"Bring on the next xpac!" -- Um, what!?

[Lamb Mine]

Maybe someone can explain this to me. Here we are in 6.2, arguably the last "real" patch of WoD, and we're looking at the most expensive expansion to date that's contained the least amount of content to date. Never mind the fact that this expansion has largely been one Blizzard screw up after another, over and over. Garrisons, Shipyards, Ashran, reskinning 500 boars, ability pruning, bait and switch on flying and on and on the list goes.

With as bad as this has been, I keep seeing people clamoring for the next expac--ready, willing, and eager to throw even more money at Blizzard, and frankly, I just can't make sense of it. Why on earth are people so eager to throw more cash at Blizzard when, by and large, they just released an expansion that could be easily described as a blatant money grab?

[Marinai]

The reason is that people think that if they have a new Xpac immediately, it would be over with WoD.
Now of course, as any sane person would tell you - Launching another xpac ASAP would cause a bigger catastrophe than WoD, as they didn't even have time to prepare for it, HFC just launched..

TL;DR - People are too short sighted to think.

[Darth Belichick]

Because they still love the game, just not it's current form. I quit WoW probably 3+ months ago and while at the time I was sad and disappointed in WoW, when the next expansion comes out I'll probably give it a shot as many others will. Part of it is the game itself is fun, the content this expansion has just been lacking outside of raids. A lot of people, myself included, have been playing this game for years now and it's a part of them (whether they want to admit it or not).

People who are sad about WoD are hopeful that with the Legion coming back that next expansion will be more on the level of TBC and WotLK story telling and content wise.

[Gornack]

I'm tired of hearing this "most expensive; least content" meme. I've gotten hundreds of hours of entertainment from WoD, and no other game can compete with that at similar price points.

Overall, WoD is fairly hit and miss, but to call it a blatant money grab is cynical. The PvE content has been largely superb, with HFC and BRF (HM to a lesser extent) being two of my five favorite raids in the game.

More importantly, what would you have liked to see from WoD that you didn't? It met most of my expectations, though they were admittedly low concerning garrisons and a lot of the world content.

[Lamb Mine]

Because they still love the game, just not it's current form. I quit WoW probably 3+ months ago and while at the time I was sad and disappointed in WoW, when the next expansion comes out I'll probably give it a shot as many others will. Part of it is the game itself is fun, the content this expansion has just been lacking outside of raids. A lot of people, myself included, have been playing this game for years now and it's a part of them (whether they want to admit it or not).

People who are sad about WoD are hopeful that with the Legion coming back that next expansion will be more on the level of TBC and WotLK story telling and content wise.

I've also been a player since the release of BC, and even I'm not ready to throw more cash at Blizzard--especially not when I don't think we've even been given the expansion/content we paid for.

[Deleted]

Because the idea of an expansion being good is worth more money than the actual product you get afterwards.

At this point, people's main enjoyment of the franchise who are to be considered 'cyclical' subscribers by Hazzikostas, are the ones who buy into the game for the hype, and leave after they see the stupendously insulting quantity, quality, and type of content being introduced into the World of Warcraft.

The only thing that is 'cyclical' is Hype - the actual content of the game is going nowhere but down a steep, treacherous hill. All that matters is hype - content does not matter. The truth doesn't matter. Lies sell, as proven from the presentations at BlizzCon 2013, and people are okay with it. This is the problem. Marketing is more prevalent a profit-making measure than the actual production of quality, relevant, substantiated content.

I'm tired of hearing this "most expensive; least content" meme. I've gotten hundreds of hours of entertainment from WoD, and no other game can compete with that at similar price points.

Good for you, but the only thing that drives the aforementioned memetic trends on these forums, is due to the actual fact that the content of the game is going down the shitter, both in terms of development quality and amount, in favor of their other, smaller, yet incredibly profitable IPs, and squeezing more money out of the playerbase with the WoW token, increased presence of MTX, and increased expansion prices.

Ever heard Hearthstone's "too confusing for new players" meme, based off of allowing more than 9 deckslots? That gained traction and popularity because it was their serious, actual stance to increasing the depth of the game - small elements like adding deckslots, and bigger ones like adding game modes, would somehow alienate these lemmings that'd login, and then subsequently lose all access to their neural networks.

It's funny and it's a meme because Ben Brode actually supports that incredibly Blizzardesque stance of ultimate accessibility, not at all concerning the actual quality of even the advancement of a game.

[quras]

SNIP...

With as bad as this has been, I keep seeing people clamoring for the next expac--ready, willing, and eager to throw even more money at Blizzard, and frankly, I just can't make sense of it. Why on earth are people so eager to throw more cash at Blizzard when, by and large, they just released an expansion that could be easily described as a blatant money grab?

Gamers are eager to get the "F" out of WoD because it's so bad. They will almost take anything.

