Perkins was talking about the 9 Hells...
Eberron got a PDF. But Mearls said in an interview with Comicbook.com that the PDF did not mean a Hardcover wouldn't also be coming. And since they are testing Artificer heavily in UA right now, seems obvious to me that Eberron is getting a full hardcover now.
It's true they are testing the Artificer, and this continued interest might mean they are considering a hardcover. But they've stated in the past that the Artificer will be added to the Wayfinders pdf, so, in and of itself, it's not definitive proof of a print book.
AD
You mean like Troy Denning, who wrote the entire first series of Novels for Dark Sun and many other WotC D&D novels? Who as recently as last year was tweeting about how much he enjoyed people being enthusiastic about Dark Sun?There's no mastermind behind Dark Sun like there is with Eberron, so it seems unlikely. The only reason we got the Wayfarer's Guide was because Keith Baker continues to champion the setting. If Dark Sun had a highly respected and enthusiastic creator who was willing to do the work for them, then I'm sure WotC would arrange something with them. But that, as far as I know, is not the case.
On the other hand, they have been talking about doing Dark Sun for years, they are working on Psionics with a focus on Dark Sun (per Mearls), and Mearls was able to casually go very into detail on what they would put into Dark Sun on the Happy Fun Hour, like he had already written out the draft. We'll see it sooner or latter.
I read somewhere that Mike Mearls has actually made enough rules to run Dark Sun for a campaign in the office.
I don't think they'd just drop a PDF Dark Sun without any hints though. The Mystic is kind of the psionic and I don't think it's been updated, and Dark Sun hasn't been mentioned in some time on Talk or Dragon+.
It's definitely come to come eventually but they probably want to launch it right, so I'd say next year is the earliest.
This may not be the time of a Dark Sun release, but I expect that when we get it, it will be a bomb drop, not something that they hint at obviously for a while.
Personally, I wish they'd do these settings in two sets of books: One set that is edition agnostic and just tells us the story of the setting, and another that is crunch and mechanics driven with the stats, monsters, items, etc... They're better off wieh the approach Keith Baker has held for Eberron: Create a point in time where it is best to start adventuring in a campaign world and just build your products with the assumption that all campaigns will start at that key point in time. I'd much rather they reboot the FR back to when it all began, they brought Dark Sun back to the time of the first novel, they restarted the War of the Lance in Krynn, etc... than tell the poor sequels they've been telling for so long.
It also strikes me that a playtest PDF like the Eberron book might be announced at some point: Dark Sun, perhaps?
They gave very little indication about Eberron before the Wayfinder's Guide dropped. A similar Dark Sun book, with fluff and recycled art, would not be unprecedented as a sudden surprise release.
I have a feeling that'll be the way they do things going forward for settings that either require testing or are low on the popularity scale. Put out a PDF with all of the required information, open it up on DM's Guild, and move on. If it sells like hot cakes and has overwhelming positive feedback, they may do a hardcover for the setting or an AP.
As far them releasing a Dark Sun PDF this year, I don't think that's likely...no matter how much I want it to happen. Psionics just aren't ready yet unfortunately.
We're definitely getting our AP that involves the Nine Hells of Baator and Zariel, that probably starts in Baldur's Gate.
I can see getting a setting book, my money is on Planescape or Spelljammer (no matter how much Nathan Stewart says "No")
The boxed set is probably just another starter set for the Realms.
Wild card product: something sci-fi.
I like that Eberron is getting a lot of love in the predictions, but I don't think they're going to go that hard on it this edition. We'll see more Eberron, I just don't think it's going to be both a hardcover setting book and a boxed set. Probably an AP first.