What if WoW keeps up this longer release cycle?

[Lighthope]

What would you do if Blizzard, seeing that a good number of people will continue subscribing during a content drought, decided to permanently lengthen the patch release cycle?

Would you continue subscribing, knowing that content will eventually come?

Would you continue subscribing, believing that a longer patch cycle means better quality content?

Would you temporarily unsubscribe and come back when new content is eventually release?

Would you permanently unsubscribe, giving up on WoW?

Would you do something other than the above?

[Big Thanks]

We are cyclical

The sooner you stop playing WoW, the sooner you will feel like playing it again.

[Thafuzz]

What would you do if Blizzard, seeing that a good number of people will continue subscribing during a content drought, decided to permanently lengthen the patch release cycle?

Would you continue subscribing, knowing that content will eventually come?

Would you continue subscribing, believing that a longer patch cycle means better quality content?

Would you temporarily unsubscribe and come back when new content is eventually release?

Would you permanently unsubscribe, giving up on WoW?

Would you do something other than the above?

Yes I'm moving to only being subbed one month after content comes out. From being perma subbed. Literally no reason to keep going after you've done the content. Blizzard has made the gear become obsolete. I'm nearly full bis mythic nathria gear which could easily be replaced(and better) by normal Santcum.

[ceall]

I stay subbed for the entire time.

That's the positive side for being in a "low-end" mythic guild. We're progressing sire mythic for 2 weeks now, almost made it to p3, and since i am an avid defender of 6-8 month raid tiers to give lower end guilds the chance to clear the raid and because it directly translates into relatively short end-of-expansion waits, i am completely cool with a content patch that includes a raid tier to take this long.

That being said, i would have liked the legion model of content patches where IIRC the raids released in the X.X.5 patches with "side content" like open world stuff and new dungeons being released in the X.Y patches which would be midway through a tier. The 11 week cycles were way too short though. Could have easily been 14-15 weeks to space out content more.

[Cosmic Janitor]

Would probably cause my m+ group to collapse over time, instead of just my umpteenth guild. I would probably stop playing alltogether, especially if the quality is as bad as SL.

[MrLachyG]

I mean honestly I think the pandemic really messed things up. People can say that they had plenty of time but there is no doubt that moving from working at work to home then back to work affected the overall productivity of the team. we saw that when Shadowlands was first delayed and we're seeing that now. Hopefully 9.2 will arrive by December or January depending on when 9.1 is released but I would not be surprised if it was delayed a bit. However after that things should definitely go back to normal.

as for me, my sub continues. got bored of retail, poured time into Classic/BC

[Razion]

Siege of Orgrimmar, for example, lasted quite a while and arguably did well with it. Did Ruby Sanctum do well for the time it was supposed to cover? Hell no. Did this work at the end of WoD either? Fuck no.

A bad patch is a bad patch, and stretching it out is going to hurt more. When the content is good and is stretched out over a longer time that's a hell of a lot better than a great patch you barely got to play at all before it was replaced. Sometimes there have been patches that were completely S Tier, but got replaced almost as soon as they came around. Tragedies. Those are more the scenarios that should be avoided. Just lengthening all patches isn't a catch-all solution, because it won't fit all patches. Hell, it'd probably get very samey to do patches of the same length or to make them all longer. But at the same time, there was definitely a problem with some patches not being allowed the time they deserved for how good they were. THAT shit they could adjust for.

SOME patches deserve to breathe, to be savored. Not all do.

[Big Thanks]

Would probably cause my m+ group to collapse over time, instead of just my umpteenth guild. I would probably stop playing alltogether, especially if the quality is as bad as SL.

Oof that can be tough yeah.
When you feel outside pressure to never stop playing the game due to friendships, guilds, pvp teams etc

You may feel forced to continue playing even though you clearly not having fun anymore.

I personaly quit for a while...no idea if thats always the best option or not.

