The semi-minor patch 5.4.7 is coming this tuesday. It will bring with it a new arena season (apparently with gear that will be better than the current max of 522 for PvP,) as well as putting in several of the infrastructure for Warlords of Draenor features like the level 90 boost, and the groundwork for the purchase of the new expansion.
I don't know if we'll be able to pre-order the expansion quite yet, but it is at the very least a nice little tidbit of progress.
When Warlords was announced, I optimistically suggested the Beta could begin before 2014, but here we are, one and a half months in, and no Beta in sight. That said, I think we could see at least the announcement of the beta relatively soon.
The real challenge for Blizzard is that they have to get the Beta out within the next few weeks if they want to make good on their goal of releasing this expansion faster than previous ones have been. Mists of Pandaria came out in September of 2012, so in order to do so, they need to get Warlords out some time in the summer (preferably early summer.)
The Beta for Mists began in March, so roughly six months. But there was a new class and a fully-rebuilt talent system, so let's give them some slack.
The Cataclysm Beta ran from the end of June 2010 to late November, which is roughly five. But Cataclysm also had the entire old world to revamp, so that might have extended the process.
Assuming a five-or-six month beta, if Warlords got its beta at the end of February, we'd see the release in July or August, which is better, but not by a whole lot.
If, however, we got a shorter beta, due to the fact that there are no new classes and the talent system is pretty much going to remain the same (there are no new races, but with the new racial models, it's almost as if there will be ten of them,) I could imagine us getting a release as early as the beginning of June.
But that's only if the Beta starts very soon.
(Fingers crossed.)
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