Why is Legion freaking 20 GB?

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

OP, hard drives are so cheap these days it isn't even funny. Get real man... some people just want to bitch about nothing.

[Arkura]

For better quality files are bigger, its the same thing with every single thing thats digital.
Pictures, bigger filesize usually means better quality.
Movies, bigger filesize means better quality.
Games, bigger files means better quality.

And alot of the files that you're downloading is like everyone else is saying, its replacement of existing files. Probably half of what you download with the pre patch is just replacements of older files.

[Ichifails]

On the other hand you would be hard pressed to find a decent tower computer for WoW that isn't close to $1k or more.

Maybe if you need a screen, keyboard, mouse, headset, desk, chair and room as well.
For the life of me I won't understand why people suck so much when it comes to computers.

Here's a 100$ desktop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqP2xvMYXHc
And here's a 25$ desktop - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0yir6c5Qf0

I'm sure the 100$ one would run WoW at medium-low decently.

[TOM_RUS]

Just reinstall the game when 7.0 is live and size will go down to it's regular 35 GB total.

[TwoNineMarine]

If you can't handle a 50 gig game you should probably go out and get a job and buy something that wasn't made in 2004.

[Ayperos]

I don't understand for the people that don't buy the expansion still have to download the expansion data. It wasn't always like that. Some people don't buy expansions at launch, so its not fair for them to have to download 20+ gigs of data.

[Noctifer616]

I don't understand for the people that don't buy the expansion still have to download the expansion data. It wasn't always like that. Some people don't buy expansions at launch, so its not fair for them to have to download 20+ gigs of data.

The patch contains all the game changes including non Legion content. They would have to make two patches then, 7.0 and Legion. It would just complicate things for them and considering it's only 20GB, which today is nothing, I don't see why they would.

[glorygores]

The problem is disposable income really. The preferred piece of machinery for gaming is an actual 'tower' computer, not a laptop, since in the long run the non laptop computer has a longer shelf life & can be upgraded, unlike most laptops. However, the problem comes up with the price of a laptop vs other computers. You can get non gaming laptops for around $400-$500 dollars that run just fine with WoW on medium, sometimes high settings, that will also last at least two expansions worth of graphic upgrades. On the other hand you would be hard pressed to find a decent tower computer for WoW that isn't close to $1k or more. Yeah in the long term the laptop gaming method would be more expensive, but with low income gamers, who are often also in school and/or have a family, they are not likely to unsub from WoW for who knows how long in order to save up for even longer to get that tower computer.

I built a tower pc for gaming for just under 600$ that will run Legion 80+ fps easily. I am a low income ( zero ) gamer who goes to school fulltime. $400-500$ can easily build a capable rig. All it takes is some handiwork and research.

[Nevcairiel]

The patch contains all the game changes including non Legion content. They would have to make two patches then, 7.0 and Legion. It would just complicate things for them and considering it's only 20GB, which today is nothing, I don't see why they would.

Well it also contains all Legion content. There is only one game-client these days, and its the same no matter what content your account has access to - and there won't be another huge download for Legion itself, only patches to update it before launch (although those may still be a few GB here and there, if the previous expansions are any indication)

This greatly simplifies the client deployment for them, and in reality - how many people play without owning the latest expansion. Some may buy it later, but do they really play in the meantime? (Not saying its literally noone, but just that its a very tiny minority)

The number of people affected by this would be so small that extra effort to avoid the download for those would seem rather wasteful. And as many others have said, 20GB is not that much in 2016.

[TiaMaster]

I built a tower pc for gaming for just under 600$ that will run Legion 80+ fps easily. I am a low income ( zero ) gamer who goes to school fulltime. $400-500$ can easily build a capable rig. All it takes is some handiwork and research.

Caring about another 20gigs really isn't goign to happen for most, but yeah, I can see it for some people.

The thing that everyone needs to realize is how un-optimized Legion is for EVERY persons computer. I just built a high-end gaming rig and I cannot run WoW at Ultra settings anymore currently on beta.
I should not need TWO GTX 980ti's to run a billion-year-old game on max settings.

I know WoW needs to evolve graphically and I am all for these changes, but holy crap optimize those changes for those without supercomputers.

[Noctifer616]

Caring about another 20gigs really isn't goign to happen for most, but yeah, I can see it for some people.

The thing that everyone needs to realize is how un-optimized Legion is for EVERY persons computer. I just built a high-end gaming rig and I cannot run WoW at Ultra settings anymore currently on beta.
I should not need TWO GTX 980ti's to run a billion-year-old game on max settings.

I know WoW needs to evolve graphically and I am all for these changes, but holy crap optimize those changes for those without supercomputers.

A single 980Ti is more than enough for WoW unless you play at 4k and maxed out SSAA which is overkill. I can play the game on ultra at 1080p on my 7970 just fine, and that's is quite an old card.

[Kathranis]

Once the pre-expansion launches it'll merge a bunch of the preload files with the live game files and shrink in size. It's big because it's downloading them as a seperate install, not replacing them, which is how the downloader normally works.

There's also well over 5 hours of new music. That alone takes up a lot of space, not to mention the SFX, voice acting, and cutscenes in multiple resolutions.

Oh, and, y'know, thousands of new models and textures for everything ranging from flowers and trees to monsters and equipment to buildings and vehicles.

[ComputerNerd]

What? There are ISP's in the UK that cap you? I feel lucky now seeing as i don't have a cap.

I have seen advertisements for services capped as low as 10gb in a month.
"unlimited" is not perhaps as common as some would like to believe it is.
I understand the US can have it bad with internet access.

British Telecom for instance have 2 ADSL packages openly advertised on their website with 12 and 25gb monthly caps.

[Kathranis]

I don't understand for the people that don't buy the expansion still have to download the expansion data. It wasn't always like that.

Yes, it 100% was always like this. They always added in all the new data in the pre-patch, weeks if not months ahead of release, so that they could just "flip a switch" and turn on the expansion when the launch date arrived.

Otherwise there would have been extended maintenance and a 10~20 gig patch download at midnight on launch day, preventing people from, y'know, playing the game.

[chipwood]

Am I the only one who thinks the bad thing is the downloading of 20gb, not the having 20gb stored in your drive part?

If you don't want to download it, you can always buy the disks.

[ComputerNerd]

If you don't want to download it, you can always buy the disks.

Disks contain the base game, but it will need patched.
By launch that will be out of date.
Let alone through the course of the expansion.
It will reduce it certainly, but not eliminating the issue.

Unfortunately it isn't possible any longer to manually download a full client, which was hugely useful for installs on multiple systems.
I am pretty sure if I recall we used to be able to.

[TiaMaster]

A single 980Ti is more than enough for WoW unless you play at 4k and maxed out SSAA which is overkill. I can play the game on ultra at 1080p on my 7970 just fine, and that's is quite an old card.

It wasn't an "opinion" post.
And no, you can't.
I am not talking about Live, as I said, I'm talking about Legion.

[kooz]

A single 980Ti is more than enough for WoW unless you play at 4k and maxed out SSAA which is overkill. I can play the game on ultra at 1080p on my 7970 just fine, and that's is quite an old card.

7970 is something that they rebranded as maybe R9 280x, same for 7870 etc, it's still a very strong card.

[MrKnubbles]

I actually ran out of hard drive space when it updated and had to uninstall Steam.

[IKT]

I actually ran out of hard drive space when it updated and had to uninstall Steam.

yeah got a 120gb ssd, windows takes up a good chunk, wow the rest, nothing else installed on it.

Had to go searching around for files to delete.