Dire Maul to be released next week

Are they seriously going to pull a retail on us and cater to what I'm assuming is the vast minority? I mean, my guild has 2 level 60s as of right now...

I'm trying to see both sides of the fence here. As a level 60 who is not yet raiding, I fully approve of the Dire Maul release. However, I understand that folks want things to look forward to coming after THEY hit 60, and that's important. But if you are still leveling, does it really affect you? It's just something else you get to do when you finally max out.

I don't think this is quite worth the "sky is falling" response people are having. Maybe I am biased, though. It's definitely possible that I've just been really looking forward to it. Either way, I'll be busting my ass to get my https://classic.wowhead.com/item=18401/forors-compendium-of-dragon-slaying as soon as possible. The question becomes: do I farm DM or just gold?

...or farm DM for gold?! My god I love it...

The honor system and World Bosses just around the corner after that.

Shit shit shit ..... gotta hit 60 so I don't get raped while leveling.

Shit shit shit ..... gotta hit 60 so I don't get raped while leveling.

Yeah, most people don't care about Dire Maul being released now or a little bit later. It's the Honor System that's going to be felt. Honor without BGs means leveling may be impossible in certain zones. Dungeon spamming may be a necessity for those who haven't hit 60 yet. Hopefully phase 2 is a short one.

Okay, so the rational part of me feels like they are catering to the majority who are likely 50+ at this point and are craving content so they simply looked at where the median level players were and decided that this would be the appropriate time to release some extra content - score! I was concerned the release cycle would be far too slow and would kill the game, so this is good news! I'm getting what I wanted!

The cray cray conspiracy side of me thinks, why would they be motivated to split this from phase 2? Is it possible that phase 2 will be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances with the layering squish? Is it possible that they know this squish is potentially 1-2 months later than they had anticipated due to their retention numbers and are they breaking this gap up by slowly releasing the phase 2 content to buy time??? Does early Diremaul = prolonged phase 1 and delayed phase 2 due to layering issues?

The cray cray side of me is probably just terrified of a prolonged phase 1, I can not wait for phase 2 - it cant possibly come soon enough!

Does early Diremaul = prolonged phase 1 and delayed phase 2 due to layering issues?

Didn't seem that way in the video:
"The Week of Oct. 15, DM will be ready to go live in classic..."
"We still have the honor system and world bosses around the corner after that"
He did also say in the previous interview that he can definitively say that Phase 2 will be this year. I don't think there is too much conspiracy here, I think they are just trying to provide some filler content that is easy/available to release early. Also, I don't think layering is the issue - since a large majority of servers are one layer, with the rest being 2.

The Mage grind has begun

On one hand I'm glad that we will have stronger pre-bis items available for those of us around level 50. This means MC will be a bit easier.

On the other hand, I'm feeling the rush to 60 more than ever. I'm level 53 so "almost there", but still have the nagging feeling of "can't level fishing now, what if phase 2 comes and I'm not level 60?" which I don't really like.

"Just around the corner" feels like 2-3 weeks after DM release. PvP servers are going to be fucking hell, especially for guilds (like mine) whose majority of players are around level 40 at the moment.

I think people were expecting phase 2 release about 3-4 months after release. This feels like 2 months after release. And yes we never had an official word (we still don't know when p2 will hit anyway), but it feels shitty.

Ugh, as a level 36 Shaman who has about 4-5 hrs a week to play, this makes me stressed.

Wew lads

I got a bad draw with work this week and am travelling all week away from home and didn't bring a laptop. I just hit 49 last night but am gonna miss a week and basically log back in to the Dire Maul patch. Was hoping to be 60 before new stuff started becoming available.

Looks like I'm gonna make my final 49-60 push ASAP when I get home and try to wrap it up within two weeks. I won't make it to 60 before DM, but I hope to make it there before phase 2.

I don't have much of an opinion on the release schedule itself. Blizzard is gonna release when they're gonna release. All I can control is my own pace. It's time to wrap up my levelling soon.

Oh man, I think it's too soon, I can relate to Stfuppercut because at that level of play they have been 60 since week one or two, but the majority of players barely makes it to level 40-45. I thought phase two was gonna be first half of December but it seems they are catering to a minority here.

Well, at this pace we will have Naxx in a year.

"The honor system and World Bosses just around the corner after that."

As per usual, Blizz being elusive and non-specific.

The cray cray conspiracy side of me thinks, why would they be motivated to split this from phase 2? Is it possible that phase 2 will be delayed due to unforeseen circumstances with the layering squish? Is it possible that they know this squish is potentially 1-2 months later than they had anticipated due to their retention numbers and are they breaking this gap up by slowly releasing the phase 2 content to buy time??? Does early Diremaul = prolonged phase 1 and delayed phase 2 due to layering issues?

The cray cray side of me is probably just terrified of a prolonged phase 1, I can not wait for phase 2 - it cant possibly come soon enough!

If they were afraid of having to delay phase 2 due to problems with the layering squish - essentially too many players still playing the game - they would be delaying it even more by releasing content that will keep people playing right now. Bold move to make quick money that might kick them in the nuts.

I don't know what to think about the release. I am currently lvl 51, playing slow and enjoying levelling while I can (hello honour system). On the one hand I can't wait to do DMs again, and on the other hand I feel like this is too soon for the majority of the player base.

We'll see. Too late for Blizzard to postpone anyway so we better accept that and move on!