The War Within 11.X Patches & World Soul Saga Speculation Thread

[Ersula]

Isn't the alpha a bit too far behind for an autumn release? I personally didn't expect the zone to be so barebones with many things not implemented.

Dragonflight Beta lasted 6 weeks & basically didn't have a public alpha at all. We're fine, timewise.

[Makabreska]

Well, Blizz pushed TWW release window to an earlier date since the initial announcement on Blizzcon, so they seem confident about it.

[Nymrohd]

Modern expansions average about six months in beta testing before release. Alphas are more all over the place. DF Alpha started in July for a Nov 28 release, Shadowlands started in early april for a Nov 23 release.

There is also the thing that they now have a legal obligation to invite a ton of people on beta because they sold access. I think back when they did that last time in MoP it did affect their testing cycle somewhat.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

I read some comments that most hero talents visuals, animations, sounds are not in yet, because it's the biggest thing so far, that players and content creators have problem with.

Hopefully it's true and every hero spec will actually feel different when it comes to visual side.

[Makabreska]

There is also the thing that they now have a legal obligation to invite a ton of people on beta because they sold access. I think back when they did that last time in MoP it did affect their testing cycle somewhat.

Ahhh, the good old times of some really salty peeps thinking that Annual Pass meant they will all get instant Beta access and not in waves. Some even wanted to sue Blizz over it.

[Nymrohd]

Ahhh, the good old times of some really salty peeps thinking that Annual Pass meant they will all get instant Beta access and not in waves. Some even wanted to sue Blizz over it.

Lol didn't even remember that. But yeah, it will take a bit of time for them to get everyone in.
That said, Annual Pass was a very special case. I mean, it came with Diablo 3! The value was just crazy.

[Andromedes]

Dracthyr being able to roll other classes should be interesting, will this open up the chance for Dracthyr to be given bigger forms?

Above is not actual content but fanmade, I'm hoping they allow for this, it would be great to have bigger sizes in both visage & dracthyr form and I would roll to Warrior in a heartbeat if they could have this size on them.

Dont hold up hope. Maybe after 10 years, they will have slightly bigger necks and heads in the best case scenario.

[Ersula]

I read some comments that most hero talents visuals, animations, sounds are not in yet, because it's the biggest thing so far, that players and content creators have problem with.

Hopefully it's true and every hero spec will actually feel different when it comes to visual side.

Just like the Shadowlands & Dragonflight beta, they're taking a "these don't need to be done until the formal release, we're fine to push the pre-patch now" approach it seems.

Let's try to come up with a speculative schedule based on the roadmap & what we already know:

Winter 2024:
01/16: Seeds of Renewal 10.2.5
03/19: Plunderstorm 10.2.6

Spring 2024:
04/02: TWW Alpha
04/16: Dragonflight Season 4
04/30: Dark Heart 10.2.7 (this is also when Plunderstorm is scheduled to end)
05/28: TWW Beta

Summer 2024:
06/18: TWW Pre-Patch 11.0

Autumn 2024:
10/08: The War Within Release.
11/19: 20th Anniversary Event 11.0.5

So far my speculation for 2024's timeline is just one week off. 10.2.7 might still come at on the 30th, if they really don't have anything else to test since the campaign & heritage armors are encrypted, though that update about "giving people a week to do the campaign & heritage armor quests" is so unironically "there's literally nothing worth doing in 10.2.7 other than Timerunning, see you in 11.0"

[Cheezits]

There are some variation of Gronn in the files with new models so I don't think it's a mistake. Genesaur probably waltzed out of the Life realm because of Elun'ahir, and someone (Aggramar?) made new Gronn to fight them as a response.

[Reive]

apparently mop remix should start on may 16th and end on september 7th

[Makorus]

Just like the Shadowlands & Dragonflight beta, they're taking a "these don't need to be done until the formal release, we're fine to push the pre-patch now" approach it seems.
So far my speculation for 2024's timeline is just one week off. 10.2.7 might still come at on the 30th, if they really don't have anything else to test since the campaign & heritage armors are encrypted, though that update about "giving people a week to do the campaign & heritage armor quests" is so unironically "there's literally nothing worth doing in 10.2.7 other than Timerunning, see you in 11.0"

Prepatch for 4 months is bat-shit insane.

