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[mclem]

pretty much. let the market decide where it goes.

on another topic, here's my prediction for blizzard's release schedule in the next few years (optimistic).

SC2:WoL - March-May 2010
WoW:Cat - November-December 2010
Diablo 3 - Feburary-May 2011
SC2:HotS - October-December 2011
SC2:LofV - October-December 2012
WoW:Xpac4 - Feburary-May 2013

beyond that... who knows? New MMO late 2013, early 2014?

Blizzard's approach for WoW has been to try to reduce the length of time between expansion packs, not increase it:

Vanilla:
Released: 23rd Nov '04 (NA), 11th Feb '05 (EU)

Burning Crusade:
Announced: Oct 28th '05 (1 year after NA release - wow, was it really that early?)
Released: Jan 16th '07 (1.25 years after announcement)
Total time: 2.25 years.

Wrath of the Lich King:
Announced: Aug 3rd '07 (0.5 years after BC release)
Released: Nov 13th '08 (1.25 years after announcement)
Total time: 1.75 years.

Cataclysm:
Announced: Aug 21st '09 (0.75 years after WotLK release)
Released: ???

While you could make the argument that they always release 1.25 years after the announcement - since that is the most consistent factor - I think that's misleading due to the fact that the more recent announcements have been around Blizzcon; it makes rather more sense to handle the things at a large event like that. If we're looking at the same turnover time as Wrath had, we'd be looking for a release next August, but since it's trending to a shorter development process, I'm still reckoning we'll see Cataclysm earlyish next year (before SC2? Quite possibly). Two years to Pack 4 seems especially unrealistic.

Also in favour of that is the 'remaining content' argument. While they could always add a Sunwell, potentially, to fill in any large gaps in time, *currently* we're on course for a brief celebratory visit to Onyxia (not, it appears to Blizzard, regarded as a major raid, just a bit of birthday fun), then Icecrown, and then we're done with Northrend. Given that we've had a new major raid every 3-4 months - Blizzard's own effort to avoid the massive gaps without a new raid that were problematic back in TBC - it's worth bearing that patch release schedule in mind when planning out when Cataclysm will hit.

 

[Flib]

Yeah, Cataclysm is going to be the first half of next year, especially if it ends up going into beta this year. Remember that they've been seriously working on this expansion since before WotLK came out.

 

[Xiaoki]

pretty much. let the market decide where it goes.

on another topic, here's my prediction for blizzard's release schedule in the next few years (optimistic).

SC2:WoL - March-May 2010
WoW:Cat - November-December 2010
Diablo 3 - Feburary-May 2011
SC2:HotS - October-December 2011
SC2:LofV - October-December 2012
WoW:Xpac4 - Feburary-May 2013

beyond that... who knows? New MMO late 2013, early 2014?


on yet another topic... is anyone else extremely glad that blizzard are going to trim the talent trees. they were spot on in that panel. it was getting too lengthy and complicated and with more xpacs on the way in the coming years it was only going to get worse. i think they did it knowing they would have to at some point. it just wasn't going to work continuing down the path they were going.

Blizzard wants faster expansion cycles.

So, Cataclysm will most likely be between June and August 2010.
Expansion 4 would then be late 2011 or early 2012.

If you're seriously expecting expansion cycles of 2 years or more then you will be disappointed.

 

[The Lamonster]

Yeah, Cataclysm is going to be the first half of next year, especially if it ends up going into beta this year. Remember that they've been seriously working on this expansion since before WotLK came out.

That'd be great. I hope we don't have to wait till Holiday '10 to get our hands on this.

 

[Kintaro]

Would really be great to see Starcraft II hit Jan - March, Cataclysm hit June - Sept then Diablo III hit in the Fall.

Nom nom. Who knows though.

Cataclysm or Diablo III would pretty much prove to be killer competition to FF XIV whenever SE decides to release it. Even Diablo III, while not a MMORPG, could take on a new MMORPG by itself IMO.

 

[Daheza]

I was at blizzcon it was fun. Played the worgen class. The starting area was ways still in production and had lots of glitches with the quests. One thing I didnt like about the worgen was the run animation. It seemed kinda clunky to me.

 

[hyduK]

Blizzard's approach for WoW has been to try to reduce the length of time between expansion packs, not increase it:

Vanilla:
Released: 23rd Nov '04 (NA), 11th Feb '05 (EU)

Burning Crusade:
Announced: Oct 28th '05 (1 year after NA release - wow, was it really that early?)
Released: Jan 16th '07 (1.25 years after announcement)
Total time: 2.25 years.

