When do we expect the possibly final expansion?

[Deleted]

Okay seriously. Is the concept of "The story is over, we're putting it to rest now even if the franchise could still make money off of an ongoing main series" really such a hard one for WoW players to see? Why is the overwhelming opinion "they gonna do it till it cant make no mo' money"?

I mean, granted, they -could- prolong the series and milk it out but why does the possibility of that instantly mean "100% proof" to some people?

Because Blizzard's aim is to make money. Why would they stop the story with more potential money to be made? Especially when the amount of story potential is pretty much unlimited. Keeping WoW going for as long as possible is beneficial to both Blizzard and the players.

[Jimson]

Okay seriously. Is the concept of "The story is over, we're putting it to rest now even if the franchise could still make money off of an ongoing main series" really such a hard one for WoW players to see? Why is the overwhelming opinion "they gonna do it till it cant make no mo' money"?

I mean, granted, they -could- prolong the series and milk it out but why does the possibility of that instantly mean "100% proof" to some people?

I bolded the important part.

They're going to do that because they're a public company. Their shareholders would riot if they said "Thanks guys, we're going out on top," and left billions of dollars on the table. It's not the same as a TV show or a band deciding their best days are over and calling it quits, because those guys answer only to a handful of executives.

[Chaoslux]

Not exactly. At 2.35% inflation (the average for the last 10 years), the new minimum subscriber base would be approximately 630,737 for World of Warcraft. Also, if the company spirals towards that number, stock price, etc could be affected significantly, making the company a target of mergers and takeovers. Ownership shakeups have the possibility of killing profit margins, as the new company tries to gouge profit from a product in decline. Increased profit-taking demands from the new ownership or investors would also raise the necessary minimum subscription rate.

Is WoW safe for the foreseeable future? Sure.

That could be true if WoW was their only game. Much like say... Riot only has League of Legends. If something were to happen to that, Riot is done for. Blizzard has the luck of having four games currently running.
Starcraft 2 is still going strong and they more than likely do make quite some money in tournament licensing fees and what not.
Diablo 3, while many would say was terrible, was extremely profitable with some 14-15 millions sales. AND THEN they managed to resale the game for consoles for another 5+ millions because they advertised the console version as "That Diablo 3 version where we fixed the loot", and they're coming up with an expansion where they are saying "We're fixing everything that was wrong with the original". D3 doesnt run on a sub, it just takes a guy to try out the expansion and even if he stop playing in two days, they made money off him. They are closing the RMAH meaning that it wasnt the money fountain people are claiming it to be, and while the Gold AH and RMAH were made with good intentions (preventing scams, making it easier to trade) they realized it was bad for the game and subsequently are shutting it down.
Hearthstone is a new game they're coming up and despite being free to play, ~$1 for a booster pack is an incredibly good model. I myself have bought roughly 20 packs because i'm used to MTG packs costing $10 to begin with. Some people have already spent hundreds if not thousands and the game isnt even out yet!

Saying that Blizzard will be in a financial crisis and will be merged and taken over because WoW lose some subs seems to forget that they have a lot of other products. I didnt even go into the books and other merchandise they probably make a profit out of.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay seriously. Is the concept of "The story is over, we're putting it to rest now even if the franchise could still make money off of an ongoing main series" really such a hard one for WoW players to see? Why is the overwhelming opinion "they gonna do it till it cant make no mo' money"?

Except its not. There are still many storylines they can go into. Turalyon and Alleria, Argus, Sargeras, Azshara is still around. They mentioned N'Zoth a few years back and we still have one more old god after him. The Tomb of Sargeras, the Undermine, Zandalar isn't done for either. People who think the story is done because the story portrayed in Warcraft 3 is done makes me sad. If the Dark Below is indeed the next expansion, that means they have been planting lore hints for 2 expansion ahead, they started making the Zandalar a tribe that was friendly to us go hostile and try to unite all the troll empires way back in 4.1 and we're still fighting them as of 5.3 and they arent done either.

They understand that they have to build up things before we're ready to take on it. I'm pretty sure the Zandalar king is going to be an end-of-expansion boss the way they're building him.

The concept of "The story is over" doesn't exist in a living world. Even if its a living fantasy world. World of Warcraft wasnt created as a trilogy.

[brirrspliff]

Q2.5 2019 it will be

[ILoveLoreALot]

It's not how it works though. They'll just make more story like they did with MoP. Besides there are multiple quotes from interviews, tweets, etc. that straight-up say that as long as people play, they'll continue to add to the game.

