9.0 General Discussion

[BullxBull]

Honestly I don't even think leaks are bad. Every single expansion except for maybe MoP generated a lot of hype and had we known about it ahead of time we would still be super hyped about it (it's only after we are halfway through the beta that they hype starts dying down). Unless 9.0 and 10.0 are obvious disasters, a leak would be in their favour by getting even more people to tune in to see if it's real.

I think how the information is presented is a big part of generating hype though. I might describe a leak in words like 'this is island expeditions 2.0, this is another missions table' but blizzard will try and sell us those same things with different names and try and hide what they are.

[Shadochi]

I mean it’s 10 days to Blizzcon. Seems a bit incompetent to not know if something is ready for it or not. I mean if you don’t have in game footage to show just show concepts and art, maybe some music and that’s it.

At this point the only thing not ready imho could be Overwatch 2. They will not mess around with Diablo again and 8.3 is - besides the raid - quite a smaller final patch overall - which indicates the work for 9.0 should be in a more than advanced state.

I don’t expect something exciting for Hearthstone (new expansion, that’s it), Starcraft or HotS so imho there’s only Overwatch left that couldn’t be presentable yet but again, that would be weird.

I work(ed) for one of the biggest companies in Europe and when you’ve got a massive con or fair in that year you basically do everything to have your stuff ready for it because it’s so important for the following months / years. Still a weird situation, I mean it’s what you said or still the HK stuff that prevents the release of the schedule.

I don't see how HK stuff would have anything to do with the schedule. At most for the Q&A portion only (which IIRC for wow has been picked from online questions previous years?). While we know that Blizzard likes to make announcements with actual trailers and footage (not just concepts) and also wasn't there word last year that D4 got dropped from Blizzcon because it wasn't ready?

It just might be that they want to be sure of their repertoire for this year.

[Nyel]

Plus it's not like there is a crapton of such events a year. They don't go to E3 and skipped Gamescom. This is literally the only event they have to prepare for.

You’re absolutely right, I mean they even skipped Gamescom this year. Blizzcon is their only chance to go big and announce something. E3 is half a year away and Gamescom 10 months so they better have all their stuff ready I mean it’s their own f* convention.

[Sondrelk]

It also might be that a Blizz employee says something to his friend the morning of Blizzcon because he thinks that it'll be out soon so not much harm can be done. Both the legion and BfA leak IMO seemed to be 2nd hand info which could've easily fit into a couple messages over the phone.

I feel this falls under option B honestly. Unless it is the same Blizzcon guy leaking to a friend each year then we would probably expect either something more substantial for leaks or for them to come earlier. Just consider how unlikely it is that every year a single Blizzard employee decides to break his NDA to a trustworthy friend with a short leak hours before the announcement.

[Nyel]

I don't see how HK stuff would have anything to do with the schedule. At most for the Q&A portion only (which IIRC for wow has been picked from online questions previous years?). While we know that Blizzard likes to make announcements with actual trailers and footage (not just concepts) and also wasn't there word last year that D4 got dropped from Blizzcon because it wasn't ready?

It just might be that they want to be sure of their repertoire for this year.

Maybe they lost moderators or presenters due to the controversy and are still looking for new ones? Who’s the musical act this year? I mean I could see them losing VIPs for the show and trying to get new ones and that’s why everything is a bit vague at the moment. Haven’t kept up with that to be honest.

[BullxBull]

I think D4 got dropped because they really did not have anything to show, not that someone did not have time to put something together.

[Nyel]

By the way: if you have booth staff that’s not from your company (a lot of booth stuff is external) they get briefed weeks before the event on stuff they are going to do, say, present. Presentations are sent out to them to prepare etc. - that’s where leaks can easily happen. Sure that stuff falls under NDA but as external booth personnel to leak stuff like this is quite... easy.

[Shadochi]

It is a problem for those as well. But Arthas was defeated by a deus ex machina essentially with Tirion getting free suddenly. And Deathwing was defeated because he was too arrogant to realize he was in actual danger until it was too late.
N'zoth is also both supposedly more intelligent than both of them, and again, has the power of foresight. If he cannot be allowed to outsmart us at least for a little bit then his credibility is basically nil.

Sure he might have the power of foresight(whatever that means in Old God context), but is he strong enough to make sure what he sees will come to fruition when going against the combined forces of Azeroth (and the 2 titan machines that were made to deal with old gods).
How far does his foresight go?
Does he see all possible futures or just some and are there outside interferences he can't take into consideration? Sure the dagger might all be a part of his plan but did he know that Magni and MOTHER would also fire up the engines against him?

[Sondrelk]

Sure he might have the power of foresight(whatever that means in Old God context), but is he strong enough to make sure what he sees will come to fruition when going against the combined forces of Azeroth (and the 2 titan machines that were made to deal with old gods).
How far does his foresight go?
Does he see all possible futures or just some and are there outside interferences he can't take into consideration? Sure the dagger might all be a part of his plan but did he know that Magni and MOTHER would also fire up the engines against him?

Regardless what we do against him he still seemingly unleashed his master plan right after being released when he could have waited or go about it a different way.

Beyond that though, the main problem of contention is still the dagger. If he is killed by it or sealed in it without it being the plan then he really would just come off as a moron. It would have been like if Deathwing gave us teh charged dragonsoul, or if Arthas released Tirion from his iceblock. It would be a monumentally bad decision when the last time we saw him interact with the dagger he mentioned he had plans for it.

