Did Blizzard know, that xpack was going to be bad in advance?

[Soon-TM]

You know, here Blizzard claim, that promotion was planned long time ago, so it's clear indication, that it's not tied to current loss of subs. But... What if Blizzard simply knew in advance, that xpack was going to be bad? You know, they actually had Alpha/Beta feedback and they actually experienced enough to know, whether game, they develop, is good or bad.

Absolutely yes. Even before Alpha, the Blizzcon panel for BfA was appalling. Idk wtf was wrong with the WoW team (it's hard to say whether they were stressed, overworked, underpaid or just plain uninterested) but their entire attitude reeked of "here guys, this is all we could come up with, take it or leave it". Not to mention that they utterly messed both Alpha and Beta, to the point that the live game resembles more a Beta version than the actual Beta ever did.

[Th3Scourge]

They knew that many things were going to be launched in an unfinished state but released it anyway because they had a schedule to stick to. SoonTM has been phased out of Blizzard's vocabulary

[Spiral Mage]

Considering I'm really enjoying it, and it's clear they put alot of effort into it. I doubt it.

[Sastank]

Did you know your post was going to be bad and unoriginal in advance? I think so.

[Marrilaife]

They probably knew that for many expansions in a row they get great opening month and then sharp dropoff of subs no matter what, since majority of playerbase is casual, doesn't raid or grind rated pvp ranks or whatever that keeps them occupied for months. So they thought "what if we can remedy at least a part of the inevitable dropoff with some loyalty plan?" Standard marketing practice.

Every expansion since at least Cata had a dropoff of subs after initial release hype / rush.

Also every expansion since WOD suffered from rushed release and cut corners. Bugs, bad class balance and technical issues following. Legion wasn't any exception.

[Nyel]

... and it's clear they put alot of effort into it. I doubt it.

Where? None of the features or "new" gameplay systems as designed with a lot of effort put into it. The only thing they might have put effort into are the continents. The art team did a fantastic job but both continents are filled with generic and boring questlines and some of the worst worked out neutral races we've ever got. Vulpera, Sethrak and even Tortollans feel so half assed, it's sad.

[WowIsDead64]

Absolutely yes. Even before Alpha, the Blizzcon panel for BfA was appalling. Idk wtf was wrong with the WoW team (it's hard to say whether they were stressed, overworked, underpaid or just plain uninterested) but their entire attitude reeked of "here guys, this is all we could come up with, take it or leave it". Not to mention that they utterly messed both Alpha and Beta, to the point that the live game resembles more a Beta version than the actual Beta ever did.

Yeah, I also have strange feeling, that it's xpack just for the sake of xpack, i.e. yeah, some changes are made, but I don't understand why, for what reasons and for whom they are made. May be it's lack of communication, may be it's real lack of well defined direction of development. My only guess - WOD+Legion were side stories and BFA is just continuation of MOP storyline. Problem is - we've already sacrificed Garrosh as fuel for whole silly WOD+Legion story. Yeah, all that time travel, alternative reality, resurrection of long dead characters, who resurrect even more long dead characters. And now Blizzard just want to try to return to "Alliance vs Horde" storyline, abandoned long time ago. Just like MOP fail wasn't enough for them.

[Devilyaki]

Honestly I don’t think they ever think what they are putting out is bad, hence why when they get negative feed back they tend to passively look it over and continue on. When shit goes live and people are saying the same things and numbers start dropping only then do they start to pull their heads out of their ass and start to listen. They didn’t know it was going to be bad but they should of listened so it could of been better.

[Jinzuru]

Honestly I don’t think they ever think what they are putting out is bad, hence why when they get negative feed back they tend to passively look it over and continue on. When shit goes live and people are saying the same things and numbers start dropping only then do they start to pull their heads out of their ass and start to listen. They didn’t know it was going to be bad but they should of listened so it could of been better.

So what you're saying, the fault is in their ego and pride. They think they can't do wrong and everyone who dares to disagree is just troll/stupid and doesn't see the Grand Scheme.

[Echocho]

Probably not bad but they probably knew it would be lacking in content.

[Cwimge]

The boat is minor damage control as always and a nice spike in revenue for a second. You see this a lot- mount releases tend to follow blizzards staged question sessions or any point where moral is low. Gating this one behind an 80 dollar paywall- I mean "180 days gametime" is kinda scummy though

[Devilyaki]

So what you're saying, the fault is in their ego and pride. They think they can't do wrong and everyone who dares to disagree is just troll/stupid and doesn't see the Grand Scheme.

What it seems like for the most part. They have a vision for what will happen and how it will play and tend to not change from it.

[gobio]

How you do approach the start of an expansion speaks a lot.

LEGION : We need to attract new people or old people back to this game. Lets design a spec specific weapon and spec specific quest line for them all, and we go from there.
BFA : We already attracted those people Legion attracted. Lets just have them click 5 stone and we give them this generic necklace for ALL spec, and we free fall from there.

And how could they NOT know this BFA expansion is objectively bad.