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  1. #1
    Deleted

    When do we expect the possibly final expansion?

    Q4 2014 or Q1 2015?

  2. #2
    Finial expansion? It could go on through 2020s. EQ is still making expansions for the game, and it's much older than WoW.
    Goodbye-Forever-MMO-Champ
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  3. #3
    The final Warcraft expansion is a long way off yet-- likely years. As long as it remains profitable, they will continue to create content and expansions.

    I firmly believe that subs will need to decline much further and WoW will go F2P for at least a couple years before we even need to consider a "final" expansion.

    Blizzard isn't telling a story that has a definitive end, like a TV show or a book series.

  4. #4
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    This question again :P? When the sub numbers are so low that it wont be profitable... which prob wont happen anytime soon :P

  5. #5
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    i was under the impression Blizzard intended only to do 5 expansions unless that's changed. WoW could continue without expansions by adding smaller regular DLC, possibly monthly. Otherwise it's just gonna discourage new people to hit lvl 150 if they keep raising the cap

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by adam86shadow View Post
    i was under the impression Blizzard intended only to do 5 expansions unless that's changed. WoW could continue without expansions by adding smaller regular DLC, possibly monthly. Otherwise it's just gonna discourage new people to hit lvl 150 if they keep raising the cap
    Blizzard never once said they intended only 5 expansions. I honestly don't see how you can get that assumption. They've already said they planned out the next 3 expansions out.
    Goodbye-Forever-MMO-Champ
    Quote Originally Posted by HighlordJohnstone View Post
    Alleria's whispers start climaxing

  7. #7
    Deleted
    You could make expansions without increasing level cap Im pretty confident they did not think it was necessary to try and "plan" futher ahead than 5 expansions. They also had no idea how big the game would get so fast (if you played in vanille you know this by all the server issues and migration to new realms).

  8. #8
    I really have no idea where you got the "5 expansions then we randomly slaughter our cash cow" number from.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by adam86shadow View Post
    i was under the impression Blizzard intended only to do 5 expansions unless that's changed. WoW could continue without expansions by adding smaller regular DLC, possibly monthly. Otherwise it's just gonna discourage new people to hit lvl 150 if they keep raising the cap
    You're incorrect, that was never the plan. Someone posted a so-called outline of 5 expansions after WOTLK was announced, claiming it was from 2004, which might be where you're getting that from. In any case it's a proven fake not just because it's been completely inaccurate past WOTLK but because the person who made it outright admitted it.

    Blizzard has no plans to stop making expansions and it would make no business sense if they did as WoW is still extremely profitable - far more than any other MMO. They plan 3 expansions in advance as well, which would be a strange practice if there was only supposed to be 5. I can see 10 more expansions easily, by which point we'll be coming up to WoW's 20th anniversary. Past that point it's hard to say.

  10. #10
    Epic! dryankem's Avatar
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    My buddy is convinced the next one is it too but as stated on WOWInsider, never in the history of mankind has a company discontinued a product that was bringing in $100M/month. That would be the biggest mistake in gaming history. Even with half the population the game is still bringing in $50M/month and I'm sure that more than makes up the cost to make and run the game.

    I think in the long run they'll need to add something for new players to allow them to catch up faster (much like the monk exp bonus), but there will be more expansions. Someone mentioned getting a free character at min level for the expansion (ie 85 for MOP), which I think would be cool.
    Last edited by dryankem; 2013-09-25 at 04:58 PM.

  11. #11
    Well to put it this way. The estimated plan for a player base in vanilla was 500K to 1M players, Max. This would allow blizz to be profitable enough to keep the game running (server costs) as well as produce new content (staff costs).

    So as long as there are 500K active players, I'd expect there to be more and more expansions.

    Look at everquest. about 1/8th the amount of wow players (if not less) and they've had 22 expansions.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lbgr View Post
    Well to put it this way. The estimated plan for a player base in vanilla was 500K to 1M players, Max. This would allow blizz to be profitable enough to keep the game running (server costs) as well as produce new content (staff costs).

    So as long as there are 500K active players, I'd expect there to be more and more expansions.

    Look at everquest. about 1/8th the amount of wow players (if not less) and they've had 22 expansions.
    Indeed, just look at Eve online, going strong since 2003 with around 500 k /+/- some

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Lbgr View Post
    Well to put it this way. The estimated plan for a player base in vanilla was 500K to 1M players, Max. This would allow blizz to be profitable enough to keep the game running (server costs) as well as produce new content (staff costs).

    So as long as there are 500K active players, I'd expect there to be more and more expansions.
    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.

  14. #14
    New Kid Zaelsino's Avatar
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    I doubt they'll ever label an expansion their "final" one, given it would be official confirmation that the game has run its course. Given the nature of an MMO, it would kill a huge amount of interest in the game.

    Unless they were pulling a Guild Wars and making a WoW2, but even then, they didn't (to my knowledge) ever label EotN as the "final" expansion when it shipped.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by tiporispit View Post
    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.
    You sure must be fun at parties. And i don't mean LAN parties.

  16. #16
    August 27, 2019

  17. #17
    Final expansion? Probably after most of us are dead.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Worgoblin View Post
    Final expansion? Probably after most of us are dead.
    I don't think quite that long. I plan on living at least 80 more years thanks :P

  19. #19
    The final Warcraft expansion is a long way off yet-- likely years. As long as it remains profitable, they will continue to create content and expansions.
    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?

  20. #20
    Spam Assassin! MoanaLisa's Avatar
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    I never understand how people think this. Blizzard continues to make piles of cash from WoW and anyone who expects them to voluntarily stop that because of some 'plan' that was revealed years ago are kidding themselves.

    Last expansion: No time soon.

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    Quote Originally Posted by ILoveLoreALot View Post
    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?
    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.
    "...money's most powerful ability is to allow bad people to continue doing bad things at the expense of those who don't have it."

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