I thought this was interesting... enjoy if you haven't seen it, (it was from 3 months ago so keep that in mind)
Beyond the Lich: looking forward to future patches
Patch 3.0.2 is out today, and so goes the ways of old. Buffs have undergone the largest change since release,
Protection Warriors can now AoE tank like a pro,
Retribution Paladins are all screaming "Don't nerf me, bro!" and casters around the world are getting their heads around
spellpower.
All this change begs the question, what's in store for the future? Could this be the last great patch we see? Is this the beginning of the end of the
World of Warcraft? Highly unlikely, and we already know that there is a bit in store for us in a few 3.x.x patches.
Read on after the break for what we know is coming, as well as for what my predictions of the future hold.
3.0.2 ? This patch is released today. It marks the end of
Burning Crusadecontent patches.
3.0.3 ? I would expect 3.0.3 to be a relatively minor patch which updates many bugs and other problems that transitioning to 3.0.2 will create. I would not be surprised to see it released next week.
3.0.4 ? Quite possibly 3.0.4 will be another bug fixing patch. I would suspect we'll see it shortly before
Wrath of the Lich King goes live. So probably sometime before November 13th.
3.0.5 - While
Wrath will no doubt be a solid product upon release, Blizzard will need to patch in some changes here and there. If there are two minor bug fixing patches prior to
Wrath's release, 3.0.5 will be the patch that fixes bugs and maybe adds a little something immediately following its release.
3.1 ? Confirmed to be the first major content patch for
Wrath. Already done. Will include
Ulduar 10-man and 25-man raids. Ground mounts will swim in the water instead of vanishing. Hopefully new dances will appear. Dual specs are also a very likely possibility for this patch.
3.1.1 ? Chances are 3.1.1 will be a quick bug fix patch to correct issues that developed in 3.1 with Ulduar.
3.1.2 ? Probably some more bug fixes and fine tuning of the new raids, perhaps other raids around the same difficulty of Ulduar to make things flow better.
3.2 ? Confirmed to contain an unreleased and unknown raid instance.
3.3 ? Confirmed to contain the
Icecrown Citadel and finish the story of the
Ashbringer.
3.4 ? There were a whopping 12 major content patches prior the Burning Crusade line of patches. However since then there have been only 4 major patches. Blizzard seems to be taking an approach where they release a smaller number of larger patches. If this continues I doubt we'll see beyond four major content patches to
Wrath of The Lich King, especially since we know 3.3 will contain the end of
Wrath's main story line.
4.0 ? This will be the patch branch for the expansion after
Wrath of the Lich King. Many fans are expecting something such as the
Emerald Dream, or something to do with the
Maelstrom. Some are thinking
WoW might branch out into other planets or realms in the
Warcraft universe, which include
Argus,
K'aresh, and
Xoroth.
4.0.1 ? This will most likely be an incremental patch from the beta patch tree of 4.0.0, to the patch immediately before the release of the next expansion. We never really see a x.0.1 patch on the live realms, and it would be a safe bet we won't see one in the future.