Could it be that the prepatch events be overlapping with the release?

[ranzino]

And who in their right mind would choose pre-patch content over going straight to the Shadowlands?

content is closer to SL than anything from BfA IMHO

[BigZik]

Won't happen.

Also, how does this make sense? Instead of separating both as Blizzard has done since BC, you want to make the event and the actual release overlap, to give players "breathing room". If anything, putting the event in the same time frame as Shadowlands releases is only going to cause more presure.

[Makabreska]

content is closer to SL than anything from BfA IMHO

Still, no one will be doing WQ's in ICC or killing Nathanos in Plaguelands when they can move to the new xpac.

[rrayy]

Although, as others have pointed out, they're going to drop the expansion in the middle of Halloween...but, that doesn't involve any level-squishing.

But you are also missing the key difference. When the expansion releases, the level squish will already have been done. That means that the squish will already be in effect before Hallow's End starts. Not so with Brewfest. You are running it now at 120. Dropping pre-patch in the middle of it means you will be running at 120 1 day and then 50 the next. That has the potential to create massive issues, especially to those trying to get the mounts off Direbrew. By waiting to drop the pre-patch on Oct 6. Brewfest ends when the servers shut down to implement pre-patch. Brewfest isn't affected at all. It would be far smarter to do that.

Incidentally, dropping the expansion during Hallow's End will impact those going after teh Horseman mount because you have to be max level to get the chance at it. That means when the expansion drops, you will no longer be at max and will be barred from going after it until after you reach 60. So, either you get to 60 before the next reset or you miss out on 1 chance for every previous max toon you had.