Sunday, June 16, 2013

Random Thought #2 - How many patches does it take to get to the next expansion?

I was thinking about some of the information about the next patch (5.4) for WoW when a few questions occured to me. How many major content patches will we see this expansion? When will the next expansion be released?

As my brain started trying to answer this on it's own, a few other thoughts sprung up.

How much time passed between all previous expansions? How many patches were released during previous expansions?

Well, my brain isn't that good. So, I had to resort to trying to find answers in the interwebs.

(I got the following patch release date info here: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/game/patch-notes/5-3)

'World of Warcraft' was released on November 23, 2004. It contained eleven patches, ending with patch 1.11. Technically, I guess you could say it only had ten patches if you don't count the initial game/patch (1.0) itself. Seven months passed between the last patch and the release of TBC.

(For conversation's sake, I'll just assume we are counting the initial patches in these counts. Also, I am only referring to "major content" patches. There have been many more patches released over the years to take care of bugs and that kind of stuff...or have just been "fluff" patches...but for this conversation only "major content" ones will be considered.)

'The Burning Crusade' was released on January 16, 2007. That is roughly 2 years and 2 months after WoW was released. TBC contained four patches, ending with patch 2.4. Eight months passed between the last patch and the release of WotLK.

'Wrath of the Lich King' was released on November 13, 2008. That is roughly 1 year and 10 months after TBC was released. WotLK contained three patches, ending with patch 3.3. One year passed between the last patch and the release of Cata.

'Cataclysm' was released on December 7, 2010. That is roughly 2 years and 1 month after WotLK was released. Cata contained three patches, ending with patch 4.3. Ten months passed between the last patch and the release of Pand.

'Pandaira' was released on September 25, 2012. That is roughly 1 year and 10 months after Cata was released. So far, there have been three patches, ending with 5.3. The fourth patch (5.4) is in production/testing now.

We have had 3 patches during the last 9 months. So, roughly every three months we have been getting a patch. This brings me back to my first two questions...how many more patches and when's the next expansion?


If we follow WoW's history of expansion releases, it goes something like this:

WoW to TBC = 2yr2mo
TBC to WotLK = 1yr10mo
WotLK to Cata = 2yr1mo
Cata to Pand = 1yr10mo


Does that possibly mean that the next expansion won't be released until 2 years (plus some months) after the release of 'Pandaria'? Could it be somewhere around November of 2014 before we see another expansion?

If that's the case, then does that mean we will end this expansion with patch 5.8 somewhere between August and September of 2014? If they keep releasing patches as quickly as they have been, then it's possible we will end up somewhere around there. That's also if we assume the release of the next expansion follows the pattern of previous expansion releases and is somewhere in late 2014.

Although, it just occured to me that the time between an expansion's last patch and the release of a new expansion has been from 7 months to one year...so we could only end up with patch 5.5 around the end of this year...

Let's hope that's not the case.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

No news is good news if you ask me...

I was chatting with Navimie the other night when she asks, "Thel do you have any other blogs?". I tell her nope, just the one. Then she asks, "Has it really been that long since you have posted anything?". Sadly, Navi, yes it has.

It makes me think that maybe Navi thought my lack of posting here was due to posting elsewhere. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I am just that much of a slacker Navi. Sigh...

There have been a couple of things/ideas I have wanted to post about. The most recent was about this past week's episode of Game of Thrones. I mean...WTF?!?!?!?!?!

If you've not watched it yet, sorry, spoiler incoming:

They killed off 3 main characters in one shot????? Ok, two main characters and a slightly less main character. But still. WTF????? Catelyn Stark was one of my favorite characters! Aaaarrrgghggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

In one foul swoop they wiped out almost half of what was left of the Stark house. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the others...well...at least two of the others. Not overly concerned with Sansa Stark. She pissed me off way back when she kinda shunned her family for that demented little fuck of a king, Joffrey. So, it won't be any skin off my back if they give her the axe. Hopefully, Arya gets to stick around. She's gonna grow up to be one tough cookie.

But, back to my lack of posting...I have no real reason for not posting and keeping in touch with my few readers. I've not been too busy or anything like that. I've just not been "feelin" it.

It's kind of like how things go in my real life. My family always harps on me to call more often or go see them more often. I live roughly 5 or 6 miles from my dad and I haven't been over to see him in a few months or more. (oops...I take that back. I saw my dad and sister last week when I helped my sister move)

My lack of communication with them does not mean I do not love them or think of them often. It's just that I really don't have much information to pass on to them. I live a pretty quiet, and laid back, life. Drama does not reside in my home and I like it that way.

I'm not saying drama runs rampant amongst my family members, it doesn't. It's just that I don't like to expose myself to the chance of unwarranted drama being around. Dharm and I live quietly and we like it that way. Out of the eleven years we have been together we have not had one major fight. We have bickered here and there and have had "discussions"...but who hasn't? But fighting, and drama, have not had the chance to make an appearance in our house...and we love it that way.

So, in short, my lack of posting/communicating can be looked at in one way:

'No news is good news'

Which in turn makes the good news I might communicate turn out to be even better news. Or it could be that when I am heard from it's possibly going to be bad news. But, bad news happens very rarely around here. So, that most likely, is not going to be the case.

Now, totally off topic here, I'll leave you all with a little something that might make you giggle a bit. (I'm all for giggles and laughter)

In recognition of it being Wednesday I give you the following commercial. I hope it makes you laugh. I saw it for the first time a few days ago and got a good chuckle from it.

Enjoy!