Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsWorld of Warcraft: Cataclysm targeted for a 2010 release date
by Adam Holisky 
Aug 23rd 2009 at 1:03PM
But this time, things are a little bit different.
WoW.com has been able to confirm that during a DirecTV interview, Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard, revealed that Cataclysm is targeted for a 2010 release date.
Now a targeted release date should be clearly understood for what it is. It is a date that Blizzard wants to ship their game, nothing more, nothing less. It means that they have a plan and schedule to get the game ready by then. But as everyone knows, long term schedules can and do change. Please limit the QQ if we don't see Cataclysm next year.
Interesting news nonetheless!
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 6)
Kyane Aug 23rd 2009 1:35PM
Q4 2010.
raymond.angel Aug 23rd 2009 1:35PM
I can 100% confirm from a shareholder meeting where Mike said they had two releases before the end of Q2 of 2010 that it will be before the end of June. Shareholders were promised TWO major releases by end of Q2 and we know for a fact that D3 development is in phase two right now from same meeting and not likely to make it out in 2010. All of this info is avaliable to shareholders.
Clevins Aug 23rd 2009 1:53PM
Shareholder meeting, eh? Public then. So link to a news source with this quote. go ahead.
dcarrington09 Aug 23rd 2009 2:19PM
Wow Clevins you are a douche. You just questioned the guy who is one of the biggest shareholders in Activision Blizzard on what he heard at the meeting none the less the conference call contained this gem to further validate the guy who owns a buttload of stock in the company and who doing a quick Google of is friends with Mike himself. LULZ. Here is the proof regardless:
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Morhaime admitted it would be "correct to conclude that you could expect two releases from Blizzard next year, but I would not make any conclusion on what those titles are going to be."
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/698067/Blizzard-Could-Deliver-Two-Games-In-2010-Not-Necessarily-Diablo-III.html
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"I'd just like to reiterate that we haven't announced any release dates on any future titles, and I'll also reiterate that the move of StarCraft into next year does not impact the schedule," Morhaime said. "So, it would be correct to conclude that you could expect two releases of Blizzard next year, but I would not make any conclusion on what those titles are going to be."
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/93675-Expect-Two-Blizzard-Games-In-2010
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“So, it would be correct to conclude that you could expect two releases of Blizzard next year, but I would not make any conclusion on what those titles are going to be.”The second analyst mentioned Diablo as the 2010 game, but, as you can see, Morhaime was having none of it.
http://www.vg247.com/2009/08/05/morhaime-correct-to-conclude-that-two-blizzard-games-will-hit-in-2010/
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So in conclusion do some research of your own before you be a douche to someone who is a well known major shareholder in the company and just a few Google searches show is involved with a gaming company.
Bud Weiser Aug 24th 2009 1:46AM
The two he was referring to was SC2 and the new Battle.net! I watched the DirectTV feed. If you also watched the interviews with the COO, Paul Sams, they consider the BNet a major release because of it's magnitude. It will allow you to see your friends and what they are playing and even allow you to jump from your game into their game (if you have their game installed) and join them.
Noraa Aug 23rd 2009 1:41PM
2010 = whatever day SWTOR is released.
Rich Aug 23rd 2009 2:57PM
No
2010 = One month before SW releases.
ToyChristopher Aug 23rd 2009 1:54PM
Honestly if Cataclysm isn't soon...
I just don't now what I might be forced to do.
Poxus Aug 23rd 2009 2:05PM
November 9th, 2009
Realmreaver Aug 23rd 2009 2:13PM
Clevins. I seriously doubt they want to lose people to the Old republic if they can avoid it. Cat needs to be out before that games comes about. People need a reason to stay loyal. If subs means ANYTHING it's that not alot of folks can afford 2 subs. They would/will take a serious blow with The Old Republic comming along quickly.
People want more content quicker and Blizzard confirmed this saying they want to make expansion be around 1 every year. The love the the old world is why they are doing this expansion. They are not at all worried about new players but the ones who been here for 5 years leaving. New 1 through 60 content? Worgen and goblins? Flying in old Azeroth? Faction/race changes? Think about it they are trying to give players (older players) everything they want without breaking the game to keep people interested.
If they want to keep the old players from leaving they need to get this out quickly. Think about the hint they dropped in the trailer. While people are still taking out Arthas or have him on farm the next expasnion is likely to hit but it won't make the gear from Arthas totally absolete. This expansion is to break from the mold. It's a carry over expansion. Arthas' loot will still be viable and he will be slightly.. SLIGHTLY easier to take out at 85. I am calling late winter/ early spring based on two things....
1. The trailer hinted we will mostly all still being doing Arthas when Deathwing comes into the game.
2. The overall design development of the new expansion seems to be on course for ASAP then 'when it's done'.
Level 85 means fewer monsters to be made fewer of anything needed for the expansion and if you look at the converted world it means there is little reason to have new monsters from 1 to 60. Think how much time is saved. Look at the maps of new Azeroth compared to old Azeroth we actually loose ground so likely the leveling from 1 to 60 will be across both contents not 1 to 60 on either or.
