Should Blizzard Skip 9.3?

[Lochton]

What else can they do to redeem her?

Honestly. The only chance she can redeem herself, is by sacrificing herself upon her final death. Nothing more value for her anymore. She's not a Bolvar 2.0.

Anduin's PTSD will be used in future stoeylines, no need to wrap it up in Shadowlands.

No, no need to wrap it up but there is a need to come to a further conclusion than, "he's a puppet of death by the use of domination magic", he's not dead but currently, not of light, or alive either.

We kill Jailer, why should we worry about his magic afterwards?

Because Domination magic is not the Jailer's invention? His tool, not his creation, it is a completely new school of magic added.

Night Warrior (and Drust for that matter) can and should return in the future when we go to Elune's realm.

The Drust is not connected to Elune's realm, though. And the Night Warrior card is on hold while Ardenweald returns to its full glory.

If we don't kill them all in 9.2 raid (Malganis for sure will be boss there), they can be used in future content as the go to Scheming Evil like Dreadlords always have been.

I do not believe we'll kill the Sire in 9.2, his deal is done with Zovaal, and he's now free on his own again with his people. We'll most likely see a few Dreadlords but ever since the Sire got out, they've had no need to work for Zovaal anymore.

They're basically Ethereals... so just Ethereal em.

So, just Ethereal them, meaning, secondary content for them. Brokers, unlike Ethereals, are currently are 2 questionable cartels, and one questionable freelance.

Do we really want them to ruin anymore past characters by bringing them back this expansion?

You might not want to, but we see on forums that people would like glimpses of past dead characters such as Arthas and Rhonin, they already were able to push a majority aside by just stating they were soul crystals.

Is there a need to rush Shadowlands and leaving bigger questions? I know many whine and cry that they don't like it but doubt it'll stop before 2½ years, so we'll most likely see 9.2, and 9.2.5, and 9.3 being conclusion before a crossover patch. We most likely won't even hear about 10.0 in BlizzConline (Which they claim they might do).

[sunxsera]

I don't think it's even in question anymore.

There is no way there will be a 9.3.

i thought the same.
pretty sure they'll combine the content they did for both patches in 9.2 - and 9.2.5 will be the last patch with some last super nerfs to anima / covenant / rep / bosses etc.

[Talrath]

no ofcourse not, you cant let them ditch an expansion, which you payed for, after just 9.2. IF they would give the 10.0 for free THEN it would be acceptable to stop after 9.2 but blizzard would never do such a thing.

[Fluxoz]

"Should we encourage blizzard to churn out faster expansions for greater profit despite more lackluster content?"
no

[Nyel]

Is there a need to rush Shadowlands and leaving bigger questions? I know many whine and cry that they don't like it but doubt it'll stop before 2½ years, so we'll most likely see 9.2, and 9.2.5, and 9.3 being conclusion before a crossover patch. We most likely won't even hear about 10.0 in BlizzConline (Which they claim they might do).

10.0 is $$$, 9.3 isn't. That's the biggest reason why they definitely will talk about 10.0 during Blizzconline and most likely have the pre-order ready. Usually this would have happened in November already, so they're still late for that cashflow in Q1/22. It's pretty much mandatory to have it ready by then. We're talking about an eight to nine figure amount of money that they're earning with pre-orders, they for sure won't pass on that or delay it even longer.

[mysticx]

no ofcourse not, you cant let them ditch an expansion, which you payed for, after just 9.2. IF they would give the 10.0 for free THEN it would be acceptable to stop after 9.2 but blizzard would never do such a thing.

What's left to be done in SL after we stop the Jailer in 9.2? (I assume we stop him then because, well, "We have to stop him or all of existence is DOOMED!") is the cliffhanger we'll be spending 6 months or more on.)

And all things considered, i'd rather they move on from this dumpster-fire of an expansion rather than stretch it out some more because "we want all the crap our money paid for, dammit!"

[Dracullus]

"Should we encourage blizzard to churn out faster expansions for greater profit despite more lackluster content?"
no

This. I can understand people who are sure 9.3 will be skipped. I don't understand people that WANT 9.3 to be skipped and can't wait for another opportunity to give Blizz 60$. How anyone could respect consumer like that?

[AngerFork]

Is there a need to rush Shadowlands and leaving bigger questions? I know many whine and cry that they don't like it but doubt it'll stop before 2½ years, so we'll most likely see 9.2, and 9.2.5, and 9.3 being conclusion before a crossover patch. We most likely won't even hear about 10.0 in BlizzConline (Which they claim they might do).

