MMOSide Chat: Do You Still Get excited For MMO Expansion Launches? | MMORPG.com

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MMOSide Chat: Do You Still Get excited For MMO Expansion Launches? | MMORPG.com

It's launch day for World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, and like many people I'm looking forward to seeing the expansion go live this evening. However, I normally haven't been getting too excited lately at expansion launches in MMOs. Do you still get excited at expansion launches, and what was the last one?

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alkarionlog

serious every time I read shadowlands I think of anarcy not WoW.

so no I don't care about expansions I don't even care for launches anymore I don't see why I would care about expansion who normally add little to the game, with a price of a new game

Aeander

Absolutely. Especially when they give me new builds to play with. I'm a creative guy, and I like stretching my theorycrafting muscles.

nate1980

I do get excited, but not as excited as I used to. Nothing beats a new MMO release or expansion release. Where most people know little about the dungeon and raid challenges and we can all explore and learn together. Also, with so many people running around, grouping up in the open world for rares is a lot of fun. As the expansion progresses, these same things are outgeared and are just a chore to knock off on a checklist. Joining an expansion when people approach it overgeared and as a chore is just terrible. As I said, expansion releases are the best times to join in on the fun. Experience things for the first time with everyone else.

nate1980

alkarionlog said:

serious every time I read shadowlands I think of anarcy not WoW.



so no I don't care about expansions I don't even care for launches anymore I don't see why I would care about expansion who normally add little to the game, with a price of a new game

Price isn't really an issue for some people. Some people get excited for new storylines and game systems to play around with. To each their own though.

Nebless

I think the last time I got excited was the Pre-Launch for Pirates of the Burning Seas.

Scot

Well not that many MMO's have real expansions anymore, so celebrate if you get them! Cash shop updates are the norm, with a few dlc outfits if you are lucky.

Sovrath

Sure, if I'm interested in the game and if the expansion has something that I can play.

Amathe

It is rare for an expansion to bring me back to a game I stopped playing, unless the reason for my quitting was I ran out of things to do.

ScottJeslis

Yes but not OTT excited. And it usually lasts about a week before I sense the grind rolling in. That and because I can't dedicate my time to just one game I feel a bit inadequate since then there are several people in my guild that get more and better drops out of it versus me.

Neanderthal

If I was playing an MMO I might get excited for an expansion.  As it is I'd be thrilled if there was even any serious talk about making an MMO of a type that I would want to play.

alkarionlog

nate1980 said:

alkarionlog said:

serious every time I read shadowlands I think of anarcy not WoW.



so no I don't care about expansions I don't even care for launches anymore I don't see why I would care about expansion who normally add little to the game, with a price of a new game

Price isn't really an issue for some people. Some people get excited for new storylines and game systems to play around with. To each their own though.

yes some people have more money then brains so that is nothing new, if people had more brains then maybe MMO wouldn't be so much in decline

xpsync

Not many expac's anymore, eso has chapters (xpacs) so they could sidestep that being included with the all access sub they have. I was so pumped for Morrowind expac which was just a colossal disappointment for anyone whom played Morrowind. Everything about eso is just so plastic.

I wasn't excited for the last 5 wow expansions actually, as i knew the game was over for me i suppose, but my boys still loved it, then went down to one boy, but i bought every expac to be there at launch with them and yeah my excitement was vicarious through them.

Even BFA i thought would be the expansion i finally skipped, even buying altogether but my youngest wanted me to play so ofc, and when his little buddies showed up i was more than glad to bow out.

The older boy stopped playing 4 or 5 years ago, the younger eventually moved on to other games away from BFA. Then classic really caught my interest as i missed out that time i chose EQ2 instead. I was there launch day, but lasted only a month before i returned to EQ2.

So i was coming back for classic, the younger one at first was like no, the older was a for sure no, then the younger joined me for the experience of a lifetime, man was that an amazing several months. He started playing other games and i fell into retail.

Before classic i set up a little Horde life on Earthen Ring as i wanted to play Horde in classic, that helped my interest in wow grow immensely, so much better than alliance (to me).

So that's where i returned, time marched on and the younger returned playing with friends, then i'm not even sure why but the older one had a complete come back, joined his brothers guild and both are raiding up a storm and destroying mythic +'s, i mean he just returned a couple months ago and is 119 already.

So YES i'm no doubt pumped for this expansion obv. Even though we are on different servers, different factions, we're all playing the same game again lol. My son mentioned that he wonders how and why he's back as he thought he was done for life, as i was. I think you just truly need to walk away to make something fresh again.

Iselin

Depends on what the expansion adds. Some are good and worth getting excited about and some aren't.

The Shadowlands WoW expansion has at least one feature worth getting excited about because it adds Torghast, a new type of repeatable dungeon that scales in difficulty based on party size. It can be done solo and up to 5.

It also has hand-crafted modules that are procedurally arranged in the dungeon in a way you'll never know which modules or which mob types, elites or bosses you'll run into or where they'll be.

