Guessing the new Shadowlands release date

[Yunzi]

I don't think the argument of "necessarily more than two weeks from the original date" is sound. They were about to release it on October 26th, and the seeming cause of the delay was community concern, not factors internal to the development team. If without the community push they would have released on October 26th, then it's quite reasonable to suppose a 4-week prepatch with the xpac launching November 9th. All of the problems of holiday distractions and Cyberpunk 2077 loom more dire if they extend much beyond that.

[Malefic]

I don't think the argument of "necessarily more than two weeks from the original date" is sound. They were about to release it on October 26th, and the seeming cause of the delay was community concern, not factors internal to the development team. If without the community push they would have released on October 26th, then it's quite reasonable to suppose a 4-week prepatch with the xpac launching November 9th. All of the problems of holiday distractions and Cyberpunk 2077 loom more dire if they extend much beyond that.

I think it's clear internally they knew it wasn't ready too based on the timeline of notable events that happened from August 27th to the delay being official.

If they were only delaying it 2-3 weeks we would have likely got a date with the delay.

[LorDC]

My bet is on early December. Early November doesn't make sense because it is not worth to delay for two weeks only. Late November doesn't make sense because of all the holiday shenanigans and other major releases. Early December gives them ample time to work on the game and nice headroom for patches and raid release before Christmas. Also it will allow team some time off on Thanksgiving to be ready for all the pre-/post-release madness.

[--Code--]

What's the big deal with raids releasing over xmas break? Not like people are going to be having huge gatherings this year. And for the race guys, it's not like they would take time off from WoW anyways. If anything wouldn't xmas week be great for business because EVERYONE is at home playing the game? Mythic raiders are the only people I see being affected by a normal raid release schedule, and that's like what, 10% of the population? Does Blizz care?

[Izzyfurious]

Nov 17 or December 1st.

[matheney2k]

A lot of people seem to think it won't be until 2021 when we get Shadowlands.

I'm here to tell ya there is a 0% chance that the game will release in 20021.

Legal reasons demand that the game be release in 2020, and Blizzard does not want, on any level, to release it afterwards.

[Sarethion]

To whoever voted November 3rd - thank you!

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What's the big deal with raids releasing over xmas break? Not like people are going to be having huge gatherings this year. And for the race guys, it's not like they would take time off from WoW anyways. If anything wouldn't xmas week be great for business because EVERYONE is at home playing the game? Mythic raiders are the only people I see being affected by a normal raid release schedule, and that's like what, 10% of the population? Does Blizz care?

World First Race has become a pretty huge community event in BfA and chances are that it will continue into Shadowlands. This matters because if there's going to be hundreds of thousand people watching, Blizzard can't really afford to release the raid when devs are on a Christmas break, because if any mechanical or balance issues come up then it won't be just a bunch of neckbeards who will get frustrated.

[superbipbip6]

in my opinion:

november is not an option, delaying SL is a VERY BIG issue, they didnt do it to gain 1 or 2 weeks, but way more

they always said 2020 release, and in the last message about delaying, they said " later THIS year". Postponing after 2020 would mean a SECOND delaying message, which seem, on term of communication undoable

For december: after the 15, there's christmas, and blizzard holliday, so seems strange

1 or 8 decembre seem for me the most possible choice, allowing:
- 6 or 7 weeks pre patch which seem legit
- 2 months for working on SL, which sem a big amount of time ' if they start to reallu work and listen communiocty...)
- allow the disapointed players who took holiddays to enjoy sl on hcristmas holliday
- release MM+ and raid 3 or 4 weeks after the release, at the very beginning of january


so for me, i'd say 1 or 8 december, and if i have 1 choise, it's 8 december

[Daevied]

I think it will be dec 1th too, but recently i have this crazy idea that they already have a fixed version of the game on the works that havent been put into the beta yet, so theyll need less thing to fix for an early release in mid nov.

[SamTheBeardedMan]

In reading through the entire thread, I only saw this mentioned once and no one seemed to notice it, but EVERYONE saying they won't release it on Nov 24th due to Thanksgiving is forgetting that the entire game itself originally released on Nov 23rd. If they had no problem releasing the entire game right before Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure they would have no problem releasing SL right before Thanksgiving as well. Also, seeing that COVID is still a thing at least in the US, that may drive more people to stay at home and game and not go out to family get togethers.

