If Cataclysm came with all the past expansions and original game for say, oh...50 bucks or even 60...it would be one helluva deal for someone wanting to start the game. Just like all the EQ2 expansions, most recently Sentinel's Fate, came with ALL the past expansions for like 29.99 or something. For someone STARTING the game....that's one helluva deal, particularly because EQ2 has had like 3x more expansions than WoW has. So....I still think that it would bring in MORE "fresh meat" to do it that way. But....I'm no game developer or financial consultant, so...lol.
Oh and ....the rest of your post here....wow....pretty spot on what I was thinking myself. People can be sort of scary sometimes, can't we?
CATA landscapes, new quests and a lot of its new mechanics will basically cost the price of the basic Box for a new player.
Depending on the country/action that would be what .... 15 dollars ?
Every expansion to existing MMO's was always a further thinning out - both in levels as territory.
Blizzard does with CATA the exact opposite as EQ2 did: you regroup the players with new mechanics and basic same content.
it's a complete different marketing in MMO land. Even Mythic shrank content 3 months ago, when they found out about it.
Mem, read the portion of her post that you quoted carefully before jumping on it with irrelevant responses.
Her post was saying that 'if' Cata sold in an all in one type box for $60 (Base game + all expansions for aroung $60) it would be an awesome deal for new players to consider taking the plunge. Because lets face it, it could be the greatest game ever created but the price of getting into it after 5 years is pretty steep, even compared to most other games.
It has nothing to do with content or game mechanics or subscription numbers. She was just pointing out that such a deal would be highly beneficial and allow more people consider the game after all these years. Because most people would rather pay $50 than $100 to get into a game, especially in this economy.
Also in most cases the reason an expansion costs what it costs isnt due to what is in the expansion, but the cost of publishing said expansion. Most of what is in an expansion is covered by the fact that the game charges you $15/month.
There are 3 types of people in the world. 1.) Those who make things happen 2.) Those who watch things happen 3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
My point was that you claim by 2013/14 WoW will have the same number of subs "no doubt", I question that because the list of games due between now and then is huge, almost none of which I think will become the number 1 game, but all of them together I do believe they will strip a huge number of subs from WoW.
Games like FFXIV, C9, TERA, SW:TOR, Vindictus and APB just to name a few off the top of my head, not to mention any other games that could appear between now and then (for example Bethesda are rumoured to be working on either an Elder Scrolls or Fallout MMO).
The same exact statements in the blue were made in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.
The only thing that happened was these games melted their proper subscriptions. And they were HUGE franchizes (like a "trivial" Lore as The Lord of the Rings, or Conan, or Warhammer, the "maker of UO" (TR) "the maker of Diablo (Hell London).
Each new launch cannibalized the other one.
You saw AOC crumble with the launch of WAR, exactly the same thing happend with the Aions launch. Now look at the playing time of these games: I see WOW with a 62% market share....after ALL these "huge number of launches".
But :
This time the elephant in the room takes a relaunch with a complete new visit to Azeroth with better mechanics and even more playing options as of ... level 1 (and with that known installed userbase).
Tell me what are your arguments to predict the blue if not even ONE of those games are in Beta, while there is already the elephant in the room that just keeps adding to its play mechanics (for the new and the returning old).
I am quite convinced those games above will pick up each other 500K players or less - as was the case in the last 5 years.
Memoir44,
You are convinced that the above titles a piece will pick up 500k subs or less. Is this because of WoW or on their own merits?
You say you can predict the fate of these titles on the fact that for the last five years, released titles have crumbled under WoW. Five years is a long time, times are changing...yes WoW is also changing but it's still the same elephant, just with a different coat of paint. You don't believe Gamers on MMORPG, look at the feedback on the official WoW forums. The biggest issue atm is that the core game mechanics are catering to even a wider audience which will, in turn, push away alot of regular gamers. I will bet you that by driving away alot of the "hardcore" crowd, the "casuals" might stay. But they will have little loyalty and will jump ship when the opportunity arises. I don't believe Cataclysm has enough in it to draw in the new crowd, see my previous post which you totally ignored.
Again I will say one obvious truth: WoW is a 5+ year old game. You can interpret that anyway you like...but do you really think that Cataclysm will change that fact?