Wrath of the Lich King:
Announced: Aug 3rd '07 (0.5 years after BC release)
Released: Nov 13th '08 (1.25 years after announcement)
Total time: 1.75 years.

Cataclysm:
Announced: Aug 21st '09 (0.75 years after WotLK release)
Released: ???

While you could make the argument that they always release 1.25 years after the announcement - since that is the most consistent factor - I think that's misleading due to the fact that the more recent announcements have been around Blizzcon; it makes rather more sense to handle the things at a large event like that. If we're looking at the same turnover time as Wrath had, we'd be looking for a release next August, but since it's trending to a shorter development process, I'm still reckoning we'll see Cataclysm earlyish next year (before SC2? Quite possibly). Two years to Pack 4 seems especially unrealistic.

Also in favour of that is the 'remaining content' argument. While they could always add a Sunwell, potentially, to fill in any large gaps in time, *currently* we're on course for a brief celebratory visit to Onyxia (not, it appears to Blizzard, regarded as a major raid, just a bit of birthday fun), then Icecrown, and then we're done with Northrend. Given that we've had a new major raid every 3-4 months - Blizzard's own effort to avoid the massive gaps without a new raid that were problematic back in TBC - it's worth bearing that patch release schedule in mind when planning out when Cataclysm will hit.

I'll lean towards August. I see what you're saying, but I don't think you can jump to the conclusion that time between expansions in decreasing. Keep in mind that we've only had two (not exactly a large sample). It's expected that BC (being the first expansion to the game) would have a longer cycle than Wrath. It was the first expansion, and Vanilla itself had a lot more content than BC or Wrath, not to mention they spent a lot of time ironing out bugs and adding core gameplay features during this time (not to say they didn't do this during BC or Wrath, but it was to a much lesser extent).

Personally I wouldn't expect another Sunwell, but I'd expect 3.3 to end up on PTR sometime near the end of September, early October, and then go live sometime in Nov-Dec. Then, assuming they don't do another raid (hopefully they don't) 4.0 should hit sometime around May.

 

[Nelo Ice]

He explicitly mentioned it. Who "he" is I forget. And I also forget if he mentioned it as a possibility or as a definite feature. I'm pretty sure it IS happening, though.

they explicitly mentioned premium maps so creators can get paid for their work if they choose to

 

[octopusman]

I'm thinking about starting again because Worgens might be a fun race, does anyone know what their racial skills are?

 

[hyduK]

Would really be great to see Starcraft II hit Jan - March, Cataclysm hit June - Sept then Diablo III hit in the Fall.

Nom nom. Who knows though.

Cataclysm or Diablo III would pretty much prove to be killer competition to FF XIV whenever SE decides to release it. Even Diablo III, while not a MMORPG, could take on a new MMORPG by itself IMO.

That would make 2010 instantly the best year in gaming ever....not to mention Blizzards profits :lol .

I'm thinking about starting again because Worgens might be a fun race, does anyone know what their racial skills are?

* Darkflight - Activate your true form, increasing movement speed by 70% for 6 sec, every 3 min.
* Viciousness - Increase damage by 1%.
* Abberation - Reduced duration on Curses and Diseases used against you by 15%.
* Flayer - Skinning skill +15, you skin creature fast, and you don't even need a knife.
* Worgens can be all classes except Paladins or Shamans

 

[WORLDWIDEWII]

pretty much. let the market decide where it goes.

on another topic, here's my prediction for blizzard's release schedule in the next few years (optimistic).

SC2:WoL - March-May 2010
WoW:Cat - November-December 2010
Diablo 3 - Feburary-May 2011
SC2:HotS - October-December 2011
SC2:LofV - October-December 2012
WoW:Xpac4 - Feburary-May 2013

beyond that... who knows? New MMO late 2013, early 2014?


on yet another topic... is anyone else extremely glad that blizzard are going to trim the talent trees. they were spot on in that panel. it was getting too lengthy and complicated and with more xpacs on the way in the coming years it was only going to get worse. i think they did it knowing they would have to at some point. it just wasn't going to work continuing down the path they were going.

SC2:WotL - March-May 2010
SC2:HotS - October-December 2011
SC2:LofV - October-December 2012

why can't they call it wing of the liberty, so every subtitle will have four words

 

[octopusman]

That would make 2010 instantly the best year in gaming ever....not to mention Blizzards profits :lol .



