New date may not be til spring...

[Keristrasza]

Cute PR statement. WoD and BfA begs to differ.

I'd wager that is why we are having this delay now, so there isn't a repeat of WoD/BFA.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

You do not have to literally say "you think blizzard is a liar" to say "you think blizzard is a liar". Using the context of your reply and the actual reply "It means minds are changed not that they are liars." you said I called them a liar. I specifically said blizzard was less credible and your argument proves my point. Game companies are not credible when setting release dates and Blizzard loss credibility when it announced it would miss the Oct release window.

Yeah because you and others seem to think there's been some big wrong by not going by what they said "Release October 27th." Like its somehow a bad thing. Blizzard's credibility did not go down just cause they delayed a game, the response has been the opposite despite some small people whining about wasted taking time off. Delays have been common all year. This credibility arguments is stupid.

Just food for thought.

The option is already there in Pre Patch.

[Harthmut]

Release it when it's ready. Not before.

This
Let's head back to "It's finished, when it's finished"

[Nize]

Who knows, I can see them flippin the switch for Jan 4th for Normal and Heroic and then Mythics would drop on the 11th so it could work. Its possible that could slide everything down a week, but then were looking and another Emerald Nightmare scenario where its beat very quickly because of the extra time allowed..

Lets not forget ur 17th date falls in their thanksgiving break so its not a likely date either to launch a game thats more then likely going to be a broken mess while also putting players into an awkward situation as well..

It's not a matter of turning on a switch. Blizz needs to be back at work to deal with raid release problems/tuning/etc.

Week of 17th isn't thanksgiving. The week after is. Outside of Week 1 tech stuff, week 2 doesn't need much since most tech stuff is handled during prepatch. BfA's didn't. Legion's didn't. It's just a waiting game until season start then. Season start is filled with a ton of shit since a lot of the end-game stuff is put out then. Mostly balancing and new discoveries. It matters that the devs are there to hotfix for the first few weeks. Not to mention, devs are taking 4 days off there, not whole weeks like in half of January

[Sicard]

November 23rd/24th is the new release date currently

[Jtbrig7390]

November 23rd/24th is the new release date currently

No it isn't, There is no new official release date.

OT: They can delay it however long they need to, rather not play a broken mess. With that said for me its safe to say I won't be playing it this year. October was the one month this year I won't be swapped with games and now that SL is delayed I have no clue when ill get around to it.

[Soisoisoi]

The option is already there in Pre Patch.

It is, you're right, but that's not the point of my post.

E: To clarify, I don't see why they would use a random speculated date instead of saying its already in, or say something like "by the end of the year" as neither prepatch nor SL were originally scheduled for November... It's just odd. Makes me think they possibly have a new possible release date.

[newt0n]

Was hoping for some actual evidence of this, not just doomsayer speculation.

Both November and December still work as dates.

We have the pre-patch now, we don't need a firm release date given a month ahead of time. A week or two is more than enough.

As for December, Cataclysm was released on Dec 7th, so there is precedent for December releases. Likewise, WotLK and WoD were both released in November, having content that lasted through Thanksgiving into the Christmas season, so again, not out of the realm of possibility.

I could have accepted an argument without facts for January, but not "Oh it's going to be late spring, just because I say so."

A week or two isn't currently enough seeing as we dont even have an announcement for when the prepatch event will start. I would say 4-6 weeks is pretty minimum at this point. Once we have the prepatch event released, then 2-4 weeks seems likely. November seems extremely unlikely but anything is possible. December is definitely possible but I find that January is much more likely.

My "evidence" would consist of them releasing that last update as "Shadowlands Update -- October" or something of the sort, which immediately made me believe we will see a "Shadowlands Update -- November" and possibly one for December as well. I think Dec 8th is the earliest with Jan 5th being my current bet.

[Kyletheboss]

Blizzard clearly said in the delay announcement it would still be in 2020 and have not changed anything yet. There is zero news supporting the theory that it will be a longer delay to next year. These posts feel so entitled. It's barely 3 weeks since the delay announcement and there are multiple threads complaining that the new release date hasn't been announced yet.

True, but since they started allowing preorder refunds i think that clears them legally to push it to next year. If they didn't do that than they were legally obligated to release it this year no matter what.

[rhorle]

True, but since they started allowing preorder refunds i think that clears them legally to push it to next year. If they didn't do that than they were legally obligated to release it this year no matter what.

No. Nothing about "on or before" is a legal obligation. TBC was released in a different year then they said and they were not legally obligated to release it December 31st 2006. WC3 reforged was pushed to a different year and nothing was legally obligated to be released. No one at Blizzard has been arrested or charged with a crime for not releasing a product.

The only thing Blizzard, or any company, is legally obligated to do is offer a refund.

[MrLachyG]

Great! First wild rift now Shadowlands....

I mean if you're gonna take OP with his zero evidence and actually believe him then I don't know what to say really...

[LazuOG]

Could you tell me how paying for an actual service is considered a scam ?

