I’m assuming Blizzard would protect that info based on how dark they’ve gone with player base numbers in recent years.
I’m curious about their reasoning for releasing phases. What’s driving their decision if not the historical timeline?
I’m curious about their reasoning for releasing phases. What’s driving their decision if not the historical timeline?
I think historical timeline should not matter at all now.
That said, the first that we should keep in mind in my opinion is that Blizzard got all the data they need for decision making. Also it's mostly not about recreating the 'vanilla experience' but about subscriber aquire / retention.
They recently announced to release DireMaul stand alone without the other Phase 2 content. That means that most of the experienced casual gamers will never do MC without DM loot / tribute Buff's.
Why would they do that? I guess it's because the hardcore crowd are either raid loggers or are doing mafia shit. Also most people who took some vacation should farm MC / Ony already, or at least are working on their pre-bis.
Also they probably decided to add DM in advance to keep people busy but without changing the open world forever with the addition of the honor system.