Blizzard: Expect More WoW Expansions, Sooner

[BlameTheWizards]

Blizzard: Expect More WoW Expansions, Sooner

The house that Warcraft built is already hard at work on the next expansion to follow the upcoming Warlords of Draenor.

Blizzard's Warlords of Draenor announcement <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129467-Warlords-of-Draenor-Expansion-Announced-for-World-of-Warcraft>isn't even a week old and the studio is already talking about future expansions for its storied MMO. Company president Mike Morhaime told Polygon that another, unannounced, add-on is already in the works for World of Warcraft. "We've already started working on the expansion after this one [Warlords of Draenor]. We've never done that in the past. We've been doing one expansion at a time, sort of a very linear content creation model, and we've looked at ways that we can parallelize that. So that while we're working on this expansion we're looking at the new one," he said.

Furthermore, Morhaime tells fans to expect future expansions and add-ons to be released on a faster schedule. "We recognize that we need to release them on a faster cadence than we have in the past. So we're investing in the team and our resources to enable us to do that," Morhaime said. More expansions also provide ways "of maintaining engagement within the game."

Just a few days ago, Activision announced World of Warcraft's <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129393-World-of-Warcraft-Slows-Losses-As-Activision-Beats-Q3-Outlook>subscriber loss had slowed, going from 7.7 million users in July to 7.6 million at the end of September. However, it's likely Blizzard is still smarting from earlier losses this year, when 600,000 players jumped ship between April and June. What do you think? We already know some of the details awaiting in Warlords of Draenor, including updated character models and player-controlled garrisons. Will you continue to buy more expansions? What else would you want Blizzard to add to the game?


Source: <a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/11/11/5092854/world-of-warcraft-expansions-coming-on-a-faster-cadence-next-already>Polygon

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[synobal]

Like a man desperately doing chest compressions to a corpse, maybe if blizzard compresses faster it might jump start it's heart.

 

[Tanis]

I'd love to see them sky/ocean civilizations.

Not really a WarCraft lore type, but it would be nice to see them add some new areas...and some way to skip/limit the 'kill ten of x' quests.

 

[VanQ]

MoP has been the best expansion yet and Siege of Orgrimmar has been the best raid since Ulduar in my opinion. I'll be buying WoD. I'm a bit apprehensive with what they're doing to gear and stats but as long as the raid content keeps coming I'll keep playing.

 

[BQE]

Like a man desperately doing chest compressions to a corpse, maybe if blizzard compresses faster it might jump start it's heart.

That's just so mean! The game is not dead!

"It is not possible to kill that which has no life."
To quote a certain story.

WoW is fine, doomsaying has been systemic with various MMOs for a while now; Blizzard's entry is certainly no different. I understand there's a phenomenon involving people hating things people do that are successful that other people strive to imitate, but I've found my experience with Blizzard's games to be great.

It's almost as if people want World of Warcraft to sputter, fail, and cease to exist.

I must ask, why? If people continue to enjoy the franchise what harm is there in letting it continue to be?

 

[synobal]

Like a man desperately doing chest compressions to a corpse, maybe if blizzard compresses faster it might jump start it's heart.

That's just so mean! The game is not dead!

"It is not possible to kill that which has no life."
To quote a certain story.

WoW is fine, doomsaying has been systemic with various MMOs for a while now; Blizzard's entry is certainly no different. I understand there's a phenomenon involving people hating things people do that are successful that other people strive to imitate, but I've found my experience with Blizzard's games to be great.

It's almost as if people want World of Warcraft to sputter, fail, and cease to exist.

I must ask, why? If people continue to enjoy the franchise what harm is there in letting it continue to be?

You're right it isn't exactly fair, the game definitely isn't dead, but it is certainly in it's decline and I don't think more expansions faster will halt that decline. I expect a very long slow death for WoW, plenty of time to make their next MMO.

 

[jp201]

I'd love to see them sky/ocean civilizations.

Not really a WarCraft lore type, but it would be nice to see them add some new areas...and some way to skip/limit the 'kill ten of x' quests.

We saw what happened in cataclysm with vashj'ir. I don't think anybody wants that again.


I like that they are getting away from the side quests to collect 10 bear asses and replacing most of them with events in the area. Hopefully its just all main story quests and zone events and rare mobs for that extra xp. They said there won't be a grind like previous expansions which is a plus.

 

[VanQ]

MoP has been the best expansion yet and Siege of Orgrimmar has been the best raid since Ulduar in my opinion. I'll be buying WoD. I'm a bit apprehensive with what they're doing to gear and stats but as long as the raid content keeps coming I'll keep playing.

Is Seige really that good? I haven't done a raid since ICC. Would running LFR be good then? I don't have much time to really raid these days.

