There is joy about the new release date of WoW: Shadowlands – but also criticism. The professional raiders have tough days ahead of them.
Last night it finally happened, Blizzard announced the new release date for the upcoming WoW expansion Shadowlands. While many players are excited that the release will take place earlier than feared – namely on November 24 – there are a number of players who have a problem with this. The professional raiders will have a lot to do during Christmas.
What is the problem? The release of Shadowlands on November 24 is not a problem in itself, but the subsequent, other dates. As Blizzard announced, the first new raid, Castle Nathria, will open on December 8, initially only on normal and heroic modes. A week later, on December 15, the mythic difficulty will follow. This is particularly important because here the best players in the world fight for the coveted “World First Kill” of the final boss.
The professional players basically have only 9 days to complete the raid if they want to celebrate Christmas peacefully with their family afterwards.
At the same time, raid progress over the holidays might also mean fewer viewers, which could negatively impact revenues. After all, many of the professional players are streamers and rely on the World First races being viewed by as many viewers as possible.
The pros must decide whether they want to remain loyal to their guild and work on progress during the holidays or devote themselves to their family. A difficult decision for players for whom WoW is more than just a game – it is, after all, part of their income.
What does Blizzard think about it? The entire situation probably isn’t particularly pleasant for Blizzard either. Game Director Ion Hazzikostas immediately addressed the first criticisms on Twitter, stating that they are in a dilemma.
Hazzikostas said that while they try to avoid such conflicts, the alternative wouldn’t be nice either. The optimal solution would have been to release Shadowlands in October – but the game simply wasn’t ready then. He further explained:
Launching, but postponing the raid would ruin the overall pace of the expansion. Delaying the entire game to avoid the conflict in the mythic raid wouldn’t have been right for all those who have waited so patiently.
Thus, there is simply no optimal solution, and a decision had to be made.
And what will the developers do? Blizzard will also have to look for an unusual solution. Usually, Blizzard shuts down during the holidays, and almost all developers are with their families. However, a “World First” race almost always brings bugs and errors that need to be fixed quickly. It can be assumed that a small part of the development team will have to work over the holidays to iron out problems. However, since many are already working from home, this shouldn’t be too difficult.
What do you think of Blizzard’s solution? Should the raid start have been postponed further? Or is it right not to take into account the small percentage of professional raiders?
If you want to prepare for Shadowlands, you should review the entire Warcraft story up to today.
