Should Blizzard Skip 9.3?

[Recovery]

Uhm, to be honest i consider 9.1 a patch with a real low amount of story. Stretched to eternity with reknown.

To OP i hope for a big fat final patch in shadowlands, i dont care if its 9.2 or 9.3. Blizz is able to offer us players real amazing and crazy good stuff, and im pretty sure they will do this after 9.0 and 9.1.

Theres still some story to sort out with lothraxion and the light right? Just make a big ass ulduar type raid with the jailer, the light, etc and call it a day. Start working on 10.0/

[Accendor]

Nothing about SL aside from the content drought and dumb story Id call bad.

Terrible reward structure everywhere, failed professions, useless and unrewarding reputations, a main feature that everyone loved in the beginning which was then changed to absurdity (Torghast) and yes, the story and the setting in general. Oh my god.

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To be honest I think it kinda depends on what you value more. I think the story is actually worse, systems is a bit of a toss-up depending on when in BfA we are talking about, not having to grind AP is good thing, being limited by covenants is not if you care about that. On the other hand we had 2 full raid tiers already, in BfA Uldir wasn't a full raid tier iirc.

I'm not convinced people would be as eager to leave right now if Blizzard would at least provide a satisfactory content cadence and many people wouldn't have seen through so much of their BS. The compare both expansions I'd probably have do a tally of all features and even then it would be more subjective than usual.

I want to point out that despite all it's faults, the SL raids were much, much stronger than BfA until now. Uldir was not bad, but also not really awesome and very short. Dazar'Alor was IMO the worst raid we ever had while Nyalotah was completely broken because of corruption and while the bosses were not bar, they were also very underwhelming.

[vsb]

I don't want skip anything. I like long patches. Release 9.2 in summer 2022, release 9.3 in 2024, release 10.0 in 2026. I'm all for it.

[StillMcfuu]

Yes, no one cares for their wish Thanos storyline and SL as a whole isn't great. Most dungeons are bad, the zones are meh, there is no lore we will carry out of here. The QOL changes are cool for people still hanging on to the scraps but it's been time to move on from SL, time to move on from borrowed power systems, time to move on from this terrible M+ dungeon design, etc...

[Cosmic Janitor]

I want to point out that despite all it's faults, the SL raids were much, much stronger than BfA until now. Uldir was not bad, but also not really awesome and very short. Dazar'Alor was IMO the worst raid we ever had while Nyalotah was completely broken because of corruption and while the bosses were not bar, they were also very underwhelming.

Usually the Dazar'Alor raid is held in very high regard. I didn't like it much either, but that is not the general sentiment afaik.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Should they? Hell no. It's not going to get 10.0 out faster, we're past the point where they can be like "oh, yeah, expansion announcement and beta in 2021 yet." It just means a longer drought of nothingness, we learned that lesson from WoD.

Will they? Shrug.

[ChairmanKaga]

Not sure if this means deleting what was planned (like WoD https://www.mmo-champion.com/threads...rds-of-Draenor) or kinda folding 9.3 and 9.2 together into one large end patch.

[Nyel]

If not, we're looking at an expansion release in Q2/Q3 2023. Everybody should ask themselves if they really want to play Shadowlands for almost two more years.

Having a 9.3 in late 2022 and 10.0 only mid 2023, WoW will be a dead game. It already is nearing that point with how bad Shadowlands and especially 9.1 has been received.

By the way: it's not unlikely that they never considered 9.3 after Corona hit and 9.2 or 9.2.5 were always planned as the final patch for this expansion.

[Lolites]

LOL! Middle of 2023 for Patch 10.0? Hilarious, that's hilarious. Maybe the end of 2023 at the rate they're putting out patches lately. More likely early 2024. Mid-2023 is far too optimistic.

what do you smoke man?

lets just for fun say they will keep the timeline they had "lately (lol, one patch is trend now obviously), 9.1 came out at 7months and few days (which compared to the lenght of usual raid patch which is 5-6 months is sooooo teribly late...)

lets say there will be both 9.2 and 9.3 before 10.0 and that each of those patches will also take 7m to release
from 9.1 release (1.7.2021 for simplicity) that will take us 21 months, which will take us to 1.4.2023 for expansion release... how the fuck is mid 2023 "far too optimistic", it seems far too pesimistic, most "optimistic" timeframe is 6m for 9.2 release, no 9.3 and another 6m for next expansion, so 1.7.2022 could be considered earliest and hence "far too optimistic", anything in 2023 seems quite pesimistic...

