BfA Patch Speculation thread (8.3 and later).

[huth]

And you think they’ll achieve this when they’re late with all of the content patches this expansion? They even didn’t do it with Legion although it was possible.

Who says they are? AFAIR, they thought Legion still went a little to quickly.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Who says they are? AFAIR, they thought Legion still went a little to quickly.

Nyel is constantly wrong and seemingly content with being that way. At least he/she now admits that the expansion isn't ending with 8.2, unlike before.

As much as some might believe otherwise, Blizzard sits on actual data in terms of player engagement. They'll gauge when a patch will have the biggest impact without coming out too soon or too late, learning from Legion no doubt.

8.3 has to outshine 8.2, which imo isn't going to be terribly difficult if they pool all resources into 1 place rather than 2 as in this patch.

[TaliaKirana]

I still think Mechagon was originally intended for 8.1.

[FlubberPuddy]

Did some people forget that x.x.5 patches come after x.x.0 these days? If 8.3 releases in January then expect 8.3.5 some 4-6 months later, leaving just about another 3-4 months before 9.0

It's like some people just want to forget what Blizzard's patch style is now.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Did some people forget that x.x.5 patches come after x.x.0 these days? If 8.3 releases in January then expect 8.3.5 some 4-6 months later, leaving just about another 3-4 months before 9.0

It's like some people just want to forget what Blizzard's patch style is now.

Pretty much, usually to push their own narrative.
Legion taught them lessons about patch pacing. I'm hoping BfA is allowed to run for longer, with better pacing and a shorter gap (yet more time spent for devs) between 8.3.5 and 9.0.

[Nyel]

Did some people forget that x.x.5 patches come after x.x.0 these days? If 8.3 releases in January then expect 8.3.5 some 4-6 months later, leaving just about another 3-4 months before 9.0

It's like some people just want to forget what Blizzard's patch style is now.

.x.5 patches usually come 2-3 months (it’s almost precisely 3 months) after their respective main patch, not 4-6 months later. The exception was 7.3.5 which came out 5 months after 7.3 but that happened due to its nature of containing the pre-purchase stuff of BfA. Yet it took another 7 months for BfA to release after that.

If we apply this scenario to BfA then 8.2.5 is going to be released end of September with 8.3 coming in December and 8.3.5 (if there will be 8.3.5) somewhere between March-May. To think 9.0 will release in July or August then... that’s what I’d call optimism based on Blizzard‘s track record.

[Sondrelk]

.x.5 patches usually come 2-3 months (it’s almost precisely 3 months) after their respective main patch, not 4-6 months later. The exception was 7.3.5 which came out 5 months after 7.3 but that happened due to its nature of containing the pre-purchase stuff of BfA. Yet it took another 7 months for BfA to release after that.

If we apply this scenario to BfA then 8.2.5 is going to be released end of September with 8.3 coming in December and 8.3.5 (if there will be 8.3.5) somewhere between March-May. To think 9.0 will release in July or August then... that’s what I’d call optimism based on Blizzard‘s track record.

Legion was kind of an oddity all around for patches. Raids came out with the 7.x.5 patches. Not the main ones. And Antorus was the only one to break that trend, which is why 7.3.5 came so late honestly. There was no good reason to release it when the patch that opened Antorus had already come out with a few new things in it.


8.3 will probably be out either very soon after Blizzcon, (unlikely) or right after Holidays. Which is the more likely candidate, as it allows Blizz to avoid scheduling problems or being stressed about new features being when most people will be playing them.

[Nyel]

Legion was kind of an oddity all around for patches. Raids came out with the 7.x.5 patches. Not the main ones. And Antorus was the only one to break that trend, which is why 7.3.5 came so late honestly. There was no good reason to release it when the patch that opened Antorus had already come out with a few new things in it.


8.3 will probably be out either very soon after Blizzcon, (unlikely) or right after Holidays. Which is the more likely candidate, as it allows Blizz to avoid scheduling problems or being stressed about new features being when most people will be playing them.

The thing with the 8.2 raid being released shortly after 8.2 and not in 8.2.5 is just another reason why I think that 8.2 is more like 7.3 and 8.3 will be more like 7.1/7.2.

As I said, it all depends on how big will 8.3 be which we have no idea yet. I think it’s smaller than 8.2 but that’s speculation or personal taste at the moment (and I expect it to be less of an OOOOMPH patch e.g. were finishing the faction war plot and N’zoth is postponed until 9.0 - but yet again, speculation and personal taste).

