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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsThe Brewfest Kodo and what it may mean for WotLK's release date
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jun 4th 2008 at 1:00PM
Tipster Graffias pointed out an exciting find in the latest leaked Alpha files for WoTLK: An Icon for a Brewfest Kodo. You may recall that last year's Brewfest included a Ram mount that was purchasable with tickets by both sides, allowing the Horde very easy access to an Alliance mount with a few days of grinding for Brewfest Prize Tickets. Many Alliance weren't happy with this, annoyed that the Horde got such easy access to an Alliance mount without having to kill Baron Rivendare or a Troll a couple hundred times. Bornakk decided that the best way to answer this criticism would be by promising the Alliance that the Horde would be getting access to yet another previously alliance-only mount skin in the Cenarion War Hippogryph. Of course, Kisirani, being as awesome as she is, later said that we should have patience and things would work out in the end.
Listening to the words of the world designer seem to have paid off, as it looks like the Dwarves are going to turn the tables on the Goblins this year and steal some Kodos from them. I can finally fulfill my dream of owning my very own Kodo. My Night Elf Druid is from Kalimdor after all, and you would think there would be some Night Elves who decided to domesticate Kodos as beasts of burden too.
But really, as much as I am looking forward to grabbing myself a Kodo (and seeing a tiny Gnome riding around on a huge beast of burden), what's really exciting is this thought: If the Brewfest is in late September to early October, does that mean Blizzard is planning to give us WoTLK by September, Brewfest Kodo and all?
If they aren't planning to give us one more year with nothing but a Ram, that could be the plan. Release WoTLK and the patch with the Kodo some time in mid-September, and we'll suddenly be stuck with the horrible choice of leveling to 80 as soon as possible, working on a Death Knight, or grabbing enough tickets to buy a Kodo.
Still, while it's nice to think about WoTLK going live by the start of Brewfest, it's not a given either. It's possible that we could still get the Brewfest Kodo, only in a seperate patch. After all, Patch 2.0.1 gave us access to 41 point talents, the LFG system, and a few other new features from Burning Crusade in a patch that predated the expansion itself. It's certainly possible that Blizzard will once again do the same, handing us a 3.0 patch that'll bring in the 51 point talents, a few other new features, and the new Brewfest Kodo as well.
Either way though, I figure we win. If this leak really does point to a purchasable Kodo at the next Brewfest, we might get WoTLK over a month earlier than is widely expected, but even if we don't, we still get an awesome new prize to shoot for when the Brewfest returns to Azeroth. If we're even more lucky here on the Alliance side, maybe we'll even get new goggles that'll turn everyone into female Draenei instead of male Gnomes.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Events, Blizzard, News items, Expansions, Mounts, Wrath of the Lich King, Rumors
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Todd Jun 4th 2008 2:28PM
Give the ally the blood elf chicken ride. Kodo should be horde only. It's bad enough Tauren get screwed so bad on mounts but to see a gnome or dwarf on a kodo just isn't right.
Ruva Jun 4th 2008 2:43PM
They can already get the chicken from MrT in heroic.
sarbian Jun 4th 2008 2:42PM
I think WolLK will be relased in late september.
Here is why : Blizzcon in october. An event such as the blizzcon need a lot of staff. You don t want all your staff in a convention when you are in the last week of work on your expansion.
WWI in late june is different because the staff working on it is the staff of Blizzard Europe, and a lot before the release date.
Jack Spicer Jun 4th 2008 2:53PM
Either that, or they don't imagine they'll have the expansion released anytime near October.
Ircasha Jun 4th 2008 2:31PM
Kodos are as annoying as raptor mounts. I get motion sickness while riding them. I did, however, ride around as a leper gnome on my kodo during Halloween . . . leper gnomes with the pumpkin head rocked.
I think I'll stick to my cuddly black wolf, thank you very much.
Wolfwings Jun 4th 2008 2:49PM
I'd rather have wolves then stupid kodos
Woolwort Jun 4th 2008 2:55PM
The Kodo is the ugliest mount in the game. Blizz couldn't make it the wolf?
RetPallyJil Jun 4th 2008 2:56PM
A kodo would be ok, but I always wanted a wolf :(
Thrashnak Jun 4th 2008 3:00PM
People are so focused on WotLK they forget that there is plenty of time for another patch in between now and when 3.0 comes out. 2.4 was a few months ago, most major patches are 3-5 months apart depending on how much content they release.
Don't be surprised if they announce patch 2.5 as their Brewfest patch....
PJ Jun 4th 2008 3:01PM
They are way behind on this expansion, they should have had it out last Christmas - so they better be ready in 4 months.
That said, i would rather have one of those chickens the bloodelves are righting around on *g*
Ruva Jun 4th 2008 3:13PM
So if the Alliance are able to get...roughly 4 of our racial mounts, when do we get the ability to have 4 of theirs?
Alliance:
Strat: Skeletal Horse
ZG: Raptor
MrT: Hawkstrider
Brewfest: Kodo
Horde:
Brewfest: Ram
ZG: Zulian Tiger
?
It's not really QQ'ing, it's more me wondering why Bliz likes to talk about balance yet so many scales are off tilt.
