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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsWill Wrath really be ready by November 13?
by Zach Yonzon 
Sep 25th 2008 at 7:00PM
This time around, though, 'soon' is actually November 13, Wrath of the Lich King's shipping date. The announcement came as a surprise to some of us, specially those who were in the Beta and knew a lot of the classes still needed balancing. But a confirmed release date is always exciting and I suppose that overshadowed whatever doubts we might have had about Wrath being ready in time. And then yesterday, Koraa posted something over at the Hunter forums that greatly disturbed me. Talking about Trap Mastery, he said: "this will now be the 41-point Survival talent. Granted, not very sexy for a 41-pointer but we'll do some changes there in a future patch (after WOLK ships)."
Did I read that right? Did Koraa actually admit that they'll be shipping Wrath of the Lich King with a Hunter talent they know isn't ready for primetime? Didn't he essentially say, "we know it doesn't work, but we'll fix it after we release it"? I don't know about you, but that just doesn't sound like the Blizzard we've all come to know and love. Even Ghostcrawler mentioned that the 51-point talent Riptide wasn't going to ship with the intended sounds and animation. Am I supposed to be apprehensive now? Because honestly, I am.We're about a month and two weeks away from Wrath. The golden master of the game should be pressed really soon, shouldn't it? This means we actually have just a couple more weeks, maybe less, to straighten things out before all that code is compiled and pressed into DVDs, packed into those nifty little boxes, and shipped out to where we can get our greedy hands on them. So how come things don't feel as ready as what Blizzard usually describes as "ready"?
Don't get me wrong, I like what I've seen so far in Beta. The game looks great, the story is shaping up phenomenally, and even the little touches -- especially the little touches -- are wonderful. But there's obviously a lot more work to be done. I'm very hopeful that things will balance out in the end, but Koraa's post really upset me. It indicates that Blizzard is willing to put out a game that they know isn't finished, and that's extremely unsettling. Blizzard has never been a slave to release dates and it's always worked to their advantage. If it means getting a better game, this is one instance where I'd rather have Wrath shipped later rather than sooner.
Filed under: Polls, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Wrath of the Lich King, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
Manatank Sep 25th 2008 7:16PM
How does "not very sexy for a 41-pointer" = "we know it doesn't work?" I read it more like, "It works just fine, but it isn't exciting." A lack luster talent isn't broken. It just doesn't wow you.
Draddog Sep 25th 2008 7:17PM
Don't kid yourself. Blizzard releases plenty of things that need some post-release polishing. They are only human and can't think of everything. Remember last year's Brewfest? And yes, there were still a few things that needed tweaking in BC post release.
Never Sep 25th 2008 7:17PM
it almost would have been better not to even mention fixing the talents post release and just say its being worked on, at least then youd have the hope of them working on it and actually trying to get things done in time. this just makes it seem like they're saying 'oh snap we have to cut working on this because we're pressed for time sorry i have to go make (fill in the blank) better before your stuff' its minor yes but its shifted from 'lets give them something we think works and fix it if it doesnt end up working right' to 'whatever we can always buff it later if they qq, boss says we need to release on time'
ioncat Sep 25th 2008 7:19PM
Bah, this isn't a big deal. I mean lets not kid ourselves into thinking that a few unbalanced abilities are gonna keep us from throwing all of our time and money into WoW. We've all learned by now that Blizzard provides, and it it'd borked, they will fix it. Just give it time. My guess is that the game will ship, and the first week of playing will be nonstop patching. No problems with that.
Phantomwolf Sep 25th 2008 7:18PM
If this is true I am canceling my pre-order.
They have turned out great products in the past with far fewer bugs then most.
But if they are short changing some classes needed development time just to meet a shipping date then I do not want to play it nor support it any longer.
Raid progress be damned, unfinished is as bad as broken IMO and not acceptable to me. Not from Blizzard. If this turns out to be the case it will severely impact my future purchases from them.
Darkthunder Sep 26th 2008 4:39AM
Burning Crusade was released with most of it's now endgame raids completely shut off from players access. Places like Mount Hyjal and Black Temple weren't opened until either the 2.2 or 2.3 patch, and these were raids that were advertised to be INCLUDED in the expansion pack on release day.
You don't seem to mind that they left out entire raids at release for Burning Crusade, but you mind that they migtht not have every single talent and talent-spec 100% finely tuned for release.
Moocakes Sep 25th 2008 10:58PM
Can I have your stuff?
Jeremy Sep 25th 2008 7:19PM
After vanilla WoW came out, Blizzard took each class one by one, and released a patch for each to address their balancing issues. The result is the (relatively) balanced class system we have today. Blizzard has already admitted that adding a class to the game is one of the hardest things to do because of the re-balancing involved; that was one of the reasons they did not add new classes for BC. With Death Knights coming into play in WotLK, not to mention classes' new spell mechanics, I'm sure a few balancing patches are necessary. In addition, I'm sure the spells at launch are at least going to be close to fully functional; while they might release an expansion that needs some slight balancing changes, I doubt that they will release an expansion where classes vastly outbalance all others, especially because of a single spell.
