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[MetroidPrimeRib]

Third times the charm, right?

Cataclysm - Dragon Soul to Mists launch - 301 days.

Mists of Pandaria - Siege of Orgrimmar to Warlords launch - 429 days

Warlords of Draenor - Hellfire Citadel to Legion launch - 435 days.

Faster content patches this time for sure tho

 

[Kyzer]

good. WoW 2 when?

jk tho its not really good

 

[Moaradin]

How does Blizzard keep getting away with it? I quit WoW during the huge downtime during ICC and the next big patch. Seems like it has only got worse since then.

 

[Nokterian]

Never seen such a big drought unlike WoW but reading a recent Q&A they are stopping to yearly expansions because well they never achieved it anyway but i do for the love of god that Legion will be a stream of new content before that next expansion comes a long.

 

[Data West]

good. WoW 2 when?

Never.

 

[KLoWn]

We've know for a long time that that would be the last content patch WoD would get.

This is routine at this point, why would anyone honestly be surprised anymore? Just un-sub and re-sub when the expansion comes.

 

[lazygecko]

How does Blizzard keep getting away with it?

I don't think they really are.

 

[mysocksarepink]

Never seen such a big drought unlike WoW but reading a recent Q&A they are stopping to yearly expansions because well they never achieved it anyway but i do for the love of god that Legion will be a stream of new content before that next expansion comes a long.

if they could focus on more content patches instead of these dumb expansions

 

[Maximus.]

That is really unfortunate :/

 

[Risev1]

How does Blizzard keep getting away with it? I quit WoW during the huge downtime during ICC and the next big patch. Seems like it has only got worse since then.

Considering they lost like 5 million subscribers during the duration of Warlords of Draenor, they're really NOT getting away with it at all.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

WoD was a dumb expansion

It even had potential despite its throwaway alternate universe nature and the plot was terrible.

The leveling experience was nice though. Garrisons can die in a fire

 

[Data West]

How does Blizzard keep getting away with it? I quit WoW during the huge downtime during ICC and the next big patch. Seems like it has only got worse since then.

They get away with it because they have a large group of players that will just suffer through with it.

But as seen by subscriber numbers, even that group is starting to get fed up with their constant lies about content scheduling.

 

[Apathy]

Everyone remember when they said quicker content patches and 1 year long expansions? Cause blizzard doesn't.

 

[Finaj]

How does Blizzard keep getting away with it? I quit WoW during the huge downtime during ICC and the next big patch. Seems like it has only got worse since then.

They really aren't. Subscriptions have plummeted.

Blizzard genuinely wants to create content faster, but it just seems like an impossible task for them.

Everyone remember when they said quicker content patches and 1 year long expansions? Cause blizzard doesn't.

Blizzard recently stated in an interview that 1-year expansions are impossible and will not pursue them.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

People will probably end up hating Hellfire Citadel and Siege of Orgrimmar down the line because they were stuck in them so long, despite them being good raids, even though I liked Blackrock Foundry and Throne of Thunder more.

Dragon Soul sucked then and sucks now tho

 

[Veldin]

They're really dedicated to breaking new records.

 

[KiefbladeMaster]

They did that 1 and a half hour long Q&A and addressed content patches. Said they won't be meeting that yearly xpac goal, but instead, will continue to provide substantial content patches to tide players over until the next.

 

[Berordn]

Everyone remember when they said quicker content patches and 1 year long expansions? Cause blizzard doesn't.

One of the last interviews they did they admitted it was never going to happen and they were going to focus on content patches going forward .

So we'll see about that.

 

[Linkark07]

And yet people expect this will change with Legion. Which I doubt it of course.

 

[BroodShadow]

The way blizzard has been running wow for the last 5 years has been fucking awful and the staff should feel ashamed of themselves.

For the most successful MMO of all time blizzard sure does not seem to care much about the game and it's fans.

it's such a shame to see the game in this state due to blizzards negligence.

 

[Lesath]

What I'm guessing happened was that 6.1 was a complete failure of a patch (lol Twitter integration) and subs dropped so quickly that they broke the "in case of emergency - Demon Hunters" box, scrounged up whatever they could for 6.2, then went all hands on deck for Legion.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Legion looks to be a massive improvement on nearly everything on the QoL side, but content wise I expect it to take the route the last three xpacs have of a balloon losing the air inside it at a rapid rate before falling to the ground

 

[KZXcellent]

As someone who only really plays Final Fantasy XIV mmo-wise this sounds AWFUL. They release a new content patch every 4ish months. WoW deserves to lose subs if they let their game sit for over a year with nothing.

