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

[Reive]

Probably too soon for new game unless they use stuff from survival one like with Titan->Overwatch. About Midnight, I'm not sure, if we keep DF schedule (~22 months) sure why not, if they cut it to 20 or lower, November sounds too late.

for midnight they could do features reveal+alpha announcement and it would not be too late

[Ersula]

Probably too soon for new game unless they use stuff from survival one like with Titan->Overwatch. About Midnight, I'm not sure, if we keep DF schedule (~22 months) sure why not, if they cut it to 20 or lower, November sounds too late.

Yeah but Dragonflight's announcement to release was even shorter than that, so it's possible. They said they "hoped" The Last Titan comes out before 2028. TWW 3rd quarter 2024, Midnight 2nd quarter 2026, TLT 4th quarter 2027 would be consistent with that. Each expansion lasting 20 months.

[milkmustache]

I hate that this is true. The actual WoW presentation was the worst they've ever had. They showed very little of what they had to present & that TWW cinematic might be the shortest they've done since TBC.

Definitely, but things with the Saga seem to be growing as they go. All of the stuff we're learning as we go along seems to reveal it's pretty fleshed out and Blizzcon/the cinematic may have been kicked in motion slightly too early, so we only got a peak.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

I don't think there's any growing here I think they're trying to shrink which fair enough it makes sense for maximized profit incentives.

[Ersula]

I don't think there's any growing here I think they're trying to shrink which fair enough it makes sense for maximized profit incentives.

Has WoW honestly grown since Cataclysm? If you consider whatever we lost in WoD got put into Legion, it's been basically the same amount of content. It's new content but it's all been a very standard business plan.

"Shrinking the product for maximum profit incentives" has been what they've been doing the entirety of the Activision era.

[Foreign Exchange Ztudent]

Has WoW honestly grown since Cataclysm? If you consider whatever we lost in WoD got put into Legion, it's been basically the same amount of content. It's new content but it's all been a very standard business plan.

"Shrinking the product for maximum profit incentives" has been what they've been doing the entirety of the Activision era.

Well, seems like the monkey paw curled and Microsoft just took up the existing plans and added a bit more acceleration.

[Dracullus]

Yeah but Dragonflight's announcement to release was even shorter than that, so it's possible. They said they "hoped" The Last Titan comes out before 2028. TWW 3rd quarter 2024, Midnight 2nd quarter 2026, TLT 4th quarter 2027 would be consistent with that. Each expansion lasting 20 months.

Midnight reveal to testing period could be even shorter of course, preparations for Alpha wouldn't spoil us anything. That's why I said it would be fine if TWW will last 20-22 months.

[Worldshaper]

While I really, really miss the BlizzCon of old (Christmas in November), it hasn't been the same for a long time anyway.

Even 2023 felt different, with a bunch of usual panels removed and the schedule slimmed down to the essentials.

Add to that the fact that, outside the WoW team with Metzen back, the other teams at Blizzard are pretty much unknown at this point.

Back in the day, you knew all those guys working on StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Overwatch, etc. Really profilic developers who returned year after year to the stage, to talk with us and make cool announcements.

These days it feels like they introduce new people all the time, and it's usually some young person who's been there like 2 years tops.

Morhaime, Browder, Chilton, Kaplan, Brode, etc. Alongside Metzen, guys like them were heroes of mine.

But basically all the other games feel dead at this point. They've lost so much of what made them cool.

I think that as long as they still arrange some cool event for Warcraft announcements this winter, I'll be okay. Maybe Blizzard will join Xbox as part of one of their presentations? We know Diablo IV's expansion will get detailed soon, probably.

[Nymrohd]

They likely have no new games to show. Do a Blizzcon to do what, reveal patch content for their games? At best they have the Vessel of Hatred for D4 and goodwill for D4 depends entirely on S4 pulling a miracle.

They will probably do their presentations on a Microsoft/Xbox event.

[Ersula]

Well, seems like the monkey paw curled and Microsoft just took up the existing plans and added a bit more acceleration.

I don't believe Microsoft is as evil a company as Activision was under Bobby Kotick

Skipping a Blizzcon is pretty normal for Blizzard. I think Blizzcon 2023 even exceeded expectations because they knew they weren't going to sell out post-covid, heaps of bad press & a long blizzcon hiatus. And I think (hope) the slightly-shorter expansion cadence is to show Microsoft WoW is a valuable entity by itself.