It will be out before summer. I'll put money on it. Name is Realmreaver on Whisperwind server Horde side.. likely the last Horde char I make.
Antiquity Aug 23rd 2009 2:38PM
85 means few monsters?
Did you not read about how these levels were going to be very long and feel like you are going to be accomplishing stuff and leveling is going to mean something.
That most likely means A LOT of monsters and content...
We have no clue what 1 level of exp will be...for all we know it could be equal to 70-80 in WotLK...these 5 levels are supposed to be EPIC.
Reinforcements Aug 23rd 2009 2:20PM
Seems like "Cataclysm will come out in 2010" is kinda stating the obvious. For it to NOT be true it would have to come out in the next 4 months, which is way too soon, or in more than 16 months, which would be long even compared to the previous two expansions. Even holiday season 2010 would be damn long - what, are they going to have almost a YEAR between 3.3 and Cataclysm? Don't all signs indicate that they're much further along with Cataclysm than they were when they announced BC and Wrath? Haven't they said they don't want to go much longer than a year between expansions?
Ataraxy Aug 23rd 2009 2:21PM
It will come out exactly when another major MMO will be releasing. To expect anything less would be foolish.
Now as far as which mmo that would be who knows. My money is bioware's.
In any event. It better come out sooner than later in 2010. I honestly don't see them keeping us in icecrown for 6 months+ like that heh.
Massadonious Aug 23rd 2009 2:29PM
I didn't see anything in any of those articles that stated Raymond Angel = major shareholder.
Massadonious Aug 23rd 2009 2:30PM
WTB better comment system, really.
James Aug 23rd 2009 2:32PM
Christmas of 2010 is a logical guess, but it's too far. Patch 3.3 (icecrown) will almost certainly be released in November of 2009. We know of no -other- major content patch scheduled after the lich king; so that would make it one whole year without major content. Even if they make a patch 3.4 somehow, that would still leave about 5-6 months before the expansion. Ergo, it's too far.
I was discussing this with a friend today. And in the trailer it actually says the expansion is taking place while the battle with the Lich King is taking place. This has led me to believe, the expansion might be out November of -this- year. And be implemented along with Icecrown. Think about it for a moment.
* There's no new classes.
* There's no new talent points.
* Most of the zones will be using old models as a base.
* The level cap is only being raised by 5 levels.
I say this because, these are the kind of things that take the longest to develop. Everything else really isn't as complicated as organizing zones and balancing/creating classes. Not implementing features and developing dungeons to be sure. Since we have a lot of detail on the systems and dungeons, this means they are fairly far in the process. I would not be surprised in cataclysm comes out this year. Or at least, the base implementation of Worgen/Goblins and system changes. They can always release PvP/PvE content down the road over the coming year. It would also be awesome as hell if they do :)
Antiquity Aug 23rd 2009 2:41PM
* There's no new classes.
* There's no new talent points.
* Most of the zones will be using old models as a base.
* The level cap is only being raised by 5 levels.
No new talents..have you not been reading anything? Every talent tree for every class is being 'REDONE' There are new Mastery Trees and then the Path of the Titans 'path'..that's way more work then adding what they did for WotLK.
No..most of the old zones will be using the foundation as a base...most are getting retextured and changed. Dungeons are getting remodeled, whole cities and zones are getting remodeled and we're getting a graphics update again.
The level cap is not just 5 levels like in WotLK...these 5 levels are going to be much harder to get through and will take a very long time...they already said hitting 81 is going to mean something.
The Xpac will be out in Feb-April of next year most likely.
theRaptor Aug 23rd 2009 3:59PM
"they already said hitting 81 is going to mean something."
Come on, do you really believe them? The simple fact is that people want to be max level. And if you aren't max level you can't do some of the content. Therefore all the no lifers grinding to max level at 10x the speed of "average" players will cause huge amounts of nerd rage and so slower levelling would never be allowed to happen.
Considering how much faster they made levelling in WotLK compared to in BC, and the general speed up in levelling over all (last run took me 7 days to 80 with an heirloom, my original classic char took 17 days to 60, one of my BC chars took 16 days to 70) it is in no way believable.
Antiquity Aug 23rd 2009 6:48PM
Considering they said leveling was going to be easier in the BC and they did that, I believe them when they say they are going to make 80-85 mean something.
James Aug 24th 2009 5:13AM
I think you're overestimating the level of changes. Yes, the talents are being revamped. But it's a lot easier to tweak something that already exists; than to create something completely out of blue. This is the same thing with the zones. Yes, they will get new graphics, new quests etc. But they never had to design the zone, they already knew the lore behind it, where it was, the size, the relative locations, the creatures, the loot, the levels of encounters, where the dungeons are, etc. etc. Basically half the work of "designing" was already done.
I am not saying there's nothing new in Cataclysm. I am just saying Cataclysm is much more derivative than Wrath or BC were; which means their development schedule isn't going to be as slow. Cataclysm will be out something between November of this year and August of next year. And to be honest, the developers have said they would like an expansion every year. So I would not be shocked if it's released this winter. Indeed, I could not think of anything more awesome. Particularly since Blizzard isn't releasing anything ELSE this winter.