I challenge you to think about your argument: "The titles to be released will not strip away a chunk of WoW populace because it hasn't happened in the last five years." These new titles to be released (GW2/Rift/SW;TOR/FF14) combined will strip away WoW subscriptions, for one reason alone: The WoW forums. It is not an excited and hyped up player base at the moment. I suggest you research into the feedback by WoW players on the Class Review forums, the Raids and Dungeons Review forums and the Guild Relations forums. Basically, players are wanting more diversity, more change. They sense there won't be enough of it in Cataclysm.
It is 2010. The "casuals" will be more picky with WoW, there is even greater competition out there now. WoW players will be needing the bar to be set even higher now. Like I said, WoW is driving away alot of the loyal crowd to appeal to the mass market of players. I believe at first, it might work so that more people will be able to see more content but it will quickly succumb to an unsatisfied crowd. Blizzard's response: Gate all the end game content. Even players are saying they will pay the same subscription for only half the end game content.
In short, do not underestimate the competition coming out; the 2010/11 competition. The official WoW forums suggest that Cataclysm brings change and not all of it that the elephant is bringing in is good.
Love it how any discution about wow ends up being about number of subs. Could prolly start a topic about what your favorite zone was in wow and it will still eventually get to sub numbers .
Think about it; If game was sh*t you think millions will play it? there is only so long one can play a game only on basis of fad and popularity. its a good game so it got most subs. Simple isn't it?
If the game started out the way it is now, then I'd agree with you- but for the players that think that WoW has declined dramatically in quality since TBC launched (some even since BGs were released), but have built a large group of friends or strong attachment toward their toons, then yes I believe that there are a great many people that would continue to play that sh*t game. I certainly was for the former reason up until February. In fact, I think the BNet IM functionality will be as big if not a bigger asset to keeping social gamers playing, if I understand how it will work correctly.
As far as whether Cata is worth the price... that remains to be seen. For people that were willing to pay more than half the expansion price for the sparkle pony, then I'm sure they'll snag the expac without issue. I'll most likely resub for to see what they've done with the world, but unless I see some monumental changes I doubt I'll buy it. I agree with others that the price for a beginner to start WoW is very prohibitive.
Despite the changes to raiding that have been announced, I still believe that Cata's endgame will have nothing substantial to offer me, just as WotLK's did not.
I agree with Avatarblade too . Its almost as if some people need to justify playing a game because its popular . Popularity does'nt always equate with quality .I'm sure you could find millions of teenage girls that think The Jonas Brothers music is genius .
The Cataclysm isn't worth it for me simply because it does'nt reverse such things as the cross server looking for a group system or battleground xp and any of the other changes that made WoW a shadow of the game it once was . But I'm sure if you like what WoW is now it'll offer you more of the same .
First reason I see the cost being justified because the work the team put into changing the landscape and changing a lot of the starter game.
Second reason is that while its only 5 levels as opposed to the normal 10, they are also adding a form of alternate advancement.
But if WotLK is any indication, the expansion content wont really justify the $40. 10 levels taking less than a week at a semi-casual pace (4 hours a day for 6 days) leaving just a few instances, 2 singular raid bosses (easy ones at that) and a full raid zone to grind for the next few months was pretty weak.
This is pretty much what I was thinking.
I got the game day of release, forgot to install or do anything til a day or two after servers went up, yet still hit 80 at a casual pace. Hell, I went from 70-78 doing just both WotLK starting zones (Borean Tundra and howling Fjord) and Dragonblight, then hit 80 in sholozar. All before a week after the game came out. And yeah, I played casual as well. As a person who hasn't done more than Karazhan post-nerfed, the raids were nice, but felt hollow. Naxx was a joke for the most part (only say that because we were a 10man guild, 10man was easy, but 25 is just a bad joke).
While I love the work being poured into advancing and re-working the old world, which is sorely needed, I also have much to worry about. Blizzard is slipping in terms of quality. Patches that are increasingly more problematic, causing worse and worse glitching (7day cooldowns for shamans, Lich King fight in general).
Also, the general direction they are going with raids and pvp is a huge mixed bag. While I love the fact that gear will be equal between 25 and 10mans, there is no reward for doing the 25man. Gated content just shows they are trying to milk out subscriptions for as long as possible. And the lock-out sharing between 10 and 25man is well, rather uneeded.
Also, the point system. While the pve one I can understand, the PvP one is rather... useless. You got a high-tier PvP points you get from rated battlegrounds and arenas, and then low-tier pvp points for what then? Killing someone outside of those? Whats the use in the low-tier? No one will bother.
