From Gamestop ad 12-3-09
http://www.gamestop.com/common/images/sbox/647652am.jpghttp://www.gamestop.com/common/gui/search_110spacer.gif http://www.gamestop.com/common/gui/clearshim.gif World of WarCraft: Cataclysm
Pre-order Ships 11/1/2010
Printable View
lol
I find that hard to believe. 3.3 is going live next week, and we've been "told" its the last content patch of Wrath. So A YEAR with no more patches? Ya.. they'd lose a ton of subscriptions.
I'm guessing Q2, 2010.
When does Star Wars MMO is scheduled for "2010" - so I'd bet whenever its released, you'll see Catacylsm at the roughly the same time. (Blizzard did the exact same thing with BC and Wrath... )
Retailers have NEVER had accurate ship dates this far in advance, why would they start now?
Incoming Speculation:
With the drawn out gated release of ICC. the date is kinda later than what I was thinking, they'll bug fix until the first cataclysm patch (4.0.x). But there will be an entire Beta process that I imagine will start near march / april. If everything goes "well", ICC will be opened over 4 weeks, maybe longer. That puts no one downing Arthas until Dec 29th at the VERY earliest (assuming 3.3 is /this tuesday) The last BC patch (2.4.3) was released on 7/15/08, we didn't see 3.x until 10/14/08. So 3 months from last BC patch to first Wrath. Ulduar was released 5/14/09 and we got ToC on 8/4/09 so 3 months for an entire content tier. Assuming Dec 8th for 3.3 ICC, that puts 4 months for the ToC content tier. Kinda long for such a small amount of content, probably because it was nearly a month before anyone saw Anub. I'd say with the ICC gating their going to stretch 3.3 to 5-6 months. This would put the first Cataclysm patch (updated talents, not actual release) around May / June 2010. Any longer than that, and they're going to seriously risk subscriptions because of lack of content / stale content.
Didn't I just say that? lol
(and check your dates - you goofed some years)
gamestop did the same thing with wrath. it made a small stink and turns out it was just a guess on their part (actualy a pretty good one at that). im assuming this is the same thing. just a way for them to get their hands on some cash that they can get some interest on for a while. essentially a free money for them.
http://www.nerfbat.com/2007/08/08/wr...-release-date/
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/07/ga...ng-pre-orders/
Wasn't Black Temple the scheduled final patch for BC, though? And they threw in Isle of Daily quests as a filler, because they needed more time?
I'm in no rush, to be honest. I created my space goats a few months before WotLK rolled out, so there's still a lot of old world/BC content that I'd like to take care of before Cata is released. I'd really like to focus on Cata only once it's released.
Retailers are required to attach a deliver date to presale items, even if it is just an estimation. Their guess is as good as yours.
My guess:
Patch 3.3 - ICC - Dec 2009
Patch 3.31 to 3.5 - Bug Fixes for ICC - Jan/Feb 2010
Patch 3.9 - ICC dumbed down - Mar/Apr 2010
Patch 4.0 to 4.2 - Cataclysm World Events - Aug to Oct 2010
Cataclysm - Nov 2010
Actually Heffner should be 3.3-3.3x since they dont plan on doing any more patches, only releasing more of ICC. But agree Oct/Nov for it to come out.
I read that as 11 Jan 2010 and wondered what everyone was on about.
Then I remembered the US is backasswards and it all makes sense.
who knows whats going on but whatever it is they got to get the balance correct, cant release too soon or too late or they will take losses.
it will swing the direction of the market.
money talks
if Star Wars is exciting and has any playability, it will win my subscriptions, boxing or not. I am not really too pumped about the next xpac, and as the game gets older, it just becomes more and more competitive, which makes it feel too much like a job to keep up (5k GS for Ony10PST comes to mind) and that's not fun.
With a new game and unseen content, we really reset the slate and level the playing field. I am excited to see what they do for the SWuniverse, but I am not actually keeping my hopes up, in the case we get another SWG Flop.
