The Drought

[CosmicGuitars]

We all know that WoW has had a problem with end-of-expansion content droughts. Every expansion we go through a similar situation where the first year is generally content rich and frequently updated, but the second year is often entirely barren. I saw a post on reddit that gave me a grim reminder that there is often an entire year between the expansion announcement and it's release.

Legion announced August 2015, released August 2016
Warlords announced November 2013, released November 2014.
Mists announced October 2011, release September 2012.
Cataclysm announced August 2009, release December 2010.

With this in mind, is there really any chance the expansion being announced in a month breaks the trend and genuinely releases at a reasonable time? Or are we barreling straight into 11-13 months of Argus/Antorus without any new content beyond minor story patches that Ion mentioned in the recent Q&A?

I dread the thought of a November 2018 release date.

[Blayze]

Eh, just level alts. It'll be fine.

[ReVnX]

A release date before Octobre 2018 looks far-fetched

[Konteil]

they have been great about rolling out new stuff. i dontthink they ever want the wod drama again. loll

[Gaidax]

I will be surprised if expansion comes within 9 months from announcement, but on the other hand I will also be surprised if it will take more than a year.

They can't really afford that and they know it.

[Corroc]

Most likely 6 month of raid and then 8.0. Story patches before 8.0.

[CosmicGuitars]

I will be surprised if expansion comes within 9 months from announcement, but on the other hand I will also be surprised if it will take more than a year.

They can't really afford that and they know it.

I'd generally agree, but it's hard to really look at the numbers and feel confident in their ability to change it.

[Soulwind]

I've got to farm a ton of artifact appearances, it can come out in 2020.

[Occam-OC]

I look forward to a little bit of drought. I have alts to water and feed and this xpac has been terrible for that kind of thing. Plus there's generally older content stuff that I can switch focus to (older raid mounts and xmog stuff).

[CosmicGuitars]

I look forward to a little bit of drought. I have alts to water and feed and this xpac has been terrible for that kind of thing. Plus there's generally older content stuff that I can switch focus to (older raid mounts and xmog stuff).

I can understand that perspective. I wouldn't want the next expansion to hit too soon, but it's hard to rationalize an expansion being half empty. I wish they'd find a way to pace it out so we could have content in year two in the expansion lead up.

[Alvito]

With how long the expansions are in alpha and beta testing it seems unlikely it won't go much longer then the time between patches so far in Legion. Yes they do test internally, but there is a reason that alpha and beta testing takes so long. Unfortunately no matter what the time window is it is going to piss off a lot of people and be brutal on many raids/guilds.

[Video Games]

I kind of want it to be awhile since they're doing another stat squish and i wanna continue to do a jillion dps as long as possible.

[Deleted]

To those who wish to keep gearing up and "progressing", I think this drought will be the best one yet - I'd imagine they will adjust dungeon difficulties, raise ilvl cap and stuff like this to keep things rolling.

[Justpassing]

As long as we have small story patches / small scenarios & dungeons and such, I don't mind a drought.

[CosmicGuitars]

As long as we have small story patches / small scenarios & dungeons and such, I don't mind a drought.

It may make me come back once or twice, but I really don't think story quests will be enough to make me want to play very much in that 11-13 month period. If I can get the same experience from just watching a YouTube video or looking at screenshots, I'm not really sure it's compelling enough to draw people back to the game.

[Hctaz]

I dunno I don't think it'll be that bad. I'd reckon that the only reason they haven't announced the expansion is due to the fact that it's a Blizzcon thing. I'd be surprised if the beta doesn't start nearly immediately after Blizzcon. I bet the Alpha is already well done by now. I think they realized their mistake last time, but wanted to get the hype out as early as possible since people hated WoD.

[Justpassing]

It may make me come back once or twice, but I really don't think story quests will be enough to make me want to play very much in that 11-13 month period. If I can get the same experience from just watching a YouTube video or looking at screenshots, I'm not really sure it's compelling enough to draw people back to the game.

Well it IS a drought by definition; if they could / decide to add more then it wouldn't be a drought would it?

[Nyel]

There is always a drought and there will always be a drought. The question is will it be the average 12 months or less. Release earlier than September 2018 is very unlikely so it's a 12 months drought which is average. Shorter than that? Not going to happen.

[CosmicGuitars]

Well it IS a drought by definition; if they could / decide to add more then it wouldn't be a drought would it?

Depends on who you ask! A lot of people consider the end-of-WOTLK drought of 12 months even though Ruby Sanctum came out during those 12 months. People only really consider the ICC patch the final major piece of content.

[Deleted]

If I can get the same experience from just watching a YouTube video or looking at screenshots

you defo ashould quit the game if you get the same experience from shitty yt videos....