On top of that there are significant changes to your spec that happen in there with different buffs you can find that are only for that dungeon.

And loot is done in my favorite way of doing it: you get Torghast currency that you can exchange for exactly what you want - no RNG loot drops.

nate1980

alkarionlog said:

nate1980 said:

alkarionlog said:

serious every time I read shadowlands I think of anarcy not WoW.





so no I don't care about expansions I don't even care for launches anymore I don't see why I would care about expansion who normally add little to the game, with a price of a new game

Price isn't really an issue for some people. Some people get excited for new storylines and game systems to play around with. To each their own though.

yes some people have more money then brains so that is nothing new, if people had more brains then maybe MMO wouldn't be so much in decline

$60 isn't a lot of money for what you're getting, but that's where "to each their own" comes in. If you value the questing experience; the hustle and bustle of people rushing to learn the new dungeons, raids, and game systems; and get at least 20 hours of game time out of it, you're already on par with what most games offer for $60. Not to mention, games have been $60 for a long time now as prices for other things continue to rise. I think it's a bargain for what I'm getting.

I don't think the genre is in a decline either. It didn't head in the direction I wanted it to when I first started playing MMO's in 2001, and we don't see AAA releases at the same frequency we did in the 2000's, but the decline has already happened at this point. Now I'd say the genre has bottomed out to the size it'll likely stay from here on out. Larger than when I consider MMO's to be in their best days (ie pre-WoW), but smaller than when WoW blew the market wide open for several years.

Alomar

Not with WoW expansions that's for sure. There's just been so many of them and so many were mediocre at best, imo. I'd give a WoW 2 a shot with action combat and a graphical style that doesn't make me feel like I'm playing on cartoon network, but until then I'm resigned to anything WOW.

xpsync

I know not everyone is a fan, but the "turn the game on its head" every two years is the solution to keeping an mmorpg from bloating out, and keep it fresh.

Sure i used to harp on that, and was probably a contributing factor in me leaving the game (so to speak) was not a fan of that coming from more hard core mmorpg worlds.

Here right now, ofc the boys and i all playing again is like wrath, but as for the expansion itself, i'm fully pumped for this expac becasue of that reason, i'm so excited to dive into new content, figure out new systems, get to know the lay of the land, explore, research, new lore to ponder, all the things that made new mmorpg's wonderful, is delivered every two years in a familiar wrapper.

Ungood

Yes.. Sorta.

I mean.. Ok.. depends on the provider and publisher.

Case in point, I bought every EQ expansion they made, till I left the game. Without any regrets or remorse, and was glad to have them, even if they were putting them out faster than I could work through them.. I still bought them all.

With that said, if a Company gives me a good product, I will always want more of it. Always!  I will buy the DLCs, I will pre-buy expansions, I will splurge and buy the biggest most whatever obnoxious packages they can throw at me packs, until I get burned.

Case in point, When GW2 Core came out, I bought a starter pack, and loved it. I then bailed on that account, and bought the biggest pack they made. I was loving this game, so.. I wanted as much as I could get. I was dumping $20 a month into it like a candy vending machine ay Disney world, and happy to drop more if they gave me something in the store that was super cool, because I was having fun and thus wanted more of this game.

Then they put out HOT, I was so hyped on this game at that time, that I pre-ordered the expansion not only for myself, but also for a few of my static mates, so that we could all jump in together, because I wanted us all to enjoy it! I Splurged on the biggest packs they had, with the extra 50 in Gems and all that! Anyway.. 3 Pre-orders later on my part... and it goes LIVE. We all jump in like a bunch of meth addicts hopped up on red bull and pop rocks.... and.....

... ok about a year later.. PoF comes out.. and I am reading reviews and wondering if I should wait for a sale...I ended up buying the small pack, and just giving it some time, now, the new expansion is coming out.. and I am legit wondering if I should just wait for the NEXT one to come out so that I can get a two for one deal, and give them both a walk through when I feel like it.

Another fine example is DDO. I have been paying that game for years, started with a ViP, and swapped over to Prime account, and therein bought all the DLC content they had, and since have purchased every Expansion, with the largest packs they offered, and I just bought the big $120 dollar pack for the Fey Wilds. While I am not happy with some of the crap they have pulled.. content wise, they made good shit that I am glad to pay for, so I pay for it. But because they have done stuff to piss me off, I also don't buy any of their other crap from the store.. just the content. So there is that.

Again.. as long as they make me happy, I will be glad to spend money on the game, when they don't.. I have zero motive finance someone's else fun time.

Ridrith

I do, if it's not a World of Warcraft expansion. This is truly the first expansion since WoW's launch where I just can't bring myself to give a shit about playing the game. Even the worst expansions, the ones I loathed and thought were incredibly stupid (Panda Land, Time-Jump/Alternate verse shit)... I was at least somewhat excited to explore a new zone, to see new things or to interact with a particular character.

