Live Letter news hope: Fan Fest... what's going on?

[Kozh]

At this point I will just assume 8.0 is going to be released in 2027...

[DynnDiablos]

At this point I will just assume 8.0 is going to be released in 2027...

At the current release schedule, 7.5 Part 1 and Part 2 will release around April/May 2026. We then always have a 6-8 month period before the next expansion. They could absolutely do a November 2026 holiday release, but I think a January 2027 release is more plausible, although this completely throws off the expansion release cadence completely.

The big issue they have is delaying it to Summer 2027, you're going to have a YEAR of nothing. And that will kill the game. Period. Folks already get antsy at 4.5 months and the dead period after .5 to the next expansion is always dead too. No new content for 10-12 months to simply keep a summer release schedule would be truly ill-advised.

[Daralii]

I'd rather they use the time and money to fix the game. It's not a "fan-fest" when players and customers are furious and dropping the game one after another, just saying.

It's part of the marketing budget. If it wasn't getting used on Yoshida's Mr. Worldwide schtick, they'd just pocket it.

[Masekase_Hurricane]

Live Letter news hope: Fan Fest... what's going on?

Just check the live letter for 3.3, 4.3, 5.3 and 6.3 and you will have the answer to what's coming lol

[Kranel_San]

who cares about fanfest? they've been increasingly poorly run for years at this point.

I've grown up on BlizzCon as a reference point, so ever since I started playing this game in 2019, I've seen that fanfests are overhyped and overrated. I know this has been the model from the beginning, but the idea of waiting for multiple fanfests, each months away, until I have a basic idea of what a new expansion/patch entaills is ridiculous.

[Heavenchild]

No hope left after so many years. Sadly. :/
If they don't make a significant turn soon, it's ded. Not tomorrow, not next year. But it won't make another 10.

[Infindox]

The NA one will probably be poorly run again, whenever it is.

[Vazdan]

Can’t wait to sell my right kidney for a ticket and my left kidney in the merch line just to touch a Fat Cat plush while getting sunburned in a cosplay. LET’S GOOOOOOO #FanFest2026 #PleaseNophicaLetThereBeAirConditioning

[Ryaze]

At the current release schedule, 7.5 Part 1 and Part 2 will release around April/May 2026. We then always have a 6-8 month period before the next expansion. They could absolutely do a November 2026 holiday release, but I think a January 2027 release is more plausible, although this completely throws off the expansion release cadence completely.

The big issue they have is delaying it to Summer 2027, you're going to have a YEAR of nothing. And that will kill the game. Period. Folks already get antsy at 4.5 months and the dead period after .5 to the next expansion is always dead too. No new content for 10-12 months to simply keep a summer release schedule would be truly ill-advised.

Part 2 in EW was 15 weeks after Part 1. Currently Part 1 is scheduled for April 28th 2026. So if they continue with the EW cadence that puts 7.55 on August 11th 2026. Far off from April/May. We had an entire 9 months from 6.5 to 7.0. It doesn't throw off the expansion cadence at all. It's just following their previous trends of increased development time. They can always change. But generally speaking, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

I agree, a summer 2027 would kill the game, which is why I don't think they'll do it. They don't need that much development time for an expansion, even a China + Korea simultaneous release. I think Q1 to Spring is more than enough time. The drought from 6.5 to 7.0 was bad enough. It's why I think in general they really need to re-evaluate their development pipeline and consider altering their patch cycles and when they put out content. I don't think the game can sustain continued exacerbated expansion launches to justify more makeovers.

[HyperiusUltima]

If they host in Las Vegas AGAIN it's going to be a nightmare because last time they did it there was so much that went wrong. What's more, the US is NOT SAFE to host venues at because of the current state of things, so we'll be even lucky to get an NA Fanfest this year unless it's Livestreamed since otherwise you want to risk Yoshida getting locked up. I don't see how people can win here.