How should World of Warcraft handle the communications blackout caused by secret patches?

Here’s what we know about Dragonflight patch 10.2.6: it’s coming in March and it’s represented by a pirate flag on the 2024 road map. And that’s it. While the mystery aspect and lack of PTR is interesting, there’s a glaring problem caused by it: no one knows what’s going on.

While everyone loves guessing at secrets, this lack of information is a two-edged sword for a game that has traditionally relied on content creators for spreading news and building hype. It came to a head this week when Executive Producer and Vice President for World of Warcraft Holly Longdale posted on Twitter:

We have learned that not having news and deets is frustrating for our creators and players. Stick with us for a minute. Our goal is a bit o’ fun. As always we are here to learn and serve. So to speak. 

With The War Within arriving later this year you would think there would be plenty of information for everyone to chew on, but so far the only information to come out during the wait for patch 10.2.6 are Hero Talent previews — important, yes, but also not enough to hold everyone’s attention for two months (especially when it’s not every Hero Specialization being revealed). So how can this situation be avoided?

I think the primary solution will be to ensure the patch has two aspects: the part that’s under wraps, and the part that still generates regular updates. The latter doesn’t necessarily require a public PTR; just a weekly or semi-weekly blog post talking about those features would be enough to sate most appetites. For example, now would be the perfect time to add an Allied Race such as the Vrykul to the game. If the forthcoming Season was not a Fated one, information regarding a new raid or similar would also ensure discussion. Of course, I suspect most people would dislike a whole new tier being inaccessible for a month or more, so a good compromise would be to release a small one-three boss raid as part of the Fated Season.

What do you think? How would you have avoided the complaints? Is it imperative for the World of Warcraft team to keep some information flowing even when trying to surprise the community? Do you think patch 10.2.6 will be the one and only patch that the developers attempt to surprise the community with, or will there be enough lessons learned to try it again?