And pierth, gotta agree. The only true reason I've continued playing WoW is because at least til now, I had a decent guild to talk and hang out with, and friends online to level and group with on alts.
Browsing around you can pre-order WoW Cata but it's $40 for half the levels and a rework of a current continent. So my question to you all is do you think it is worth it to shell out the $40?
Depends on how well they rework it.
Truthfully, I'm really looking forward to a lot of the changes (i.e. simplification of stats). Some people are calling it "casualification" or something stupid like that.... but honestly it just removed a bunch of tedious crap that took a lot away from the game imo.
Plus.... I can't wait to chain-spam instant soul fires. teehee
I agree with that.. Cat is bring the game closer to what vanilla WoW was and that is a great thing. Add in being able to customize gear and its even better.
It amazes me how so many people are LUMPING all the changes into the "Cataclysm" expansion.. I have to ask, what part of "HALF THE CHANGES IN THE GAME ARE FREE GLOBAL CHANGES"do you not understand, that no one will pay for, and in fact you aren't even required to buy the true expansion pack to get it.. TAKE all those FREE changes away and IGNORE them.. Is the actuall box you buy at the store shelf contain enough content of itself to justify $40 compared to previous games..
IMO.. NO
While I agree that it isn't worth 40 dollars for the box, the box will allow you to get to 85 and you won't be doing endgame Cata raiding without being level 85. That alone will get people to buy the box even if it had no other features.
I will probably just roll an alt to level with my guildies' worgen alts to see what Blizz has done with the world (and because I enjoy leveling) then quit at 80.
I suspect they wll require you to buy the expansion to play the two new races.. that is one of the small carrots for you to chase, but the world changes will be free.. to me, the 5? new end game dungeons, and the couple of raids is not worth $40.. Especially when previous expansions gave us a dozen+ dungeons at release..
In my opinion we are getting 1/2 of what BC and WoTLK gave us, for full price.. as for the global changes, that cost is connected to our monthly subscription..
While I love the work being poured into advancing and re-working the old world, which is sorely needed, I also have much to worry about. Blizzard is slipping in terms of quality. Patches that are increasingly more problematic, causing worse and worse glitching (7day cooldowns for shamans, Lich King fight in general).
I think the problem with that is that Kaplan has been moved, There isn't many people like him around and not even Blizzard can replace someone like him.
As for if the expansion is worth the cash it depends on how much you like Wow. If you love it then it is a must, if it bores you and you plan to move soon it might just be a waste of money. There is no answer that is true for everyone.
Originally posted by Rydeson as for the global changes, that cost is connected to our monthly subscription..
As i have already said, i believe that statement is misleading as the global changes would not be available at all was it not for the development of the expansion, so it is probably closer to fact to say that those that buy the expansion will be funding the global changes for those that don't buy it. Again, the changes 'have' to be made available to those without the expansion because the game would be unplayable without them and you pay your sub for Blizzard to make the game available to you in a playable form and that is as far as the subs part of it goes.
As an extension to that, you would probably argue that any future instances, be it dungeons or raids are also part of your monthly subscription. If that is that case does that mean that Blizzard has actually supplied 20+ 'free' expansions (patches) since release as well as the two paid for expansions or is it all part and parcel?? So either Blizzard is selling $40 boxes and giving on going value for money as part of that or they are shifting $40 boxes followed by loads of 'free' content in between?
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
While I agree that it isn't worth 40 dollars for the box, the box will allow you to get to 85 and you won't be doing endgame Cata raiding without being level 85. That alone will get people to buy the box even if it had no other features.
I will probably just roll an alt to level with my guildies' worgen alts to see what Blizz has done with the world (and because I enjoy leveling) then quit at 80.
You won't get to play a Worgen without the expansion.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
as for the global changes, that cost is connected to our monthly subscription..
As i have already said, i believe that statement is misleading as the global changes would not be available at all was it not for the development of the expansion, so it is probably closer to fact to say that those that buy the expansion will be funding the global changes for those that don't buy it. Again, the changes 'have' to be made available to those without the expansion because the game would be unplayable without them and you pay your sub for Blizzard to make the game available to you in a playable form and that is as far as the subs part of it goes.
As an extension to that, you would probably argue that any future instances, be it dungeons or raids are also part of your monthly subscription. If that is that case does that mean that Blizzard has actually supplied 20+ 'free' expansions (patches) since release as well as the two paid for expansions or is it all part and parcel?? So either Blizzard is selling $40 boxes and giving on going value for money as part of that or they are shifting $40 boxes followed by loads of 'free' content in between?
