Original patch cycle

[Platypus80]

During early development of Shadowlands the pandemic forced us to completely rewrite and re-order the planned content, as everything was pushed back, the launch was delayed and everything after it was in complete disarray. During the Beta process we planned out a new roadmap for the expansion as a whole that was feasible and still have all the major storylines we had planned, without simply cutting half of it like we did during WoD. So the hard decision was made to cut 9.2, and to split the story beats between 9.1 and 9.3.

The original concept for 9.1 was for it to be in the same vein as the last .1 patch during BfA, and its release date was originally planned at a similar time after launch, around March '21, with the Sanctum raid planned around an April '21 release.
The continued covenant campaigns were planned around the sigils being stolen, and still being covenant-only storylines, only converging at the ending chapters with the capturing of Sylvanas.
World content though was only planned to have the Desmotaeron area added in the Maw, surrounding the raid instance like it is now, as well as the Covenant assaults. The same kinda content we produced for 8.1 (faction assaults, naga world quests, Dazar'Alor raid).

Korthia was planned to release as a much bigger zone for the original 9.2, but was pulled up into 9.1 (and drastically cut in size and scope) when we had to plan around delays and the decision was made to cut 9.2 in its conceptualized form.
The original design was to have a Mac'Aree/Eredath-style city-complex in the southern part of the zone, but that was scrapped due to time concerns and the very nature of restructuring of the content itself. The original 'city' of the 'City of Secrets' was cut. That is also the reason the zone was so bare-bones when we released it on the first PTR build, and why we only had a couple of screenshots to show during Blizzconline. It simply wasn't ready because it was planned to be released at a later stage.
This original 9.2 also had the Taza'vesh dungeon and a Broker/Devourer raid planned, with Anduin as the last boss, and Helya as the world boss featured in Korthia.
The Broker sets you have seen datamined now were originally planned to be the 'sets' for the different armor types in the 9.2 raid, and are now used for the Aspirant PvP sets (and probably the 'world sets' you get as catch-up gear and rewards for world quests in Zereth Mortis as well, but isnt finalized).
Many art assets you have seen in 9.1 with Korthia and also now see for the 'new' 9.2 are a mixture of re-used 9.2 stuff that was already done.

The story beats of the original 9.2 campaign were either completely cut when optional/side-story, or pushed into the 9.1 campaign to resolve important story-arcs like Tyrande (or end open ones like Helya and cut the planned ending). That is also why the sigils of the covenants were not only introduced and stolen, but also reforged in the very same patch. The reforging of the 4 covenant sigils and the search for a new Jailer/Arbiter sigil was going to be the majority of the 9.2 campaign. Many subplots feel rushed, because they were. Instead of having room to breathe and stand on their own, they had to be resolved a few campaign chapters later (and covenant-specific stories had to make room for and were cut), instead of during the next patch with more room to grow, develop and having a satisfactory end.
The campaign chapters dealing with Sylvanas in the aftermath of Sanctum were also pushed back into the last patch, which is also the reason the novel was delayed to sync up with the revelations ingame. The Sylvanas novel is intended in the way the 'Arthas' novel was, explaining the inner workings of her mind and her decisions, with a couple spoilers toward the Anduin storyline of 9.2, but nothing lore-defining that players need the novel to know the rest of the story.

Zereth Mortis was always the plan for the last patch of Shadowlands, and since work on the 9.2 raid and the original Korthia was re-allocated, the patch is already in a much better state and farther along than any other first PTR build you've seen in the last couple of years. Our internal builds have most things finalized, especially the Cypher system and its progression as it is not tied to any power which frees up development decisions and its timeframe. With mainly raid testing and especially feedback on the tier set bonuses to be considered, the current release schedule is planned around mid-february.

The main reason we feel internally why Zovaal hasn't resonated with the playerbase as a whole is because we had to rush or simply cut so much exposition from smaller side-content, that what was left and presented was a shell of its former self, which is ironic seeing players describe Zovaal as shallow and without depth, which is pretty much accurate from their point of view.

[Sondrelk]

Neat.


Yeah, I can buy this. Anduin being the final boss of 9.2 seems a bit odd, though I guess it could make sense.
Korthia being a bigger zone, with the raid presumably being placed within it would allow for an Oribos themed instance, which is currently lacking.

I somehow doubt the Broker sets were intended as the raid sets though. I would be more willing to believe it was the WQ/Aspirant det from Korthia, and that the raid would have something else.

[Makorus]

There are better websites to post your fanfiction.

