WoW's LONGEST content drought incoming

[Alroxas]

Funny you mention that. I'm polling people about when they made the most alts, and WoD is in second place after Legion while SL is pretty far behind.

To be fair, end-game replayibility of WoD was non-existent. WoD had great leveling but very little after you reached max level. Legion had different order hall campaigns (despite overlaps) along with artifact quests which helped replaybility but at the same time Legion had horrible legion legendary acquisition until later Legion patches.

For folks that forgot, remember how it was actually easier to level a new X class from boost to max level (in Legion) to get a shot at the "right" legion legendary because bad luck protection wasn't a thing nor was there an actual Legion legendary vendor. Also the power gain from Legion Legendaries was fairly significant during Legion progression.

SL (so far) doesn't have as numerous campaigns compared to Legion (4 covenants instead of 12 order halls) but at least with legendaries it's more deterministic than the RNG fest we had initially with Legion. And at the very least, SL does have end-game content to do compared to WoD. Granted having end-game content versus wanting to engage in that end-game content is the current problem that SL has.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

All of his videos do have proper information (unless it’s clearly marked as speculation when it comes to lore), the problem is he spreads 2-3 minutes of information over a 20 minute video. That’s why I don’t watch them anymore, but what he says is based on facts and makes sense.

Going off of “I heard a rumour” really isn’t proper information and that’s what he primarily traffics in.

[Alroxas]

Relevant to former or recent WoW players. I don’t know any WoW YouTuber that generates more views per video than Bellular.

Nobble87? SignsofKelani? Preach? Wowhead?

[Nyel]

Nobble87? SignsofKelani? Preach? Wowhead?

Bellular has 603.000 subscribers

Nobble has 608.000 subscribers

Preach Gaming has 426.000 subscribers

SignsofKelani has 179.000 subscribers (I’ve never heard of him / her before your post)

Asmongold has 505.000 subscribers

Towellie has 118.000 subscribers

Taliesin & Evitel have 292.000 subscribers

Wowhead is a website and not a YouTuber

Only Nobble has more subscribers, but his videos get a lot less views than Bellular‘s. Asmongold‘s videos get comparable viewer numbers.

So Bellular is top tier when it comes to YouTubers and audience.

[huth]

To be fair, end-game replayibility of WoD was non-existent. WoD had great leveling but very little after you reached max level. Legion had different order hall campaigns (despite overlaps) along with artifact quests which helped replaybility but at the same time Legion had horrible legion legendary acquisition until later Legion patches.

Let's not forget that WoD also had a strong incentive to have a legion of alts just dawdling around in their Garrisons.

[Wangming]

To be fair, end-game replayibility of WoD was non-existent. WoD had great leveling but very little after you reached max level. Legion had different order hall campaigns (despite overlaps) along with artifact quests which helped replaybility but at the same time Legion had horrible legion legendary acquisition until later Legion patches.

For folks that forgot, remember how it was actually easier to level a new X class from boost to max level (in Legion) to get a shot at the "right" legion legendary because bad luck protection wasn't a thing nor was there an actual Legion legendary vendor. Also the power gain from Legion Legendaries was fairly significant during Legion progression.

SL (so far) doesn't have as numerous campaigns compared to Legion (4 covenants instead of 12 order halls) but at least with legendaries it's more deterministic than the RNG fest we had initially with Legion. And at the very least, SL does have end-game content to do compared to WoD. Granted having end-game content versus wanting to engage in that end-game content is the current problem that SL has.

Bottom line is, if you make leveling too quick, don't give enough incentive to level alts, and make endgame unattractive, content will get old very fast. That is pretty much the case with SL. It would be a problem even without the delay. But with a delay....woooh.

[bloodykiller86]

Why did you need a new acc for that?
Bellular is a clickbaiter and could work for actual media for all I care. His news, while could have some weight are disappoint because of his un-needed opinions and biases.

plus he misreads some news items at times like confusing profits with revenue etc etc or ignoring other news. he's good sometimes but feel like his way of reporting can be negative most the time

[Lei]

The stuff about the drops being buggy and the rng boxes are irrelevant to the discussion at hand, though. We had an expansion's worth of cosmetics to buy and grind out from day one. People realized this and paced themselves, or farmed them to high hell then just did their weekly azerite for the rest.

Why would it be worrying if they frontloaded everything? In BC and Wrath when they started the whole faction quartermaster thing in the mainstream did they only put a few things on the vendor then next patch go "oh, here's a mount for those who are exalted and willing to shell out 20k gold?" No, they didn't. They showed you everything there was to earn and said "There it is go get it."

Most people just stopped farming islands, and only started to grind it with the rng boxes. That's how I got my mounts. I have all of them.

Do I really need to explain why is it bad to frontload your expansion? Because in order to do that, you need to put 2x 3x more content in your starter game, otherwise you just cut players short of content. And this, what we have is not 2x 3x more content, not compared to previous expacs. Even in WoD we got many buildings to play around with from the get go, AND we could afford those buildings. And buildings had content behind them (gladiator sanctum had the pvp thing, barracks had the armor collecting etc). Just like how the sanctum buildings have some content behind them. But now players can't access them so easily, and many just stopped farming anima altogether. And then if you frontload your expac, then how do you expect people to keep up with your content? If players in 9.1 and 9.2 are still farming 9.0 content, then when will they get to do the current content? It is a bad design however you look at it.

