DEVs - Expansion Date Request

While we all know the next expansion is confirmed we obviously do not know the estimated release date yet.

Can we please get a release date no later than mid November this year?

From a logistical standpoint the RoS launch date of Dec 12th was an absolute nightmare. We dont raid lockouts or do crazy things like raid at 3am or 4am but that doesnt change the fact that an expansion launch in the 2nd week of December creates massive issues for your playerbase because it is the holidays. Not to mention that when you have game issues that require DEV attention (#CactusGate) those issues arent resolved in a timely manner because it was the holidays.

Ultimately I know the release date will be whatever you all dictate it to be and we will live with it. However if we had a choice, I can safely say all of us (the players) would prefer it not be in December, even if that means we start BETA earlier (assuming that is an option).

Food for thought,

Cheers

Sindaiann

I think it would be better launching it after the new year when the holiday's are over as it will allow for people to travel over the holidays without having to miss the race in the new expansion, potentially give more time for beta/testing and not have the holiday downtime for devs right after or shortly after the launch.

A November launch still has plenty of holiday issues it just pushes them out longer since you add in the November Holidays and just get a short break before the December ones.

Later launch date would always be better. They have time to get more done.

Totally agree with you. I would prefer January as well however I dont believe they would ever even consider that. If they did then that would be great

The only problem with pushing the date back even further is there is less time to complete the content before the summer hits and players start vacations and spending more time outside in the sun having BBQs and a good time.

Personally I would prefer an October launch date.

Just for reference here is a lit of launch dates of previous expansions.

01 The Ruins of Kunark March 2000
02 The Scars of Velious December 2000
03 The Shadows of Luclin December 2001
04 The Planes of Power October 2002
05 The Legacy of Ykesha February 2003
06 Lost Dungeons of Norrath September 2003
07 Gates of Discord February 2004
08 Omens of War September 2004
09 Dragons of Norrath February 2005
10 Depths of Darkhollow September 2005
11 Prophecy of Ro February 2006
12 The Serpent's Spine September 2006
13 The Buried Sea February 2007
14 Secrets of Faydwer November 2007
15 Seeds of Destruction October 2008
16 Underfoot December 2009
17 House of Thule October 2010
18 Veil of Alaris November 2011
19 Rain of Fear November 2012
20 Call of the Forsaken October 2013
21 The Darkened Sea November 2014
22T he Broken Mirror November 2015
23 Empires of Kunark November 2016
24 Ring of Scale December 2017

As a business I love pushing my comps to the following year and missing all my goals and bonus payouts. The complaining Enhancer is my primary concern.

I'd honestly be surprised if they knew themselves when the release date was slated for at this point. I could be wrong of course.

I wouldn't mind a delayed release or at least a longer beta period... or both. They've already been creeping up from a 12 month cycle to 13.

I'll go the other route here and say that if it was pushed back that in theory the content would be tuned more appropriately and so it would balance out. People would still end up about the same 'place' around the same 'time frame' as previous expansions but without the unnecessary frustration of broken content. Of course that could completely fail and what you suggest would happen.

On a completely sadistic note note it would be amusing for them to launch a broken expansion the week of Xmas. (Bonus points if it's a level increase xpac)

To be honest that would only be a factor for the expansion they pushed it back, and that is also assuming that their goals are based on the calendar year and not a different fiscal year.

"When sanctions are lifted"
The Oligarchs

Yeah lot of RL stuff going on for Daybreak atm.

They must have revenue booked in 2018. And they must be prepared for 20th anniversary blowout in early 2019. I anticipate a "mini" expansion released in October with remaining content released in time for the 20th festivities.

What makes you think there will be another expansion?

NT

In a perfect world I think September is the most logical launch date for new expansions. The weather in a lot of places is changing from summer to fall. The kids are back in school so family vacations are over for most people. This is a logical time for an upward influx of players. This also leaves plenty of time for bugs and tuning issues before the holidays and it also does not conflict with the nights of the dead or frostfell events so people can jump over and do some of those quests if they have not done so and not feel like they are missing out on new content. At the end of the day I just want a well thought out fun expansion that has been tuned appropriately and been tested well. If this means having to wait until December or even January I am ok with this. If its fun people will figure out a way to play year round it just might not be as many hours per day during summer but they will find their way to the keyboard if its worth logging in for.

It's pretty common to schedule vacation time around a major software release since you're usually working a lot of extra hours in the weeks/months leading up to it. So, I'm not sure the cactus issue would have been addressed any quicker if the release date had been different. September releases are also difficult because they conflict with summer vacation plans.

It is early May, and the company is in turmoil. Don't you think you are asking a bit much?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/09/politics/us-firm-scrubs-website-russian-oligarch/index.html

No. But I do think describing the state of the company as "in turmoil" a bit much.

In before the "scrub".

They did say they were working on expac and 20th anniv, and they said that after the news you linked.