From a realistic standpoint. When do you expect Cataclysm?

[Fursphere]

My friend has acheivements from 4/14/09 for Ulduar.

Naxx/maly/saph = november
Ulduar = april
Toc = august
Onixia = november
Icc = december

So there was a 6 month period between naxx and ulduar, a 5 months period till TOC, and a 5 month period till ICC with ony being thrown in as a random addition (which is what ruby is suppose to be)

But yeah i understand what you are saying.

Lol - totally forgot about ToC and Onyxia (which was a 5 yr anniversary raid, but still an end game raid). /facepalm.

If you want more evidence to a Nov release, Gamestop had it posted as a 11/1/2010 date. Now, everybody assumes thats just a placeholder date and all - so why'd they remove the date? (Me thinks Blizzard bitch slapped them, because it was a leak, not a placeholder)

If you look at the history of WotLK leaks - all sites with accurate information got cease and desist orders. The ones with crap info got left alone....

[Ualaa]

Put my down for Nov 16th, for the Cataclysm release date pool.

[Fursphere]

Also, keep an eye out for an of WoW's competitors releasing anything in that time frame - Blizzard / Activision will adjust Cataclysm to match the competing products release date.

If you don't believe me, look at the previous two expansion packs... (and major content patches)

[Mosg2]

November 16th too.

[Zaelar]

t7 to t8 was a longer wait then the others.
Ulduar(april) - Toc(august) = 4 months
Toc(august) - Icc(dec) = 4 months

[Shodokan]

t7 to t8 was a longer wait then the others.
Ulduar(april) - Toc(august) = 4 months
Toc(august) - Icc(dec) = 4 months

They had been working on ICC the entire expansion though.

[Ogloo]

put me down for after dec. 21 2012.. so we will never play cata i guess..

** sorry must watched 2012 which btw was beast.

[Stealthy]

Blizzard traditionally aims for a November launch with the WoW games since it coincides with the anniversary of Warcraft franchise.

WoW classic was launched November 2004 (on the 10th anniversary of Warcraft)

Burning Crusade was supposed to launch in November 2006 but was pushed back to Jan 2007 (ref here).

Wrath of the Lich King was launched in November 2008

Note the 2 year gap in between each release.

Cheers,
S.

[Boylston]

Blizzard traditionally aims for a November launch with the WoW games since it coincides with the anniversary of Warcraft franchise.

WoW classic was launched November 2004 (on the 10th anniversary of Warcraft)

Burning Crusade was supposed to launch in November 2006 but was pushed back to Jan 2007 (ref here).

Wrath of the Lich King was launched in November 2008

Note the 2 year gap in between each release.

Cheers,
S.

Correlation here only... The causal relationship is that the late November - Early December timeframe is a huge holiday spend time for most people. Launching a game for the Christmas shopping season is a very smart sales strategy, it's not sentimental.

[Kalros]

One major factor that nobody has mentioned so far is that Blizzard now falls under the umbrella of Activi$ion. And I'm sure if it were up to Bobby Kotick, we'd be seeing a new WoW expansion on a yearly basis. Though I'm sure that Blizzard holds a good portion of their independence still, they definitely have these Activi$ion execs whispering in their ears, telling them to work faster and get it out sooner rather than later.

My vote: September 7th.