* Darkflight - Activate your true form, increasing movement speed by 70% for 6 sec, every 3 min. * Viciousness - Increase damage by 1%.
* Abberation - Reduced duration on Curses and Diseases used against you by 15%.
* Flayer - Skinning skill +15, you skin creature fast, and you don't even need a knife.
* Worgens can be all classes except Paladins or Shamans

Whoa, That sounds pretty awesome, do you think furries are going to start playing because Blizzard has introduced an Anthropomorphic wolf race? when I get in trouble I'll yell out "I'm getting yiffed over here!" :lol :lol :lol

 

[Son of Godzilla]

I'll lean towards August. I see what you're saying, but I don't think you can jump to the conclusion that time between expansions in decreasing. Keep in mind that we've only had two (not exactly a large sample). It's expected that BC (being the first expansion to the game) would have a longer cycle than Wrath. It was the first expansion, and Vanilla itself had a lot more content than BC or Wrath, not to mention they spent a lot of time ironing out bugs and adding core gameplay features during this time (not to say they didn't do this during BC or Wrath, but it was to a much lesser extent).

Personally I wouldn't expect another Sunwell, but I'd expect 3.3 to end up on PTR sometime near the end of September, early October, and then go live sometime in Nov-Dec. Then, assuming they don't do another raid (hopefully they don't) 4.0 should hit sometime around May.

How on earth are you going from 4.0 in May to Cata in August? And Blizz originally wanted to do an expansion per year. They've just been their typically slow selves.

I'd much sooner predict Cata in spring/early summer than SC2. WC3 was in beta for over 5 months, and they actually care about balancing this game.

 

[Loxley]

Whoa, That sounds pretty awesome, do you think furries are going to start playing because Blizzard has introduced an Anthropomorphic wolf race? when I get in trouble I'll yell out "I'm getting yiffed over here!" :lol :lol :lol

Well, WoW has had walking/talking cows for years, granted they're not incredibly aesthetically pleasing to the eyes compared to the Worgen, so...who knows

Granted the Worgen are humans who turn into werewolves, and aren't strictly just wolves who learned how to become bipedal. But I'm not too sure what the...um...criteria are that a particular race has to meet to become appealing to furries.

 

[TheExodu5]

He explicitly mentioned it. Who "he" is I forget. And I also forget if he mentioned it as a possibility or as a definite feature. I'm pretty sure it IS happening, though.

Ugh.

This better be only for official maps...a LittleBigPlanet situation at best. I'm not friggin' paying $1 for DBZ RPG or Lurker Defense XYZ v2.43.

 

[firex]

so anyway, lol Worgen. worst race in WoW before even being playable to the general public (or beta testers). I'm glad because this means alliance will get more terrible furry players to siphon off some of the horde's terrible blood elf players.

What about the hunter changes? I really didn't find a good summary of their changes. I'm also looking forward to the little bit Blizzard mentioned about Archaeology, Path of the Titans (new way to improve your character at max level, yay) and the whole Mastery concept with talents. Mastery in particular sounds awesome because if they do it right, it means less boring (but useful) passives in favor of more fun active/utility stuff. And it means they can hide particularly potent passive abilities deep into a spec's Mastery, which should reduce some of the powergamer hybrid specs that are OP and cause deep specs into one tree to get nerfed.

 

[Tamanon]

so anyway, lol Worgen. worst race in WoW before even being playable to the general public (or beta testers). I'm glad because this means alliance will get more terrible furry players to siphon off some of the horde's terrible blood elf players.

What about the hunter changes? I really didn't find a good summary of their changes. I'm also looking forward to the little bit Blizzard mentioned about Archaeology, Path of the Titans (new way to improve your character at max level, yay) and the whole Mastery concept with talents. Mastery in particular sounds awesome because if they do it right, it means less boring (but useful) passives in favor of more fun active/utility stuff. And it means they can hide particularly potent passive abilities deep into a spec's Mastery, which should reduce some of the powergamer hybrid specs that are OP and cause deep specs into one tree to get nerfed.

Hunters will no longer use mana, so that means no Int on hunter gear. Focus will be used, like rogue's energy, but stuff like steady shot will actually regain focus.

I'm really interested in seeing how they'll balance Volley with focus.

 

[ggnoobIGN]

No WC4, I riot.

 

[butts]

on another topic, here's my prediction for blizzard's release schedule in the next few years (optimistic).

SC2:WoL - March-May 2010
WoW:Cat - November-December 2010
Diablo 3 - Feburary-May 2011
SC2:HotS - October-December 2011
SC2:LofV - October-December 2012
WoW:Xpac4 - Feburary-May 2013

beyond that... who knows? New MMO late 2013, early 2014?

This looks really plausible, but I would place a Diablo 3 expansion somewhere in 2012-2013.