Dah Sep 25th 2008 7:19PM
They've spoken several times of things that will be fixed after it ships. It's obvious that they're rushing release and leaving a lot of things either on the cutting room floor or for follow up patches. Does this mean it will ship 100% on 11/13? Not necessarily. Does this mean it won't be 'finished' and produced as well as expected with all the release content announced? Probably.
Personally, I don't expect a pushback on release, but I do expect the finished product to be a bit rushed, even if it doesn't ship by then.
Juneau Sep 25th 2008 7:19PM
As long as there isn't a massive game-breaking bug, I really don't see the problem with patching fixes and tweaks in a bit after release. One mediocre talent is hardly the end of the world.
Aldheim Sep 25th 2008 7:58PM
I support your position and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Ichigo Sep 25th 2008 7:21PM
The majority of LK is the terrain and the addition of the DK class. Much of what is actually "new" with LK is being added ahead of time with patch 3.0.2, which is currently in the final stages of PTR (IMHO).
Once 3.0.2 comes out in a week or three, Blizzard can spend the rest of the time tweaking LK. We all know that there will be several content patches in the first month or so, just as was the case with BC.
Fletch Sep 25th 2008 7:23PM
No MMO is ever finished and bug free. Doubtless there will be some that say the release is due to pressure from Activision. I don't know, maybe this is the case, but it is now approaching two years since Burning Crusade, so if we take Blizzards ambition of releasing an expansion every year, WotLK is coming up to being a year overdue. As long as the game is playable, has no major bugs, and the classes are viable, I'm not greatly fussed if it is released on time and some talents are patched after release. This will happen anyway, even if we wait until this time next year. It will never be perfect, and it is inevitable that patching will be required after release, irrespective of how long you give them to 'finish' it.
Poopsock Sep 25th 2008 7:24PM
Oh you mean like charge and intercept, that still dont work right. Dont hold your breath.
Never Sep 25th 2008 7:24PM
what do we want to put in the game and let the players experience when we release it and hopefully fit a schedule vs. what CAN we put in the game so we can release it in time to make the most money, is what i read in that post.
Mats Sep 25th 2008 7:25PM
in the biz, this is what is known as a KS, or Known Shipable. All games have them, minor bugs or tweaks the producers wanted in there game, but time did not allow it.
The time restrictions come from more then just people like Activision, but also from the people who print the DVD's, who make the DVD-covers, the trucks they hire to send out the game, all sorts of things that roam around the game but are not really "the game".
Blizzard, no matter how many DVDs they want printed, can't call up the DVD printing plant and tell them "oh, can we push our printingdate back 2 weeks? We had to fix a hunter talent" The 2 weeks after Blizzards printing are reserved for some other game, or movie, or whatever that comes on a DVD. And now the plant has nothing to do for 2 weeks?
When Blizzard set the date, all sorts of machines where set in motion, that date was set as the time they thought they would have a Blizzard product. If they go back on it now, all sorts of problems would start showing up. The bigger your game is, the more this becomes a issue.
jay Sep 25th 2008 7:59PM
They've pushed back dates before, they can do it again, printing of materials is fine, it's when the content goes gold is what matters the most.
They did it with TBC, they can do it with this one.
The final thing to be done is to press the DVD's and in most cases, this is done literally 'days' before the release date. Shipping these days is a well oiled machine when it comes to the profits Wrath will bring about.... and I'm not talking about Blizzards share either.
Mats Sep 26th 2008 3:35AM
It's more then just the DVD printing.
Lets say they had the Hunter Talent down at the office and implemented it today. They send the info down to engineering, they start internally testing it, the talent info and name is sent out for translation for he 4 other SKUs that Wrath will come with. Translation returns perhaps late, as the translators are on the other side of the world, so lets say that takes 2 days.
It then needs to be implemented in a fresh build for the Language testers, and they need to be given a quick test of this. Testing it for cutoffs and correct placement and so on. This will take another day, as these guys are sitting on the other side of the world as well.
And this whole process would take some place between 4-5 days, and that is if there are no problems with this talent. If there is a problem, then its a whole new round of tweaking from QA, they change the talent, it needs go out for re-translation..
The bigger your game is, the more this sort of thing happens.
So then we need to ask ourselves, should we delay the game for 2 weeks to fix 1 hunter talent? And then remember all the manpower that needs to be activated to fix this one single talent, a lot of it will be wasted as most of the actual "work" will be done in 10-15 min, while the main part will be waiting. But everyone will need to be paid none the less.
So perhaps they think, well, since we are already going to wait 2 weeks for this new talent, perhaps we should do some more tailoring stuff, or warrior tweaks, or druids nerfs, and then this whole song and dance starts again, and all of the sudden we are saying june 2009 as the Wrath date, all for a Hunter talent that was a minor change they could have done in a patch.
HappyMurloc Sep 25th 2008 7:29PM
Blizzard was pushed to communicate more.
The Blizzard we used to "know and love" actually was withholding information, including info about bugs.
They were and are polishing bugs and balance, example being the active beta. More people than ever are participating in PTR and Beta, so they feel confident about the game.
As people above said: it's the same good old Blizzard quality, but with more communication.
DarkAon Sep 25th 2008 7:51PM
I agree with this completely.
Before TBC was released, there didn't seem to be much developer feedback. Now were seeing it on almost a daily basis, much of which is an active dialog with the community.
Please don't punish the developers for being candid with the community!