The thing about bigger questions is that they can lead to future content. Xalatath for instance was not resolved in BfA, which gives us a thread to a possible future expansion. Right now, most of the Shadowlands questions are things that can lead into the future. There's still much to learn about the Brokers, but they are a race that by design can be nearly anywhere. They'd go great in a void/ethereal expansion or one where we have to travel into the Twisting Nether. The Dreadlord/Denathrius stuff seems intentionally designed to get us into another expansion, as does all of these hints about Light/Void attacks. Sylvanas story will definitely go through much in 9.2 after which she will either remain in the Shadowlands or put in some sort of underlying constant redemption arc. There are definitely some fan requests to see in the Shadowlands (Arthas for instance), but I'd argue those are more "nice to haves" as opposed to necessities. The Drust perhaps should be handled in Shadowlands, but as neat as seeing their home world would be I'm not sure it's exactly a necessity for the story to proceed.

Aside from whatever the Jailer is doing in Zereth Mortis (likely the 9.2 plot), I'm not sure I see anything that has to be answered within Shadowlands to be relevant. Even the Drust stuff could be handled from an Azeroth expansion, given how the Drust already had such a strong hold on Drustvar.

[Cosmic Janitor]

This. I can understand people who are sure 9.3 will be skipped. I don't understand people that WANT 9.3 to be skipped and can't wait for another opportunity to give Blizz 60$. How anyone could respect consumer like that?

Because that is just a sunk cost fallacy and you ignore the ongoing service price of the expansion. Another 6 months of a patch I don't care about costs me another 70 bucks, when a new expansion would cost me 60. Of course I don't have to play it, but that just means I got nothing either way.

[confety]

For me, it depends, i think blizzard needs to do something big, and they usually dont do that in patches.

I feel that they have to do something big and cool, like new class, be able to choose a sub spec, class reworks, unlock more class race combinations, class skins...

I dont think a patch with a new zone, a new dungeon, another 12 boss raid, and a new system to farm will make tired people come back.

[Sapphire2712]

Would be nice if they would tie all loose ends every expansion before moving to a new expansion.

[xpsync]

Does it matter, 9.2, 9.3, SL is tainted, along with Blizz in general. They really need to cater to the casual players more.

[brandolf123]

Would you rather Blizzard delay 10.0 until 2023, or have 9.2 as the last patch in the beg of 2022 with a 10-11 month content draught leading to 10.0. Or you could have 9.2 in Jan, 9.3 in August, and 10.0 in May/June 2023.

I would rather they just give us a decent last patch with no bullshit systems. Let us play that for nearly a year, and have the team full speed ahead making 10.0 good. Get 9.2 out and start Alpha asap, pref in the Spring of 2022, that way we have plenty of time for feedback to be "hopefully" listened to.

seems like a false choice

[DarkAmbient]

Just abandon this godforsaken expansion and go full steam on the next one.

[Osmeric]

This. I can understand people who are sure 9.3 will be skipped. I don't understand people that WANT 9.3 to be skipped

It's because turd polishing just gives you a shiny turd.

[Soon-TM]

From a player PoV, there is no difference between having 9.3 or not. 10.0 is being made by (mostly) the same folks who gave us masterpieces such as BfA or now SL, so I am frankly expecting nothing good from 10.0... Another dumb story (ty Steve), another edition of borrowed power(s), more timegated stuff, more esport chasing, more ignored feedback that will be implemented ~1 year after launch, etc.

I won't believe that 'things will be different this time' until the actual beta is over, i.e. around x.3 patch*.

* = or maybe sooner, if #$&% unexpectedly hits the fan.

[Romanthony]

No hey shouldnt, even if Shadowlands is a failure in many peoples eyes id prefer they not rush 10.0 out the door even if it means waiting 2 years im fine with that and id rather them finish the Shadowlands story line instead of rushing to the finishing post (even if it is predictable and bad) I jsut hope we get some new blood for 10.0 we NEED new writers

[Softbottom]

I think people need to stop looking at the game at an expansion level and more-so at a patch level. The game resets every patch, expansions reset also but we play the game as patches/seasons. If blizz took shadowlands to 9.6 I wouldn't care cause why would that be any different than starting a new expansion + .1, .2 etc patches? So you can level 10 more pointless levels and unlock new and boring systems? They already do this minus the levels each patch. They can easily enough add more storylines, dungeons, alter specs, etc, during patch cycles. Expansions have always just been a cash grab.

Players who think expansions are "fresh" need a reality check. The game has been the same shit cycle for over a decade.

[Makaloff]

No. IMO they should take their time to make the rest of Shadowlands strong and memorable, even if it means the next expansion will take longer.

i highly doubt anyone will look at SL with good memories, SL is on the same lvl as BFA. SL is already done for and theres nothing saving this bore to expansion

[Deadite]

No hey shouldnt, even if Shadowlands is a failure in many peoples eyes id prefer they not rush 10.0 out the door even if it means waiting 2 years im fine with that and id rather them finish the Shadowlands story line instead of rushing to the finishing post (even if it is predictable and bad) I jsut hope we get some new blood for 10.0 we NEED new writers

The story line is already done. In 9.2 you meet the jailer at the vault of the gubbins and stop him using his widgets on the doodad. Job done. Roll credits and fade to black. -Fin