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Yes... such a good expansion that sub numbers have plummeted to WoD numbers and so great that they FINALLY managed to listen to what players actually want and are basically opening the goody bag for the next minor patch (still hoping for my Arthas skip in ICC) Its fine if YOU are enjoying it, that's great, but the larger metrics tells a VERY different story about the playerbase as a whole.

the "large metric" that you dont have any clue about bcs we dont have sub numbers since WOD?
i mean i dont think its in some record hight, but claiming its on WOD numbers based on NOTHING (maybe based on guesswork done by some youtubers) is at least dishonesty or outright lie...

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That I will as all rhetoric and trending leans towards the opposite.

is ANY of that "rhetoric and trending" done by blizzard employee or all by forum-goers and/or "influencers"?
bcs if its the later its about as meaningful as people claiming naga or emerald dream or tinkers are gonna be in next expansion since vanila...

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

If not, we're looking at an expansion release in Q2/Q3 2023. Everybody should ask themselves if they really want to play Shadowlands for almost two more years.

Having a 9.3 in late 2022 and 10.0 only mid 2023, WoW will be a dead game. It already is nearing that point with how bad Shadowlands and especially 9.1 has been received.

By the way: it's not unlikely that they never considered 9.3 after Corona hit and 9.2 or 9.2.5 were always planned as the final patch for this expansion.

Come on really? Middle of 2023?

We're still 15 months out from the start of 2023, you think adding one more patch pushes us to 20+ months from the expansion?

I'll say it many more times I'm sure, but 9.3 is real and 10.0 is in Q1 2023.

[Tojara]

I don't think it's a question of should they skip 9.3, it's whether it was ever going to happen in the first place.

Conspiracy shit sucks and you would never truly know, but from where I'm sitting 9.3 just doesn't look like it was in the cards from how content has rolled out. Blizzard likes to have 2 years between expansions historically, and we are fast approaching the one year anniversary of Shadowlands in what, November? If I had to guess 9.1.5 will be out in mid November or late October at the earliest.

It's obvious where the story goes in 9.2, but unless they drag out the plotline (which they can obviously do), 9.2 just seems like the "end" of Shadowlands from a story perspective. One would assume that 9.2 probably comes up in what, February or March at the latest, and given that most tiers last historically 6 months, that doesn't really leave much time for 9.3 to even happen, unless 9.3 is a big story driven patch to lead into 10.0 (which Blizzard has never done before). My guess is 9.2 is the last patch and like pretty much every final patch ever in the history of WoW, it will last 9-12 months which basically puts us on the 2 year trajectory to 10.0.

I just don't think there's time for 9.3 given the current timeline or it was just never planned to begin with. Perhaps they were so far behind that they merged 9.2 and 9.1 elements together to create the 9.1 that we currently have because they were crunched on time, which is a very possible explanation. WoD was a bit more obvious because there were clear areas in the game that just weren't ever used.

[Nyel]

Come on really? Middle of 2023?

We're still 15 months out from the start of 2023, you think adding one more patch pushes us to 20+ months from the expansion?

I'll say it many more times I'm sure, but 9.3 is real and 10.0 is in Q1 2023.

Launch of the next expansion in Q1/23 makes only sense when they skip 9.3 (and maybe add another 9.2.5 to not make the drought +12 months again).

Do the math:

January / February 2022: 9.2
6 months
July / August 2022: 9.3
10 months
May / June 2023: 10.0

10.0 in Q1 and getting 9.3 makes no sense, it would go against every timing they previously had in the last expansions by massively shortening the drought.

Right now we're looking of at least 16 months plus the amount of time until 9.2 hits, so yes, with 9.3 (if it adds a raid tier), we're looking at a 10.0 launch mid 2023.

[Lahis]

Come on really? Middle of 2023?

We're still 15 months out from the start of 2023, you think adding one more patch pushes us to 20+ months from the expansion?

I'll say it many more times I'm sure, but 9.3 is real and 10.0 is in Q1 2023.