The content is never free. The patches and additions to the game outside of expansions are paid for by the community of players that are paying the subscription fee. The players pay the sub which goes into a giant pot in which the developer pays people to make more game assets... ONCE. They make the new content and add it to the game and a bizzilion people get access to it. It's not like they have to remake everything for every player. A $15 dollar subscription cost is plenty for ongoing mmo development, if people stop playing it or the game starts to go under after that it's their own fault for using that money to make a crappy game. If a company is going to charge $40 for an expansion it had better be a whole other 30 levels or so of gameplay and a giant influx of content adding to the lore of the game, otherwise it's just another attempt to get as much money as possible for the smallest amount of development cost.
"I'm not cheap I'm incredibly subconsciously financially optimized" "The worst part of censorship is ------------------"
agreed chou.. the way I look at it.. the $15 a month is to pay for severs (which is a drop in the bucket), salaries for ongoing added content and profit.. When people talk expansion, that is nothing more then mall item cash shop.. You get a large chunk of content for a set price.. The quest was, is it worth it? IMO it's not.. Origninal WoW came out with 40 zones, 10 races and dozens of dungeons, etc etc.. in a 5 year development span.. That is the rate of 8 zones, 12 levels of content per year... So.. Where are my 24 levels, 16 new zones etc etc.. for my 2 year waiting time
Originally posted by Rydeson agreed chou.. the way I look at it.. the $15 a month is to pay for severs (which is a drop in the bucket), salaries for ongoing added content and profit.. When people talk expansion, that is nothing more then mall item cash shop.. You get a large chunk of content for a set price.. The quest was, is it worth it? IMO it's not.. Origninal WoW came out with 40 zones, 10 races and dozens of dungeons, etc etc.. in a 5 year development span.. That is the rate of 8 zones, 12 levels of content per year... So.. Where are my 24 levels, 16 new zones etc etc.. for my 2 year waiting time
So you two would be happy if they just threw in a couple of dozen levels and dungeons into the mix as an expansion??? (just fyi, on release there was only 8 races and no-where near dozens of dungeons, expansions and patches did all that! Maraudon - 1.2, Dire Maul - 1.3 etc...)
I would personally much rather they put together a fantastic 5 level experience with a decent cap experience to follow on with than 20-30 mediocre at best levels with end content to follow as and when. I have seen loads of payed for (AO especially) and free content done badly in other MMO's and the one thing that hasn't been mentioned here is the fact that the one thing i am pretty well certain of getting in a WoW expansion is a quality product.
At the end of the day it all comes down to 'you pays your money and takes your choice' and i will choose to buy the expansion as the information stands at the moment, others of course won't.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
One things for sure, Blizzard makes games like no other, yes there are many things that people don't like but not getting your moneys worth isn't one of them, so YES I will pay $40 with out a shadow of a doubt, as of matter of fact I would pay up to $80 for a Blizzard game because they have never let me down when It comes to the game It self.
Comments
Mem, read the portion of her post that you quoted carefully before jumping on it with irrelevant responses.
Her post was saying that 'if' Cata sold in an all in one type box for $60 (Base game + all expansions for aroung $60) it would be an awesome deal for new players to consider taking the plunge. Because lets face it, it could be the greatest game ever created but the price of getting into it after 5 years is pretty steep, even compared to most other games.
It has nothing to do with content or game mechanics or subscription numbers. She was just pointing out that such a deal would be highly beneficial and allow more people consider the game after all these years. Because most people would rather pay $50 than $100 to get into a game, especially in this economy.
Also in most cases the reason an expansion costs what it costs isnt due to what is in the expansion, but the cost of publishing said expansion. Most of what is in an expansion is covered by the fact that the game charges you $15/month.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Memoir44,
You are convinced that the above titles a piece will pick up 500k subs or less. Is this because of WoW or on their own merits?
You say you can predict the fate of these titles on the fact that for the last five years, released titles have crumbled under WoW. Five years is a long time, times are changing...yes WoW is also changing but it's still the same elephant, just with a different coat of paint. You don't believe Gamers on MMORPG, look at the feedback on the official WoW forums. The biggest issue atm is that the core game mechanics are catering to even a wider audience which will, in turn, push away alot of regular gamers. I will bet you that by driving away alot of the "hardcore" crowd, the "casuals" might stay. But they will have little loyalty and will jump ship when the opportunity arises. I don't believe Cataclysm has enough in it to draw in the new crowd, see my previous post which you totally ignored.