The same things were said back in Cataclysm and we got the mediocre crap known as MoP. The same thing happened in MoP. IT was pretty bad so gamers wanted out of it as well. Hoping for something better. We got WoD. A very nice POS expansion that will take the new stand as worst expansion of all.

Gamers want a new expansion because they "hope" it will get then out of the Shit hole expansion they are currently in and put them in a better place.

What you can expect is blizzard playing off that hope to sell another wow expansion. While blizzard has turned into a mediocre game company, they are top notch in the marketing and PR - Don't ever forget that.

The problem with that thinking is that for the last 3 expansions, blizzard has only done worse with each release. The kicker is, gamers still have some hope for better because when you reach the bottom like gamers have in WoD. They only way to go is up. (Hopefully that is because it quite possible blizzard breaks out the shovels and digs this hole deeper.

Gamers want another expansion in the hope that things can get better. To bad blizzard just doesn't really pull that off anymore.

[Deleted]

Maybe someone can explain this to me. Here we are in 6.2, arguably the last "real" patch of WoD, and we're looking at the most expensive expansion to date that's contained the least amount of content to date. Never mind the fact that this expansion has largely been one Blizzard screw up after another, over and over. Garrisons, Shipyards, Ashran, reskinning 500 boars, ability pruning, bait and switch on flying and on and on the list goes.

With as bad as this has been, I keep seeing people clamoring for the next expac--ready, willing, and eager to throw even more money at Blizzard, and frankly, I just can't make sense of it. Why on earth are people so eager to throw more cash at Blizzard when, by and large, they just released an expansion that could be easily described as a blatant money grab?

I quit wow some days ago but I would still like to play it. It's just that I can't justify the monthly sub for this terrible lack of non raid content and terrible pvp balance. Maybe in the next expansion the devs will pick their shit up and fix something. I can only hope.

[jimlow]

Wow burned a lot of player equity with this expansion. So much so that the next xpac will probably not be a insta buy for many and even the die hards will probably be more cautiously optimistic. I think I would wait at least the first 3 months of the next xpac before deciding to jump back in or not. Blizzcon this year is going to be full damage control and hype train.

[Darth Belichick]

The same things were said back in Cataclysm and we got the mediocre crap known as MoP. The same thing happened in MoP. IT was pretty bad so gamers wanted out of it as well. Hoping for something better. We got WoD. A very nice POS expansion that will take the new stand as worst expansion of all.

What you can expect is blizzard playing off that hope to sell another wow expansion. While blizzard has turned into a mediocre game company, they are top notch in the marketing and PR - Don't ever forget that.

Gamers want another expansion in the hope that things can get better. To bad blizzard just doesn't really pull that off anymore.

See, I don't see the hate in MoP. The story wasn't groundbreaking but it had a story and it was presented decently. The raids were fun (though as we know, SoO was out for way, way too long) and the dailies at least had a story and some kind of progression. Thundering Isle (or w/e it was called) was actually pretty cool. MoP was far suprior to Cataclysm, imo.

Part of it at this point is WoW needs to go back to it's roots with the Legion, which is why I have some hope the next expansion will be better.

[quras]

SNIP... Maybe in the next expansion the devs will pick their shit up and fix something. I can only hope.

And that ^

Is why the next expansion will sell well no matter how bad it is, no matter how bad the past 3 expansions have been and what blizzard is betting/banking on. Gamers hoping for better.

blizzard doesn't actually have to pull it off. Just market it like they have and too many gamers fall for it because of hope.

[Jellykiss]

and we're looking at the most expensive expansion to date that's contained the least amount of content to date.

I'm seeing this all over the forums. Wasn't the reason why this xpac was more expensive because you got an insta level 90 with it? I'm just wondering. I always thought that the higher price tag was because of that.

[caninepawprints]

Gamers are eager to get the "F" out of WoD because it's so bad. They will almost take anything.

The funny part is that people were singing praises about WoD when it was released, saying it was the best expansion to date. Other people were more realistic and saying their opinions were going to change soon. And here we are! People are complaining about WoD; the lack of content, no flying, etc.

I'll be buying the next expansion just because I'm still enjoying this game, despite the things I don't like.

[Lamb Mine]

Never mind the fact that it really isn't fun paying 50-60$ every year for an xpack on top of 12-15 a month (depending on sub time).

That's one of my main issues with it. I'm confused as why people are so ready and willing to pay a premium to Blizzard, and even fork over money for a new expac when this one isn't even a year old, when you have studios half the size of Blizzard making the WoW dev team look like amateur hour in both quality and production rates.

[Deleted]

People think that when the next expansion comes out, things will change. As if Warlords of Draenor being a failure was just going to be some exception, and everything else after it will restore WoWs glory.

I think from now on, expansions like Warlords of Draenor will be the standard. Pay your 50 euros, get minimal content at launch, 5 zones max, 1 raid, 7-8 dungeons, and then 1-2 more raids over the course of 6 months, and then finish the expansion with 2 raid tiers, and bring out the next expansion.