There were quotes from interviews that straight-up said that Garrosh would die at the end of SoO, and if you want to get into it we can sit around all night tallying what Blizzard has said vs. what they've actually done.

I bolded the important part.

They're going to do that because they're a public company. Their shareholders would riot if they said "Thanks guys, we're going out on top," and left billions of dollars on the table. It's not the same as a TV show or a band deciding their best days are over and calling it quits, because those guys answer only to a handful of executives.

Blizzard can call it quits anytime they want. It's not as if no one has ever told share holders "ok byeeee uguu-sama investor-chans ^.^". I'm sure Activision would have another team take over and continue WoW, but as far as WoW by Blizzard, they could end it anytime they feel they've exhausted the story and want to.

[Daetur]

Okay seriously. Is the concept of "The story is over, we're putting it to rest now even if the franchise could still make money off of an ongoing main series" really such a hard one for WoW players to see? Why is the overwhelming opinion "they gonna do it till it cant make no mo' money"?

I mean, granted, they -could- prolong the series and milk it out but why does the possibility of that instantly mean "100% proof" to some people?

I appreciate that you quoted part of my post to make this comment, yet left out the answer: "Blizzard isn't telling a story that has a definitive end, like a TV show or a book series."

World of Warcraft's story is episodic. There is a vague, overarching world with continuous events, but they can continue to create and tell stories inside that world almost indefinitely. It's less like Avatar: The Last Airbender, where they had a story they intended to tell over 3 seasons and it ended after the 3rd season, or the Game of Thrones series that has a definitive end goal coming up, and more like Sherlock Holmes, or the Luck in the Shadows series, or, I don't know, Spongebob. There is a world and there are recurring and important characters, and previous events in the story are not ignored, but each "episode" (in this case, expansion) is essentially a stand-alone installment in the franchise, and additional conflicts, characters, and events can be created and added ad infinum until they decide to stop. Yes, they can decide to stop at any time, even when the franchise is still making money-- but why would they?

Supernatural is currently one of the CW network's big hitters. It is intended to end after Season 10, but the CW wants to continue making money off of it, because it's still a marketable brand, so they're making a spin off even though they can't continue with the main series after S10.
Companies don't just gut their cash cow for funsies.

[Monteverdi]

I exepct the next expansion around March of 2014, and no later than June of 2014. As for the last expansion ever, not for a very, very long time. As long as the game can remain profitable (and, subscriber loss or not, it is HUGELY profitable) they will continue to develop for it. Case in point, classic Everquest's 22nd expansion was recently announced - that's right, the MMORPG so old that it's sequel has been out for almost a decade is still making expansions.

[Deleted]

There were quotes from interviews that straight-up said that Garrosh would die at the end of SoO, and if you want to get into it we can sit around all night tallying what Blizzard has said vs. what they've actually done.



Blizzard can call it quits anytime they want. It's not as if no one has ever told share holders "ok byeeee uguu-sama investor-chans ^.^". I'm sure Activision would have another team take over and continue WoW, but as far as WoW by Blizzard, they could end it anytime they feel they've exhausted the story and want to.

Surely you understand the difference between lying so as not to spoil a plot point than lying about whether or not the game will continue to get updated. How on earth are the two related?

And sure, Blizzard could call it quits if they really wanted to, but why would they? You haven't come up with a single good reason why the game should end - and no, "the story is over" doesn't count because it's not over.

[Soulfròst]

There were quotes from interviews that straight-up said that Garrosh would die at the end of SoO, and if you want to get into it we can sit around all night tallying what Blizzard has said vs. what they've actually done.



Blizzard can call it quits anytime they want. It's not as if no one has ever told share holders "ok byeeee uguu-sama investor-chans ^.^". I'm sure Activision would have another team take over and continue WoW, but as far as WoW by Blizzard, they could end it anytime they feel they've exhausted the story and want to.

Bro. It's not gonna happen. Blizzard cares about their story. They care about Warcraft. What you're saying they "could" do would be like me saying I'm going to quit my job that makes me millions that I love doing just to try something else. Not gonna happen.

[vesseblah]

2030 ... Expansion #20 for EQ is released this year, what the hell makes you think there will be fewer for WoW that had 20 times more subscribers at best?

[Deleted]

FINAL expansion?

Next expansion in late Q1 2014 or early Q2 2014 probably. Azshara, then a 6.x introduction patch to the "last" Burning Legion expansion (with 100% original Warcraft lore).