Angelus Jun 4th 2008 3:24PM
In the cases you mention, those land mounts are not easy to get. The brewfest mounts are rather easy to get in comparison. I see your point, but if your talking about the ease of acquiring a mount, then horde needs to cough one up for the brewfest. Would rather have your wolf, but your kodo will do. Your kodo will do just fine... ehehehe
nate Jun 4th 2008 3:24PM
dont forget hippograph:CE
Angelus Jun 4th 2008 3:33PM
Also, on the Alliance side, most "normal" races dont have access to the Robo-Chicken Mount. By normal, I mean any race that wont drown in a puddle of water (Gnomish, Dwarf children of the corn types...) So our list is kind of unbalanced to start with.
Most the anklebiters I know are not too proud of the robo-chicken and would give you it in a heartbeat.
Ruggard Jun 4th 2008 3:33PM
Actually horde has access to the hippogryph, a the article says, and soon will be able to get the zebra mount(which is just a repainted human horse model). So actually it seems Blizz is making an effort in balancing both sides with content, so players like you stop the whining. Kthnxbye
Killer Jun 4th 2008 4:17PM
According to my local Gamestop the WOTLK release date is Nov. 4th 2008. We all know how release dates work though but hey I reserved it already so regardless of the month it comes I'll be getting it. I can not wait to get out of the atrocious Outlands and get back to the old medieval fantasy world that I fell in love with way back when.
ivan256 Jun 5th 2008 2:02PM
Hah. That's cute. You think your pre-order guarantees you a copy anywhere near the release date.... Apparently you didn't read the receipt.
The release date hasn't been announced. No retailer has secured a guaranteed number of copies. You got scammed.
TheDeamon Jun 4th 2008 5:43PM
The TBC timeline from F&F Alpha to Release does suggest a release date in September/October.
With BlizzCon as a consideration(tinfoil hat time), I halfway suspect they may hold(or otherwise target) release of Wrath to occur the week after BlizzCon(October 14th) in order to allow BlizzCon to serve as a chance for attendee to potentially obtain early copies(BlizzCon editions?) of Wrath and have them signed practically on the spot. Otherwise they deal with the catch-22 of potentially releasing it the week of BlizzCon and having some somewhat unhappy con attendees who would rather be leveling at that point(albeit able to get their stuff signed w/o Blizz needing to go through the logistics of a special early release for con goers).
But going back to the TBC timeline for Alpha-> Release. F&F confirmed on August 23rd, WoW 2.0 went live on December 5th. Roughly 15 weeks later. I'm going to go with the Tuesday of the client leak rather than the earlier dates that can be pulled for the F&F Alpha.
15 weeks from "the leak" is September 2nd. Brewfest for this year is slated from Saturday, September 20 to October 4 which would give them an extra two weeks over and above the TBC time line for the release of WoW 3.0 client. Placing it reasonably within the realm of possibility. The real benchmark on how closely they're adhering to a TBC-like timeline will be seeing when the Wrath Beta testing phase begins. Working from the time of the leak(and the persisting leaks since), I'm halfway expecting the Beta to begin within 7 weeks from its occurrence. (The week of July 8th is my current outlier date for the Beta starting)
I'm kind of surprised the current Alpha testing phase has run as long as it has, given that you would suspect they learned from the previous Alpha and didn't expect it to stay under wraps after the testing phase was expanded to Friends and Family. Meaning a F&F Alpha with a shorter run-time for Wrath than TBC had.
~15 weeks(TBC Beta duration) from July 8th = October 21st... Two weeks after BlizzCon, except this time around we don't Have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years factoring into development time like it did for TBC so there is probably at least a week that be dropped from that alone, putting that date on October 14th the Tuesday after BlizzCon.
And yet another note:
When the TBC Beta began, the BE and Draenei starting zones were playable(4 zones + 2 city zones = 6 zones).
HFP, Zangarmarsh, Terokkar Forest, Nagrand, and Shattrath were the only playable zones in Outland. (That's 4 more regular zones and another City zone. We're at 8 regular zones and 3 city zones -- Blades Edge, Netherstorm, and Shadowmoon Valley were all added well into the Beta test) The other thing to remember is that "Northrend will be roughly equivalent to Outland in terms of size and scope" according to their FAQ.
Testing for Wrath is also going to be more focused. Rather than people trying to level Blood Elves and Draenei from 1 to 70 in the Beta its going to be people trying to level DeathKnights from 55 to 80. The vast majority of new game content is going to be almost exclusively focused on 70 to 80, with the exception of the new content for Death Knights. I won't be surprised if the testing time for the Wrath Beta actually ends up being less than was seen for TBC. Just as much to test, but more focus on what's being tested = faster turn around.
"Far from ready" is a very very relative thing when you use TBC as the basis of comparison, and can change very quickly in a very short period of time.
Wee Jun 4th 2008 6:05PM
Personally, I hope that Wrath comes out after brewfest. During the holiday events I like to take a break from grinding/questing/dailies and just hang out at the parties. If brewfest happens shortly after or simultaneously with Wrath, I won't want impede my 70->80 leveling and I will miss out on getting the whole brewfest experience!
Aurria Jun 4th 2008 7:48PM
Dude, get with it. The release date for WOTLK in the EU at least is around 26/09/08.
This is corroborated by play.com