Reason for persistence of content droughts in WoW?

[thatmikeguy]

There is nothing that shows the problem more than this. As the game systems become increasingly larger, it becomes much more difficult to change things. Most people like expansions according to the amount of content that was in each expansion. Timing of expansions and patches is so bad it's unreal at this point. Hopefully now that many graphics systems are updated it will not take so long the next time around. MSV HOF and ToES felt more like 3 raids in that 161 day window vs Highmaul and BRF at 221 days.

[LovesToSpooge]

Some of the posts in this thread are laughable. Content droughts happen because manpower and resources are shifted toward the next expansion. That's how development works.

that doesnt explain why they made only 3 raids in total for wod

[Kagthul]

Uh... no you didn't. A team started at 1500 rating only a few items required a rating and those slots could be filled with last season's gear.

And if you didnt win 10 games, you got no rating change for that week, and no points. Im primarily a PvP player, and remember quite well the stupidity that was Arena Season 1. It rather brilliantly predicted the raging cancer that rated PvP became.

[Gilgameshh]

that doesnt explain why they made only 3 raids in total for wod

The people who argue that content droughts happen because resources are shifted toward the next expansion fail to realize that they've been working on multiple expansions all along.

They had three raids this expansion, I think, because they were planning on it lasting a year. If that's the case, three raids plenty reasonable. If not, well, it's just inexcusable. Pretty sure whatever else they had planned for this expansion was scrapped because they saw it as a failed expansion early on. Garrisons were THE core of the game, and the expansion just cannot be salvaged because of that alone I would say.

I'm not saying it's a valid excuse, but I'm sure they thought that the cost of making another raid tier would be far too high for the little return/retention of subscribers it would bring. I quit before HFC came out because the rest of the expansion was terrible outside of raiding. That, and I burnt out on the multiple difficulty bullshit. No one I know that quit would come back just because they put in another raid, but I don't claim to speak for the masses; it's just what I know to be true for those around me.

If this expansion was only supposed to last a year with even more content than we'll have seen through the course of almost two years, I sure as hell hope Legion is overflowing with content. So far, that doesn't look to be the case (we know of two raids and ten dungeons ffs). I'm honestly not sure what the hell is going on at this point.

[Pann]

And if you didnt win 10 games, you got no rating change for that week, and no points. Im primarily a PvP player, and remember quite well the stupidity that was Arena Season 1. It rather brilliantly predicted the raging cancer that rated PvP became.

Your team needed at least 10 games and a player had to play in 30% of them to get points you did not need to win. It was quite common to start a team lose 10 games and then start another the next week. It was not until Wrath that requirement of winning 10 games was introduced.

[Khayotix]

It is Laziness and Greed. Think about it. Vanilla and BC had great Content Schedules for their lifespans. Then With Wrath, it shrank a little bit, but margins were still acceptable. Then Cata came out and They began to dwindle further. Patches were fewer which culminated in drought for Pandaria and WoD. Their thought was we cant keep up with content locusts so what can we do to make our lives simpler. Oh We can create Multiple levels of difficulty for raids and dungeons, which had existed before, but their rewards were always different. Now they created the same items and just adjusted their stats up or down based on how hard the content was, maybe a recolor of the gear. Something easy to reproduce to keep effort down and profits high. Every aspect of the game SCREAMS this most money for least effort, and now it is biting them in the behind.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Biggest reason to me is they want fast boxes to be put on shelves for expansions. This has shrunk expansions to finish them sooner and at the same time set the bar so high (yearly releases) that it's impossible to meet the goal. Then when you combine those things you end up with a smaller expansion that needs to last as long as the bigger ones did (and they had gaps too mind you).

They really just need a team that focuses on continued content and one that focuses on the next expansion. That way at least minion patches that might only add a couple 5 mans, a BG, or even something like a single boss raid can trinkle out during monster gaps to at least give the illusion of something is going on. Then during that expansions life cycle you have your other team building the macro parts of the next expansion. Things like the world / questing, primary story driven dungeons, primary raids, and the new systems. Once the big macro stuff is done it is released as an expansion and the patch team builds continued content into the game while working around the primary structure already created after the launch is complete and the macro problems are fixed.