[letssee]

I think D4 got dropped because they really did not have anything to show, not that someone did not have time to put something together.

d4 is already confirmed i think,

edit:
oh sorry nvm, ur talking about blizzcon 2018

[Sondrelk]

By the way: if you have booth staff that’s not from your company (a lot of booth stuff is external) they get briefed weeks before the event on stuff they are going to do, say, present. Presentations are sent out to them to prepare etc. - that’s where leaks can easily happen. Sure that stuff falls under NDA but as external booth personnel to leak stuff like this is quite... easy.

Given this i would imagine Booth personnel are given vague instructions to prepare, and then a few hours before the announcement they are given the actual cheat sheet. That line of events seems to fit perfectly with how teh announcements usually work, both with it being hours before and it being short and concise.

[Shadochi]

By the way: if you have booth staff that’s not from your company (a lot of booth stuff is external) they get briefed weeks before the event on stuff they are going to do, say, present. Presentations are sent out to them to prepare etc. - that’s where leaks can easily happen. Sure that stuff falls under NDA but as external booth personnel to leak stuff like this is quite... easy.

Thing is Blizzcon is organized by blizzard so all booths probably get worked on with the same agency (or maybe they have a sister company that does that) unlike for E3 or Gamescom where most companies pick a different company to handle that. And having just one agency to which you are giving all the work and money means less points of failure (leaks) for the convention.

[Shadochi]

Regardless what we do against him he still seemingly unleashed his master plan right after being released when he could have waited or go about it a different way.

Beyond that though, the main problem of contention is still the dagger. If he is killed by it or sealed in it without it being the plan then he really would just come off as a moron. It would have been like if Deathwing gave us teh charged dragonsoul, or if Arthas released Tirion from his iceblock. It would be a monumentally bad decision when the last time we saw him interact with the dagger he mentioned he had plans for it.

I read sometime ago a theory that it was the light within Arthas that still lingered which freed Tirion from the ice, which is why in the cinematic Arthas has that moment, he felt the last of the light leave him to save Tirion.

[Nyel]

Wasn’t Legion leaked that way? I remember something like they were testing the presentation at Gamescom some days ahead and someone saw it and subsequently leaked the contents (I know Jericho leaked it here but I remember the procedure to have been something like I said - maybe it wasn’t Legion in the end).

As you said Gamescom might have various agencies for booth staff, technical staff etc., it might be different for Blizzcon where they might just use their in-house personnel for all of that.

[Wangming]

You’re absolutely right, I mean they even skipped Gamescom this year. Blizzcon is their only chance to go big and announce something. E3 is half a year away and Gamescom 10 months so they better have all their stuff ready I mean it’s their own f* convention.

Plus unlike the Final Fantasy fanfest which is basically a tour with one European, one North American and one Japanese stop, BlizzCon is one event. If they have any good stuff, now is the time to show it.

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Wasn’t Legion leaked that way? I remember something like they were testing the presentation at Gamescom some days ahead and someone saw it and subsequently leaked the contents.

As you said Gamescom might have various agencies for booth staff, technical staff etc., it might be different for Blizzcon where they might just use their in-house personnel for all of that.

Well technically we had the chinese riddles for Legion way before that.

[Sondrelk]

I read sometime ago a theory that it was the light within Arthas that still lingered which freed Tirion from the ice, which is why in the cinematic Arthas has that moment, he felt the last of the light leave him to save Tirion.

That would still mean it was a power outside the Lich Kings control that freed Tirion. The lich king didnt free Tirion to gloat further.

Still though, i cannot imagine Blizzard will actually have N'zoth be defeated completely in 8.3. Him planning ot be stabbed by the dagger seems more likely, especially given how there is little other reason for him keeping the dagger anyways.

[Wangming]

I read sometime ago a theory that it was the light within Arthas that still lingered which freed Tirion from the ice, which is why in the cinematic Arthas has that moment, he felt the last of the light leave him to save Tirion.

Which is bullshit if you consider that Arthas stabbed his own torn out hearth to kill off his remaining humanity. Of course there's plenty of bullshit regarding Arthas, but him having a humanity left is the biggest one.

[Shadochi]

Wasn’t Legion leaked that way? I remember something like they were testing the presentation at Gamescom some days ahead and someone saw it and subsequently leaked the contents.

As you said Gamescom might have various agencies for booth staff, technical staff etc., it might be different for Blizzcon where they might just use their in-house personnel for all of that.

Wasn't the Eye of Azshara screen a preson who claimed to work as a technicial at Blizzcon?

The leak afaik happened from Jericho (on the day of or day before blizzcon?) and he claimed it was from a mate working at Blizz i think.

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Which is bullshit if you consider that Arthas stabbed his own torn out hearth to kill off his remaining humanity. Of course there's plenty of bullshit regarding Arthas, but him having a humanity left is the biggest one.

Humanity is different than the Light (where the Light is a cosmic force). And in the cinematic at the end it seemed like he still had some humanity left in him.

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That would still mean it was a power outside the Lich Kings control that freed Tirion. The lich king didnt free Tirion to gloat further.

Still though, i cannot imagine Blizzard will actually have N'zoth be defeated completely in 8.3. Him planning ot be stabbed by the dagger seems more likely, especially given how there is little other reason for him keeping the dagger anyways.

As I said, he might've planned for us to use the dagger, but did he plan on us using the forges to wipe him out?

[Nyel]

What if Nzoths wants to be trapped in the dagger. And to be carried around by a specific character, e.g. Wrathion? He corrupted Neltharion and basically created Deathwing, I think it would be neat if he’d do something similar to Wrathion.

Who knows, I still expect Sylvanas to steal the blade after we trapped Nzoth.

[Merryck]

Wasn't the Eye of Azshara screen a preson who claimed to work as a technicial at Blizzcon?

The leak afaik happened from Jericho (on the day of or day before blizzcon?) and he claimed it was from a mate working at Blizz i think.

big if true