Prepatch is gonna start early August and TWW is gonna come out late August/early September.

[Murlocos]

Don't buy into calendar dates on PTR/beta too much, they're usually placeholders and get shifted around in the live game.

[Makorus]

I mean, 10.2.7 is probably gonna come out on the 14th of May (8 weeks from 10.2.6, one full cycle of Fated), and we know Remix is one week from then.

[Sentynel]

apparently mop remix should start on may 16th and end on september 7th

It's also in a month/day format.

[ImTheMizAwesome]

The sooner panda remix happens the better, it was really fun on ptr.

[Ersula]

Prepatch for 4 months is bat-shit insane.

Yeah, but this was back before the alpha was revealed & now we know how much is actually in the pre-patch in relation to speculation. If I had to revise it:

04/17: TWW Alpha
04/23: Dragonflight Season 4
05/07: Dark Heart 10.2.7

06/04: TWW Beta
06/25: TWW Pre-Patch 11.0

8/06: The War Within Release.
11/12: 20th Anniversary Event 11.0.5

Though that still means a much longer patch cadence post TWW based on the 2024 roadmap. Apparently season 1 is going to be at least 5 and a half months? Either they're dropping season 4s all together or you 18 month-long expansion theorists are wrong (I think 20 months is the very shortest they will ever go for an expansion)

apparently mop remix should start on may 16th and end on september 7th

Though you might say this is supposed to be the duration of 10.2.7 to 11.0 which would also be as insane as my initial estimate.

[Lady Atia]

Yeah, but this was back before the alpha was revealed & now we know how much is actually in the pre-patch in relation to speculation. If I had to revise it:

04/17: TWW Alpha
04/23: Dragonflight Season 4
05/07: Dark Heart 10.2.7

06/04: TWW Beta
06/25: TWW Pre-Patch 11.0

8/06: The War Within Release.
11/12: 20th Anniversary Event 11.0.5

Though that still means a much longer patch cadence post TWW based on the 2024 roadmap. Apparently season 1 is going to be at least 5 and a half months? Either they're dropping season 4s all together or you 18 month-long expansion theorists are wrong (I think 20 months is the very shortest they will ever go for an expansion)

Why not make all big first 3 seasons 4 months long with fated in the last two-three months of an expansion? Of course this would only work with slightly easier raid tiers so that guilds can actually clear them.

[Ersula]

Why not make all big first 3 seasons 4 months long with fated in the last two-three months of an expansion? Of course this would only work with slightly easier raid tiers so that guilds can actually clear them.

Because the PvP people would throw a fit if seasons were that short. It would make sense to lower the prereq for elite gear but if you lowered them much from where they are now, everyone would get them that season. Thus no longer making them elitist.

[Makorus]

Yeah, but this was back before the alpha was revealed & now we know how much is actually in the pre-patch in relation to speculation. If I had to revise it:

04/17: TWW Alpha
04/23: Dragonflight Season 4
05/07: Dark Heart 10.2.7

06/04: TWW Beta
06/25: TWW Pre-Patch 11.0

8/06: The War Within Release.
11/12: 20th Anniversary Event 11.0.5

Though that still means a much longer patch cadence post TWW based on the 2024 roadmap. Apparently season 1 is going to be at least 5 and a half months? Either they're dropping season 4s all together or you 18 month-long expansion theorists are wrong (I think 20 months is the very shortest they will ever go for an expansion).
Though you might say this is supposed to be the duration of 10.2.7 to 11.0 which would also be as insane as my initial estimate.

??? How is Season 1 going to be 5 and a half months? People really need to take the roadmap with no specific dates as gospel lmao

Even so, Season 2 coming out in December/January is completely fine and well within normal length.

[Ersula]

??? How is Season 1 going to be 5 and a half months? People really need to take the roadmap with no specific dates as gospel lmao

Yeah but if 11.1 isn't on the roadmap, it's absolutely not coming out in 2024. You're either getting a long af period of nothing to do but timerunning, or a long af period to do nothing but the pre-patch event, or a long af TWW season 1. Which would you prefer?