[Sondrelk]

The thing with the 8.2 raid being released shortly after 8.2 and not in 8.2.5 is just another reason why I think that 8.2 is more like 7.3 and 8.3 will be more like 7.1/7.2.

As I said, it all depends on how big will 8.3 be which we have no idea yet. I think it’s smaller than 8.2 but that’s speculation or personal taste at the moment (and I expect it to be less of an OOOOMPH patch e.g. were finishing the faction war plot and N’zoth is postponed until 9.0 - but yet again, speculation and personal taste).

Well. 8.3 will almost guaranteed be smaller than 8.2. But i think it migght be important to remember that Mechagon and the dungeon has all the rtappings of having been designed as 8.1 content. (No ties to Nazjatar, ores and herbs are a tier behind. Nothing about the patch screams it absolutely needed to be part of 8.2 etc.)

Looking at BfA as MoP 2.0 i am mostly just curious if it is going to have a patch story similar to the Battlefront: Barrens patch. And whether this will be 8.2.5 or if it will be baked into 8.3.
Personally hoping for 8.3 because that means a smaller chance of the raid being N'zoth, and instead allowing Blizz to make a full expansion with him as a centerpiece (or old gods in general) Having him in BfA seems kind of wasted, especially now that Azshara is shown to be alive, meaning they have a relatable "in" to that storyline later.

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(And i completely forgot the point with the first paragraph)

8.3 might very well end up being larger than Nazjatar. At least in content, if not size. We are afterall a full dungeon behind Legion when ToS had just opened. So unless Blizz scrapped all dungeons in development and moved the devs over to 9.0 dungeon design for the announcement, i think there might be another dungeon in 8.3.
Possibly with Azshara.

[ryan11d7]

Azshara is alive of sorts. The chains are broken which if I understand


N'zoth is in some form "free"




No I heard it to, I guess with his shadowy tentacle or whatever the hell it was, stabbed her and gave her life or something. I don't know, very hard to tell what happened with the limited information we got. Based on this, its the equiv of Kil'Jaeden dying but without BFA's Argus in the sky moment. They're holding on for that. I don't know how Sylvanas fits into this either. I'm not sure 8.2.5 would fit it all in, I mean it could but I'm not sure it would be enough(I'd still enjoy it but it wouldn't be the way I'd expect).

“At the hour of her third death”. Perhaps she actually died there and he brought her back to life. Ion did say we would know who the final boss was, maybe we fight Azshara again and kill her this time. She “died” once when Nzoth transformed her, she died in ep, and then in 8.3 and after the end of 8.3 the black empire/void lords rise?

[Sondrelk]

“At the hour of her third death”. Perhaps she actually died there and he brought her back to life. Ion did say we would know who the final boss was, maybe we fight Azshara again and kill her this time. She “died” once when Nzoth transformed her, she died in ep, and then in 8.3 and after the end of 8.3 the black empire/void lords rise?

That is what i would assume now.

Having a prophecy mean several things is not really new. But after BfA i think Blizz has shown that they will eventually make the allusion obvious.

We spent a long time debvating what the circle of stars meant exactly. And several candidates were found, but eventually we ended up in an area called the Circle of stars.

Azshara has definitely "died" twice now. One when she drowned and another now that we kill her in hte raid. Her dying again in 8.3 would not be beyond the realm of possibility. Or even have her die in The first or second raid of 9.0. Just to make her being the Gul'dn of this expansion even more obvious.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

IMO I would feel better about Azshara's story ending in 9.0 then now. As in the raid before 9.2 would end her and hopefully.....the right people are there *Cough*

[FlubberPuddy]

.x.5 patches usually come 2-3 months (it’s almost precisely 3 months) after their respective main patch, not 4-6 months later. The exception was 7.3.5 which came out 5 months after 7.3 but that happened due to its nature of containing the pre-purchase stuff of BfA. Yet it took another 7 months for BfA to release after that.

If we apply this scenario to BfA then 8.2.5 is going to be released end of September with 8.3 coming in December and 8.3.5 (if there will be 8.3.5) somewhere between March-May. To think 9.0 will release in July or August then... that’s what I’d call optimism based on Blizzard‘s track record.

My overall point is that they're making an effort to reduce the amount of time between the last patch of a current expansion and the release of the new one. Like Legion last patch till BFA still was what 8 months or so?

The way they're moving with BFA, we could see something akin to 5 months between the last BFA patch and next expansion release.

