Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria 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 4 of 6)
dan Aug 28th 2009 4:07PM
If it were to be released this year then beta testing would have to begin very, very soon.
Massadonious Aug 23rd 2009 2:35PM
Next summer makes sense to me, though I could see it shortly before or after the next BlizzCon.
We could see at least another 3.0 type patch to keep us busy....maybe introduce the Path of the Titans thing/Archeology early.
Avalon2099 Aug 23rd 2009 2:38PM
Q4 end of Quarter. We wont see this till November - January area of 2010/2011.
Antiquity Aug 23rd 2009 2:43PM
So wrong it's not even funny. If you are naive to think that the xpac won't be out then, I got a bridge to sell you.
Antiquity Aug 23rd 2009 2:44PM
'out till then'
Xpac is coming Spring 2010.
They've been working on it for almost a year already...well before WotLK hit. They have multiple teams there...not just one working on each xpac. Each team is months/years ahead in development.
Coco Aug 23rd 2009 2:45PM
Icecrown will be out by December or January. They won't release the expansion immediately after that, but neither will they really wait longer than six months -- otherwise, they'd need to do another Sunwell. Since they want Arthas to be the end boss, that's unlikely.
I say May-June-July and a big IC nerf in April.
Clorell Aug 23rd 2009 2:48PM
You didn't just ask people to QQ less did you? It sounds to me, that you are QQing about people QQing...
P.S. Your my least favorite poster on this site.
Bodewell Aug 23rd 2009 2:50PM
You can expect Cataclysm to be released about the time all the kidz get out of school = May or June, 2010.
Orisi Aug 23rd 2009 2:56PM
I think that people read a bit too far into the whole 'while we are still battling Arthas' part. I think the main thing to consider is that really Blizzard don't want to make a series of 'endings'. I mean, how would it look for us to kill Arthas off and then be able to go back halfway through Cataclysm and we're still having all the same problems. lorewise it fits better for Arthas to at least be alive at the same time, even if we still kill him.
I also think that with cataclysm and WOTLK intended as running in parallel chronologically, we'll see a lot of new characters. no more reusing old generals and majors from Outland. I better see a nsingwary somewhere though -.-
As for a prediction, i think around june-August 2009 is a safe bet, assuming a December/Jan 3.3 release.
Also, people seem to have missed a point. Yes, Vanilla WoW has been around for 5 years. and that means that it doesn't have the pulling power it used to. many people would have tried a trial, and either thought yay or nay, and acted on it. so people have made up their minds. Cataclysm can pull a whole lot of the latter category back to try the game again, see the differences and see what they make of it, which asically resets Blizzard's target audiences.
theholyevil Aug 23rd 2009 2:59PM
Well if you think about it......
Give TOC about 3-4 months and that will be around december that icecrown will be out.
Now if you gave icecrown 6+ months you hit around july where the expansion should be out. seems on time to me, also considering they've been working on this since WOTLK launch.
I know changes happen and all I'm just pointing out that their estimate seems about right.
cd Aug 23rd 2009 3:21PM
I hope they do not release it till it is ready so as to catch more of the bugs and other issues as it would suck to have a repeat of the mess they made with hunters, pallies and DKs because they rushed to release it like they did with WotLK.
theRaptor Aug 23rd 2009 3:43PM
My "unnamed sources" (aka me) says this has to drop 1st quarter to mid year 2010. No way do I see it being over two years between expansions especially as they have repeatedly said they don't want that to happen (and presumably fixed their task scheduling to avoid another Sunwell). And as they are putting in only five levels and re-using a lot of content I don't see how it could happen.
My theory is Ony will land just before the fifth anniversary and hand out welfare epics like a pinanta drops candy so everyone is geared for IC (fine with me, only way half the people in my guild will get geared). IC will land soon after and after three - four months we will have Cataclysm.
I also think that even allowing IC to have its full run may not be needed. With only going to 85 I am suspicious they won't add in a "super heroic" IC and have us spending the early part of the expansion still killing Arthas. That and a few new Ony style bosses will do until they finish the real raid content.
miko Aug 23rd 2009 3:56PM
it can't be as late as some people are suggesting and a seriously doubt it will be 2011
i expect 3.3 at around Xmas
after that the cloak starts ticking because thats the end of Wotlk (there will be no otehr major Wrath content patch and they've said so repeatability) and there's a limit as to how long Blizzard will let people wait without new content because people get bored and develop itchy feet
i expect 4.0 by the spring or early summer 2010
ive seen one of the devs in an interview saying they were working on this since before Wrath shipped (or some remark like that) we've seen previews of most of the dungions which basically means bar testing they are done and as someone pointed out a lot of this expasion is simply editing work rather than raw creation (desolace is exactly the same just with grass and trees for example, ashenvale forest will be mostly the same only with settlementsaand quest hubs moved around and so on )
Aigarius Aug 23rd 2009 4:37PM
Actually they need to fully recreate the old world zones in their new editing software so that they can let flying mounts work. It is a TON of work. Even for zones that are not supposed to change at all. Sure there are semi-automated conversion tools, but each zone still needs to be inspected manually.
zarthus Aug 25th 2009 9:19AM
What rubbish - That's like saying you have a document in Notepad and you want it in Word so you'll type it all out again. Just load it in Word and add the fancy bits.
The Azeroth terrain isnt in the wrong "format" for flying - its just that bits you'd never see when walking, riding or on taxi were never finished neatly - if you could fly then they would become visible and ruin the immersive effect of the landscape. They just need to fix these "blank" areas.
Elmouth Aug 23rd 2009 4:54PM
Not releasing cataclysm before next summer would be a bad move as far as marketting is concerned. AION is coming soon.
Its as simple as that.
Scyren Aug 23rd 2009 5:20PM
At first glance Cataclysm development looks pretty far ahead. Look a little more carefully, though, and you'll notice we really didn't see that much. The new races were lacking females and voices. Only a small handful of revamped zones were shown, and the only new zones I remember seeing footage of were the Worgen and Goblin starter zones. The archaeology journal contained mostly place holder stuff. It's impossible to tell whether Blizz is holding back because they don't want to show too much, or because it's just plain not done yet.
We also have to cram a beta somewhere in there, although I guess if they get 3.3 out in November, we might be able to see that in January, and maybe commercial release in Q2? Maybe if it takes too long they'll pad it out with another event like the zombie event before Wrath?
racerx Aug 23rd 2009 7:12PM
Anyone noticed the first sentence in the announcement Cataclysm trailer? "As the war with the Lich King continues..." Well, who knows we may fight Arthas at lvl 85 :D
Bud Weiser Aug 24th 2009 2:14AM
That was referring to lore, not real time. However, I would venture to say that 60-70% of the wow players wont even see Arthas before June or July. Sure the hardcore players & guilds would have him spanked and having him bagging their groceries by then. So for the majority of players that might be true.
Bob Aug 24th 2009 1:06AM
From Vanilla to Burning Crusade, it took them 26 months!
From Burning Crusade to Wrath, it took them 22 months!
Now, we know that they cut down on the levels from 10 to 5.
We also know that they once stated they were aiming for one expansion per year, although that would be hard, and not very likely imo.
I would suggest a timespan of 18-20 moths this time. That would lead Cataclysm to get released sometime between May and July.
Seing how that is in the middle of the summer, and how the vacations would be bad for sales, I would make a good guess and say Cataclysm will be out in May 2010!