[El Gucaragua]

I can buy this, but I feel that's because we've taken the time to craft this in a nice way. And I use crafted loosely because it's not this hard to build.

Proof or didn't happen.

[Varolyn]

Even if this isn't true, I wouldn't be surprise if the Shadowlands development cycle was similar to this. It's not that difficult to figure out that a lot of the plot points, and the expansion as a whole, was rushed. The Kothria thing may also be true since it's implementation, both in game and lore wise, was pretty half-assed.

[Zers Editor]

"couple spoilers toward the Anduin storyline of 9.2"

A little too late. The fact that he's placed within multiple cutscenes after his fight with his original king model (no encryption) pretty much tells the majority on its own. Like, you could at least hide his presence somewhat.

With the rest - yes, seems more than believable.

[Relapses]

T&E actually did an episode on this:

[OrangeJuice]

the entirety of Shadowlands was developed before it even launched. Its then cut up into chunks called patches and released at strategic times. There are no delays so this is all nonsense lol. They don't develop the game one patch at a time.

[Soon-TM]

Is this true? Who knows, but it does sound likely. Especially the part about the stolen sigils, which were replaced pretty much out of nowhere, taking a lot of gravitas away from the story (why are those sigils such an important issue when you can just make new ones?).

[CalamityHeart]

What is this, exactly? Where is it from? Another leak, something from a dev interview or something that hasn't gone out yet? Whatever the case, it's presented a little more believably than the outrage-porn tv-drama level schlock in the other thread, so points for that. That said, I'm taking it with the same grain of salt I took that other thread, too. I could believe a decent writer spun this up and put it out to see reactions, or just to 'oppose' the outrage. But at the same time, nothing that's here really raises any big red flags, and it explains things in a way that actually makes some of the wonky stuff we've seen in-game make a good bit of sense, something that the other leak kinda failed to do at all.

[tomten]

the entirety of Shadowlands was developed before it even launched. Its then cut up into chunks called patches and released at strategic times. There are no delays so this is all nonsense lol. They don't develop the game one patch at a time.

They actually do, they just work on several at the same time. But yeh, a global pandemic didn't cause any delays, that's just nonsense... lel...

[Schmeebs]

the entirety of Shadowlands was developed before it even launched. Its then cut up into chunks called patches and released at strategic times. There are no delays so this is all nonsense lol. They don't develop the game one patch at a time.

Hows the tin foil hat?

[OrangeJuice]

They actually do, they just work on several at the same time. But yeh, a global pandemic didn't cause any delays, that's just nonsense... lel...

They actually don't. I know this because they said it themselves. IDK how you came to your conclusion.

[Utrrabbit]

During early development of Shadowlands the pandemic forced us to completely rewrite and re-order the planned content, as everything was pushed back, the launch was delayed and everything after it was in complete disarray. During the Beta process we planned out a new roadmap for the expansion as a whole that was feasible and still have all the major storylines we had planned, without simply cutting half of it like we did during WoD. So the hard decision was made to cut 9.2, and to split the story beats between 9.1 and 9.3.

The original concept for 9.1 was for it to be in the same vein as the last .1 patch during BfA, and its release date was originally planned at a similar time after launch, around March '21, with the Sanctum raid planned around an April '21 release.
The continued covenant campaigns were planned around the sigils being stolen, and still being covenant-only storylines, only converging at the ending chapters with the capturing of Sylvanas.
World content though was only planned to have the Desmotaeron area added in the Maw, surrounding the raid instance like it is now, as well as the Covenant assaults. The same kinda content we produced for 8.1 (faction assaults, naga world quests, Dazar'Alor raid).

Korthia was planned to release as a much bigger zone for the original 9.2, but was pulled up into 9.1 (and drastically cut in size and scope) when we had to plan around delays and the decision was made to cut 9.2 in its conceptualized form.
The original design was to have a Mac'Aree/Eredath-style city-complex in the southern part of the zone, but that was scrapped due to time concerns and the very nature of restructuring of the content itself. The original 'city' of the 'City of Secrets' was cut. That is also the reason the zone was so bare-bones when we released it on the first PTR build, and why we only had a couple of screenshots to show during Blizzconline. It simply wasn't ready because it was planned to be released at a later stage.
This original 9.2 also had the Taza'vesh dungeon and a Broker/Devourer raid planned, with Anduin as the last boss, and Helya as the world boss featured in Korthia.
The Broker sets you have seen datamined now were originally planned to be the 'sets' for the different armor types in the 9.2 raid, and are now used for the Aspirant PvP sets (and probably the 'world sets' you get as catch-up gear and rewards for world quests in Zereth Mortis as well, but isnt finalized).
Many art assets you have seen in 9.1 with Korthia and also now see for the 'new' 9.2 are a mixture of re-used 9.2 stuff that was already done.

