Just give us a date please!

It seems as if we're quickly approaching the moment when Blizzard will announce the release date of Cataclysm.

MMO Champion suggests November 2, with a disclaimer that it might get postponed. Boubouille has a solid reputation for having reliable sources within the walls of the Blizzard HQs, so it's not unreasonable to believe that they at least has some kind of internal goal along those lines and that there will be November release if nothing goes terribly bad on the way. (I'll stick to my previous prediction for November 17).

If you ask me I don't actually care that much if it will be launched in November, December or even next year. All I ask for is a release date, since I think it will help us to get the game out if its current location in a No man's land.

Raiding at halt
I would dare say that a majority of the raiding guilds have put their raiding at a halt by now. I don't have any numbers to back it up, admittedly, but the lack of players outside the entrance of ICC at raiding peak time speaks to me, as well as the absence of lag these days. We're all left hanging, and I really can't blame those who have decided freeze their subscription to go and try out other games.

The current lack of information is annoying. It resembles a little bit to what you can experience at an airport or a train station when there are delays in the traffic and the service provider fails at communications. People are generally prepared to wait very long and patiently for a delayed train, as long as they get estimation about when it will depart. And if that information isn't available yet, that's OK to, as long as the company clearly says when they will be able to announce the departure time.

But if you don't say anything at all, people start to get impatient. And that's the case here. In one way I can sympathize with Blizzard's stance, since it's an expression for their "it's done when it's done" philosophy. They don't want to release a sub-par product due to foolish, premature promises. But understandable or not - it shut downs the power field and drains the game for mana.

An estimated release date would bring new energy to Azeroth and the community; as a matter of fact I think it will increase the player activity quite a bit.

You could of course assume that it would make more players to temporary cancel their subscriptions since they'd believe that all the efforts they put into the game is "in vain" since there's new content incoming. (Which by the way is a pretty stupid attitude. Are we really raiding just for shiny gear and not because we actually enjoy killing big bad dragons).

However I'm not so sure that the players will drop quicker after the announcement. I could in fact imagine the opposite effect - that this will motivate players to return from their extended summer break.

Preparing for Cataclysm
As soon as you have a time limit, there's a reason to go over that bucket list again. Is there yet another goal to tick off? Get that Kingslayer title once for all perhaps? Or actually clear Ulduar?

But above all I think this will be the spark that makes us start preparing for Cataclysm. It's time to start clearing our banks, bags and our bunches of badges that soon will become historical items of no use. We will flood AH with our stuff and the prices will fall. A few of us will of course go the other way, stacking up on items that the incoming worgen and goblin alts might need as they'll level their professions.

If you're planning to promote one of your alts to a main you may want to go over the gear and swap out a few pieces. Surely it will quickly be replaced with new quest items in Cataclysm, but judging from the comments from the beta tester, levelling will be tougher than it was in Wrath. You probably don't want to start out in greens if you can avoid it.

Once the 4.01 patch goes live, we'll be even busier. It's time to start to think more seriously about those new talent trees and the changes to our classes. Better get used to it so you're not completely clueless at launch.

Guild preperations
A fixed release date will also be the signal to all existing guilds to think about their future. What classes are people planning to play? How many of the players on hiatus will come back? When and how will you start recruiting to cover the gaps? When will your first raid take off? What will be your goals and priorities as a guild? Are you chasing for guild achievements and guild perks? Is there any interest in battle grounds? Have you even settled for if you're going to be a 10 man or a 25 man guild? Will you aim for hardmodes right from the start?

There are so many things to think over for guild leaders during the months that remain to cataclysm. Of course some of those issues could be dealt with without knowing the exact date. But I believe that the announcement will get things going, bringing it from a vague idea about something happening in the future, into a more immediate concern. We will face that this is going to happen soon and that we have a lot of decisions to make, for our guild and for ourselves.

Incoming events
What I look forward to most of all though are the incoming events leading up to the launch. It's been such a long stretch when not very much has been going on in Wrath. There were those earthquakes for a while, but now it's been ages since I last experienced one. I miss them!

Recently we finally got an appetizer in the form of the gnome/troll event. I know some commenters thought it was a tad shortlasting, but to be honest I don't think there's any way you can please this starved audience. We're always craving for more, regardless of what bones they'll toss to us. For my own part I was really excited about it, enjoying every second from my proud gnome march through Ironforge and the silly little drill exercise to the sudden, bitter end.

More will come, no doubt. But I don't expect anything spectacular to happen until we get a release date.

So here's my humble request for you, oh mighty Lords of Blizzard: Please give us a date!

As a matter of fact any date will do, even if it would be as late as in January. All we need is a landmark. It will finally bring us out from limbo and make us start spinning up for Cataclysm.