[OokOok]

Siege of Orgrimmar, for example, lasted quite a while and arguably did well with it. Did Ruby Sanctum do well for the time it was supposed to cover? Hell no. Did this work at the end of WoD either? Fuck no.

A bad patch is a bad patch, and stretching it out is going to hurt more. When the content is good and is stretched out over a longer time that's a hell of a lot better than a great patch you barely got to play at all before it was replaced. Sometimes there have been patches that were completely S Tier, but got replaced almost as soon as they came around. Tragedies. Those are more the scenarios that should be avoided. Just lengthening all patches isn't a catch-all solution, because it won't fit all patches. Hell, it'd probably get very samey to do patches of the same length or to make them all longer. But at the same time, there was definitely a problem with some patches not being allowed the time they deserved for how good they were. THAT shit they could adjust for.

SOME patches deserve to breathe, to be savored. Not all do.

Did you just compare RS a 1 boss filler raid, to SoO a 14 Boss end expansion raid and say one kept people busy more than the other? lol

[Razion]

Did you just compare RS a 1 boss filler raid, to SoO a 14 Boss end expansion raid and say one kept people busy more than the other? lol

If you even wanted to compare SoO to ICC, ICC at the time wasn't lasting long enough -- it's why Ruby Sanctum was pushed out in the first place. People were bored. It's not like ICC was a bad raid, it just lasted too long.

[MoanaLisa]

What would you do if Blizzard, seeing that a good number of people will continue subscribing during a content drought, decided to permanently lengthen the patch release cycle?

Just a note to observe that daily players may feel like they are in a content drought. Weekend players or those who don't live and breathe World of Warcraft—that's me—may be just fine with it like it is. I play 3 times a week, sometimes 2. I have stuff still to do and haven't grown weary of doing stuff every day for weeks because I don't play every day and don't do the same stuff every time I play.

Depending on how many players there are that are like that (I have no idea and won't even speculate in detail but feel like it might be more than people suspect) Blizzard may adjust things a bit although I doubt if that's the case. Like others have said, the effects of the pandemic on work and organizational routines has been substantial.

In either case, lots of people don't subscribe for 12 months. Blizzard has a macro understanding of how many players subscribe for how many months and what they're doing and can budget accordingly.

My own personal feeling is that their belief in big, infrequent patches is a mistake. It might have been OK 10 years ago. I don't think it's fine now. My other personal belief is that they're abysmally bad at planning this stuff.

[Stardrift]

Content already comes far too slowly than it should, especially since they ask for $15 a month on top of every other way they gain revenue.

If it was like this all the time from here on out? Fuck no.

- - - Updated - - -

I mean honestly I think the pandemic really messed things up. People can say that they had plenty of time but there is no doubt that moving from working at work to home then back to work affected the overall productivity of the team. we saw that when Shadowlands was first delayed and we're seeing that now. Hopefully 9.2 will arrive by December or January depending on when 9.1 is released but I would not be surprised if it was delayed a bit. However after that things should definitely go back to normal.

as for me, my sub continues. got bored of retail, poured time into Classic/BC

They stated it's working out for them. It's office work on a computer. Only thing slowing them down is communication. Which I doubt is a problem anyways.

[cuafpr]

been subbed since release week, that won't change till I die or the game is shut down whichever comes first... even I barely play a few hours a month now.

[Lurker1]

What would you do if Blizzard, seeing that a good number of people will continue subscribing during a content drought, decided to permanently lengthen the patch release cycle?

Would you continue subscribing, knowing that content will eventually come?

Would you continue subscribing, believing that a longer patch cycle means better quality content?

Would you temporarily unsubscribe and come back when new content is eventually release?

Would you permanently unsubscribe, giving up on WoW?

Would you do something other than the above?

Im going to take a one month break if not more im just not feeling shadowlands in general Even if they released the patches faster not feeling it.

