World of Warcraft Expansion!

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It has been over six months since World of Warcraft launched in North America, and we have seen much growth during that time. Just prior to launching in China last week, World of Warcraft had achieved a subscriber base of more than 2 million players worldwide. Thousands of new players around the world are joining the adventures in Azeroth each day, and the early signs from China are showing that World of Warcraft is proving to be very popular with players there as well.

With this rapid growth, we expanded our operations from 48 realms at launch in the U.S. to over 450 worldwide. The introduction of hundreds of new realms caused some growing pains, and we experienced some stability issues with our realms in the months after launch. During these few months, we were able to significantly improve our code and update our hardware, which increased our performance dramatically. Our realms are now stable, and we are concentrating on providing consistent content patches to our players.

On the customer-service end, we have expanded our 24/7 in-game customer service staff (GMs) in all regions since launch. World of Warcraft now employs more than 550 GMs worldwide. Along with assisting players with in-game problems, these GMs also actively seek out and ban the accounts of people caught cheating, botting, or doing anything else that would negatively impact our customers. We have billing and technical support call centers on all the major continents, who employ phone, Web, and e-mail support for customers. Our community websites are moderated by regional teams of community managers who provide answers to customer questions and give feedback to the development teams so we can better focus our efforts. All of these people are there to improve the quality of the game experience for everyone.

Aside from improving our server stability and customer service, we have also been hard at work delivering great new content updates for the game. Since release, we have had four major updates and nine minor updates. Thanks to our major updates, customers have had the opportunity to experience:


* The introduction of the PvP Honor ranking system and many exciting Honor rewards.
* Our newly released PvP Battlegrounds. Warsong Gulch, a frenetic 10-vs.-10 “capture the flag”-style Battleground, and Alterac Valley, a 40-vs.-40 epic-scale battle for dominance.
* Two new full dungeons (Maraudon and Dire Maul)
* New world raid encounters (Azurgos and Lord Kazzak)
* World events such as Feast of Winter Veil, the Elemental Invasions on Kalimdor, Children’s Week, the Gurabashi Arena Event, and Noblegarden.
* Many improvements to the game’s user interface, such as additional action bars, quest tracking, and buff timers.
* Over 200 new quests for all levels.
* Over 600 new items, including new professions recipes, epic mounts, and raid sets.
* Over 200 new monsters.
* 12 new flight paths.
* Numerous new class abilities and class-balance adjustments.
* Improvements to many of the dungeons already in the game, such as Scholomance, Stratholme, and Blackrock Spire.



We are committed to delivering the highest quality online experience for our players. Some of our upcoming plans have already been mentioned on our community site. For example, in our next major update, we will be releasing Blackwing Lair, a 40-person raid dungeon, where you will be able to battle against the epic dragon Nefarian and his minions. We are also working on a 20-person dungeon called Zul’Gurub, and the mysterious lands of Ahn’Qiraj in Silithus. Outside of dungeons, we want to continue adding new world events, such as a carnival that will take place in Mulgore and Elwynn forest.

Of course, on top of all this, each content update will also bring new quests, items, professions recipes, and continued class improvements. Some have asked about an expansion and what it might hold. I wanted to let players know that it is in the works, and we’ll release details as soon as we can.

These are but some of the things you can expect over the coming months. There is still so much to speak of, but I hope I have at least given you all a peek at how World of Warcraft has progressed since launch. I also hope I have given you some insight into the future and our dedication to growing World of Warcraft for years to come. Thanks again for your continued support, and we’ll see you in Azeroth!

Shane Dabiri
Lead Producer
World of Warcraft Development Team
 
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Well, it sounds like a good, overall expansion. Though a "new" 10-on-10 PvP battle seems oddly familiar (Guild Wars, anyone?), I'm sure it will have a nice place in WoW for those of us who enjoy PvP team battles.

What does seem to be really interesting is that 40 vs 40 battle for dominance. That just about made me want to get WoW, as I love large-scale fighting.

Is there an estimated price tag on that expansion?
 