[Arganis]

I think they're using the ressources for other games, which is why WoW is going nowhere. Also, greed. No the conspiracy theory type though. They just need to keep the top salaries high as they were during peak and keep investors return high too. Gotta cut somewhere.

[Daffan]

They just mismanage how they give us content and how they do catchup.

They make too little content

The content they do have they make obsolete like clockwork.

[anaxie]

It is okay to be upset with what we're getting because we pay monthly for it and after twelve years we should expect more, not less. What's your issue with people who are upset with WoW? Does everyone have to enjoy the game as much as you?



If what you say is true, I don't think the game would have grown like wildfire during this period. I'm not saying it was perfect, but it certainly had enough to keep people flocking in by the millions.



It most certainly was a filler patch. Are you neglecting the other stuff that was in that patch... like Isle of Quel'Danas? What is your definition of a filler patch if this wasn't a filler patch? Sunwell wasn't even supposed to be in TBC, according to Blizzard. It was a filler patch.

The latest dev quoton he matter said sunwell was planned half the story was about Karl this and kiljaeden. Good job. A filler patch is filler content. Battlefield barrens

[Tierbook]

Something else: Specifically people don't unsub and enough buy the expansion that they will make shit tons of money regardless so why not push the time they have.

[anaxie]

The biggest glaring difference here however is that WoW is not a primarily pet and squirrel loving game. It is and has always been an MMORPG with an end game focus on organized raiding with those massive amounts of multiple players.

If you got into WoW with no desire to participate with massive amounts of players online and instead just wanted to hug and love on squirrels, you got into the wrong game. I have no sympathy for anyone who didn't want to group up for the plethora of available dungeons and raids in TBC. That is simply their loss and I would have been more than happy to direct them to Animal Crossing on the Gamecube.

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Tell that to the guy I was quoting. It was his claim. I was merely replying tongue in cheek. I don't give a shit what you want to call it, it was content to keep people busy 'til the next xpac. And we need more of that.

Fact check your quotes, son.

A patch isn't going to fix WoDs issues that is Legion. So let them work on fucking Legion and the many new content systems going into the game permanently when it launches. Like tiered CMs and Honor 3. . For example

Is this so hard to understand?

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But "plebs" couldn't skip normal dungeons, heroic dungeons and professions weren't capped at 3 so they had stuff to work on. They couldn't log in and say, omg 700 ilvl pvp items and gg bored.

Yes Karazhan 10 to Gruul's 25 was a big problem, logistically speaking. But that don't mean there was a drought.

Oh Wow TBC had dungeons! So does warlords. Wow! The non raider has more to do now than in TBC and even Wotlk people are busts entitled now. Gimme gimme gimme

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I have never been a raider and ive been playing since the original Beta.

At no point during TBC did i log in and feel that there was no way for me to advance my character. Yes, i got through Kara (sitting in on friends' raids when they were down a person or two) and did a few bosses in T5, but most of my advancement came from badges, crafting, subbing in a few PvP pieces, etc.

But i never, once, at any point in TBC (and very rarely in LK) logged in and was like "there is no relevant way for me to advance my character".

Thats the difference.

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Uh... kiddo.. you had to WIN 10 games to even get rated.

No you could LOSE ten for points just play 10. FACT look it up. Source? I would buy a high ranked 5s and make profit selling the other 4 spots for high arena points.

[Osmeric]

No you could LOSE ten for points just play 10. FACT look it up. Source? I would buy a high ranked 5s and make profit selling the other 4 spots for high arena points.

Yep. This was before personal ratings. You form a team (10g, I think it was), lose ten games, then next week disband the team and start again with a fresh team with a fresh team rating.

[Gilgameshh]

Oh Wow TBC had dungeons! So does warlords. Wow! The non raider has more to do now than in TBC and even Wotlk people are busts entitled now. Gimme gimme gimme

Do you want to compare the two expansions or should those of us who actually played in the expansion just take your word for it? I had probably close to 150 days played in TBC on one character because there was so much to do I didn't need an alt. In the six or so months I played WoD, I leveled six alts and ran out of things to progress myself (outside of mythic raiding, of course!...). Which expansion had more meaningful content that would keep your attention for more than a handful of months? It's pretty clear to me just from experience, but I guess those who never even played in TBC know better.

