9.0 General Discussion

[matrix123mko]

I don't buy that COVID-19 is delaying the alpha. They just went home this week. Ion said that SL news will be "really soon" back in early Feb.

I think they are doing major redesign of expansion systems and that's what is taking so long.

What does "major" mean? I doubt we will get a new class.

[Dracullus]

I don't buy that COVID-19 is delaying the alpha. They just went home this week. Ion said that SL news will be "really soon" back in early Feb.

I think they are doing major redesign of expansion systems and that's what is taking so long.

Or, you know, expac is scheduled to release 2 months later, so Alpha start 2 months later as well.

People often forget that BfA Alpha/Beta wasn't THAT much shorter than Legion, Blizzard just used that time rather poorly

1) first they ignored feedback about class changes
2) they tried to repair everything last minute
3) They failed to do that in most cases (ekhm Shamans), not all of course - I really love my Fury Warrior and it was reworked late Beta
4) Azerite Armor was introduced in Beta as well, which is ridicolous - Beta should be only about final polish & bug reporting & stress test
5) focusing on Azurite and classes took away resources for bug testing, which caused Season 1 to be buggy as hell (and this was moment when BfA started by general public, not just forum dwellers).

[Sondrelk]

I don't buy that COVID-19 is delaying the alpha. They just went home this week. Ion said that SL news will be "really soon" back in early Feb.

I think they are doing major redesign of expansion systems and that's what is taking so long.

I don't think it has been delaying it already, but i think that if we don't see it this week then we can start considering that it maybe is actually being delayed because of the Pandemic.

Not because the developers are incapable of working from home, but perhaps more likely because Blizzard is taking the opportunity to delay Shadowlands and polish it some more while they have the excuse.

[ExiHext]

What does "major" mean? I doubt we will get a new class.

People are just grasping for straws at this point.

[Voidwielder]

Considering how slow they are to reacting and fixing _anything_, the backlash to ''alt friendly''ness of 8.3 and Corruption might have forced their hand in seriously re-evaluating what their ideas are.

[Edward Wu]

They might be redesigning how covenant abilities are given out, after the loud criticisms of the system back at Blizzcon and since then, just as an example.

Not sure why anyone is ruling this out...

[zeir]

They must have known how bad the azerite system was since alpha and thats why it only got to us at the end of beta. Wonder when did they start working on essences to fix the situation.

[Voidwielder]

Probably at launch lol.

[Sondrelk]

They might be redesigning how covenant abilities are given out, after the loud criticisms of the system back at Blizzcon and since then, just as an example.

Not sure why anyone is ruling this out...

I am not sure what that would actually achieve. As mentioned before on this thread, if they delay the Alpha by 5 weeks to change a system that would have been changed within 5 weeks of the Alpha anyways then they simply wasted time for cheap PR.

- - - Updated - - -

They must have known how bad the azerite system was since alpha and thats why it only got to us at the end of beta. Wonder when did they start working on essences to fix the situation.

Why in the world would they give us a bad Azerite system to begin with when the far more reasonable explanation is that the idea was poorly thought out and not given enough room to develop?

[Voidwielder]

Why in the world would they give us a bad Azerite system to begin with when the far more reasonable explanation is that the idea was poorly thought out and not given enough room to develop?

It was too late to change the course.

[Holdodlig]

I don't buy that COVID-19 is delaying the alpha. They just went home this week. Ion said that SL news will be "really soon" back in early Feb.

I think they are doing major redesign of expansion systems and that's what is taking so long.

I think they might consider how corruptions worked and tries to bring a new system to the game that would work during leveling which is probably why they've delayed the game

[Nagawithlegs]

Considering how slow they are to reacting and fixing _anything_, the backlash to ''alt friendly''ness of 8.3 and Corruption might have forced their hand in seriously re-evaluating what their ideas are.

The adjustments to 8.3 have been some of the fastest I've seen Blizzard integrally change a patch WITHIN the same patch, I don't know. It took an entire half patch for us to get buyable legendaries in 7.3.5.

Honestly the reason we might not have SL yet is because they still have people working on improving 8.3 instead of completely abandoning it, which is what many people hoped they would do. They still want to somewhat salvage the end of BFA instead of letting content drought completely kill interest until Q4.

[Voidwielder]

It's going to happen anyway. Just abandon BfA and move on, there's nothing they can do to it to make it last... what, 8-10 more months?

[Edward Wu]

I think they might consider how corruptions worked and tries to bring a new system to the game that would work during leveling which is probably why they've delayed the game

Being able to incorporate leveling more into the game beyond something quickly you do as a nuisance that funnels you into the "real" game at 60 would be amazing, but I don't expect such design from Ion and co.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

It's going to happen anyway. Just abandon BfA and move on, there's nothing they can do to it to make it last... what, 8-10 more months?

We're not waiting 8-10 more months. Probably 4-5 maximum.

[therumblings]

We're not waiting 8-10 more months. Probably 4-5 maximum.

Shadowlands isn't coming out in 4-5 months.

[Chickat]

PTR just started an update? I cant remember If i updated it yesterday. Is it a new one?

[TarzoEzio]

PTR just started an update? I cant remember If i updated it yesterday. Is it a new one?

It got a CMD update hours ago.

[Voidwielder]

We're not waiting 8-10 more months. Probably 4-5 maximum.

[Merryck]

We're not waiting 8-10 more months. Probably 4-5 maximum.

I appreciate your optimism in these grim dark times.