Release date announced

[Threash]

IRVINE, Calif. -- Blizzard Entertainment® today announced that the release date for World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade™, the highly anticipated expansion for World of Warcraft, will be in January 2007. By adding a few extra weeks to the development cycle beyond its original target date, Blizzard will be able to extend the closed beta test and further refine the new content that will ship with the game.

“We appreciate the enthusiasm surrounding World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and we’re excited about putting the finishing touches on all of the new content,” said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We feel confident that the extra time spent polishing the game will result in the high-quality experience that our players expect and deserve.”

Blizzard began the closed-beta phase of testing on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade earlier this month. The January 2007 release window will allow extra time for current beta testers to participate in the final stages of development and continue providing valuable feedback.

Further information on specific worldwide release dates, pricing, and other details will be announced in the near future.

Ok thats it, christmas is canceled!

[Xanthippe]

Good.  I would so much rather have a finished product that a rushed buggy one.

[Morfiend]

Well, there goes my "second week of November" theory. Oh well, this will give me plenty of time to play all the awesome games coming out for 360.

[Righ]

Good.  I would so much rather have a finished product that a rushed buggy one.

What makes you think that you won't get a late but buggy product?

[ClydeJr]

I like this post:

Subject: Wasted my xmas holiday

i purposely taken a holiday during xmas.. so i can get a full 3 weeks for TBC grinding to 70...

if it doesn't come out... my 3 weeks' wasted... WASTED

Or you can spend those 3 weeks with family and friends...

Then there's the next post...

We're in the same boat buddy = / except im going to my buds house acros the country to play TBC with him and 8 other guys all in one room. WoWapalooza!

Ten guys. Three weeks. One room.

[Venkman]

I seriously doubt this had anything to do with the quality of the game. As I mentioned the now-four-pager, either they're avoiding the gluttony (good for MMORPGs), have so many pre-orders they don't need retail presence in December anyway (so sorry for that lack of foot-traffic aid there buddy retailers), or figure the rise in Gift Card gift-giving for the holidays will translated into January sales of boxes anyway (back atcha retail partners).

Whatever it is, this was a business decision, probably made weeks ago to break it to stockholders and retailers alike. Adding a few scant weeks to have more quality is the last reason. We're both used to Blizzard pushing back launch dates and releasing still-buggy still-somewhat-incomplete stuff. They do it better than SOE et al ever did (until later publishes in EQ2 imho), but they're not really that different.

[Modern Angel]

Just means I can blow my November budget on the new EQ2 pack.

[Morat20]

Smart move on Blizzard's part. Everyone's going to buy it anyways, they can claim standards by delaying it for "improvement" and they're supposedly releasing a bunch of stuff as a patch (new talents and new honor system) before Christmas anyways (all the stuff that non-TBC people will need anyways), which will just whet everyone's appetite.

Don't see a downside here.

[Furiously]

How am I going to get a Santa hat for my BE pali???

[Venkman]

How am I going to get a Santa hat for my BE pali???

Crap you're right! I think they'll miss the Holidays window.

Ah well, at least you can get Elune's Light/Blessing again though... unless they blow that date to.

[Chenghiz]

Man, if they introduce the hunter changes but don't make Steady Shot a level 60 ability, hunters are going to really suck.

[Xanthippe]

Good.  I would so much rather have a finished product that a rushed buggy one.

What makes you think that you won't get a late but buggy product?

We'll see, won't we?

[Signe]

Good.  I would so much rather have a finished product that a rushed buggy one.

What makes you think that you won't get a late but buggy product?

We'll see, won't we?

Someday.  Maybe.   

[Bix]

I seriously doubt this had anything to do with the quality of the game. As I mentioned the now-four-pager, either they're avoiding the gluttony (good for MMORPGs), have so many pre-orders they don't need retail presence in December anyway (so sorry for that lack of foot-traffic aid there buddy retailers), or figure the rise in Gift Card gift-giving for the holidays will translated into January sales of boxes anyway (back atcha retail partners).

Whatever it is, this was a business decision, probably made weeks ago to break it to stockholders and retailers alike. Adding a few scant weeks to have more quality is the last reason. We're both used to Blizzard pushing back launch dates and releasing still-buggy still-somewhat-incomplete stuff. They do it better than SOE et al ever did (until later publishes in EQ2 imho), but they're not really that different.

