Blizzard planning six 'proven' releases by 2014
Blizzard is planning to release six "proven" products over the next three years: two StarCraft games, two WoW expansions, Diablo 3, and a Diablo expansion.
Activision Blizzard COO Thomas Tippl is expecting Blizzard to release six "proven property" releases over the next three years. Tippl said at the Citi 2011 Technology Conference that this will include two expansion packs for World of Warcraft, the remaining two pieces of StarCraft 2, and Diablo III.
This would mean that Blizzard expects the third StarCraft 2 sub-game, Legacy of the Void, to hit by the end of 2014. The sixth release is a possible Diablo 3 expansion, but speculation is swirling that the Titan project could hit in that time frame too.
Tippl specifically mentioned a Diablo 3 expansion which would round out the six, but GameSpot notes that he chose his words carefully, outlining proven properties. Blizzard's secret "Titan" MMO isn't proven yet, but could still release before 2014. Rumors place it in fall of 2013.
Blizzard, meanwhile, issued a statement. "We haven't made any announcements in regard to plans beyond our current slate," a representative said. "Currently, we are focused on the next content update for Cataclysm, the upcoming release of Diablo III, and continued development on Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm."
An unspoken issue is the supposed Diablo console plans. The company has dropped more than a few hints about such a release, but that would likely be counted as part of the six existing slated releases, rather than a separate project. It's also interesting to note that despite plans to speed up World of Warcraft expansions, Blizzard only has two slated for the next three years. This could be a sign that Blizzard will still be taking its time with expansions, or that Activision doesn't want to count on their chickens before they're hatched.
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replySteve Watts posted a new article, Blizzard planning six 'proven' releases by 2014.
Blizzard is planning to release six "proven" products over the next three years: two StarCraft games, two WoW expansions, Diablo 3, and a Diablo expansion.-
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they need something because cataclysm blows
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Cata seems like it should be great in terms of all the individual parts, but in actual practice it didn't grip me very much. Not like original WoW, and not even like BC, and as appallingly easy as WotLK was, it was still a super neat and well-focused environment. Cata is just aimless and spread out all over the place and feels grindy as ever. I fully admit that it could just be that I'm burned out on WoW after four iterations of roughly the same stuff, but to me it's just over-engineered.
Maybe they knew they needed to revamp the Old World content, and were well aware that the rest of the high level content would suffer after dividing the effort. I don't know.
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Blizzard is on a 2 year expansion cycle. They are trying to be 18 months but I doubt it will happen. So yeah Mists of Pandaria or whatever the new expansion is will be out next year and revealed next month at Blizzcon. I actually think this expansion is going to be out before November and instead come out in late spring early summer since Cataclysm has not kept players playing. And as a result will be a smaller 5 level expansion similar to Cataclysm.
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To be honest I was shocked they didn't do another Burning Legion based expansion on Outland, and give Outland the same sort of revamp as Cataclysm.
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this kind of sentiment always surprises me considering everyone seems to hate cata. i don't think blizz are going "well, everyone hates what we did there, let's do it again"
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I haven't met anyone who hates what they did for Cata to the old world. Every complaint comes from the end game.
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They totally could've done more with the new zones though. The experience required made it so you didn't have to finish all the quests in all the zones and depending on guild XP boosts, you could skip half of most zones and all of Vashj'ir. That was dumb of them.
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That's not any different from the previous expansions. In WotLK you could completely skip either Howling Fjord or Borean Tundra, and in Burning Crusade you didn't have to touch Blade's Edge Mountains, Netherstorm or Shadowmoon Valley, nor did you have to complete every quest in the zones you did do to hit 70 or 80.
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Yeah, I didn't get that at all. I felt like I'd skipped half the content when I hit max level, and it was mostly trivial the while way through. I *maybe* did a few dungeons. I don't think I fully completed even a single zone until I'd hit 85, because it just made more sense to move on after you out-leveled the content and weren't halfway done with the content. Just... Why?? Original WoW took forever to level, but somehow it felt more meaningful and adventurous.
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SCG is dead, best to leave it there.
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6 months of debates on if the Lurker should return.
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No I don't believe they have gotten past the how to make the Bunker better argument to focus on lurkers.
Hydra's need a speed upgrade and yes the Lurker needs to return as a Tier 3 unit. Just because I miss seeing Hydra's in a game except as gimmicks.-
Whaaat? Hydras are pretty useful!
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They have their purpose but I miss them being the zerg backbone unit it is a personal preference thing.
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The bunker comment was a joke.
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I don't see the Lurkers coming back. They're basically designed for marine death like hellions, but Zergs are supposed to use banglings and burrowed banglings instead. Honestly, I don't know how Blizzard will introduce new(or new old) units to the game at all without completely reworking the races. Still it would be interesting to see some units overlap. Goliaths would be an interesting unit, but depending on implementation, they'd either be near useless or completely eliminate the need for terran to go bio.
We'll probably see a large scale reworking of the races. I doubt Blizzard intended Reapers to end up like they have. They probably thought motherships would be more beloved. They didn't think that Ultras would stumble into mass ghosts and spontaneously combust. Regadless, SC2 as we know it will vanish.
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WARCRAFT 4 pleaseeeee --- no more WoW shitttt
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This is highly unlikely with 2 SC2 expos planned. I'd say 10 years would be optimistic.
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But Warcraft and Starcraft are different types of strategy games.
There is a large population that enjoys competitive Warcraft, so maybe if Warcraft III starts to wane, there might be a new one.-
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Well that sucks considering the world is ending in about a year
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Sexpansion Pack - "Yeah I think that's a reasonable estimate, if it ever happens. Is it even confirmed? I wouldn't be surprised if the WoW gravy train puts it on indefinite hiatus."
yes, honestly read that as the reply.
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Yeah I think that's a reasonable estimate, if it ever happens. Is it even confirmed? I wouldn't be surprised if the WoW gravy train puts it on indefinite hiatus.
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screw all of this stupid crap, can I have my new Black Thorne now FFS ?????????????
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no blackthorne playin ass shackers
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Is this in line with the leaked document from a year ago?
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"This would mean that Blizzard expects the third StarCraft 2 sub-game, Legacy of the Void, to hit by the end of 2014. "
Why?-
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Typical expansions have single player length which is fractional compared to the original game, I'm under the impression that each of the SC2 products will have a full-length singleplayer experience and probably more extensive changes to multiplayer than a 'completely typical expansion'
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Yeah, Blizzard is just being retarded about its branding of these expansion packs because calling them expansion packs is too oldschool now.
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apparently that games actually playable
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i know the feeling.. Blizz WoW's me every day and yet im consistently depressed.
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