen to good and plausible arguments. This is the reason why I changed my mind about 8.3 and lean towards a 50:50 chance now. I don't want to push any narrative I just try to explain why people come to the conclusion that 8.3 maybe might not happen.

We might learn at Blizzcon about 8.3...

Btw I do see how tiresome and annoying this discussion is and I won't fuel it any further, I'm done with this topic in this thread, here's to new ones though.

To be honest, I think this is the last patch, with blizzcon coming up in November, why not mention 8.3, why keep everything in 8.2 so secret, because it is the final patch, and they don't want anything to get out, I think we will find out fast with this patch that this will be the final, leading to people talking about what will be shown at blizzcon, new xpac? 9.0?

[TaliaKirana]

If 8.2.5 was the final patch, we would already know.

[Raugnaut]

Blizzard said it was just a coincidence that every patch launched 77 days apart, but i doubt anyone believes them. Having a date the patch has to be finishes before you even work on it can't be good.
This reflects in Legions patches. They where mostly empty. Remember the biggest patch wow has ever seen with 7.2? There was nothing to do. All legion patches have been new worldquests and a new cap for your artifact so you kept grinding.
This may have had other reasons, but i blame them trying to push out patches on a deadline set months in advance.

Just because YOU didn't find much to do in 7.2 didn't mean it wasn't a big patch. It was quite the patch - First ever pet dungeon, all of the Legion Class Hall quest finishes, Mage Tower, plus raid/dungeon, and the entirety of Broken Shore, which WASN'T just WQs - Sentinax, Legion Commanders, Twisting Nether summons from the Nether Disruptor, craftable legendaries, new gambling spot, ect.

In terms of raw content, 7.2 is one of the largest patches we have ever had. Now, sure, not ALL of the content was done by everybody (I only did Sentinaxx events once for each character, then never again), but it was large!

I would also like to point out that 8.2.5 is 6 GBs. Pretty sure that most x.5 patches tend to be a LOT smaller, but I'm probably mistaken on that.

[Hitei]

To be honest, I think this is the last patch, with blizzcon coming up in November, why not mention 8.3, why keep everything in 8.2 so secret, because it is the final patch, and they don't want anything to get out, I think we will find out fast with this patch that this will be the final, leading to people talking about what will be shown at blizzcon, new xpac? 9.0?

Because it contains major story spoilers, pretty obviously.

[liandroa]

I would also like to point out that 8.2.5 is 6 GBs. Pretty sure that most x.5 patches tend to be a LOT smaller, but I'm probably mistaken on that.

I think 8.1.5 was around the same.

Edit: https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...nload/117238/7 seems to indicate it was, but I don't remember myself.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Because it contains major story spoilers, pretty obviously.

And because, if Blizz could have it their way, they'd encrypt everything to stop dataminers.

[KayRule]

Where did this ludicrous idea that 8.3 has been cancelled even come from? Seriously, what sparked it? It's just so bizarre to me. Is it the result of a collective stroke?

People really don't want to accept we're taking on N'zoth in 8.3 and we'll not be getting a Black Empire expansion. As the evidence has mounted more and more, it's reached the point where it can only happen if they were to just end the expansion now.

Basically, it's all cope.

[AngerFork]

People really don't want to accept we're taking on N'zoth in 8.3 and we'll not be getting a Black Empire expansion. As the evidence has mounted more and more, it's reached the point where it can only happen if they were to just end the expansion now.

Basically, it's all cope.

Perhaps it's partial denial, but I could totally see us both taking out N'Zoth in 8.3 and having a Black Empire piece at least within the next expansion. What we do in 8.3 will likely set the tone for the next expansion. Given N'Zoth's penchant for planning and manipulating events, I could totally see him setting up his own death to unleash some sort of crazy trap involving Ny'alotha, the Black Empire, or Azeroth that sets the tone for 9.0.

[Izenhart]

Why is a reasonable discussion with pro-/con-arguments about this so problematic in this forum?

Are you aware of the fact that we're missing a 3rd raid tier, yes?


That's like watching the semi-finals of a competition and starting a discussion about "guys...what are your pro/con-arguments for a final actually happening?"

it's completely nonsensical

[razorpax]

Several reasons and the possibility of 8.3 being scrapped was mentioned long before any YouTuber came up with that idea:

- Poor reception of BfA in general
- Delayed patches (we're 4 months late compared to Legion's schedule; by the time of 8.2.5 release 7.3 was already one month live)
- 8.2 as big as former final expansion patches
- "Azshara is Gul'dan" (this would fit Gul'dan from WoD) being the introduction to 9.0
- Blizzard not once talking about 8.3 directly or mentioning it
- 8.2.5 wrapping up war campaign

I am sure I've left out several but those came to my mind right now.

in legion we did not have raids tied to patches

for example 7.1 launched september 14th but the raid did not launch until january (unless you count ToV)

7.2 launched january 19th but tomb was in june

7.3 august 29th almost exactly one year after expansion launch and antorus was end of november

so technically you are correct 7.3 is almost one month live but we are far ahead in raid releases

new instanced content is less in terms of dungeons
bfa got 1 mega dungeon
legion had 1 mega dungeon and 2 smaller story dungeons

7.2 was rather large and in some cases larger than 8.2 because we essentially made 1 zone for character power progress and one for cosmetics

in Legion flying was introduced in 7.2

you could compare the war campaign story wrapping up in 8.2.5 to the fact any content concerning the legion in azeroth was wrapped up after nighthold release as well essentially moving from "hey we are being invaded" storyline to "stop the threat at its source"

queeny being guldan is a comparison to him in LEGION not WoD
we faced him as end boss for a tier
we faced her as end boss for a tier
we fought his boss next tier
we fight her boss next tier (we dont kill him)

There has been no mention of 9.0 either does that mean no new expansion??
would saying "yes theres an 8.3 coming" do anything more than stir up wild speculation??
cant mention any possible content because that would ruin 8.2.5

i get being cynical
this expansion was not the expansion that the players deserved or that the devs wanted
it was not fair to launch the rep system without paragon rewards immediately thus making the rep grind feel meaningless
it was not fair to treat azerite gear in a m+ cache like a regular item while at the same time making arguments for it being more similar to legendaries
it was definitely not fair to remove master loot and use the trial players as an excuse knowing damn well that is not the truth of how guilds function
it was not fair to slow you guys down in terms of player progression overall with these new systems just to make you feel like you had to play more
it was not fair to ignore your concerns in the beta and treat you like ignorant children
BfA was a huge mess and right now we are making progress on fixing it
the essence system allowing you to see a clear end point for the grind
the acquisition of the essences allowing you free reign on how you play
an island of content designed for the collectors out there that normally get shafted
the ability for you to get amazingly powerful gear for the raid by doing the content and not having to no life
the azerite grind being nerfed so hard that by the time AK stops happening it will be a little over 10k to get 65

the campaign finale will be worth it
8.3 WILL be worth it
Aspects will be worth it

hold us accountable
but do not feel like we would repeat the worst mistake again for no reason
WoD will not repeat



(well that is my final post i figure why not go out on a high note see you all in the dragon isles. I am going to go chill with Varian)