 

[Atlantis]

They make and break the same promises every expansion.

At least they've finally scrapped mana regen scaling completely in Legion after consistently failing to deliver on their "mana will matter" promise they make every release.

 

[KLoWn]

What I'm guessing happened was that 6.1 was a complete failure of a patch (lol Twitter integration) and subs dropped so quickly that they broke the "in case of emergency - Demon Hunters" box, scrounged up whatever they could for 6.2, then went all hands on deck for Legion.

They were already working on Legion before WoD was released, and unless they've changed the way they work they've already started work on the expansion that will comes after Legion. So no, that is not what happened.

 

[Aztechnology]

WoW is trying to cater to far too many niche audiences within the envelope of the game. They dug their own grave over time by trying to grow and grow searching for new audiences instead of just doing a few things really well. Now they're stuck in an awkward position. I don't see Legion changing that status quo.

 

[Milly Osworth]

Look at any developer interview of the last few years. They are completely burnt out and the passion is gone.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Gourmands eat more and faster than aesthetics.

 

[ValkyrUser]

Yeah, that's why I haven't touched it in months. Normally I would be happy just leveling characters during these contentless months but cross-realm zones destroyed that enjoyment long ago. Depressing...

 

[KLoWn]

Yeah, that's why I haven't touched it in months. Normally I would be happy just leveling characters during these contentless months but cross-realm zones destroyed that enjoyment long ago. Depressing...

Hm? Didn't people complain that the zones were too empty and were happy when this was introduced? Do people not like it anymore?

 

[Mossybrew]

They are completely burnt out and the passion is gone.

Describes a good deal of the player base too. This is probably the first xpac that I won't buy. No, I probably will order it online at some point when I'm drunk. But I'll regret it.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Hm? Didn't people complain that the zones were too empty and were happy when this was introduced? Do people not like it anymore?

There's zero countermeasures to people realm hopping to steal rares. Go to any Zandalari spawn points in Pandaria and you'll see people sitting there, phasing in and out of realms to nab it the second it spawns.

 

[HowZatOZ]

Never seen such a big drought unlike WoW but reading a recent Q&A they are stopping to yearly expansions because well they never achieved it anyway but i do for the love of god that Legion will be a stream of new content before that next expansion comes a long.

Don't hold your breath. They've been saying shit like that since Lich King and nothing has come of it. Blizzard just don't have the drive that WoW had from vanilla to Lich King, that or they just emphasise on polish far too much and only get little bits out due to this.

 

[Sölf]

Well, I stopped playing (well, I stopped playing for weeks and months since classic). Still hyped for Legion.
But yeah, they should just put out a content patch every 5-6 months. But even hat wouldn't have worked with WoD only having 2 of them. Eh, whatever.

 

[brainzelda]

I just reupped to play Draenor before Legion and it's... not good. It's just so thin on content. Only 4 dungeons till lvl 100??? Pandaria had like 8 and that was just a 5 lvl expac. They try to fill the middle levels with cheap mobile gaming tactics with the garrison but it's not working. The solo questing is dime a dozen kill x amount of dudes like it's been for years.

Not to mention that the alternate timeline story means I don't have to give a shit because I know it's not actually going to affect the main lore.

Poor.

 

[DarkKyo]

FFXIV gets a bunch of new content every 3 months or so. You'd think Blizzard could hire more staff to make more content with the kind of money they make.

Or maybe they just know people will play regardless of their own output.

 

[ValkyrUser]

Hm? Didn't people complain that the zones were too empty and were happy when this was introduced? Do people not like it anymore?

That's the story supposedly. There was a lot of vocal hate on the forums when they introduced it, lots of big threads over it. People still downvote others who support it on the forums even today. People have their different reasons for disliking it.

I don't like it because it puts too many people in one zone and on the same quest. People don't want to be social while leveling so no one wants to party. Now it's just a constant competition for the quest mobs that take forever to respawn. I used to find leveling to be relaxing, now It's just stressful.

 

[Sölf]

Only 4 dungeons till lvl 100??? Pandaria had like 8 and that was just a 5 lvl expac.