To add to your theory, they also may have delayed to stop any of their player base trying Vanguard.  If they launch at the same time Vanguard could take a hit on their launch.  Not that Vanguard is a threat, just a thought.

Bix

[Valmorian]

To add to your theory, they also may have delayed to stop any of their player base trying Vanguard.  If they launch at the same time Vanguard could take a hit on their launch. 

Oh my, that is rich.  I doubt any of them even give a passing thought to Vanguard.

Not that Vanguard is a threat..

Understatement of the year.

[Tale]

Most of the millions of WoW players are new to MMORPGs. They are where EQ players were earlier this decade. They develop intentions like "I will be going to Horizons" and "I'm quitting this game as soon as AC2 hits the shelves". And they're not here on F13, they're on their guild forums and the Blizzard forums, where people are saying stuff like "OMG Vanguard will be great!". It does have the potential to sell a lot of boxes. SOE will continue building the hype any way they can.

[caladein]

And they're not here on F13, they're on their guild forums and the Blizzard forums, where people are saying stuff like "OMG Vanguard will be great!".

And that's why my guild calls me the Dream Crusher for going over that every time someone goes "OMG it's gonna be awesome." Still, considering the graphics (primarily), I'm not sure how far mass ignorance is going to get Vanguard.

[Simond]

Most of the millions of WoW players are new to MMORPGs. They are where EQ players were earlier this decade. They develop intentions like "I will be going to Horizons" and "I'm quitting this game as soon as AC2 hits the shelves".

And just like EQ back in the day, the majority of the "zomg shiny new game!" crowd will end up back in WoW after a few months with a renewed appreciation of no matter how bad you think Blizzard are screwing you, it could always be worse.

I think DAoC was about the only pre-WoW "EQ killer" which permantently acquired any sort of significant playerbase from EQ.

[Ironwood]

Most of the millions of WoW players are new to MMORPGs. They are where EQ players were earlier this decade. They develop intentions like "I will be going to Horizons" and "I'm quitting this game as soon as AC2 hits the shelves". And they're not here on F13, they're on their guild forums and the Blizzard forums, where people are saying stuff like "OMG Vanguard will be great!". It does have the potential to sell a lot of boxes. SOE will continue building the hype any way they can.

Are you on drugs ?

Sure, what you say is right, but that doesn't mean there's gonna be an end result.



Edited :  Whooops.  Didn't read down far enough - I'm the third person to take issue with your take on it.  :(

[Chenghiz]

Early on quite a few people in my guild were hyped about Vanguard, but then a couple of them got into beta. Now the next-big-thing is Warhammer Online for most of them.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, to be honest, if someone was to say WHO was gonna be competition, I'd at least think twice before I giggled.  But Vanguard ?  No wai.

[Modern Angel]

WAR's not going to be competition for top dog. I do think it's going to get a fair number of subscribers; more than EQ, less than WoW.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, I know.  Was the giggling not clear ?

[Modern Angel]

I'm backing up your position or something.

[Xanthippe]

WAR's not going to be competition for top dog. I do think it's going to get a fair number of subscribers; more than EQ, less than WoW.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if WHO snags a good percentage of the WoW pvp server populations - at least initially.

[Righ]

To be fair, nobody actually cares if WHO is 'top dog' or not. We just want a good game. Lineage is super popular in Korea, signifying nothing. If they pull enough punters in to keep the servers open for a while and its more fun to play (even just in 'ooh shiny' days) then its a win over most of the crap being released.

[Venkman]

I agree. WAR is much more of an actual "threat" to WoW than Vanguard is.

This is because VG is not targeting the hardcore of WoW. They're targeting the hardcore that haven't played WoW, those currently in, say, EQ2 or CoH endgame or the like.

WoW is an "easy" game by comparison. I doubt people who want more Naxx are going to jump to the hardcore-at-level-1 VG game. They are going to stick around for more Naxx.

But WAR, well, that depends on how good their PvP actually is. If it's like WoW, it's a good temporary diversion. If it's actually relevant to the world of the game and not just bracketed into a separate ladder/activity, then people will flock to it. Whether they stick with it depends on how much Mythic has learned in the last six years, and how much money EA gives them to continue doing so.