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Majin_You said:
Well, it sounds like a good, overall expansion. Though a "new" 10-on-10 PvP battle seems oddly familiar (Guild Wars, anyone?), I'm sure it will have a nice place in WoW for those of us who enjoy PvP team battles.

What does seem to be really interesting is that 40 vs 40 battle for dominance. That just about made me want to get WoW, as I love large-scale fighting.

Is there an estimated price tag on that expansion?
That isn't the expansion. All that stuff has already been released for free... And Battlegrounds is much moreso like "Defense of the Ancients" and other similar-styled games from WC3. The 10vs10 part of Battlegrounds is Capture the Flag, which Guild Wars doesn't have, if I recall.

The details on the expansion haven't been released yet.
 
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All of this was simply a patch.

I haven't done the battlegrounds yet though, it's a long wait for most depending on realm population.
 
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SailorAlea said:
That isn't the expansion. All that stuff has already been released for free... And Battlegrounds is much moreso like "Defense of the Ancients" and other similar-styled games from WC3. The 10vs10 part of Battlegrounds is Capture the Flag, which Guild Wars doesn't have, if I recall.

The details on the expansion haven't been released yet.
Ah, so that was just your standard update, patched automatically onto the game for free? That does pull me in a bit more (not enough, though...come on, Blizzard, lower that subscription fee >_<). Technically speaking, GW didn't have a 10 vs 10 Capture the Flag style battle - it was actually 8 vs 8, but the "capture the flag" element IS in the guild battles in GW in a way, where the flag is used to take certain enemy assets (obelisks, small encampments, etc. Having recently participated in one, I can vouch for that).

Still - there's going to have to be more incentive for me to dish out the money necessary...even if it means not getting to try out the "Alterac Valley" battle :(
 
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Just posted that they said they are working on an expansion. note the underline.
 
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I don't know if Guild Wars has something similar, but there is a 40vs40 warzone in Warcraft now that I don't see mentioned in there.

I really don't want to sound like a jerk but other than this sentence:
Some have asked about an expansion and what it might hold. I wanted to let players know that it is in the works, and we’ll release details as soon as we can.
there is no talk of an expansion here at all.

And as far as actual news goes, the only relevant new info released here is captured in this paragraph, and is part of the next ingame patch, not an expansion:
Some of our upcoming plans have already been mentioned on our community site. For example, in our next major update, we will be releasing Blackwing Lair, a 40-person raid dungeon, where you will be able to battle against the epic dragon Nefarian and his minions. We are also working on a 20-person dungeon called Zul’Gurub, and the mysterious lands of Ahn’Qiraj in Silithus. Outside of dungeons, we want to continue adding new world events, such as a carnival that will take place in Mulgore and Elwynn forest.
 
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Im holding off until they impliment the Hero classes before I get WoW. This patch nearly changed my mind though.
 
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That all isn't the expansion :/

It's blizzards battle plan, detailing what they have done (all that is already in the game!) and what they plan to add - (zul gurub and blackwings lair).


For clarity:
All of the content listed above is already in game.
 
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SailorAlea said:
That isn't the expansion. All that stuff has already been released for free... And Battlegrounds is much moreso like "Defense of the Ancients" and other similar-styled games from WC3. The 10vs10 part of Battlegrounds is Capture the Flag, which Guild Wars doesn't have, if I recall.

The details on the expansion haven't been released yet.
[SAS]Orion said:
That all isn't the expansion :/
For clarity:
All of the content listed above is already in game.
SaiyanPrideXIX said:
I really don't want to sound like a jerk but other than this sentence: there is no talk of an expansion here at all.

And as far as actual news goes, the only relevant new info released here is captured in this paragraph, and is part of the next ingame patch, not an expansion:
Not sure why you guys felt the need to paraphrase what I said, but.. read the above posts first! :p
 
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Good point. That being said, I don't think we need this thread open anymore as it's point has been made. I'm going to close it and let it rest...[rolls eyes]..in peace.
 

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