In my opinion, it is. LFR is... a funny beast. Some bosses will go down first time every time, the entire first quarter is quite easy for example. Galakras wipes raids constantly, your typical LFR group can not handle the coordination required to get the towers done and Dark Shaman is just a cluster and people can't get out of the AoE. You just TRY and get people to kill the healers on Nazgrim. No one pops void zones on Malkarok. Siegecrafter, I solo the belt because no one else in LFR is even vaguely capable of it and you better hope someone in oyur group can mark the kill order on Paragons. On Garrosh himself, expect at least 4 wipes before your group gets the message that they need to interrupt MCs and DPS down axes and Engineers.

You can sit there and wipe until the Determination buff gets you through the fights. But you'll find yourself spending more time in LFR each week than a decent raid guild. My guild raids 3 nights a weeks, 3 hours each night and I find even with full time work, university and my attempts to have a social life I have plenty of time to do other things.

LFR is as frustrating as it has ever been but actual raiding has never been more fun and varied. If raiding is your thing, looking forward to the Mythic raiding and the felxible raiding for Normal and Heroic in WoD will make it much easier to find a part time or full time raid position. Have a read up on the new raid system they're implementing here. [http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/11499600/Warlords_of_Draenor_Dungeons_and_Raids-11_9_2013]

 

[Agayek]

WoW is fine, doomsaying has been systemic with various MMOs for a while now; Blizzard's entry is certainly no different. I understand there's a phenomenon involving people hating things people do that are successful that other people strive to imitate, but I've found my experience with Blizzard's games to be great.

WoW isn't currently dead, but it is dying. The subscriber pool has been pretty consistently shrinking over the last couple years. There's still plenty to like about the game, and its core mechanics are probably some of, if not the best in the genre, but that doesn't change the fact that it's old and consumer interest can only be held for so long.

It's got plenty of life left in it, if I'm any judge, but it is well past its peak. I doubt more frequent expansions will change that.

To be honest though, I don't think WoW will ever completely die. It'll probably end up like Everquest eventually, with a small, dedicated community that continues to play it (on official servers or otherwise) and keep it alive, but I doubt the subscriber numbers will ever start actually climbing again (barring the temporary spikes right after expac releases).

 

[Maxtro]

I swear this is like the third or forth time I've heard somebody from Blizzard say that they are going to make expansions more frequent and have less time between them.

 

[BQE]

The problem right here is we don't understand one another. So next time you decide to sum up those that are disappointed as just 'jumping on the hate train' or 'hating things just because they're successful', just remember you have no fucking idea what your talking about. Also, just by saying something like that shows you have no interest of really learning why either. You really are fueling the flames with words like that, and it could also be said that you're just adopting what others have said (the cop out argument train), others who never took interest where that anger came from.

Well, that's certainly a passionate and colorful retort.

First, might I add that there's absolutely no reason to berate anyone like that, particularly with a comment regarding fueling the flames.

I'm baffled at how you heard things I don't believe I said. So, in the effort to clarify, let's take a closer look at my words.

That's just so mean! The game is not dead!
Here's an innocuous exclaimation regarding the the metaphors people choose to employ.

"It is not possible to kill that which has no life."
To quote a certain story.
Here's a statement combining phrases from Catherine and the WoW episode of Southpark

WoW is fine, doomsaying has been systemic with various MMOs for a while now; Blizzard's entry is certainly no different. I understand there's a phenomenon involving people hating things people do that are successful that other people strive to imitate, but I've found my experience with Blizzard's games to be great.
I made an observation regarding the negative attitudes people seem to bear toward the game, noting that I've seen this attitude in other games I've played. I would assume the sentence you took the most issue with was the about the phnomenon. It was simply an assement I've made based off of the attitudes I've noticed in regard to particular franchises, namely Call of Duty and World of Warcraft

It's almost as if people want World of Warcraft to sputter, fail, and cease to exist.
I suppose you've got me here. The statement is grandiloquent if nothing else, I'm not sure what is so incensing about it though.

I must ask, why? If people continue to enjoy the franchise what harm is there in letting it continue to be?
I concluded with a somewhat rhetorical question regarding letting people be happy. I suppose I could of easily summed it up by quoting Hemmingway as saying:
"Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know"

I would very nearly assume that you were angry about something else, and funneled your anger into a response to a post not meant to raise ire.

Let me be clear:
-I never summed people up as jumping on hate trains or hating things just because they are successful.
-I never indicated I bore no interest in learning peoples opinions regarding their distaste with this game.
-I never attempted to adopt what others have said.

As for not having any idea of what I'm talking about, well, I believe it was Socrates that stated to the effect of "I know nothing except for the very fact I know nothing."

Let me just conclude on the fact that I'm not looking for an arguement, I'm certainly willing to listen to your woes regarding ths game. I would appreciate it if you adopted a more civil tone however.

 

[Nazulu]

WAAH! STOP LIKING WHAT I DON"T LIKE!

