The Daily Grind: What's the ideal pace for expansion releases?

Cataclysm is a big expansion. It will remap the whole game world. Expansions like that should be spread farther out.

With free expansions, I don't care how big they are or how fast they come out, only that what is in there be polished and fluent to step into. As for paid expansions, either really big and only once a year, or small and once every 6 months. The problem with expansions is that you basically need them, no matter what the devs say. The reason to play a MMO is usually that, it's a massively multiplayer game. If you don't get the expansion, it stops being that since you can't step into where the crowd is.
That's why I don't want too many paid expansions, I just can't afford them. Free expansions are always fine, as long as their content lives up to the game and raises the standart on two or three things every time. Even if it's only one extra mob, as long as that mob is at least slightly better than any other mob so far, I'm fine with it and would have a go at it.

Ideally, I'd prefer an expansion to go live about 6 months after the last major update of the current expansion. Which makes Cataclysm appear as way, way behind schedule considering the last major patch for the current expansion was almost a year ago.

I think Blizzard has it right. Launch a large expansion quite far apart but introduce content gradally in between (new raids etc)

If the game has a sub, then the paid expansions should be farther and fewer between. You already shell out $15 to rent the game, and then they basically make you shell out another $30 - $50 every 6 months or so? In my opinion, thats a total ripoff. I like the progress of WoW's expansions. They give more than enough time in between large content releases that for those that like throwing themselves up against a brick wall again and again to do their thing without making their efforts seem trivialized. Of course, this only pertains to very large releases. If the release is just one zone or relatively small updates, then it should be quicker and either be free or a nominal fee.

I think releasing new content, but I mean PROPER content (no one more festival game, or new cosmetic hat, but class balance+quests+instances/raids) every 6 months is all players need.

And by the way since you started on this topic, can you guys @Massively look into the HUGE delay and problems with Codemasters releasing LOTRO F2P in Europe?

it depends on the changes it provides to gamers and the world. if the changes only ammount to a level cap increase and a few new zones then maybe a year to a year and a half.

likewise, if the change is something HUGE and sweeping that affects old/new zones, quests, instances, new classes and races, etc then about 2 years is fine.

in both cases its about the quality of the content being presented to the MMO consumer than anything else. although in WoWs case, Blizzard is an exception and not the rule because long waits has always been Blizzard's "modus operandi" and something theyre known for.

anyways, just my 2 cents on the subject.

I think it's important that the older the game gets, the more frequent the new expansions need to be. As players become more and more familiar with the game and their characters, it takes more to keep them interested.

I concur with LordxMugen.

Although, while some of you are touting Blizzard for taking their time on these expansions, I still think they aren't giving us our monthly sub's worth of content in between expacks. I can't remember the last time I was tempted to resub to WoW just to play a new content patch. That's not good and because of that, my sub money has gone elsewhere.

This is an interesting point.

World of Warcraft has, and always will be, about grinding out end-game gear. Put it any way you like, but all those fun boss fights (that most people enjoy, it should be noted...at least the first time(s) ) are merely carrots on the end of a very long stick studded with swords, armors, and shinies.

So why, might I ask, does it take so long for new content to come out? ICC was released a -long- time ago, leaving raiders with nothing to do but sit around and grind out the same instances. Now, granted, not everyone has defeated the Lich King. But it's at a point where there are two camps: Those that have killed the LK and have him on farm (and have likely unsubbed, or are sticking around for PVP), and those that have not killed LK but have no interest in furthering the raid progression because they are bored of ICC or don't really raid.

There is a smattering of folks who are still working their way up the raid progression, but they are few...especially with the fact that you can be fully geared for ICC by running heroics (over...and over...and over... and over... another thing I could rant about).

So the majority of fellows are merely grinding the same bosses over and over again, week after week, in ICC, forever.