LOL alcattle! And 5kgs for Ony10? Run your own raid so you dont have to put up with that crap.
SWG pre cock up was amazing totally best mmorpg i ever played, when it got ruined i moved to wow and havnt changed since.
i will keep my eye on this new one aswell but only if it has the original feel to it. i want my TKM/carbineer in action.....
mind poison FTW!
old days...
but yes i have to agree with your view on things
Novemeber 2010, otherwise we would have gotten more info and dates.
+ they are releasing the new icecrown dungeon in parts so they can fill up months and months of time.
Here is the entire Star Wars MMO in a single GIF file:
http://www.wackmcs.com/wackmcs/image...tarWarsKid.gif
And if you multibox it:
http://www.wackmcs.com/wackmcs/image...tarWarsKid.gifhttp://www.wackmcs.com/wackmcs/image...tarWarsKid.gifhttp://www.wackmcs.com/wackmcs/image...tarWarsKid.gifhttp://www.wackmcs.com/wackmcs/image...tarWarsKid.gifhttp://www.wackmcs.com/wackmcs/image...tarWarsKid.gif
haha
I saw the date and had the same feeling... and was just about to head over to play.com (Cataclysm) and check them out...
They are guestimating around Sept...
Blizzard pretty much said at this years Blizzcon they are releasing two games in 2010. Starcraft2 first and Cataclysm second. While SC2 was way further along than it was in 2008, I still have yet to see the SC2 beta, so who knows if the order will shift or not. I concur with the Oct / Nov release. I think Blizzard has enough money and people working on it.
I think I am going to bum rush and gear as many teams as I can in T9, high level crafted, and the ICC 5 man stuff. Then put my accounts on hold until a month or two prior to Cataclysm to generate gold and figure out which teams will get to 85 first.
I may end up canceling my extra accounts for a few months if they are really going to wait until Nov.
I can't see myself staying amused for 6+ months with nothing new to look forward too.
Yep, if its much past middle of summer my accounts will be cancelled until the xpac. I'm still betting midsummer for the launch, though.
oh and lol at your Starwars MMO =)
The key is when the beta goes up. They don't need the test servers for anything past ICC bug fixes, so I would expect the beta to go up Jan/Feb, the usual 3 months of testing and several waves of invite keys getting sent out, and a summer release. One of the Devs at Blizzcon said that by next year's Blizzcon, everyone will be sick of Goblin Rogues, and that's long before November.
However, it is entirely possible that they bit off more than they can handle, and it will be delayed, and they may have some content to pull out to give everyone something to do - it would be VERY cool if they did The Old Kingdom, but it would pull devs from the expansion. (The Isle, as it was said, was always planned, they just had to change the release dates - there was a massive amount of work in that patch, no way they pulled that out at the last moment).
I do not buy a year before we see new content. They're busy at work, no doubt, and while there's no word of any alpha going on, I'm betting on Jan/Feb for the beta - they'll have a nice long stretch with no holidays to get in the way to crank out the code and art and files.
GameStop did the same thing for Wrath, and for BC. They're just getting free money from the interest on your pre-order. They do NOT have inside info, they're guessing, like someone else said, and they're just making room in their system for it. You'll know when Cata is coming, when the first wave of beta keys go out - until then, it's all speculation.
I dunno - the entire episode 1 - 3 felt rushed, half baked, and LAME.
Even trying to watch it with an open mind.... I just can't help but think "this is DUMB" throughout the entire thing. And I grew up watching 4-6. Absolutely loved those movies. (Note to Mr. Lucs - technology doesn't get better when you go back it time, dumbass)
That, and LucasArts making EVERYTHING they can with the Starwars name on it. Go to the wikipedia page of starwars games... you'll probably puke in disgust.
The scene in Spaceballs about "Spaceballs the lunchbox! Spaceballs the doll! Spaceballs the toilet paper!" - Epic amounts of comedy right there, 2.5 decades PRIOR to George Lucas wiping his ass with the Starwars brand name.
Mel Brooks 4 Prez.