In a way these features are being developed with players sub and box money, only to be resold to them as microtransactions instead of being incorporated into a game that is already expensive and whose development is continuously paid for.

[Feral Druid ist Op]

There is some evidence to support this claim, but obviously people just ignore / dismiss it. Like someone said on the previous page, the calender had the first SL event listed for feb 2021. Its evidence, but not conclusive.

https://twitter.com/WatcherDev/statu...129667074?s=20

hope it helps to clear your not so smart thought process

[LazuOG]

Fundamentally the expansion is fine for release except for a fair whack of tuning and a few cinematics.

Previous delays (especially BC) have been for core issues - not for a bit of tuning.

It will be out this year - however the raids/M+ season/PvP season may be delayed until the new year to give them heaps of time to tune the numbers.

It's currently the entire levelling experience that's f'ed, together with hundreds of legendary and covenant abilities that are not easily tuned. I hope they don't die on that hill.

[Sorrior]

The last xpac to be delayed was BC, which was pushed to January, so that's not out the window.
I do think it won't be November, else we would have heard about it, thinking they would want to give the players 6 weeks advance.
A December release, especially since Valhalla and Cyberpunk are on their way*, also feels like a bad time, so next year does feel right to me.

*EDIT: meant to say "in the next few weeks", as in, it would be tough to put it out while two big games are in their prime stride (whereas getting it out first beats them to the punch).

Which was a dam good expansion sooo here’s hoping..I a,so kinda wonder if maybe this isn’t a do or die expansion for blizz...as in if this one bombs Activision going to fully absorb blizzard

[LazuOG]

So it' just bugfixes and numbers tuning. They aren't making any new assets or designing new content, I don't see why it won't be early December AT THE LATEST.

Just. There's someone who's never had to fix bugs in gazillions of lines of code before.

The tuning will take a long time because all their nobs are fucked, and some classes still need fundamental changes, which will then affect the systems tied into them.

[munkeyinorbit]

If you "Want" an IceCream, and then Decide to not get an Icecream, does that mean you are unable to get IceCream?

Because, I can do alot of things, I dont want to do, but still can. I can also change my mind on things.


"Its Fucking Wrekt", is an Opinion, not a fact.

And if they need to delay the Expansion for 1-8 Weeks, its wise to say that they are not sure. "Later this year, we are not sure when exactly", doesnt mean "We have no idea how long it will take".

Still, the thing is: They HAVE a working Build, you can play it on the Beta. There is nothing preventing Blizzard from saying: "Okey, time for Release", it might not be the Product you want, and they might not fix the Issues you think are oh so wrecking. But it would be released.


Show me one Studio that never delayed a Software.


And what exactly from that list is not Tuning?

- - - Updated - - -


I can also spout stuff without any kind of Evidence.

I´d say release of Shadowlands is every week 5 weeks from that point on, unless they post a new date. *laugh*

Jokes aside, I would say they probably aim at some point in the later half of November, and if they dont get it done early December I would wager they skipp Christmas and put it early January.

Nice strawman. My argument was that the release date isn't when blizzard wanted it to be. I didn't say or imply that blizzard couldn't release it later.

Not knowing when it will be released is the same as having no idea. The accuracy of the latest information we have and the track record of recent events from blizzard is proof that my claim that they have no idea is more likely than a claim that they know when it will be released.

"Is fucking wrekt" is an opinion based in data at hand. Claims that they are just adding polish and fixing a couple of things up is complete bullshit. Is that the mode they are in right now, almost 2 months after the announcement of the delay? Maybe. I think it's still broken because we have had radio silence in release date for about 7 weeks now.

Show you a studio that has never delayed a game? After you show me someone who is wrong about SL being delayed. It won't happen on both counts.

- - - Updated - - -

Yeah because you and others seem to think there's been some big wrong by not going by what they said "Release October 27th." Like its somehow a bad thing. Blizzard's credibility did not go down just cause they delayed a game, the response has been the opposite despite some small people whining about wasted taking time off. Delays have been common all year. This credibility arguments is stupid.




The option is already there in Pre Patch.

Just because you can't find a valid, thought out response is not a good enough reason to call something stupid.

[schwarzkopf]

It's currently the entire levelling experience that's f'ed, together with hundreds of legendary and covenant abilities that are not easily tuned. I hope they don't die on that hill.

Levelling experience and tuning is pretty much data files - not code issues. Code issues make for long delays, not adjusting data files.

[Die]

November 23rd/24th is the new release date currently

Any declared release date or projection carries very little weight now. It doesn't matter if they said Nov 23/24th or Before 2021. They already said October and then moved it. They can just move the release date again.

[rhorle]

Not knowing when it will be released is the same as having no idea. The accuracy of the latest information we have and the track record of recent events from blizzard is proof that my claim that they have no idea is more likely than a claim that they know when it will be released.

They can easily have an internal launch date but are not publicly releasing it until they are sure they can meet it. So your claim is no more valid then anything else because it based on nothing but conjecture. The delay was announced on October 1st which is not 2 months ago. It isn't even a month ago.

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/ne...on-shadowlands