I personally feel like it will be somewhere between Nov 17th-Dec 1st, but Nov 24th is still an option. Also, while the longest prepatch ever was 8 weeks, it was only one time. Prepatches have generally been between 4-6 weeks. That would be Nov 10th-Nov 24th. Dec 1st may still work as it is in the 8 week spread, but the latest it will probably be is Dec 8th.

I personally feel somewhere between Nov 17th through Dec 1st. I would ultimately like it to be on Nov 17th as it would then release in the US on the 16th, which is my birthday. However, it will probably be Nov 24th or Dec 1st.

I also feel how people said they wouldn't only push it by a few weeks, but the fact they gave a prepatch date means they are limited by how long they can stretch it. If they would have not provided a prepatch date and also not said released later this year, they would have more had more ability to push it out farther.

[Hinastorm]

All the Dec 8th people lol, I highly doubt they'd want to release on a date where the raid opening would fall 3 days before Christmas. Not only for players, but because they'll be short staffed to do any tuning/fixes needed.

I still think Dec. 1 is the only date that makes sense all around.

[Malefic]

All the Dec 8th people lol, I highly doubt they'd want to release on a date where the raid opening would fall 3 days before Christmas. Not only for players, but because they'll be short staffed to do any tuning/fixes needed.

I still think Dec. 1 is the only date that makes sense all around.

They won't release the raid this year with a December 8th release.

[Cerus]

A lot of people seem to think it won't be until 2021 when we get Shadowlands.

I'm here to tell ya there is a 0% chance that the game will release in 20021.

Legal reasons demand that the game be release in 2020, and Blizzard does not want, on any level, to release it afterwards.

They are not legally obligated to release an expansion at all let alone this year. They can delay it all they want. You pay for access to a service not the content itself.

[LorDC]

They are not legally obligated to release an expansion at all let alone this year. They can delay it all they want. You pay for access to a service not the content itself.

While they are not legally bound to anything, specifically saying "later this year" in their communications while not being 100% sure in 2020 release, is literally shooting yourself in the foot from a PR standpoint.

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In reading through the entire thread, I only saw this mentioned once and no one seemed to notice it, but EVERYONE saying they won't release it on Nov 24th due to Thanksgiving is forgetting that the entire game itself originally released on Nov 23rd. If they had no problem releasing the entire game right before Thanksgiving, I am pretty sure they would have no problem releasing SL right before Thanksgiving as well. Also, seeing that COVID is still a thing at least in the US, that may drive more people to stay at home and game and not go out to family get togethers.

Original launch was what? 16 years ago? Standards of quality and player expectations are on a whole another level now. In 2020 you just can't release stuff and say, "hey, we'll fix all the bugs after holidays".

[Nachtigal]

A lot of people seem to think it won't be until 2021 when we get Shadowlands.

I'm here to tell ya there is a 0% chance that the game will release in 20021.

Legal reasons demand that the game be release in 2020, and Blizzard does not want, on any level, to release it afterwards.

:thinking:

[Cerus]

While they are not legally bound to anything, specifically saying "later this year" in their communications while not being 100% sure in 2020 release, is literally shooting yourself in the foot from a PR standpoint.

People said the same thing when many believed it would be delayed to begin with.

The overall consensus seems to be that people are happy they are working to making it better before releasing. Those pissed off are in the minority from what I’ve seen.

[matheney2k]

They are not legally obligated to release an expansion at all let alone this year. They can delay it all they want. You pay for access to a service not the content itself.

Of course they could delay that if they wanted to, but I clearly said in my post, nobody at Blizzard wants to do that because of the can of worms they would open, hence the release date clearly being at some point in 2020.

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:thinking:

typos are fun yuckity yuck

Either way though, I'm not wrong. Game won't release in year 20021 either :P

[sunnycutie]

Prepatch delayed two weeks
Shadowlands delayed two weeks

November 10th

[Gnomesized]

December 1st or 8th seem most likely. I voted 8th 'cause it's my birthday.

[Baneto]

I just cannot see them announcing a delay and then just delaying it for only 2 weeks, so I am going to guess end of november early december.