[Nymrohd]

i fully expect them to hold a blizzcon in 2025 to reveal midnight and the new hidden game

Will that hidden game even get out? And how likely is it for it to be another mobile game like Rumble?

[justwatching]

I don't believe Microsoft is as evil a company as Activision was under Bobby Kotick

They are all the same. Not evil just looking to maximize on their investment.

Anyway its not surprising. They have nothing to announce for Classic or Retail, OW is dead and D4 will have an expansion release right before.

[Ersula]

They are all the same. Not evil just looking to maximize on their investment.

I agree with your point but I also believe Bobby Kotick Activision was an entity of metaphysical evil.

[dadori]

Blizzard is basically world of warcraft company now only

[Xilurm]

They likely have no new games to show. Do a Blizzcon to do what, reveal patch content for their games? At best they have the Vessel of Hatred for D4 and goodwill for D4 depends entirely on S4 pulling a miracle.

They will probably do their presentations on a Microsoft/Xbox event.

Remember "Geek is..."?

Back in the day they used to do reveal trailers that showed some gameplay and stuff in in-game graphics, while also showing the content for the last patch for the current expansion. Then when the next Blizzcon came around, just a month or two before the expansion, they revealed the CGI cinematic. Good stuff.

- - - Updated - - -

Blizzard is basically world of warcraft company now only

Maybe that's for the best? Blizzard used to do one game at a time. But when Activision got their mitts as deep as they did, they gave Blizzard more projects. They went for quantity over quality. They should just focus on one quality product at a time imo. Make sure to hire people with passion for what they're working on too, unlike the D4 devs.

[Dracullus]

They likely have no new games to show. Do a Blizzcon to do what, reveal patch content for their games? At best they have the Vessel of Hatred for D4 and goodwill for D4 depends entirely on S4 pulling a miracle.

They will probably do their presentations on a Microsoft/Xbox event.

Are you honestly believe D4 expac need 'miracle' to pull huge numbers after D4 sold 12M in first 3 months?

[SilverLion]

I agree with your point but I also believe Bobby Kotick Activision was an entity of metaphysical evil.

People want to believe that the human cost doesn't exist. I'm as anti capitalist as you can be generally, but even people like me have to admit there are degrees of terrible. If working for Phil Spencer was as bad as working for Bobby Kotick, we'd have heard about it by now. Spencer may not be a good human, but all records are showing he's still less of a monster than Bobby.

[Ersula]

Blizzard is basically world of warcraft company now only

That seems to be the reason they wanted Metzen back. I think they desperately wanted him back once they saw Diablo 4 & Overwatch 2 were projected to underperform. Hearthstone is solid, but that's also a Warcraft property.

Maybe that's for the best? Blizzard used to do one game at a time.

Is that accurate? Even before Activision there was the Blizzard North days. Diablo & Warcraft were different teams being made simultaneously. In fact Warcraft 3 & WoW were made the same way...simultaneously.

Are you honestly believe D4 expac need 'miracle' to pull huge numbers after D4 sold 12M in first 3 months?

That's true, but the problem is D4 had a huge dropoff. Typically expansions are for games who's sales have relative longevity. I can only expect it doing well after people realized they don't like the evergreen gameplay elements is if all those people were satisfied by the story mode alone and buy an expansion for that.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The last time Blizzcon was exciting to go to was in 2014, when they announced Overwatch and Legacy of the Void. Some of the panels back then were informational, but as the years went by and Blizzard became incapable of releasing more games, the panels are also declined in quality. So you're paying $200 for a ticket and $20 in gas to drive down there to... what? Drink with guildies outside and eat bad foodtruck stuff? Or visit a Convert to Raid podcast party at the Hilton? Or spend another $200 to walk around in Disneyland in 100 degree heat? And if you're from out of state, then that's another $200 you have to pay for a hotel, and maybe another $200 on top of that for a plane ticket. It's a really tough sell today.

[dadori]

Saying, we will be back in the future years means, they will be working on new projects with microsoft for sure but requires couple years before they have anything beside wow to show off anyway.