[khazmodan]

Just a note to observe that daily players may feel like they are in a content drought. Weekend players or those who don't live and breathe World of Warcraft—that's me—may be just fine with it like it is. I play 3 times a week, sometimes 2. I have stuff still to do and haven't grown weary of doing stuff every day for weeks because I don't play every day and don't do the same stuff every time I play.

Depending on how many players there are that are like that (I have no idea and won't even speculate in detail but feel like it might be more than people suspect) Blizzard may adjust things a bit although I doubt if that's the case. Like others have said, the effects of the pandemic on work and organizational routines has been substantial.

In either case, lots of people don't subscribe for 12 months. Blizzard has a macro understanding of how many players subscribe for how many months and what they're doing and can budget accordingly.

My own personal feeling is that their belief in big, infrequent patches is a mistake. It might have been OK 10 years ago. I don't think it's fine now. My other personal belief is that they're abysmally bad at planning this stuff.

I think you are right that Blizzard misjudges the player base desires because they WANT to believe that people will continue playing if there are enough time sinks. The reality is; the player base (if you are counting the possible 12 million) are more casuals that want to have some fun with friends than no lifers that will grind the endless diminishing returns time sinks. People will grind more if the content is exceptionally fun and social but the community is almost nonexistent in anything but hardcore raiding guilds and the fun level is influenced by the social experience.

[TheFirstOnes]

Play a different game.

[Tyris Flare]

I stay subbed for the entire time.

That's the positive side for being in a "low-end" mythic guild. We're progressing sire mythic for 2 weeks now, almost made it to p3, and since i am an avid defender of 6-8 month raid tiers to give lower end guilds the chance to clear the raid and because it directly translates into relatively short end-of-expansion waits, i am completely cool with a content patch that includes a raid tier to take this long.

That being said, i would have liked the legion model of content patches where IIRC the raids released in the X.X.5 patches with "side content" like open world stuff and new dungeons being released in the X.Y patches which would be midway through a tier. The 11 week cycles were way too short though. Could have easily been 14-15 weeks to space out content more.

I'm really surprised your raiders haven't lost interest by now. It's really hard to maintain momentum past 5 or 6 months in my experience

[RemasteredClassic]

I'm really surprised your raiders haven't lost interest by now. It's really hard to maintain momentum past 5 or 6 months in my experience

Until major changes are made to the game, specifically an evolved fun talent system with multiple paths per spec and the removal of borrowed powers other than through non-legendary set bonus gear, as well as prioritizing story driven content both instanced and otherwise, I will not be subscribing for longer than I can have fun in the game and never play to progress in any way shape or form other than getting one character to max level to check out whatever content is available at max level (meaning no systems will ever make me wanna sub for longer than 2 months per expansion considering that amount of sub money, just for two months, can be spent on buying a completely different game without a sub and that we also have to pay for expansions - however a decently designed wow will make me wanna sub longer).

I used to be an altaholic but considering the game's direction, that is also over now. From time to time, I might login to play the free trial to level alts to level 20 in different expansions.

[Swnem]

I stay subbed for the entire time.

That's the positive side for being in a "low-end" mythic guild. We're progressing sire mythic for 2 weeks now, almost made it to p3, and since i am an avid defender of 6-8 month raid tiers to give lower end guilds the chance to clear the raid and because it directly translates into relatively short end-of-expansion waits, i am completely cool with a content patch that includes a raid tier to take this long.

That being said, i would have liked the legion model of content patches where IIRC the raids released in the X.X.5 patches with "side content" like open world stuff and new dungeons being released in the X.Y patches which would be midway through a tier. The 11 week cycles were way too short though. Could have easily been 14-15 weeks to space out content more.

That is ok, but it does not translate into smaller end of expansion cycles in this case.

This will result in either cut content or delayed expansion.

[Azerate]

For now, the game keeps providing me entertainment even after the main patch content is cleared, so I'm not even considering unsubbing