Finally, "top dog" isn't really an issue here. It's possible to measure any of these games in some way to make almost any of them top dog in some sort of category. WoW has a lot of paying subscribers, yet all those millions are only about 8% of the total registered accounts in Maplestory, and all of those millions turn less money per person per month than does Neopets, and so on. Too many ways to measure.

[Ironwood]

WAR's not going to be competition for top dog. I do think it's going to get a fair number of subscribers; more than EQ, less than WoW.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if WHO snags a good percentage of the WoW pvp server populations - at least initially.

Nope, it wouldn't surprise me either.  I just don't think it will be a 'threatening' amount or that it'll last for terribly long.  However, you have to bear in mind that a 'good percentage' of WoW size can many many many many mad folks - so it might not be as large a percentage as you think.

[Rasix]

I don't have faith in Mythic making a game I want to play. The way that Sonya manages her communities that I find somewhat irksome (extends to the way Mythic perceives their community as a whole).   I'm open to be pleasantly surprised, however. 

Doesn't help that my usual running buddies hate Mythic with the energy of a thousand suns (even though they played Dark Age for years).

[Nija]

I hope you are talking about Kurtz for finally seeing how stupid it is to level two characters of the exact same class to max level on the same server.

I'd like to look forward to Warhammer but I know enough about Mythic to know better.

[Dren]

These days there are only a few things that a game needs to have for me to at least try their game and stay the first "free" month.

1.  Polish.  No SB.exe, no rubberbanding, no CTD's, etc.  Wow has done this the best that I've found so far.  Ok, FFXI might be better, but that was a waste!  Even CoH made me lose map server or some other weird error.
2.  Graphics/Art. Doesn't have to be bleeding edge graphics.  Do WoW or better, but don't do failed realism (looks at EQ2.)  Make the world attractive enough that I can sit and look at it every night for 1-2 hours.  Different shades of gray and brown and character models that look like Howdie-Doodie (um, for the younger folks that is like a puppet made out of wood blocks) doesn't cut it.
3.  Requirements. Fit moderate computer systems being sold today.  If you go bleeding edge, I'm not going to update for games anymore.  I've outgrown that.  I get the near best in systems every 3-4 years.
4.  Mentality.  If you even once mention that you are more hardcore than WoW, I'm not going to try you.  I may find this out on my own, but if you actually tell me this as a selling point, no dice.  You could have the bestest game in da worldz, but my time constraints cannot be negotiated.  That's why I dropped EQ and FFXI.  I loved FFXI, but it didn't matter.
5.  PvP.  Have to have it.  I may not even play it, but it better be there.  Something about only ever being able to play PvE just gets under my skin.  I guess it just feels to confining.
6.  Previews.  While I won't take them word for word, I do listen to the general attitude of Beta testers.  Usually, you can tell if a game is going to have that "something" or not by getting that vibe.  WoW's vibe was very strong early on, plus I Beta tested it myself.  On the other hand DDO's early warnings were strong too (also Beta'd that one) and in the other direction.  2 for 2 so far on that theory anyway.  LotR doesn't look too different either (based on a friend Alpha-Beta'ing now.) 

Otherwise, I'm pretty easy.  I do not need lore, brand name, or free toys.  I don't even care what skill/class/level/race system you have.  I'll try it and make my own opinion.  It is too early to tell on WHO, but Vanguard has already broken my "Casual" rule.  Done.

That first month is where your *game* either makes it or breaks it.  It could be open PvP or more like WoW.  I don't care.  I'll know if I think it is fun and worth a real subscription in 4 weeks easy.

[Signe]

I should think that getting SB.exe in Wow would be a very Polish thing to happen.

Just sayin'....

[HaemishM]

To add to your theory, they also may have delayed to stop any of their player base trying Vanguard.  If they launch at the same time Vanguard could take a hit on their launch. 

Oh my, that is rich.  I doubt any of them even give a passing thought to Vanguard.

No, but I bet Brad McQuaid just shit a kitten.

[Dren]

I should think that getting SB.exe in Wow would be a very Polish thing to happen.

Just sayin'....

Quite.  It would also be very funny.

[MrHat]

I'm still wondering how you enjoyed playing all those characters in 1hr increments.