Currently we have a booming rebirth of population of returning players for this phase 8 and the new raid content.
In addition we have streamers (Nohitjerome, Kaghoegaming, Simonize - not necessarily for the better exploiting bosses resulting in rogue tank nerfs) putting in solid work promoting the content despite the failure to provide any incentive for raiding in anything then a 40 man zerg.
So what argument is there against a phase 9 for SOD with its second wind rebirth? Other pure greed (shareholders influencing investment of resources) For further additions such as the much requested Horde paladins and Alliance shaman?
The majority of the playerbase has seen phase 8 introduction of new content as a success however the poorly execution has been a complete FAILURE.
Proving that new content for phase 9 would be a success despite the mismanagement of how the content is executed
The SoD team has been developing in real time for over a year. It’s been a huge task to develop and maintain this completely new and popular game mode. They need a break.
Giving them a break means they can work on whatever is next, whether that’s a new season or the mystical classic plus.
Stringing out SoD for an indefinite amount of time, is probably not the best idea. While people might enjoy certain xpacs in WoW’s history, I’d argue that spending more than 1-2 years in any xpac starts to make it feel very worn down. It is best, for everyone, to take some time and either play a different version of wow, or play a different game. So that when the next release comes out, it’s even more exciting to go back to it.
I think a lot of people are hanging on by a string. They went to SoD following WoTLK’s end, and it’s been a great home since then. That said, they probably won’t hang around for more and more experimental raids that require long bits of progression. Most progression oriented raiders will probably also migrate to MoP as it becomes available.
Aggrend already said p8 isnt the end of SOD. Sod is a success, regardless of the whiners and doomers. I know many people including myself that play all 3 or 4 versions of wow (i dont play anniversary) and wild growth US has a ton of new players who never played the first phases (i played 1 and 2, quit until end of 7)
What he said was intentionally ambiguous. He worded it in a way to where it could mean there could be a P9 OR a Classic+/new season later on. The thing is that is if it was a P9 that was coming, he would have just come out and said that because that would create far more hype and bring more players in. It is very likely this is the last phase and whatever is coming next is either a classic+ or another season build upon the back of SoD.
First off Streamers are actually bad for the game. While people might argue they help bring attention to the game. The game is 20 years old its a well known game if it wasn’t it wouldn’t have been around for over 20 years. They bring Major issues as well. Including but limited to Bandwagon fans, Game economy and balance destabilization (a streamer mentions a item and boom it skyrockets or plumets in price) Toxic community views, Artificial Server Populations & Content Burnout (This comes with bandwagon players)
Calling Phase 8 a failure seems like an overstatement. The content itself has been fantastic—arguably some of the best we’ve had. Just because the raid is challenging doesn’t mean it was executed poorly; difficulty is meant to create engagement and longevity, not frustration. If anything, an intense raid fosters more meaningful progression and accomplishment.
That being said, I’d like to understand why you believe Phase 8 was a failure. Are you referring to specific mechanics, balancing issues, or something else? Could you elaborate on what aspects you think were mismanaged? Or is it simply because you where unable to clear the raid in the first few weeks?
I agree with you here
As it does leave room for interpretation.
How ever there are a few possible reasons that he didn’t mention a P9 or Classic +.
NDA - Just can’t talk about it.
PR tactic designed to spark curiosity and drive conversation, all while remaining within the legal boundaries set by their NDAs. In other words, building questions and speculation can be just as effective for generating attention as a straightforward announcement.
The team can’t be that big, the amount of goofs that have gone through live says that or they are not allowed to test the code…
Would love them to add more bodies to classic team even if it means selling cosmetics/mounts… Make a toggle that when enables makes transmog/store mounts into something already in the game…
They really need to do something big for phase nine, utilize the fact that we are on the modern client and bring in transmog/achieves. Give us guild bank and calendar. Give us a training dummy or area (like khonzu that we can get to with a click, if training dummies create lag). Give us jewel crafting (create sockets that blacksmith can make for old gear). increase the gryphon speed like in TBC… All that stuff would utilize existing code and graphic assets… Take some spells like interrupt off the gcd…
On pvp, give us crafted gear for entry. Give us access to existing bg like twin peaks… Do a hard look at what classes are doing in pvp and address them one by one, not blanket changes… Make these changes only effect player characters…
The issue with giving it a “break” is that Blizzard will probably lose at least 50% of their subscriptions from SoD ending and/or getting no updated content. Many SoD players are done with other versions of the game. They have no interest in retail, cataclysm/mop isn’t in their expansions that were considered “classic” for them, and anniversary is just too lackluster after all the QoL changes and improvements that SoD brought for classic wow. Financially speaking it wouldn’t be in Blizzards best interest to end SoD. They’re making money off of their Classic+ PTR (ie SoD) so theres no reason to stop it.
They confirmed SoD is not ending and that there still is a possibility of new stuff to come. My interpretation of that is let’s put fewer dev’s from the team to continue on small tweaks and changes for SoD, while the rest of the team focus on their next project. Phase 8 seems to not have increased the playerbase in SoD by much, so it wouldn’t be logical to put the same amount of resources for the continuation of SoD
we’re not getting a phase 9 because the season was supposed to be temporary and the sod team is the classic team. they have a development schedule with both Mop and Tbc being released and the SoD influx of players hasnt been large enough to justify a permanent expansion of the development team. Especially given MS is taking hatchet to blizzard personal in general. best we will get is an announcement of a new season or classic+ towards chrsitmas per blizzards normal announcement practices. end of the day has nothing to do with streamers but rather business.
They need a break? This is their full-time job, lol. They are free to go on vacation throughout the year like everyone else does because they are salaried employees like me and your father are.