After the fantastic Legion expansion and then the totally lackluster BFA expansion... I've given up, there's no hype. There's no excitement. I even logged in to check out the new customization, to try to get excited about what was happening. Nothing. That's the first time I've ever felt that, and I got to say it actually wasn't a good feeling. I've always jumped around to single-player games, tested out new MMO launches but in the back of my mind I always thought that if all else failed, I could jump back into WoW and have a good time. That's no longer the case.

WoW storytelling was never very good, but I always appreciated the Saturday Morning Cartoon styling of it all. But I dislike the characters, I dislike the fact that they're tearing old lore mainstays apart, they're changing too much and it's just... It's just like a D&D campaign that has jumped the shark, and they've gone past level 10. The scaling is too high, the stakes are too high, the goofiness of it all has finally caught up with the game's story. I just can't take it seriously anymore.

Of all the Blizzard games, I'm looking forward to D4 the most. Even with the Nephelem story lingering in the background, the world is bleak and it feels like you're fighting a losing battle. You're a person who is forced into a position that you don't want to be in, just looking to claw your way through (if only barely) to some level of "safe", whatever that might mean in Sanctuary. I just need a more realistic or down to earth MMO setting. One of the main reasons I'm really looking forward to the Lord of the Rings MMO.

Ungood

alkarionlog said:

nate1980 said:

alkarionlog said:

serious every time I read shadowlands I think of anarcy not WoW.



so no I don't care about expansions I don't even care for launches anymore I don't see why I would care about expansion who normally add little to the game, with a price of a new game

Price isn't really an issue for some people. Some people get excited for new storylines and game systems to play around with. To each their own though.

yes some people have more money then brains so that is nothing new, if people had more brains then maybe MMO wouldn't be so much in decline

So.. what you are saying is that MMO are in Decline due to Broke-Ass Know-it-Alls.

... I could get behind that.

Wizardry

Nope and I don't think I ever did.Expansions usually just meant a few new levels 5 or 10 and turning all previous zones into ghost towns.
I want game worlds to feel like real worlds and not like progression zones.Move from tier 1 zone into tier 2 zone into tier 3 zone is just crappy  world design imo.

Typically the only thing that ever made me even care about an expansion was a new class or two.However this just tells me that expansions were typically cheap cash grabs because if they introduced any real new innovative content ideas I wouldn't put all the faith into  a couple new classes.
Also proving how cheap these are as cash grabs ,the expansions  usually only focus on the new zones and ignore the entire rest of the game.I would rather see changes,the world evolves and not just adding some new TIER zones.

I have never liked Blizzard's lazy approach to game design but I will give them some credit for at least attemtping to do it right with Cataclysm.I would have liked to see still a better effort,a slow more realistic lead up to the Cataclysm,a real time event/occurence.

This is the biggest problem  in game design,devs are always looking to cut corners because all they really want is a fast cash grab.We need this expansion because my quarterly bonuses are due,i need a pay raise ,a higher salary so i need to see the profits rise so the board votes an ok on my raise.

Aurelt

Yes.
If it's a real expansion like in WOW or FF14. every other mmo expansion is trash because they are not real expansions. if you're not adding at the level of WoW and FF14 its not expansion, just a patch.

Cuddleheart

Not as much as I was when I was younger.  I used to think about playing games at night while at work...a lot when a new expansion was coming out. I was totally ready to sacrifice social life.

Now my excitement exists for shadowlands at a level where I'm kinda bummed my desktop will be down until tomorrow when my new components come, but not so excited that I'll play on my i5 1050 laptop while I'm waiting...

Mendel

Expansions are the way forward, but only for new content.  New ideas and new modes of game play require new game engines.  At least, no one who's attempted to introduce new game play through an expansion just haven't gotten it right.  Such changes tend to subvert the original game play.

For example, the introduction of mercenaries into EQ1 was an attempt to deal with declining populations.  That worked, to a degree.  However. it substantially changed how the game was played.  PC clerics used to focus on their Concentration skill, now with a merc healer around, most PC clerics have an emphasis on Evocation, because they nuke so much.  It even changed the spell choices for most character classes.

Other changes simply speed up the decline of the game rather than bolster the game's appeal.  Expansions are the most common form of 'bulk mudflation'; the introduction of items, skills and classes that frequently make parts of the existing game obsolete.

Again, an example from EQ1.  When levels made it possible for some classes to solo parts of the game that were meant to be raid content, SOE (at the time) scrambled to put in mechanisms to prevent that.  The raids for Vox and Naggy forcibly remove any higher level character from the zone.  It works, but the need for a fix showed the lack of thinking the problem through.  SOE was embarrassed by the now trivial nature of what was their two signature raids from the original game, and moved (quickly) to address the situation.

So, do I look forward to new expansions?  Not really.  They rarely move the game forward, and have a far greater potential to mess things up.  New content, great!  New features, red flag for me.

BruceYee

Yes.

McSleaz

I'm too old and jaded to get excited for much these days, especially a video game / expansion.