(OH! I forgot about Ruby Sanctum! I left the game before that was released...guildmates told me its pretty damn hard. Well, props to Blizzard on that one, but my point still stands in a minute here)

If Blizzard had a faster release schedule, the game would be far better off in my opinion. Some might cry bloody murder at me here, but I would suggest a new development cycle:

1. Expansion is released. Levelup, defeat all the normal/heroic dungeons, and cut your teeth on the starter raids (Tier A, we shall call it)

2. Three months later, another Raid is released (Tier B, we shall call it) along with 2-3 new 5man heroics that grant Tier A

3. Three months later, the same thing happens. Another Raid granting Tier C, and 2-3 new 5man heroics granting Tier B.

Impossible? Well, let's look at the benefits: If this were the case, we would be getting an induction of new heroics every three months for the casual raiders that only dip their toes into the raiding pot every now and again. This is -crucial-.

Not everyone wants to raid, or has the time to raid. Even with the viability of 10-mans coming out, it still takes ~30mins-1 hour to assemble a 10-man team (of people that have adequate gear for the task). Now, these folks get new dungeons that they can cut their teeth on for the next 3 months (not 2 years...if I have to run Utgarde Pinnacle again I'll kill someone). With the FLOOD of casual gamers running around, new bite-sized content that can be done with dungeonfinder is exactly what the doctor ordered.

For the raiders, they would be receiving a new raid where they can be the biggest and best, every 3 months. To some degree, Blizzard already accomplishes this with the artificial gating in raids. I think its a perfectly sound idea; releasing smaller raids that can be accomplished in less time at regularly spaced intervals.

No one gets too far ahead of the curve, everyone has time to complete the 4-5 bosses every 3 months, and raiders still get the best loot.

By the way, not every raid needs to be set somewhere different. ICC could have been split into several raids. They would be released slowly (again, every 3 months), and there would be -way- more heroics to play through released alongside, which is what many WoW players play EVERY day (and not just a few nights a week).

Essentially, my campaign is for more heroics, and raids that can be completed in smaller timeframes. Does that make me a casual? Probably...but I think even the raiders would pipe down if their guilds received the implosion of "omg, new raid!" every 3 months to keep their steam.

Just food for thought,

-Birk

I think that many players that feel that the WoW expansions are too far apart fall into one of two categories.

The first is the power player who rushes through any and all new content. Blizzard admits that this can be as much as 10-15% of their player base. They also understand that the vast majority of the player base take about 2 years to get through the content of that expansion. So the amount of content and the time that players are given before the next expansion is about right for the overwhelming bulk of their customer base. I understand the view of those that rush through the content, but do not feel that Blizzard should plan around them. Mostly because it was their decision to rush through it.

The second category is players who do not play WoW. WoW expansion are different from those of other MMORPGs in that they set a theme for the next two years of game story. In the past expansions, what you are purchasing is the foundation for that theme and the access to the initial part of the expansion and several expansions. A WoW expansion looks like this:

A) Leveling content and the first end game content pack
B) Six Months later a free expansion for the second end game content pack
C) 12 months after release a free expansion for the third end game content pack
D) 18 months after release a free expansion for the fourth end game content pack
E) 24 months after release the next paid expansion comes out.

If you look at it this way, the releases are more like 6 months apart.and what you are purchasing is a set of expansions.

All I know is that raiding ICC for the last almost year is too little as far as new content goes. As WoW progresses in age it feels as though the content is getting lighter. And Ruby Sanctum was a small filler at best.

Free expansions are always welcome, actually, please release them as soon as humanly possible without sacrificing quality. Tnx!

Paid expansions no more than once a year. It varies somewhat between different games, for instance two years is a nice pace for WoW because content also gets released between expansions. But once a year and even shorter was good for a game like Guild Wars. Also GW didn't have a sub... That's important. I think it's really too much if you have to pay a monthly fee AND effectively re-purchase the game every year.

I want one large expansion a year and one minor free one every six months. These companies are making money hand over fist they can afford to hire more people to cope with the demand and the fact that they aren't addressing it is a big slap in the face of the consumer.

So many misconstrued assumptions about Cata in these comments it's rather... oh right, that's normal for any game in this industry. It's as if 90% of the MMO population don't care to get any of their facts right, they just chug along on pure emotion.