Again I will say one obvious truth: WoW is a 5+ year old game. You can interpret that anyway you like...but do you really think that Cataclysm will change that fact?
I challenge you to think about your argument: "The titles to be released will not strip away a chunk of WoW populace because it hasn't happened in the last five years." These new titles to be released (GW2/Rift/SW;TOR/FF14) combined will strip away WoW subscriptions, for one reason alone: The WoW forums. It is not an excited and hyped up player base at the moment. I suggest you research into the feedback by WoW players on the Class Review forums, the Raids and Dungeons Review forums and the Guild Relations forums. Basically, players are wanting more diversity, more change. They sense there won't be enough of it in Cataclysm.
It is 2010. The "casuals" will be more picky with WoW, there is even greater competition out there now. WoW players will be needing the bar to be set even higher now. Like I said, WoW is driving away alot of the loyal crowd to appeal to the mass market of players. I believe at first, it might work so that more people will be able to see more content but it will quickly succumb to an unsatisfied crowd. Blizzard's response: Gate all the end game content. Even players are saying they will pay the same subscription for only half the end game content.
In short, do not underestimate the competition coming out; the 2010/11 competition. The official WoW forums suggest that Cataclysm brings change and not all of it that the elephant is bringing in is good.
If the game started out the way it is now, then I'd agree with you- but for the players that think that WoW has declined dramatically in quality since TBC launched (some even since BGs were released), but have built a large group of friends or strong attachment toward their toons, then yes I believe that there are a great many people that would continue to play that sh*t game. I certainly was for the former reason up until February. In fact, I think the BNet IM functionality will be as big if not a bigger asset to keeping social gamers playing, if I understand how it will work correctly.
As far as whether Cata is worth the price... that remains to be seen. For people that were willing to pay more than half the expansion price for the sparkle pony, then I'm sure they'll snag the expac without issue. I'll most likely resub for to see what they've done with the world, but unless I see some monumental changes I doubt I'll buy it. I agree with others that the price for a beginner to start WoW is very prohibitive.
Despite the changes to raiding that have been announced, I still believe that Cata's endgame will have nothing substantial to offer me, just as WotLK's did not.
I agree with Avatarblade too . Its almost as if some people need to justify playing a game because its popular . Popularity does'nt always equate with quality .I'm sure you could find millions of teenage girls that think The Jonas Brothers music is genius .
The Cataclysm isn't worth it for me simply because it does'nt reverse such things as the cross server looking for a group system or battleground xp and any of the other changes that made WoW a shadow of the game it once was . But I'm sure if you like what WoW is now it'll offer you more of the same .
It will be the first WoW xpac I wont be buying .
This is pretty much what I was thinking.
I got the game day of release, forgot to install or do anything til a day or two after servers went up, yet still hit 80 at a casual pace. Hell, I went from 70-78 doing just both WotLK starting zones (Borean Tundra and howling Fjord) and Dragonblight, then hit 80 in sholozar. All before a week after the game came out. And yeah, I played casual as well. As a person who hasn't done more than Karazhan post-nerfed, the raids were nice, but felt hollow. Naxx was a joke for the most part (only say that because we were a 10man guild, 10man was easy, but 25 is just a bad joke).
While I love the work being poured into advancing and re-working the old world, which is sorely needed, I also have much to worry about. Blizzard is slipping in terms of quality. Patches that are increasingly more problematic, causing worse and worse glitching (7day cooldowns for shamans, Lich King fight in general).
Also, the general direction they are going with raids and pvp is a huge mixed bag. While I love the fact that gear will be equal between 25 and 10mans, there is no reward for doing the 25man. Gated content just shows they are trying to milk out subscriptions for as long as possible. And the lock-out sharing between 10 and 25man is well, rather uneeded.
Also, the point system. While the pve one I can understand, the PvP one is rather... useless. You got a high-tier PvP points you get from rated battlegrounds and arenas, and then low-tier pvp points for what then? Killing someone outside of those? Whats the use in the low-tier? No one will bother.
And pierth, gotta agree. The only true reason I've continued playing WoW is because at least til now, I had a decent guild to talk and hang out with, and friends online to level and group with on alts.
