Results tagged “Release Date” from From the Abbey to Outlands

The Tentative release date leaked by WoW Head and Thottbot was confirmed this morning when Blizzard Entertainment announced the release date for the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, which will hit stores on November 13, 2008, just 10 days shy of the 4th birthday of World of Warcraft. Blizzard also released information on the Collector's Edition of the expansion, which will include:

• World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich King on DVD-ROM. 
• The 208-page book featuring never-before-seen images from the game.
• An exclusive in-game pet: Frosty, the baby frost wyrm.
• A behind-the-scenes DVD * The official soundtrack CD
• A mouse pad featuring a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend.
• Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game March of the Legion™ starter decks, along with two exclusive cards available only in the Collector's Edition.

While we now have a date, we also know how long we have to prepare. You can make a lot of gold in 2 months. You can also now preorder your copy and soon a Collector's Edition at many retailers. Enjoy!

I first saw word of this from this post on Twitter by WoW Insider author Eliah Hecht. Matt quickly reposted, followed by me. The url in the post points to this post by Eliah on WoW Insider. The summary of the story is that WoW Head, my favorite game info database site, as well as their sister site Thottbot, have what is tantamount to an announcement that Wrath of the Lich King will release on November 13, 2008.

Now I do need to point out that we have no confirmation of this on the WoW site as yet, though Malgayne from WoW Head says it is legit and suggests the time was set for midnight, and the admin who released it is 3 hours ahead of Blizzard in Irvine, CA. What does this mean? I think we will have 3.0.2 within 7 days either way of Blizzcon. I think we will have a CE announcement, if not at the time of the official announcement of the date, within days. I think.... that midnight PST can't come soon enough!

[Update 1: The Customer Service forums are the first to get a blue response, though it remains inconclusive.]

Today saw an announcement that the next patch to World of Warcraft will be incoming soon, which will be the pre expansion patch we have all been waiting for. I was luckily in the beta when the news hit, and I got a bit of the early reactions that those in the thick of testing have about the impending release. The first impression I got was that many think it is too early, and others thought that this was one of the many 'Soon™' promises that Blizzard is both legendary and frequently mocked for.

I did a bit of research based on the first expansion, Burning Crusade, and I got some insights into how things might go this time. I would like to point out first that this is not last time, and that was Blizzard's first expansion to an MMO, and they have most likely learned a bit since then. So, the first fact we need to keep in mind was the January 16th release date of Burning Crusade. The next one I dug up was that the 2.0.1 content patch was released on the 5th of December. This was 1 month and 11 days before the release of the expansion.

Now, these two dates do not really have much of a connection now, since we still do not know the date that 3.0.1 will be pushed to the live realms, but keep that in mind when we do get that anticipated patch. The other piece of data we have is that Blizzard, after weeks of speculation about the release date, confirmed the release date on the 9th of November. This was 1 month and 4 days before the patch was released and over 2 months before the expansion was actually released.

Now, again, as I said before, things may well be different this time. Mike Morhaime has stated emphatically that the expansion will be released in 2008, so even if the date is announced on December 1st, I would think it is unlikely it will be a 2 month wait. Second, Blizzard was being pummeled by it's fans and the press for a release date, or at least a confirm or deny on the matter. This could have forced Blizzard to give a release date before they were ready. Lastly, as I said in the beginning and repeatedly, things can be different. Things likely will be different. Tomorrow Blizz could give us a release date. They could do it at Blizzcon. They could release it at Blizzcon! In the end, we'll have to wait and see, but these are just a few of my ideas of what the announcement could mean.