Again this is all dependent on how they've been revealing the overall "wow story" at a snails pace compared to in Legion times. It could be that we don't even get much of what's going to come in 9.0 at Blizzcon because of this slower pace.

On the other hand, it could just also be that there's some huge shake-up at the end of BFA and going into 9.0 and they want to reveal it all at Blizzcon which is why they're extraordinarily mum right now.

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IMO I would feel better about Azshara's story ending in 9.0 then now. As in the raid before 9.2 would end her and hopefully.....the right people are there *Cough*

I just want to move past her as far as villains go. No hate, but I have never and still don't understand why people have hyped her up with so much importance as a villain.

But this is coming from someone who started WoW late. I do understand she was a big hitter previously with the Legion into Azeroth and Great Sundering. But what I mean is, she's been absent and not doing much of anything until now and we have already pretty much defeated the Legion themselves.

Unless she is about to usher in some other "cataclysmic" level event it doesn't seem like she's done much of squat since back then. And definitely she hasn't done much of anything within WoW itself. At least not on the level of the other "Villains of WoW".

[Directionalk9]

BlizzCon 18’s what’s next panel covered up to 8.2.5 and showed the N’Zothy Fish with a “the end?”. Feels more likely a particular Old God is the focus of 8.3 with maybe both the Old God plot and the Faction War plot syncing up.

9.0 I don’t think will be Ny’oltha/Black Empire, we’ve had a lot of Void and Void adjacent stuff in WoD, Legion, and BFA. Scourge 2.0 or something outta left field are my bets for the 9.0 theme/arc.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

BlizzCon 18’s what’s next panel covered up to 8.2.5 and showed the N’Zothy Fish with a “the end?”. Feels more likely a particular Old God is the focus of 8.3 with maybe both the Old God plot and the Faction War plot syncing up.

9.0 I don’t think will be Ny’oltha/Black Empire, we’ve had a lot of Void and Void adjacent stuff in WoD, Legion, and BFA. Scourge 2.0 or something outta left field are my bets for the 9.0 theme/arc.

We know whatever the end of BFA is, leads into X8.

[Directionalk9]

We know whatever the end of BFA is, leads into X8.

Like how a giant space-god’s sword being plunged into Azeroth set up a faction war?

[Aeluron Lightsong]

Like how a giant space-god’s sword being plunged into Azeroth set up a faction war?

Yes, I'm not sure what you are getting at?

[Directionalk9]

Yes, I'm not sure what you are getting at?

They aren’t super related. Whatever the last thing we see in BFA doesn’t directly correlate into what 9.0 is.

[Nyel]

IMO I would feel better about Azshara's story ending in 9.0 then now. As in the raid before 9.2 would end her and hopefully.....the right people are there *Cough*

Malfurion and Tyrande appearance are mandatory when she gets finally dealt with.

But what you suggest is really, like identical, Guldan. Seems kinda lame to just mimic his actions with Azshara, don’t you think? I wish she’d be a bit more than just second hand Guldan.

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BlizzCon 18’s what’s next panel covered up to 8.2.5 and showed the N’Zothy Fish with a “the end?”. Feels more likely a particular Old God is the focus of 8.3 with maybe both the Old God plot and the Faction War plot syncing up.

9.0 I don’t think will be Ny’oltha/Black Empire, we’ve had a lot of Void and Void adjacent stuff in WoD, Legion, and BFA. Scourge 2.0 or something outta left field are my bets for the 9.0 theme/arc.

I don’t see how we can resolve both faction war (Sylvanas) and N’zoth in one patch. Again, this would basically be 5.4 with Garrosh Yashaarj‘s’ semi-involvement.

[Directionalk9]

Malfurion and Tyrande appearance are mandatory when she gets finally dealt with.

But what you suggest is really, like identical, Guldan. Seems kinda lame to just mimic his actions with Azshara, don’t you think? I wish she’d be a bit more than just second hand Guldan.

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I don’t see how we can resolve both faction war (Sylvanas) and N’zoth in one patch. Again, this would basically be 5.4 with Garrosh Yashaarj‘s’ semi-involvement.

8.2.5 will undoubtedly have some story progression and it’s not too hard to imagine the final raid’s “story” could see the factions battling with both Sylvanas and Anduin there, and boom, N’Zoth shows up... it was done in ICC, and as you pointed out in SoO. BFA is a mirror of MoP, it would be almost a let down for it to not finishing mirroring.

I suspect Sylvanas as penultimate boss and gets away scathed, but un-alive and N’Zoth as last boss.