I just went ahead and summed up your entire post for you in one easy sentence. Just because you don't see the value in the games it doesn't mean others don't. WoW has more content than ever before and more freedom to play how you want to play than it ever did before.

Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm BOTH had more content that SC and Brood War combined.

I can't comment on Diablo because I didn't play Diablo 3.

Fantastic. You just proved my point.

This is a perfect example of not understanding of what I'm talking about, just the pathetic generalising that makes me see no reason to respect your opinion at all.

I am sick of passive aggressive posts like yours Van, and it's pretty much why there will never be and end to the flame war. Read your post again, because you didn't prove a fucking thing, you just wanted to make a quick insult to solve whatever problems you may have.

 

[Compatriot Block]

Honestly I'm fine with it. I don't really know about how the development cycle works for them, but usually their expansions have a gigantic dead-zone for the last 12-ish months. If you can cut some of that out and leave the rest the same, you're golden.

I think I'm going to avoid quoting the posts above mine, or I'll end up getting cranky.

 

[Nazulu]

The problem right here is we don't understand one another. So next time you decide to sum up those that are disappointed as just 'jumping on the hate train' or 'hating things just because they're successful', just remember you have no fucking idea what your talking about. Also, just by saying something like that shows you have no interest of really learning why either. You really are fueling the flames with words like that, and it could also be said that you're just adopting what others have said (the cop out argument train), others who never took interest where that anger came from.

Well, that's certainly a passionate and colorful retort.

First, might I add that there's absolutely no reason to berate anyone like that, particularly with a comment regarding fueling the flames.

I'm baffled at how you heard things I don't believe I said. So, in the effort to clarify, let's take a closer look at my words.

That was for everyone, not just you. I can see how that was confusing. Next time I'll specify.

It was to 'reveal' people like Van, since these people are everywhere. I can't have a normal discussion without someone doing that to me so I thought I'll dip in first.

 

[scotth266]

It's good to see the character models getting a facelift, but to be honest I don't see this fixing the real problem with WoW: 90% of the content is irrelevant. Once you get to end-game raiding the game's a ton of fun, but there's so much pointless boondoggle crap between you and those raids that you can't help feeling like you're being punished for putting your money in.

One need only look at crafting to realize the point I'm trying to make here. The only reason to craft stuff prior to the current expansion's additions is to level your crafting so you CAN craft that stuff. You're being shown all of this content and then told that it's pointless.

Blizzard at this point needs to seriously revamp a huge portion of the game, and the more content they add, the more difficult that mission becomes.

 

[Nazulu]

I think I'm going to avoid quoting the posts above mine, or I'll end up getting cranky.

Get cranky then. What do you really want to say to me, huh? If you know something we don't then you should share it. Unless your just going to throw insults too. This what I'm actually talking about if anyone is confused.

Do you know what it's like to be continuously told "you're ignorant" through quotes like "you have nostalgia glasses", "haters gonna hate" or "stop acting like a child"? Give me a good reason why I shouldn't be annoyed time to time.

 

[Compatriot Block]

I think I'm going to avoid quoting the posts above mine, or I'll end up getting cranky.

Get cranky then. What do you really want to say to me, huh? If you know something we don't then you should share it. Unless your just going to throw insults too. This what I'm actually talking about if anyone is confused.

Do you know what it's like to be continuously told "you're ignorant" through quotes like "you have nostalgia glasses", "haters gonna hate" or "stop acting like a child"? Give me a good reason why I shouldn't be annoyed time to time.

I actually wasn't referring to you at all. Jesus, throw your tantrum elsewhere. I hadn't even read your post yet.

I've seen your posts in other threads too, and I'll be direct like you always demand. You enter threads with a chip on your shoulder, looking for something to get pissed about. I'm not going to give you a "good reason" for jack shit, because I don't care whether or not you find my posts (which again, had nothing to do with you) annoying.

Since you are confused, I was expecting people to be complaining about the expansion because of misunderstanding some of the released information. I have pointed out ways that they have been mistaken over the past couple of days in a couple posts, and I am tired of negativity, so I wasn't going to this time. It's their opinion, not my business or problem.

But you're special I guess.

 

[Sangnz]

They have been saying that for years now, so this will be a case of believe it when I see it.

As for blizzard I've personally haven't been happy with their direction for a while;
Subscription for WoW but still pulling content from the game to sell in the blizstore, minipets/mounts/transmog, along side design general direction.
D3 not living up to D2 LoD, aimed more towards casual/new players than the diablo fanbase and oh god the RMAH and atrocious always online "feature".
Removal of LAN support for both SC2 and D3.

A lot of stuff rubs me the wrong way, I understand they are a business but it used to feel like they made great games and put their fans first letting us play how we want to making good games that we play the way they want us too and we are just a walking wallet to them.