Why do they abandon the game for many months before each new expansion?

[Mellrod]

Alright, this is going to be a long and maybe slightly confusing explanation, so try to read it slowly, word by word if that helps.

You are not paying for content. You pay for access to content.



Yes, we pay for the expansion, and yes, we do get more content during the lifetime of an expansion than what "comes in the box". That is an expectation and they fulfill that part, even if we do not like said content. They are not required, by law, to give us more, but they do.
No, we do not pay subscription so they can make more content for us. We pay for access to what is already there.

This. Once you open up all your gifts, you're supposed to actually enjoy the gifts, not continuously look for new things to unwrap just for the sake of unwrapping things. Once an expansion reaches it's final content patch, that's it for the expansion. If you enjoy what the xpac has to offer then keep playing and enjoying til the next. If not, then unsub until next expansion comes out. If OP is staying subbed despite not enjoying anything, that's on him. He seems to think game subscription works as some kind of binding contract where we the players have hired Blizzard to entertain us.

simple as that.

One answer is: Because making the foundation of an expansion requires more work than a content patch.
Another is: Because people are hopelessly addicted and still give them money despite getting a substandard service.
Yet another is: Because Blizz is shit at managing their resources, despite having streamlined the everliving hell out of the game and doubled the dev team compared to previous iterations.

Double the manpower doesn't mean double the product here. That's the misconception a lot of players make when talking about game development in any studio. It's called game development, not game assembly. People look at it like it's an assembly line, when they're better off viewing it as a garden. You can hire more gardeners to plant more plants, but the garden itself is still gonna need time and care to grow everything in it. All that matters is that SL goes through the dev process with the time and care.

[Rootsbum]

Never understood why they just left us hanging before new expansion.
It just doesnt feel right, there are so many ways to just give us something to do with low effort:

-Add a few quests with kill X/gather Y to continue/end a few small stories.
(A goodbye to Flynn? A Calia-teaser? Show us some motivation behind DHs?)
-A little grind for a mog/mount like the bee-mount?
-Add some easter-eggs before pre-patch?
-add a quest-line with a small story-recap in the dialogue where we travel around zandalari/Kul Tiras?

[Harry Botter]

Jaylock? Did you finally cave and make a new account to keep whining about your self inflicted stupidity?

Jaylock is a god among mere mortals. We were better for having him here.

[Resident Rump]

This is why I liked the Ruby Sanctum in Wrath. Sure it was pretty simple, but it helped fill the void.

Maybe they should start doing the Trial of Valor/Crucible of Storms style mini raids at the end of the expansion, instead of near the start.

[ano2024]

Never understood why they just left us hanging before new expansion.
It just doesnt feel right, there are so many ways to just give us something to do with low effort:

-Add a few quests with kill X/gather Y to continue/end a few small stories.
(A goodbye to Flynn? A Calia-teaser? Show us some motivation behind DHs?)
-A little grind for a mog/mount like the bee-mount?
-Add some easter-eggs before pre-patch?
-add a quest-line with a small story-recap in the dialogue where we travel around zandalari/Kul Tiras?

Exactly. These little things would go a long way. But no, this company just decided: "screw you, this is all you get, see you in X months when you'll give me more money".

[Moonsorrow]

Many guilds already require their raiders to maintain one alt. As it'll get easier, they'll require more alts. This is bad for healthy raiding. That's why I'm against it.

I can understand this. But again this is a problem created by World Top 500 Guilds that push for every advantage available that affects casual carl. Those guilds will do it anyway and they will always find a way to exploit the systems, e.g. changing professions to be able to craft certain highlevel items only to be able to trade loot from day one.

Those Guilds will always have those requirements and those raiders will farm the necessary stuff on every fotm alt they need for progression. But casual carl is punished and might unsub if he has to do it all over again. And even if MMO-C tries do paint a different picture only a small minority actually raids and even less do it on CE level. All the rest is doing casual content which includes Alts.

I know that those don't need good essences but the power gain is so massive that even carl casual wants a part of this cake.

[socialmaker]

What the OP is trying to say is that the development of the next expansion is being charged (i.e. the new game) while this should be part of the subscription itself. Would make a lot more sense since they are only doing a handful of bug fixes in a 6+ month span.

[Drakain]

I mean, it makes sense to allocate resources according to what will make you the most money, right?

[Scottyjscizzle]

Let's go ahead and say that Blizzard says, hey, fuck it. And goes hard on BfA. They make the game PERFECT. EXACTLY the way you want it. You have ZERO complaints.

Then SL comes out as a half-completed fucking abortion of an expansion, barely tested, barely QA'd and a complete and total fucking train wreck.

24 hours later, you create the following thread:

"Why do they abandon new expansions right before they're released?"

An angel weeps.

Well I mean, shadowlands will come out like that anyways.