There is one glaring difference here though. Draenor only has 4 dungeons from 90-100 but also 4 level 100 dungeons and after that heroics. Pandaria at launch had only 4 leveling dungeons from 85-90 and no level 100 dungeons. After the leveling dungeons you immediatly had heroic modes (which amounted to 9 dungeons, so still 1 more than Draenor). I don't want to defend the small amount of content Draenor had, but there is a difference in dungeon design.

 

[SargerusBR]

To be honest i don't expect things to be much different with Legion. WoW stopped being a priority for Blizzard ever since the end of Cataclysm.

 

[TDLink]

FFXIV gets a bunch of new content every 3 months or so. You'd think Blizzard could hire more staff to make more content with the kind of money they make.

Or maybe they just know people will play regardless of their own output.

As someone who has played both games extensively in the past and enjoyed both of them, I have to say, the amount of content in FFXIV is minuscule to that of WoW, which is just on a ridiculous level. Both on a base level, each expansion, and the typical content update.

Note: Haven't played WoW since Cataclysm. Haven't played FFXIV since last fall.

 

[AnathemicOne]

Yeah it sucks but I assume everyone knows that Blizzard ditched WoD for Legion and that's what they are focusing on now.

 

[ValkyrUser]

Kotaku did an interview some weeks back with the WoW guys on this. Link

Schreier: I think after Draenor it was only two content patches—I believe people were hoping for more? What’s the plan for the future?

Chilton: Yeah. We certainly have a richer patch content lineup plan for Legion. We ended up not being happy with the amount of patch content that we did for Warlords. Some of it was because we believed that we were going to make Legion faster than we were actually able to, and so when we were planning the patch cycle for Warlords, we were being aggressive. We thought, ‘OK this time we’ve got our ducks in a row and we’ll be able to make the expansion faster and so we won’t be able to fit in more patch content.’ We just ended up being terribly wrong about that.

There's more there if interested.

 

[MetroidPrimeRib]

Another thing to think about is how players are engaging with the content. Patches are still raid focused. Always have been, likely always will be. Most people seem to think that there are too many difficulties at present - LFR, normal, heroic and mythic. But it's still a small percentage of people who've stepped foot into mythic HFC, for a variety of reasons. Their server, guild, gear, item level or even desire. So most players still haven't engaged with the highest level content available despite the time. Wonder what blizzard thinks of that.

 

[Khezu]

I think a lot of the WoW devs know and care, but can't really do anything about it, as WoW doesn't seem to be a major concern for Blizzard as a whole.

Either there other games just make more money in the long run, or they simply don't have any passion left.

Probably just going to through the motions until all that's left is a niche but dedicated crowd who keeps buying expansions every two years just because they have been doing it for most of their life.

 

[Neo_Geo]

Like Nintendo with Animal Crossing, they know they can get away with people paying for bare minimum effort put into the actual product. They are basically praying on hopeless addicts at this point.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Probably just going to through the motions until all that's left is a niche but dedicated crowd who keeps buying expansions every two years just because they have been doing it for most of their life.

YOU DON'T KNOW ME!

Spoiler

This is exactly why I buy them

 

[PatzCU]

Blizzard continues to dig their own grave with WoW. Either they are entirely content with the amount of revenue they are bringing in versus resources used to keep it running or they're moving on to bigger and better things. I personally ducked out after Cataclysm release when they pulled the same shit with ridiculous lengths of time between content patch releases. They can only "fool" their player base so many times.

At this point, what are people even paying for? Even Diablo 3 gets more content support and that game has no monthly subscription!

 

[mothball]

theyanger post if you're ok

 

[Kouriozan]

That's sad, I want to get into WoW but keep hearing bad thing about how it is nowadays,

Like Nintendo with Animal Crossing, they know they can get away with people paying for bare minimum effort put into the actual product. They are basically praying on hopeless addicts at this point.

Sadly, this can be said for almost all sequel like FIFA and stuff.
Also looks like you skipped Animal Crossing New Leaf.

 

[Artdayne]

Blizzard continuously makes promises they cannot keep. The OP forgot to include the long delay after ICC came out. They said they had more people working on the game after they stopped working on Titan, yet nothing came out faster. Then they removed a raid from the most recent expansion and it is still taking as long as it ever has. I stopped playing after the first raid in Warlords but it's still funny to see that they haven't changed at all.

Hm? Didn't people complain that the zones were too empty and were happy when this was introduced? Do people not like it anymore?

The problem with CRZ is that the only thing that has changed is there are now level 100s who suck at the game that sit in low level zones constantly griefing people who are trying to level. That's honestly the only thing it changed.