I agree with that.. Cat is bring the game closer to what vanilla WoW was and that is a great thing. Add in being able to customize gear and its even better.
While I agree that it isn't worth 40 dollars for the box, the box will allow you to get to 85 and you won't be doing endgame Cata raiding without being level 85. That alone will get people to buy the box even if it had no other features.
I will probably just roll an alt to level with my guildies' worgen alts to see what Blizz has done with the world (and because I enjoy leveling) then quit at 80.
to the above poster..
I suspect they wll require you to buy the expansion to play the two new races.. that is one of the small carrots for you to chase, but the world changes will be free.. to me, the 5? new end game dungeons, and the couple of raids is not worth $40.. Especially when previous expansions gave us a dozen+ dungeons at release..
In my opinion we are getting 1/2 of what BC and WoTLK gave us, for full price.. as for the global changes, that cost is connected to our monthly subscription..
I think the problem with that is that Kaplan has been moved, There isn't many people like him around and not even Blizzard can replace someone like him.
As for if the expansion is worth the cash it depends on how much you like Wow. If you love it then it is a must, if it bores you and you plan to move soon it might just be a waste of money. There is no answer that is true for everyone.
As i have already said, i believe that statement is misleading as the global changes would not be available at all was it not for the development of the expansion, so it is probably closer to fact to say that those that buy the expansion will be funding the global changes for those that don't buy it. Again, the changes 'have' to be made available to those without the expansion because the game would be unplayable without them and you pay your sub for Blizzard to make the game available to you in a playable form and that is as far as the subs part of it goes.
As an extension to that, you would probably argue that any future instances, be it dungeons or raids are also part of your monthly subscription. If that is that case does that mean that Blizzard has actually supplied 20+ 'free' expansions (patches) since release as well as the two paid for expansions or is it all part and parcel?? So either Blizzard is selling $40 boxes and giving on going value for money as part of that or they are shifting $40 boxes followed by loads of 'free' content in between?
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
You won't get to play a Worgen without the expansion.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
The content is never free. The patches and additions to the game outside of expansions are paid for by the community of players that are paying the subscription fee. The players pay the sub which goes into a giant pot in which the developer pays people to make more game assets... ONCE. They make the new content and add it to the game and a bizzilion people get access to it. It's not like they have to remake everything for every player. A $15 dollar subscription cost is plenty for ongoing mmo development, if people stop playing it or the game starts to go under after that it's their own fault for using that money to make a crappy game. If a company is going to charge $40 for an expansion it had better be a whole other 30 levels or so of gameplay and a giant influx of content adding to the lore of the game, otherwise it's just another attempt to get as much money as possible for the smallest amount of development cost.
"I'm not cheap I'm incredibly subconsciously financially optimized"
"The worst part of censorship is ------------------"
agreed chou.. the way I look at it.. the $15 a month is to pay for severs (which is a drop in the bucket), salaries for ongoing added content and profit.. When people talk expansion, that is nothing more then mall item cash shop.. You get a large chunk of content for a set price.. The quest was, is it worth it? IMO it's not.. Origninal WoW came out with 40 zones, 10 races and dozens of dungeons, etc etc.. in a 5 year development span.. That is the rate of 8 zones, 12 levels of content per year... So.. Where are my 24 levels, 16 new zones etc etc..
for my 2 year waiting time 
So you two would be happy if they just threw in a couple of dozen levels and dungeons into the mix as an expansion??? (just fyi, on release there was only 8 races and no-where near dozens of dungeons, expansions and patches did all that! Maraudon - 1.2, Dire Maul - 1.3 etc...)
I would personally much rather they put together a fantastic 5 level experience with a decent cap experience to follow on with than 20-30 mediocre at best levels with end content to follow as and when. I have seen loads of payed for (AO especially) and free content done badly in other MMO's and the one thing that hasn't been mentioned here is the fact that the one thing i am pretty well certain of getting in a WoW expansion is a quality product.
At the end of the day it all comes down to 'you pays your money and takes your choice' and i will choose to buy the expansion as the information stands at the moment, others of course won't.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Yes, but i want the Collector Edition!
One things for sure, Blizzard makes games like no other, yes there are many things that people don't like but not getting your moneys worth isn't one of them, so YES I will pay $40 with out a shadow of a doubt, as of matter of fact I would pay up to $80 for a Blizzard game because they have never let me down when It comes to the game It self.