TBC:Classic SSC/TK unlocking simultaneously worldwide, why not Retail too?

[SinR]

so reading the TBC:C post, they say that on the 14th SSC and TK will unlock at the same time across all regions.

Why can't they do that for Retail? Imagine how much fun the Race to World First would be if the top guilds all had to deal with the same bullshit from the get-go?

[Craaazyyy]

my guess is that it has something to do with the fact that all the p2 TBC content is already in the game and you dont need to patch the game/server

again they can probably do the same on retail, but its blizzard we're talking about

[Biomega]

Why can't they do that for Retail? Imagine how much fun the Race to World First would be if the top guilds all had to deal with the same bullshit from the get-go?

They can, but it involves extra work they're not willing to pay for.

The actual effect on the WFR is negligible - the guild who started later won this tier, for example. In fact, you could argue it might make the viewing experience WORSE because with both US and EU active in staggered shifts you can basically watch one of the top guilds 24/7 right now. If they all started at the same time, you'd instead have a double-booked time slot followed by empty airtime.

In addition, new retail raids tend to require a LOT of monitoring on release to fix various things. Classic isn't problem-free, but has a LOT fewer issues, especially ones related to balance. Newly releases retail raids tend to feature a slew of tuning adjustments as guilds progress to the bosses, especially higher ones. That requires people awake and actively working to identify and implement these things, which is much harder (=more expensive) to do at off hours.

Yes it would be nice in the sense of the fairest possible competition, but the amount of people ACTUALLY impacted by this are in no proportion to the cost and effort involved.

[SinR]

I still have my Conspiracy Theories, as does everyone else probably. but... that's a talk for another day

[Fenrys]

my guess is that it has something to do with the fact that all the p2 TBC content is already in the game and you dont need to patch the game/server

again they can probably do the same on retail, but its blizzard we're talking about

Its not an unreasonable guess, but by the time the raid opens, the raid has normally been in the game for at least a week.

[Xalvia]

Who knows, Blizzard logic

[Advent]

Because no one cares about TBC's world first. It was done like 14 years ago.

[Nzx]

I still have my Conspiracy Theories, as does everyone else probably. but... that's a talk for another day

If you are seriously entertaining the idea that Blizzard adjust their patch cadence in order to favour one region/guild over another in a race to see who kills a boss faster, I'm concerned about your mental health.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

What about when its the 14th in say Germany and it isn't yet the 14th in the United States yet?

[Biomega]

What about when its the 14th in say Germany and it isn't yet the 14th in the United States yet?

That's literally what they're saying - release things at the same time, not on the same date/time. I.e., don't release things "on the 14th, at 12:00pm" but release them when it's the 14th at 12:00pm on the East Coast US, even if that means it's the 14th at 8:00pm in Germany, or wherever.

Timezones are what complicates things, for various reasons. And it really only benefits about 50 people or so who are the serious contenders in the WF race. That's why they're not doing it.

[klogaroth]

If the raid for sure dies in 1 reset, it's fine for global release. But raids that guaranteed fall in a reset aren't really what people are asking for in retail. Raids in any classic WoW expansion will fall in a day, because people going for firsts have already farmed those raids, they ain't gonna take a week.

If it takes longer, you need to sync the weekly reset. All weekly resets. Forever. Or someone somewhere is getting either a long or short raid week and probably isn't going to be happy about it.

This could potentially be a problem for everyone else. Suddenly their reset day raid isn't on reset day. Many people like to raid on reset day, and moving that in a game where guild schedules have been in place for years at a time might not be so easy when people might have arranged work, childcare, and other hobbies around which day(s) they raid.

You might also end up with resets at weird times of day, but if chosen right I think you can avoid a reset during the normal raid hours of every region.

[Bigbazz]

Because no one cares about TBC's world first. It was done like 14 years ago.

You haven't thought this through have you?

[rogoth]

so reading the TBC:C post, they say that on the 14th SSC and TK will unlock at the same time across all regions.

Why can't they do that for Retail? Imagine how much fun the Race to World First would be if the top guilds all had to deal with the same bullshit from the get-go?

'the technology just isn't quite there yet'

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Simple reason, the "world first race" in tbc is a thing of roughly an hour maybe.
Retail is not.

Still I would like to see it finally.

Its more the really high end guilds on TBC Classic are worried less with who kills it first and more with who kills it the fastest. Kind of takes most the time table stuff out of the equation. You cleared SSC in 32 minutes and the next guild cleared it in 35.. well then.. 32 wins. In a way it makes it more interesting. Because who kills it first lasts a day, a week, or whatever it takes for retail or classic. But who can do it the fastest can constantly be challenged the whole tier. It isn't my cup of tea at all because I could care less whole is better at video games beyond the people in my social circle but at least it isn't 6-12 months of build up for a few days to a week peter out.

[Unlimited Power]

I've come to enjoy the fact that patches launch slightly later in EU than US. US basically gets to beta test it and most of the critical bugs have been hotfixed by the time the patch launches in EU.

[SinR]

If you are seriously entertaining the idea that Blizzard adjust their patch cadence in order to favour one region/guild over another in a race to see who kills a boss faster, I'm concerned about your mental health.

I'm concerned about my mental health too, but for other reasons.

Like, why do I still hang around this forum for a game I've lost most of my passion for?

[Advent]

You haven't thought this through have you?

Honestly? Not really. I read it, and decided to not post it, but was so tired I think I accidentally clicked reply instead. I think what I meant to type was something along the lines of "It doesn't seem to be as big a deal releasing them worldwide for most players. Changing it on retail for the world first race seems to be an endorsement of that race, where they seem to want to remain hands-off". I'm not sure it benefits anyone but a handful of guilds, and doing it for TBCC looks, to me, like they just don't think anyone's going to be clamoring to wake up in the EU at 2AM in the morning, or whenever.

[Bigbazz]

Honestly? Not really. I read it, and decided to not post it, but was so tired I think I accidentally clicked reply instead. I think what I meant to type was something along the lines of "It doesn't seem to be as big a deal releasing them worldwide for most players. Changing it on retail for the world first race seems to be an endorsement of that race, where they seem to want to remain hands-off". I'm not sure it benefits anyone but a handful of guilds, and doing it for TBCC looks, to me, like they just don't think anyone's going to be clamoring to wake up in the EU at 2AM in the morning, or whenever.

Yep that was a much more well thought out post. I agree with you to an extent but I would like to see EU/US on retail launch at the same time too, for the few people that it matters too it matters a lot. That said I don't actually play retail right now and no plans in the future, I still like to watch the world first race for the last boss.

I do play TBC but as you said the world first happened almost 15 years ago, so it doesn't matter.

[Relapses]

Is this where we pretend a brand new raid that has never been tested by players before is the same exact thing as a raid that has been around for nearly two decades?

Cool.

[SinR]

And yet, EU fanboys scream "WEH NA GETS A HEADSTART!"

that headstart is all but gone by the time the NA guilds hit the untested Walls and Blizz rolls out the fixes to all regions at the same time. Your EU guilds walk in and can learn the fights just like the NA guilds can, minus downtime because the boss was bugged and un-progressible for 5 hours.

Open new raids at the same time worldwide. The tech is there, the support from Blizzard can be there too,