[Tiradon]

I mean we’re still missing the vendor build which usually comes ~ one week before PTR. So maybe if we’re getting a vendor build this week PTR could start next week. If nothing happens until Thursday I think we shouldn’t expect it next week.

Pretty much, spot on. what's your take on the 9.1 release?

[niztheundead87]

Bellular has 603.000 subscribers

Nobble has 608.000 subscribers

Preach Gaming has 426.000 subscribers

SignsofKelani has 179.000 subscribers (I’ve never heard of him / her before your post)

Asmongold has 505.000 subscribers

Towellie has 118.000 subscribers

Taliesin & Evitel have 292.000 subscribers

Wowhead is a website and not a YouTuber

Only Nobble has more subscribers, but his videos get a lot less views than Bellular‘s. Asmongold‘s videos get comparable viewer numbers.

So Bellular is top tier when it comes to YouTubers and audience.

quality > quantity

[Nyel]

Pretty much, spot on. what's your take on the 9.1 release?

My expected timeline is:

April: 9.1 PTR (when TBC beta testing is mostly done, they unlocked level 68 this week, I guess we’re getting level 70 next week, then another one or two weeks of dungeon and raid tests and then maybe 9.1 PTR mid April)

May: TBC pre patch (early / mid May)

June: TBC launch (mid / end of June)

July / August: 9.1 (if everything works out fine July, if there are issues August)

I mean, the PTS could start this week. We don’t know. And two big WoW release in June and July? I don’t know if that isn’t overload. June for TBC and August for 9.1 sounds from a logical perspective better, but 9.1 9 months after SL launch sounds disastrous (ok, 7 months after launch isn’t that much better).
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quality > quantity

That wasn’t the point. It was about audience size and relevance. And due to the number Bellular not only has the biggest audience, this makes him very relevant as well.

[Tiradon]

My expected timeline is:

April: 9.1 PTR (when TBC beta testing is mostly done, they unlocked level 68 this week, I guess we’re getting level 70 next week, then another one or two weeks of dungeon and raid tests and then maybe 9.1 PTR mid April)

May: TBC pre patch (early / mid May)

June: TBC launch (mid / end of June)

July / August: 9.1 (if everything works out fine July, if there are issues August)

I mean, the PTS could start this week. We don’t know. And two big WoW release in June and July? I don’t know if that isn’t overload. June for TBC and August for 9.1 sounds from a logical perspective better, but 9.1 9 months after SL launch sounds disastrous (ok, 7 months after launch isn’t that much better).
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That wasn’t the point. It was about audience size and relevance. And due to the number Bellular not only has the biggest audience, this makes him very relevant as well.

Your expectation seems to be on line with the rest of us here in terms of how long the PTS will last for. I also agree July is the safe spot.

[Dazlartist]

Perfect timing for the nicer weather ahead, I’ll wait till summer forces me inside to do much more than a calling here and there

[Nyel]

Your expectation seems to be on line with the rest of us here in terms of how long the PTS will last for. I also agree July is the safe spot.

There are still different scenarios how things can go and that’s what makes it interesting.

9.1 having the size of the usual .2 patches is one thing that makes me curious. Does this mean we skipped the usually smaller .1 patch entirely? Or did .1 and .2 just swap places in Shadowlands? A lot of questions to answer and I hope we’re getting some answers within the next few weeks.

[niztheundead87]

My expected timeline is:

April: 9.1 PTR (when TBC beta testing is mostly done, they unlocked level 68 this week, I guess we’re getting level 70 next week, then another one or two weeks of dungeon and raid tests and then maybe 9.1 PTR mid April)

May: TBC pre patch (early / mid May)

June: TBC launch (mid / end of June)

July / August: 9.1 (if everything works out fine July, if there are issues August)

I mean, the PTS could start this week. We don’t know. And two big WoW release in June and July? I don’t know if that isn’t overload. June for TBC and August for 9.1 sounds from a logical perspective better, but 9.1 9 months after SL launch sounds disastrous (ok, 7 months after launch isn’t that much better).
- - - Updated - - -



That wasn’t the point. It was about audience size and relevance. And due to the number Bellular not only has the biggest audience, this makes him very relevant as well.

he is clickbait

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https://www.wowhead.com/news/upcomin...ination-321641

[Nyel]

So I’ve been right with my prediction above, PTR starts mid April. This basically means 9.1 will launch most likely mid/end of June or early July.

[Alroxas]

Wowhead is a website and not a YouTuber

Yeah but they do have a channel...

Update

So from Dec 8th (Castle Nathria opening) to let's just say end of July is.... 235 Days... That's well short of the LONGEST content drought in wow's history (which again is from Siege to WoD launch).

Maybe the longest from launch to first patch? Someone else can do that math.

[Tiradon]

So I’ve been right with my prediction above, PTR starts mid April. This basically means 9.1 will launch most likely mid/end of June or early July.

Which again sounds pretty realistic with the timetable they giving us for raid testing. Bit worried about class balance...

[huth]

Which again sounds pretty realistic with the timetable they giving us for raid testing. Bit worried about class balance...

If PTR was just class balance, it'd take 2-3 weeks. That's never a very large part of it.

[Magic gun 23]

Clickbait.
Doesn't check facts properly.
Speedruns news, always being the "first" one to bring it, not the best. News Flash Media at its finest.
Spreads his content out. A 1min news is like 20min with him because he wants that juicy retention time.
Unsympathetic, but that's subjective.

Thank you for the clarification. That makes a lot of less now that I think on it.