Gotta love backseat developer wannabes.

Devs lie constantly. And they are just out to Ruin Your Fun.

---

Q u o t e:

With the game hosting 11 million + subscribers, content (for whatever reason you can justify) is coming out at a slower pace than back when 500,000 subscribers was a big deal. That doesn’t make commercial sense to me at all; more players should equal more development resources for faster content.

---

You forgot the cost of upkeep for a game like Wow ''more players should equal more development resources for faster content'' when the cost of upkeep fundamentally has gone up since the economy down draft im surprised that they can afford to pump out two more games and still keep Wow going without any major incidents.

---

Q u o t e:
Gotta love backseat developer wannabes.

Devs lie constantly. And they are just out to Ruin Your Fun.

---

I'm pretty sure Zarhym in particular is out to ruin my fun, specifically.

/tinfoilhat

One word describes the lag time:

Outsourcing

You can argue that it's cost effective with the right training and processes in place but this doesn't happen in an ideal world and for the most part you end up with disappointing results for your customer base in the long run.

---

Q u o t e:

That's why I said we're not making it up as we go, and have pretty clear outlines far in advance. For instance, a lot of art and programming for Ulduar has been in progress since before Wrath was released, and is very much still in progress now. At the same time though, every day there is a more clear picture of what 3.2 and beyond will bring. We're always looking and developing in advance, but a lot more of the basic structures and art assets for many of the 1.X content patches were already fairly far into development by the time the preceding patch was released.

---

Out of perverse curiosity, how far in RL time do you plan patches/expansions? 2 years or so(guess)?

Content ... a simple word ... a lot of meanings ... probably even more work.

The reality is that there are multiple forces at play here and looking at purely the "end result" of when new patches ship is a gross simplification. Blizzard has continued to evolve the game so to compare development across multiple years is really not appropriate. So lets consider the challenge of building content back a couple of years ago relative to what it is now ... and most importantly the differences between developing content a couple of years ago and today.

1. Any raid instance has to support encounters for both 10man and 25man.
2. Deathknights, and the fact that now there are multiple class options for any raid role.
3. Level 80 skills and talents vs Level 60 (at the simplest level there are a lot more to consider)
4. Achievements now exist so they have to be built and tested, including additional hard mode encounters
5. Cool factor (artwork, lore, originality of encounter)

I could go on .. I am sure you get the idea.

At end of the day I would guess that its at least twice as difficult to develop content today than it was a couple of years for the simple fact that there is so much more to take into account. I would love that new content be churning out the door every 3 months, but that isn't a real world scenario.

Personally I have a few ideas on what Blizzard could be doing to "mix things up a little", but since we don't really know how Blizzard structure their creative and development streams making suggestions isn't really going to happen.

EDIT .. everyone is also forgetting the fact that the Northrend continent simply blows Outlands out of the water in terms of lore and content ... Hellfire Peninsula vs Borean Tundra/Howling Fjord? is there any real comparison ... maybe they put too much effort into the zones but you have to admit they look pretty f***ing cool

---

Q u o t e:

That was a very nice way to say "You guys are idiots and don't know what you're talking about." Thanks floating skull man!

---

Actually, it's a nice way of saying "your analysis is irredeemably skewed"... measuring productivity entirely in terms of (major) patch frequency, without even referencing the content of those patches borders on meaningless. e.g. counting the Dire Maul, Blackwing Lair and Zul'Gurub patches as 3 'units' of productivity, but the Magister's Terrace, Quel'Danas and Sunwell Plateau patch as 1 'unit' almost seems willfully spurious.

---

Q u o t e:

Raiding is extremely popular in this game-- why was there not more released with the wotlk box? I'm sorry, but 3 1-and-done raid instances just don't do it for those of us who like raiding.

---

Arena seasons act as something of a handbrake on raiding content... I don't think many people want to go back to the days when PvP was dominated by endgame raiders.

---

Q u o t e:

Personally I have a few ideas on what Blizzard could be doing to "mix things up a little", but since we don't really know how Blizzard structure their creative and development streams making suggestions isn't really going to happen.

---

Plus we all have to remember that Dks are the FIRST hero class so we should be expecting a burst of content to prep for the next expan after diablo 3 and SC 2 are out.

---

Q u o t e:


This isn't really true at all. There are separate development teams fully staffed for each project.

---

Wow then they really need to get their act together. perhaps you need to make it know finding a job sucks right now.

ITT: People who claim they know more about what happens behind Blizzard's closed doors than the Blizzard employees themselves.

What a fail of monumental proportions.

---

Q u o t e:
ITT: People who claim they know more about what happens behind Blizzard's closed doors than the Blizzard employees themselves.

What a fail of monumental proportions.

---

But the OP brings up a good point. 4 months for a content patch for a company making massive amount of bank is sad.

---

Q u o t e:

Art assets take quite a bit of time. If dungeon and model art for something like Dire Maul is mostly completed long before the patch is slated to go live, it's going to take a lot less time to prepare that dungeon. Ulduar's been virtually built from the ground up since the release of Wrath of the Lich King. A lot of new art is being fed into this dungeon.

---

---

Q u o t e:

For instance, a lot of art and programming for Ulduar has been in progress since before Wrath was released, and is very much still in progress now.

---

Which is it?

---

Q u o t e:
Gotta love backseat developer wannabes.

Devs lie constantly. And they are just out to Ruin Your Fun.

---

I'm not sure why you would say this. Most people in the video game
industry love what they do, and they have no desire to ruin peoples
fun.

---

Q u o t e:
The first lot of those are minor dungeons and the world dragons.

---

5 mans take a surprisingly long amount of time to develop considering their size. I remember a statement that diremaul counting both wings took roughly as much development time as one of the major raid instances.