Jump to content
IGNORED

Anyone have an actual release date for Burning Crusade?

The Liberal Elite

By The Liberal Elite
in Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

moosegrinder

moosegrinder

Posted
Posted

I wunt. I've said it before and I will most likely be proved wrong but they really really don't need to rush it for christmas, it'll sell 8 million copies anyway. I'm reckoning February at the latest, post christmas at the earliest. Or it'll be out the week before christmas and ruin many families christmas' :D

Also, there's prolly nothing to it, but rumblings from distributer are £24.99 price point. Probably nothing to that though, but just in case.........

Link to comment
Share on other sites
therealjohnpeat

therealjohnpeat

Posted
Posted

Based on previous 'patches' - Closed BETA starting soon would mean it was unlikely to hit before Christmas if they do it 'right'.

I'm basing that on previous patches having spent a minimum of 3 weeks on the PTR and that's 'customer ready' code - not BETA code - not 'closed' BETA code in particular.

BETA also implies "functionally complete" - and we have no info in Hunter Talents yet so it's not BETA-ready anyway.

All this translates to 'if it does hit before Christmas, it will be more broken and buggy than any previous patch' - this isn't good news, especially if it arrives closer to Christmas when there are fewer people around to actually FIX it.

Given that every patch has been worse than the one before - I think I'd like a February date tbh...

I suspect the bean counters won't stand for that tho - my guess is that they've already made it clear that it WILL ship this year (it's getting too late to start announcing a non-appearance now) and so corners are being cut as we speak...

Link to comment
Share on other sites
spork

spork

Posted
Posted

Surely they are more likely to release the expansion before christmas regardless of how finished it is and then while its all being pressed/distributed and whatever they will be working hard to have a patch ready o release on the day of the expansion which will presumably fix everything else?

I know its not amazingly likely, but whats to say that they dont have the expansion ready to release now and are just holding it back until the patch is also ready? That way they could easily get the game on shop shelves in short notice..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
therealjohnpeat

therealjohnpeat

Posted
Posted

Hokay - they obviously have a complete BETA now - that means they should have set the 'in the box' feature list up and will only remove things which break in testing - nothing will be added.

You don't setup a closed BETA to run it for less than a month tho - more likely 6 weeks at least - and so that means end of November if they're considering an Open Beta (I doubt they will - it would be flooded and break rather quickly).

The final release will work like this tho

Firstly, a BIG patch will be released for EVERYONE - which will update your clients for all the items etc. - so that everyone can see new loot and so on.

This patch will have to be PTR'd I guess - that takes 3-6 weeks in itself.

I would guess that will start around the same time they 'go gold' on the expansion itself - in the hope that before the game hits the shelves, the patch is ready to deploy.

As soon as it's deployed - people can buy and install the expansion.

I'm finding it hard to see this before Christmas - it it does make it we're talking JUST before - and thus the endless bugs and crashes will be made worse by people not being around to fix em.

Anyone with the remotest sanity would have their hands up now and say "Feb 1st" tbh...

Won't affect sales really will it? They could release a WOW boxset in Nov which contains the original game and a pre-release voucher for the expansion when it's released which would put money in the coffers now without breaking the game perhaps?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kitten

kitten

Posted
Posted

Unless closed beta IS the PTR as far as they're concerned, then they might only run one or two weeks of 1.13 testing for the sole purpose of making sure there are no major conflicts between the new content and non-upgraded clients. Sure, a Feb 1 release would undoubtedly be more stable, but I'm having a hard time believing they wouldn't try for Christmas, especially in America where it's already coming up to the 2nd anniversary of the original game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
therealjohnpeat

therealjohnpeat

Posted
Posted

It just seems that time is against em tbh - at this moment there are only 10 patchdays left upto Christmas...

Patch 2.0 - as it will be called for everyone I suspect - can't be PTR'd until the closed BETA is complete surely?

TIt will need some time on the PTR before it can be cleared for posting as a live patch with or without the Expansion as well?

4 weeks of BETA and 3 weeks of PTR makes a 2nd week of December release the earliest I can sanely see - unless the strings are being yanked so hard that they're pushing ahead with a "go gold" and hoping to frig any disasters in the 2.0 patch and/or in hotfixes thereafter.

Whether they will offer TBC on the PTR/as an Open BETA is doubtful - it's just going to break in seconds and stay that way surely?

I'm begining to think that 'slip' from the Chinese distributor back in July - that TBC was due in the US/Europe in Feb 2007 - was quite telling :angry:

P.S. There are some nasty changes in the TBC client which WILL affect the existing game - not the least of which is this change to MODs which will alledgedly cripple things like Decursive.

Thus, releasing 2.0 significantly before TBC is available won't make them very popular ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kitten

kitten

Posted
Posted

Some interesting thoughts from one of the testers:

I think they could release with one or two of the raids still closed and release those in a patch later on, this would give them a little breathing room in terms of time, and also give them the possibility of a later test realm phase with a larger number of 70's than they're going to have available by thanksgiving. Hellfire Penn is very, very, very polished- the 2 zones ahead sound very polished as well. The only things holding it back are bug fixes, inputting some names (QA23486 Moonkin Hat etc), and populating Shadowmoon Valley/Blades Wheveryoucallit- which I'm told were populated in the first Beta release. We've got a month. I think it's very possible to have everything tested and packaged for a early december/very late november release, especially if they've got the manuals/packaging already done and are just waiting for the orders to burn the CD's, slap them in and drop shipments.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Space Renegade Ulala

Space Renegade Ulala

Posted
Posted

That's a very valid point. They're going to do everything they can to stop people blitzing to 70 (turn-ins will be tweaked so you can't save up a stack now and get to 61 in 10 minutes on day one, for example) so as a final resort they can just stick a big Do Not Disturb sign up in Shadowmoon Valley. A big Do Not Disturb sign around the necks of level 73 elite Dreadlords, 3 to every square foot. Then, once the Black Temple is ready, just patch it in, whisk them away and let Illidan kick some ass.

Wooooooo - the dispel part of Unstable Affliction can CRIT! Dispel and die, bastards! Oh and apparently, word from the Beta is that you'll be getting rid of your 0.5 dungeon set within in a couple of hours.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sprite

sprite

Posted
Posted

I'm scared! The expansion scares me :lol: I worry they could seriously break things we've come to know and love.

And ofc, Draenor will be down for a week :unsure:

Still, pre-ordered a copy from Gameplay at least until the word on special/collector's edition is out :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Use of this website is subject to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Guidelines.

  I accept