Burning Crusade release date confirmed

by Elizabeth Harper Nov 9th 2006 at 11:58AM

The push back to a January release was disappointing to say the least. And many forum posters have been speculating -- if it were pushed back once, couldn't it be pushed back again? Well, Nethaera says no. Replying to a post citing a January 16the release date (via a European press release), Nethaera says, "This is a solid date. It will not be pushed back." Considering Blizzard's usual reluctance to say anything concrete, I tend to believe them when they do. (Naivete, perhaps.)

[Thanks, Yz and Tom!]

Tags: azeroth, burning crusade, BurningCrusade, expansion, nethaera, release, release date, ReleaseDate, the burning crusade, TheBurningCrusade, warcraft, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft, wow

Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Expansions

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

D�T Nov 9th 2006 12:02PM

they've missed the entire holiday season...dumb to say the least

Jusk Nov 9th 2006 12:05PM

Not really dumb. I doubt thier sales would change at all. And they will be able to release a (more) finished product. Which makes them look much better.

chillis Nov 9th 2006 12:14PM

Im not sure the extra month will provide much of a "(more)finished product". Isn't the lvl cap in beta still 67? Have the instances been tested? How long does it take for them to get the finished product burned/printed and shipped out to our dirty fingers?

*crossing fingers* for Jan. 16, 2007

Undying Nov 9th 2006 12:27PM

Cool!

Bill Nov 9th 2006 12:34PM

There are two possible actions that a software company can take when developing software. In the case where the software turns out to take a lot longer to create/test/ship than originally thought (as is the case with The Burning crusade), Blizzard can do the following:

1. Delay the release (already have done this). This option works usually once...any more than that and it can be perceived as a serious inability to develop software hurting their equity (stock) growth.

2. Ship an unfinished product. Unfinished in this case could me less feature rich, less content. This in my opinion is what is about to happen (if they are not able to finish development). I think that Blizzard will not delay again, and instead choose to release something that will need to be patched.

The last thing they COULD do is finish everything on time. LOL. But as we know, software companies never do that because work expands to fill the time alotted.

Luis D. Nov 9th 2006 12:53PM

Great. That's the first day of classes for the spring semester. Oh well, you don't learn much on that first day anyway, amiright?

Bo Teichman Nov 9th 2006 12:58PM

I think it will be released on time. It will probably come pretty much done... with a 3 hour long patch download like WoW did the first time I installed it way back in the day! They could have already printed copies. Usually it takes about 3 days right? So then when we get it it would just have a huge patch.

kuri Nov 9th 2006 3:06PM

Suffice to say, I'm disappointed in Blizzard, and have been questioning their project management team ever since the rumored push-back was made official.

How in the world could Blizzard miss Christmas by a month? How could something have needed to be tested/included be so important to miss Christmas, the biggest holiday of the year retail-wise, by 20 days?

It would have been perfectly acceptable, if not expected, for Blizzard to release the product pre-Christmas and patch it sometime in January to relieve the customer base of game stagnation and raid motivation woes.

Based on what I am hearing about experience per level (400k-ish just to get to 61), I'm highly doubting anyone will get to end-game content again before January, even if they play straight through and pull 24-hour shifts. Blizzard could have polished the entry content (levels 60-64) for Christmas release, and patched soon thereafter with the remaining additions/modifications.

Perhaps they're trying to compete with the other MMORPGs that are being released January 2007. Personally, I think that theory is bunk, since everyone knows which MMORPG they'll be turning to well before its release date. Those who are going to play Vanguard know it, and those who are going to play WoW know it too.

The only thing this push-back did was turn more people off from the game (raid, gear, and PvP futility being primary points), which would end up hurting World of Warcraft more than a polished release would. It made people who were sick of playing either find a life, or a fresher MMORPG.

Maybe this is all some crazy strategy in removing the non-hardcore from the uber guilds. Those who want to stay will stay, and hand-picking 25 people will be all that easier for raids. Maybe Blizzard anticipates that the expansion will be so great, everyone who ditched it will be coming back like horses to water.

All I know it, whatever strategy Blizzard used, it put them in a disfavorable light with its customer base. A patch will not make up for an expansion this holiday season.

thingy Nov 9th 2006 3:13PM

Just after my annual leave finishes, but still all I can say is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!! :D

Jonathan Rondon Nov 9th 2006 4:06PM

I have to say after reading all the posts, I still firmly believe that the delay in the release of the Burning Crusade will not reduce their customer base by any noticeable amount. Remember this is still the most played/celebrated MMORPG on the market and is what most gamers will compare to the new MMORPG being release for the foreseeable future.

Also, even though they are missing the holiday seeing I think this might be a boon for the industry overall since now hardcore WOW fans that were awaiting TBC will look else where for their holiday entertainment.

All in all I think this is a good thing and as I purchase every Blizzards title when it release I am confident they will release a good product when it meets their high standards.

Besides Gears of War and FFXII just released I need time to play these:D

Poddo Nov 9th 2006 6:58PM

Personally, I'm fine with the delay. I began my first character just over a year ago, but I didn't last long. I only got to about level 12. My friends got me back into it in the beginning of October, and now I'm hooked. The delay gives me time to get to 60 and enjoy some of the end game raids before they are all abandoned in favor of level 61-70 items.

boneyard Nov 10th 2006 10:13AM

remains interesting to see people jump on every idiotic date released by the online stores (who are known to make them up for pre-orders and move them forward every few moneths) and being so sure it would be then. and when blizzard releases an exact date for the first time then it's of course met with a huge ammount of skepticism.

there are some funny people around.