Well since it takes them 8 months to deliver a major patch for Shadowlands, it has been 3 months since last major patch and a normal expansion will take 10 to 12 months from the last major patch, I'd say we are 8-3+8+12=25 months away from 10.0

Remove 9.3 and we are only 17 months away from 10.0!

[TheramoreIsTheBomb]

Almost October and we don't have a word on 9.2. Shadowlands will be one year old with only either X.1 or a X.1.5 patch. Pretty embarasing. When BFA was 1, the last patch was coming in that January and the 8.2.5 release was coming the following month of BFA's birthday.

[Lolites]

Well since it takes them 8 months to deliver a major patch for Shadowlands

are people so determined to lie or just can count?! it took 7months (and 6days) to release patch in SL... compared to "normal" lenght of raid patch which was pretty much anywhere around 5-6 months... and other than Nazjatar (which was i think biggest patch ever) i cant think of single patch having raid and megadungeon and zone (smaller for sure, but with rift and rework to maw...)

[darklogrus]

Come on really? Middle of 2023?

We're still 15 months out from the start of 2023, you think adding one more patch pushes us to 20+ months from the expansion?

I'll say it many more times I'm sure, but 9.3 is real and 10.0 is in Q1 2023.

at least 6 months til 9.2, going off how long everything takes this expansion you can figure another 8 months til 9.3 and roughly about 10/12 months til the next expansion. So its plausible to land in the Q2/3 2023 Window with their current pace.

[The Stormbringer]

what do you smoke man?

lets just for fun say they will keep the timeline they had "lately (lol, one patch is trend now obviously), 9.1 came out at 7months and few days (which compared to the lenght of usual raid patch which is 5-6 months is sooooo teribly late...)

lets say there will be both 9.2 and 9.3 before 10.0 and that each of those patches will also take 7m to release
from 9.1 release (1.7.2021 for simplicity) that will take us 21 months, which will take us to 1.4.2023 for expansion release... how the fuck is mid 2023 "far too optimistic", it seems far too pesimistic, most "optimistic" timeframe is 6m for 9.2 release, no 9.3 and another 6m for next expansion, so 1.7.2022 could be considered earliest and hence "far too optimistic", anything in 2023 seems quite pesimistic...

Oh, I can easily tell you why. Here, take a look.

Patch 9.0 Release Date: November 2020
Patch 9.0.5 Release Date: March 9th 2021
Patch 9.1 Release Date: June 29th
Patch 9.1.5 Release Date: November 9th

That's almost five months between a .5 and a .0 patch. But, since I'm not a total pessimist, let's give them a little leeway and shave that down a bit for future patches. I think we're looking at another four months after November to get 9.2 sometime in March 2022, then at least four months for 9.2.5 in July, another four months for 9.3 in November, and then 10.0 early in 2023.

EDIT: Also you're right, I made a typo. 2023 is the most likely date, I just think it'll be the start of 2023.
EDIT2: I basically skipped a year. I've got the dates right now.
EDIT3: Actually, come to think of it, this is EXTREMELY unlikely. We've never had the end of an expansion patch and then a release four months later. I'm gonna say MIDDLE of 2023.

[czarek]

They should but im not sure. Becasue of all dealys provided by pandemia and lawsuit. Imo this exp will be longest exp ever in wow history. Maybe we will see 9.2 on January and 9.3 mid summer. Next expansion second Q of 2023. Or 9.2 early 2022 and next exp autumn 2022

[Apothecary Plagueghoul]

No, the shadowlands is an amazing concept.
If you want to go back to Azeroth play the other 8 expansions lmao

[Nyel]

lets say there will be both 9.2 and 9.3 before 10.0 and that each of those patches will also take 7m to release
from 9.1 release (1.7.2021 for simplicity) that will take us 21 months, which will take us to 1.4.2023 for expansion release... how the fuck is mid 2023 "far too optimistic", it seems far too pesimistic, most "optimistic" timeframe is 6m for 9.2 release, no 9.3 and another 6m for next expansion, so 1.7.2022 could be considered earliest and hence "far too optimistic", anything in 2023 seems quite pesimistic...

What? We never ever had a final expansion patch last only 6 months. The shortest was between Legion and BfA with the final tier only lasting for 9 months and that's only when we count the Antorus launch end of November 2017. 7.3 was released end of August 2017, so the patch lasted for almost an entire year until BfA's mid August '18 launch.