 

[erpg]

Cataclysm: The terrain is not guaranteed to change in every zone, many zones are likely going to stay the same terrain-wise but the questing will get the clean up.

Bleh. Hype crushed.

 

[Evlar]

Cataclysm: The terrain is not guaranteed to change in every zone, many zones are likely going to stay the same terrain-wise but the questing will get the clean up.

Bleh. Hype crushed.

This seems obvious.

 

[sykoex]

Cataclysm: The terrain is not guaranteed to change in every zone, many zones are likely going to stay the same terrain-wise but the questing will get the clean up.

Bleh. Hype crushed.

Your hype is crushed because some areas that you're too high level to quest in will still be the same? You do know they're creating 7 entirely new zones right?

 

[Blast Processing]

Bleh. Hype crushed.

That is why you are still a junior member. In order to progress to the real GAF member status, one must have uncrushable, unshakable, blind faith hype that only the despicable betrayalton of an exclusive going multi-platform can jade.

You have much to learn.

 

[The Lamonster]

That is why you are still a junior member. In order to progress to the real GAF member status, one must have uncrushable, unshakable, blind faith hype that only the despicable betrayalton of an exclusive going multi-platform can jade.

You have much to learn.

:lol

well said.

 

[VGChampion]

I can't see Cataclysm waiting that long to come out. Plus, maybe I'm reading to much into it, but when one of the developers said as a joke the alliance would be complaining about goblin rogues by this time next year, I assumed it was a slight slip and that it could come out before Blizzcon.

 

[The Lamonster]

I can't see Cataclysm waiting that long to come out. Plus, maybe I'm reading to much into it, but when one of the developers said as a joke the alliance would be complaining about goblin rogues by this time next year, I assumed it was a slight slip and that it could come out before Blizzcon.

Yeah November seems like too long but who knows, this is Blizzard after all.

I'm expecting/hoping for a May-something release.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Yeah November seems like too long but who knows, this is Blizzard after all.

I'm expecting/hoping for a May-something release.

While we're speculating, I'd guess sometime earlier in the year actually. Although it's an international game, the thinking and planning is very US-centric and I'd be surprised if they released an expansion at the beginning of summer.

 

[Blast Processing]

I can't see Cataclysm waiting that long to come out. Plus, maybe I'm reading to much into it, but when one of the developers said as a joke the alliance would be complaining about goblin rogues by this time next year, I assumed it was a slight slip and that it could come out before Blizzcon.

If you watch the interview that Brad Shoemaker did with the guy from Blizzard, though, he says that wasn't really what the guy meant, and that there's no telling when the next Blizzcon might be. BTW, he also says that 3.3 is meant to end the entire Arthas/Northrend story arc, which means that if there is a 3.4, it will be something completely different.

 

[FoxSpirit]

That is why you are still a junior member. In order to progress to the real GAF member status, one must have uncrushable, unshakable, blind faith hype that only the despicable betrayalton of an exclusive going multi-platform can jade.

You have much to learn.

And guess what you have to do with Worgen to get an elite-tag like mine :lol

 

[Scrow]

If you're seriously expecting expansion cycles of 2 years or more then you will be disappointed.

lol, why would i be disappointed if the release between expansions is shorter?

SC2:WotL - March-May 2010

uh? why'd you add the t in there? It's not Wings of the Liberty. It's Wings of Liberty... WoL.

should've picked out my error with LofV instead. It's Legacy of the Void, so it should be LotV.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Has anyone put up the Warcraft Lore panel stuff on youtube or something?

 

[octopusman]

Peter Moore goes to Blizzcon to talk more about what he can't shut up about

 

[Door2Dawn]

Peter Moore goes to Blizzcon to talk more about what he can't shut up about

He talks about internal server errors?

 

[erpg]

Your hype is crushed because some areas that you're too high level to quest in will still be the same? You do know they're creating 7 entirely new zones right?

Reading the last 3 pages, you'll see I was doing nothing but hoping they'll redo the older zones with graphical/terrain updates. A day later, my dreams, hopes, ruined. I will not sleep well tonight. Or at all.

It's all over.

 

[Spruchy]

Peter Moore goes to Blizzcon to talk more about what he can't shut up about

Wooooo.

 

[Twig]

Ugh.

This better be only for official maps...a LittleBigPlanet situation at best. I'm not friggin' paying $1 for DBZ RPG or Lurker Defense XYZ v2.43.

No. As Nelo said:

they explicitly mentioned premium maps so creators can get paid for their work if they choose to

Users can choose to charge if they want. Or they can release it for free.

You're overreacting, though. It'll work itself out. Callin' it now.