7.0 would likely launch Q4 2015 or Q1 2016. After Sargeras is dead for real, we'll see more expansions like MoP where there's a LOT of new lore (not necessarily a bad thing, they did a good job om MoP imo)

They might also dig up old unexplored lore. If you look at the world map of Azeroth, that's only about 1/3 of the entire planet. No one knows what's on the other side, because explorers have never returned. Every lore about it is not canon anyways.

But 8.0? I got no speculations about that at all, way too soon to tell, but there definitely will be more expansions than these two last Burning Legion expansions.

[Grimble]

Blizzard can call it quits anytime they want. It's not as if no one has ever told share holders "ok byeeee uguu-sama investor-chans ^.^". I'm sure Activision would have another team take over and continue WoW, but as far as WoW by Blizzard, they could end it anytime they feel they've exhausted the story and want to.

Anyone responsible for such a decision would be instantly fired in complete disgrace and never hired to work in any serious business ever again. You'd find Ghostcrawler or whoever working at fucking Dairy Queen. You clearly have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, and should probably stop trying.

[Monteverdi]

Anyone responsible for such a decision would be instantly fired in complete disgrace and never hired to work in any serious business ever again. You'd find Ghostcrawler or whoever working at fucking Dairy Queen. You clearly have no idea what the fuck you're talking about, and should probably stop trying.

There's something to be said for ending something deliberately, in it's prime, for creative reasons (look at the TV show Breaking Bad - ending after 5 seaons because the show creator wants to end it on its own terms instead of dragging it out for ratings). So with that in mind, I don't know that I agree that Blizzard would immediately go into disgrace for ending woW at some point, but they'd certainly be crazy to end it any time soon - I think WoW is pleasantly middle-aged and had several good years left in it.

[Gheld]

The final expansion will probably be somewhere under 1 million subscribers.

Even at 1 million subs, they could lean down the development team, and that's like 50 million in box sales for any new xpac they make at that point, and probably another 200 million a year in subs and merchandise/game store sales.

Once it goes below 1 million they'll probably stop developing new xpacs, and then just open it up. Make every class rollable by every race playable by every faction, and make it F2P. So if you want an alliance tauren demon hunter you can spend 20 bucks, etc.

[Komie]

Okay seriously. Is the concept of "The story is over, we're putting it to rest now even if the franchise could still make money off of an ongoing main series" really such a hard one for WoW players to see? Why is the overwhelming opinion "they gonna do it till it cant make no mo' money"?

I mean, granted, they -could- prolong the series and milk it out but why does the possibility of that instantly mean "100% proof" to some people?

...

Because Blizzard already stated that they do stuff for the design/fun/playability of the game before the story.

Not to mention MoP is brand new content, no back story before this expansion. So they WILL come up with new material for it. They WILL continue the game as long as it makes money. There WILL always be a story associated with the game.

I find it amazing that people would even consider thinking that Blizzard would end WOW just because "the story is over".

[anaxie]

WoW prolly has only about 3 good expansion plots left unless they make something up like Pandaria's lore. But pandaria still stemmed from one of the old gods so... Not entirely made up lore.

Dark Below / Emerald dream would be the same expansion since N'zoth is the major villan behind both. a little double villan expansion ala Illidan / KJ Arthas / Yogg This would be Azshara and N'zoth..

A legion expansion culminating in the DEATH of Kil'jaeden and the downfall of the Legion.

And lastly insert Sargeras based expansion here if it even makes sense to fight him <doesn't make sense to me>

[Deleted]

As soon as better game than WoW for audience comes. When? No one knows. Of course can be other reasons also :P

[Deleted]

in my opinion, although blizz would make a profit keeping wow running for years and years, i don't think they should. i mean it has a reputation to keep, if they keep on producing expansions every year from now on the storyline could get worse and worse, therefore making wow a joke game by the time it dies out.

on the other hand they could wrap wow up within the next 3-5 years, finishing off the main storylines and having the game go out in tremendous fashion.

but its blizz in the end so its all about $$

[Urti]

Q4 2014 or Q1 2015?

The moment it becomes non-profitable for them to do so. Seriously, Blizz isn't gonna end WoW anytime it's turning a profit. That is some of the dumbest business sense I've ever heard.

[Gheld]

The moment it becomes non-profitable for them to do so. Seriously, Blizz isn't gonna end WoW anytime it's turning a profit. That is some of the dumbest business sense I've ever heard.

I know right.

Imagine if Dominoes was like: "Well, we've been serving Pizza for decades now, and it's still working, but the people want something new. So let's stop selling Pizza and start selling Gyros."