Let's ignore the fact that WoD has less than half the dungeons and raids. I guess by content you think pet battles, legacy raid farming, garrisons, selfie stick action... yeah, to me that's not actually meaningful RPG content that progresses my character in any way. I'm glad that shit like that exists, but not when there's hardly any meaningful character progression. WoD would have more content if it wasn't for the ridiculous catch-up mechanics that continually made its own content obsolete, but even if it didn't have the ridiculous catch-up, it would still be a lackluster expansion. The fact that people even try to argue this is absolutely fucking mind boggling. I don't know how anyone who played in vanilla, TBC, or WotLK can talk about WoD in a positive way as it pertains to character progression content.

[anaxie]

I cleared subwell pleb I know damn well about the year long drought of BT to sunwell. Zul a man was a catch up raid with upgrades but not progression.

2 years of doing kara doing 10 arenas weekly and the 10 quel Dani's dallies in the last 7. Months. That content yo.

Let's be realistic that is what 99% of the player base did.

I miss it. I wish raid portals were still a taboo so those not interested in progression raiding stay out.

And no I'm not positive about WoD. Word made me quit with the forced garrisons then fucking ship yard. The murder of the what was left of the economy, the disgusting diablo loot RNG RNG RNG. I have never had such an annoying time getting pre raid launch gearing done in the games history. Split the locks fuck me what a disaster.

Burnout to the max I'm done. Legions fixes don't fix awful design RNG legendary world drops god no.

Cata 4.0-4.2 was the best spot the game has ever been. tTBC professions is the best that system has ever been.

[Celarent]

I'd put money on mismanagement and culture.

I've seen groups of twentysomethings (of each gender) with poor/immature/nonexistent management coalesce into gangs/mobs that poison work relationships, produce poor or low-volume work, and slow company productivity in a gigantic radius.

I cannot imagine how bad it is with an office full of gamer dudes whose flagship property can coast and stay at a rock-star #1.

[ImpTaimer]

People who think achievements are "something to do" are half of the problem with video game developers right now. People who datamine are the other portion. There's no mystery left, and people feel entitled only when the game tells them they should.

WoD still has less content than previous expansions and they charged more money for it.

Blizzard has no excuses except for blatant mismanagement and greed. All tumbling down from the Activision Merger. Their little financial safety net to screw whoever they want over.

Remember all that crap about Titan we heard about? Yeah, we all had fun knowing that it turned about to be an Activision project being hidden under Blizzard's name.

[Sunblaze]

I genuinely think that creating, designing, and implementing content takes time and a pretty vocal part of the community thinks it doesnt.

For example, even if you dont like garrisons, im sure it took more time to implement than just setting up a few dailies (like early mop for example). More people can lead to doing more things in the same time. Not in the amount of content, in the amount of work time.

[Daffan]

Oh Wow TBC had dungeons! So does warlords. Wow! The non raider has more to do now than in TBC and even Wotlk people are busts entitled now. Gimme gimme gimme

In WoD Why would any casual do dungeons, heroic dungeons, mythic dungeons (lol), professions (stage 6 kek), highmaul, brf, world content or quest chains (TBC had basically kara blues for 5 man quests in SMV)

when you can just afk in a battleground/HFC LFR (Better then hm/brf lol) or pick up baleful. Prob add yolo rbg too

90% of the content in this game is irrelevant to non raiders and basically raiders (since they do heroic/mythic hfc)

[anaxie]

Welcome to the nightmare that entitlement has turned this game into.

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People who think achievements are "something to do" are half of the problem with video game developers right now. People who datamine are the other portion. There's no mystery left, and people feel entitled only when the game tells them they should.

WoD still has less content than previous expansions and they charged more money for it.

Blizzard has no excuses except for blatant mismanagement and greed. All tumbling down from the Activision Merger. Their little financial safety net to screw whoever they want over.

Remember all that crap about Titan we heard about? Yeah, we all had fun knowing that it turned about to be an Activision project being hidden under Blizzard's name.

Tinfoil extravaganza