I think the only thing that the expansion after WoD will do a bit better is story, because it will probably not be a mess like in WoD with time travel and alternate universes and nostalgia pandering. But you know WoW's lore is so bad at this point, it won't make much of a difference.

[purebalance]

I'm tired of hearing this "most expensive; least content" meme. I've gotten hundreds of hours of entertainment from WoD, and no other game can compete with that at similar price points.

Overall, WoD is fairly hit and miss, but to call it a blatant money grab is cynical. The PvE content has been largely superb, with HFC and BRF (HM to a lesser extent) being two of my five favorite raids in the game.

More importantly, what would you have liked to see from WoD that you didn't? It met most of my expectations, though they were admittedly low concerning garrisons and a lot of the world content.

You're tired of hearing something that you put your fingers in your ears about then. It's factual. They upped the price and dropped the amount of content compared to cheaper expansions.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm seeing this all over the forums. Wasn't the reason why this xpac was more expensive because you got an insta level 90 with it? I'm just wondering. I always thought that the higher price tag was because of that.

No. Coincidence. They only added the boost option as purchase when people were buying more copies of the game. The boost had nothing to do with the cost. If anything adding the boost to the store should have lowered the price by your logic.

- - - Updated - - -

See, I don't see the hate in MoP. The story wasn't groundbreaking but it had a story and it was presented decently. The raids were fun (though as we know, SoO was out for way, way too long) and the dailies at least had a story and some kind of progression. Thundering Isle (or w/e it was called) was actually pretty cool. MoP was far suprior to Cataclysm, imo.

Part of it at this point is WoW needs to go back to it's roots with the Legion, which is why I have some hope the next expansion will be better.

WoW needs to go back to it's roots of being difficult for the expansion to be better. People are burning through content because it's trivial.

[Deleted]

That's one of my main issues with it. I'm confused as why people are so ready and willing to pay a premium to Blizzard, and even fork over money for a new expac when this one isn't even a year old, when you have studios half the size of the Blizzard making the WoW dev team look like amateur hour in both quality and production rates.

I still enjoy the game enough to justify paying a monthly sub and once in a while a new expansion.

I don't have to play it every night to enjoy it, I find raiding fun and I do pet battles and level alts once in a while, and I'm fine with that.

And THAT is the reason why people still play and pay for WoW, they're okay with it because they enjoy it.

[Gornack]

- - - Updated - - -
No. Coincidence. They only added the boost option as purchase when people were buying more copies of the game. The boost had nothing to do with the cost. If anything adding the boost to the store should have lowered the price by your logic.

I'm pretty sure the boost to 90 was included before preorders were available. That's one of the reasons why I preordered the game on the first day that it was available.

[Pull My Finger]

That's one of my main issues with it. I'm confused as why people are so ready and willing to pay a premium to Blizzard, and even fork over money for a new expac when this one isn't even a year old, when you have studios half the size of the Blizzard making the WoW dev team look like amateur hour in both quality and production rates.

Perhaps people just aren't as butthurt. What's the point you're trying to make? What are they supposed to do? Hope that no other expansion gets released, ever? Wait for more WoD content?

A lot of people seem to think that the game would probably be better off with a fresh start - i.e., a new expansion. And perhaps purchasing that isn't quite the end of the world for them. Whatever - the only point that you could sensibly make is that the expansions are too expensive (although they offer at least as much play time as the meanwhile more expensive offline games). Other than that, I don't see what you're trying to say, except "I don't want people to give the evil company any more money because I'm angry".

[rda]

People think that when the next expansion comes out, things will change. As if Warlords of Draenor being a failure was just going to be some exception, and everything else after it will restore WoWs glory.

I think from now on, expansions like Warlords of Draenor will be the standard. Pay your 50 euros, get minimal content at launch, 5 zones max, 1 raid, 7-8 dungeons, and then 1-2 more raids over the course of 6 months, and then finish the expansion with 2 raid tiers, and bring out the next expansion.

I think the only thing that the expansion after WoD will do a bit better is story, because it will probably not be a mess like in WoD with time travel and alternate universes and nostalgia pandering. But you know WoW's lore is so bad at this point, it won't make much of a difference.

I think they will get back on half of the things they broke, ie, they will get back to dailies, get back to sane reps which aren't Shaohao-style grinds, etc, and that's good, but it's just too small.

I don't believe they will fix the big things like (a) fix the PVP balance + bolster PVP to the point where most people actually enjoy it and many new players outright buy WoW due to its PVP gameplay, or (b) fix professions and make them interesting / integral to the world / deep enough to play WoW due to them, or (c) switch the stupid focus from raids to world content, arranging resources in such a way that raids get their 5-10% and other endgame gets the rest, etc.

I think we will see some new subsystems, maybe, perhaps something on the level of pet battles (likely smaller), but nothing terribly great, and so the game will continue suffering from the same problems it had for years, and will continue dying. One more crap expansion and it might die for real (= go F2P).