The story beats of the original 9.2 campaign were either completely cut when optional/side-story, or pushed into the 9.1 campaign to resolve important story-arcs like Tyrande (or end open ones like Helya and cut the planned ending). That is also why the sigils of the covenants were not only introduced and stolen, but also reforged in the very same patch. The reforging of the 4 covenant sigils and the search for a new Jailer/Arbiter sigil was going to be the majority of the 9.2 campaign. Many subplots feel rushed, because they were. Instead of having room to breathe and stand on their own, they had to be resolved a few campaign chapters later (and covenant-specific stories had to make room for and were cut), instead of during the next patch with more room to grow, develop and having a satisfactory end.
The campaign chapters dealing with Sylvanas in the aftermath of Sanctum were also pushed back into the last patch, which is also the reason the novel was delayed to sync up with the revelations ingame. The Sylvanas novel is intended in the way the 'Arthas' novel was, explaining the inner workings of her mind and her decisions, with a couple spoilers toward the Anduin storyline of 9.2, but nothing lore-defining that players need the novel to know the rest of the story.

Zereth Mortis was always the plan for the last patch of Shadowlands, and since work on the 9.2 raid and the original Korthia was re-allocated, the patch is already in a much better state and farther along than any other first PTR build you've seen in the last couple of years. Our internal builds have most things finalized, especially the Cypher system and its progression as it is not tied to any power which frees up development decisions and its timeframe. With mainly raid testing and especially feedback on the tier set bonuses to be considered, the current release schedule is planned around mid-february.

The main reason we feel internally why Zovaal hasn't resonated with the playerbase as a whole is because we had to rush or simply cut so much exposition from smaller side-content, that what was left and presented was a shell of its former self, which is ironic seeing players describe Zovaal as shallow and without depth, which is pretty much accurate from their point of view.

TL;DR

Look at the fanfic I can write.

[Doffen]

I said before that we losing those sigils felt so little impactful to the story we experienced as players in 9.1, seeing we just made new ones at once anyway.

Its probably just made up, but that part alone seems to check out when it comes to how I felt the story was being told in 9.1, personally.

It didn't feel any threatening at all.

[Beefhammer]

Hows the tin foil hat?

What tinfoil hat? By the time you see the announcement of an expansion it has already been planned out. Sometimes they make changes, but that happens in the time from announcement to testing or launch. The probability of them merging 9.2 and 9.3 and offering up a shortened but completed story is a lot higher than them changing thing completely or doing something new in between patches.

[Myradin]

What tinfoil hat? By the time you see the announcement of an expansion it has already been planned out. Sometimes they make changes, but that happens in the time from announcement to testing or launch. The probability of them merging 9.2 and 9.3 and offering up a shortened but completed story is a lot higher than them changing thing completely or doing something new in between patches.

Having it planned out and having things developed and implemented are two very different things.

They can have shadowlands as planned as they want pre-pandemic but if there's delays in implementation and other concerns then thats all out the window.

[Beefhammer]

They actually don't. I know this because they said it themselves. IDK how you came to your conclusion.

They work on 2, the current one and the next one. During MoP they worked on both Legion and WoD.

He may have been thinking of that comment about generally knowing where the next 3-5 expansions are headed story wise.

- - - Updated - - -

Having it planned out and having things developed and implemented are two very different things.

They can have shadowlands as planned as they want pre-pandemic but if there's delays in implementation and other concerns then thats all out the window.

By the time you see that announcement, shits already in progress in regards of being built and implemented.

Take WoD for example. The announcement panels showed pre production maps that included a Shatrath raid and a Faralohn zone. By that time, those elements were already gone from the game.

[Myradin]

Take WoD for example. The announcement panels showed pre production maps that included a Shatrath raid and a Faralohn zone. By that time, those elements were already gone from the game.

Faralohn was in multiple beta builds and changed a few times before being axed. Both Jade Forest and Gorgrond were also revamped during beta due to feedback.

Yes work starts before they announce it, but it doesn't mean its a finished deal.

[MoanaLisa]

The willingness to accept uncritically the possibility that some one-post wonder is revealing the true story isn't a good look for anyone.