Would you rather?...

[Mestalis]

Assuming the game continues through 10.0, gameplay continues improving, and is enjoyable regardless of the outcome; would you rather:

1. Get a 9.3 even if it means Shadowlands lasts well over 2 years and breaks the xpac every 2 years cycle.
2. Have 9.3 get cut like 6.3 was in WoD to keep the xpac cycle consistent.

Personally I'd prefer Shadowlands to last longer; I'd rather they take their time to execute their vision rather than rushing/cutting things to meet the schedule. Despite all of it's issues, I love the aesthetic of Shadowlands and don't feel a dire need for a completely new theme. I assume I am in the minority, but I'm curious as to the breakdown.

[OMGTwitchTV]

I think I might enjoy it if they wiped out everything back to MoP, added flying back in at level cap without the bs achievement, and hand us something that actually feels more like lore and less like "a story".

[Mestalis]

I think I might enjoy it if they wiped out everything back to MoP, added flying back in at level cap without the bs achievement, and hand us something that actually feels more like lore and less like "a story".

Well it seems evident that an official announcement for rolling fresh classic servers is coming. That means we're likely to get "Classic" of every xpac eventually, and just have rolling re-releases on new servers over time. So you're likely going to get your wish eventually. I don't know what that has anything to do with the future of Retail though, MoP came out nearly 10 years ago.

[Skirdus]

Cut 9.3. End it with 9.2. The pitiful excuse for a story Shadowlands has been trying to pass off needs to come to an end as soon as possible

[Mestalis]

Cut 9.3. End it with 9.2. The pitiful excuse for a story Shadowlands has been trying to pass off needs to come to an end as soon as possible

That assumes a new expansion means an automatically improved story. In my mind either they're taking input seriously immediately and future patches will be better, or they aren't and they won't. I'm not sure the delineation between expansions has that great an impact on the quality of storytelling. That is, unless we're working under the assumption that 10.0 is going to be a major overhaul/revamp/wow2 scenario. Either way, I could also argue the more time they spend on the current expansion, reusing assets that are already available and enjoyable, the more time and resources they have to work on building and improving the next expansion.

[Dracullus]

9.3. I paid full price for expac, I want similar amount of content to MoP/Legion/BfA. Most design problems could be fix in patch, even small one it looks like.

And if we talk about deeper issues, devs should take their time and really think what 10.0 should be. Feedback is unclear now, it's not like after BfA.

Btw, funny how times changed since WoD. Scraping raid tier was treated like heresy, now people are asking Blizz to do it. Unbelievable.

[Paperfox]

The issue about asking them to cut 9.3 is that you're hoping they'll pull off another Legion. What if 10.0 is just as bad as SL?

[muto]

9.3. I paid full price for expac, I want similar amount of content to MoP/Legion/BfA. Most design problems could be fix in patch, even small one it looks like.

And if we talk about deeper issues, devs should take their time and really think what 10.0 should be. Feedback is unclear now, it's not like after BfA.

Btw, funny how times changed since WoD. Scraping raid tier was treated like heresy, now people are asking Blizz to do it. Unbelievable.

Because few people want to play this terrible expansion anymore.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I want shadowlands to be over.

[Mysterymask]

Because few people want to play this terrible expansion anymore.

Yet they keep buying them

[Lochton]

I voted 'Other'

I want 9.3 where the last part takes us to Azeroth, making a final conclusion of Shadowlands instead of having a lame exit if they cut the story shorter than planned.

[MoanaLisa]

I would cut 9.3 and start a different story. MMO's live on their stories for better or worse and Blizzard has issues they need to resolve in that respect.

[Dracullus]

Because few people want to play this terrible expansion anymore.

Hear this every expac.

[Mestalis]

I voted 'Other'

I want 9.3 where the last part takes us to Azeroth, making a final conclusion of Shadowlands instead of having a lame exit if they cut the story shorter than planned.

I would consider that a yes! Even if we change locations, the expansion is still the same. I am expecting new locations either way.

- - - Updated - - -

Hear this every expac.

Yup, and it's not actually true. There are still millions playing, and the recent exodus is more to do with protesting the behavior that has recently come to light than the quality of the game itself. The majority of players are casuals who predominantly spend their time questing, and will never post to a forum.

[Drusin]

I've been saying go to three year xpacs for years now lol

[Goat7]

I would go further. Kill the game completely with 9.2. Last patch ever.

then

Get your shit together, get a great fucking team of people (that means spending money bobby), spend a few years making a bad ass Warcraft 4, followed by WoW2 a few more years after that.

[Kumorii]

Get 9.3. Mainly because of content reasons...

Though I don't get the story argument for cutting it. I imagine that the transition from cut 9.3 to 10.0 would be awkward because the story is already planned out. Which means big changes... which I get, people don't like the current story, but I feel like people would think next story is shit anyway because of transition "not making sense" due to cut story beats.
to me that is sorta like shooting yourself in the foot.. .you want a better story, but you want the foundation of a terrible one.

Of course there is no guarantee either way and it could work. I just think it increases the risk of a bad story.

[muto]

I would consider that a yes! Even if we change locations, the expansion is still the same. I am expecting new locations either way.

- - - Updated - - -



Yup, and it's not actually true. There are still millions playing, and the recent exodus is more to do with protesting the behavior that has recently come to light than the quality of the game itself. The majority of players are casuals who predominantly spend their time questing, and will never post to a forum.

People don’t give a shit about that. If they’re having fun they’re going to keep playing. People aren’t having fun. The expansion sucks. Covenants are not fun, because of Renown, Conduits, and picking whichever sims the highest. Torghast got old real quick. The amount of systems is ridiculous. They even added another one in 9.1 (dom sockets), despite feedback that no one likes all these systems.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I'd rather they polish and improve the game than cater to people just hoping to jump to the new FOTM.

Assuming that the next expansion will automatically be better comes down to the moronic idea of "1 good 1 bad", which simply doesn't hold water considering every single person has a different idea of which expansions were good.

I'd rather they take a long time getting 10.0 right than rush ahead to stem losses. A new WoW expansion will sell record copies anyway, regardless of how the previous expansion went.

- - - Updated - - -

I would go further. Kill the game completely with 9.2. Last patch ever.

then

Get your shit together, get a great fucking team of people (that means spending money bobby), spend a few years making a bad ass Warcraft 4, followed by WoW2 a few more years after that.

And the award for shittiest business decision ever goes tooooo: Blizzard if they did this.

[Hitei]

Why would anyone sane want LESS time for 10.0 to be developed?