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Any one else hate expansion packs?

sctt888sctt888 Member Posts: 128
in The Pub at MMORPG.COM

They seem to be the number one reason mmos go stale every want wants a pre server they want a pre UO:R server. a pre Luclin server, even people are asking for a pre TBC server for WoW. Xpacs can add alot of content and what have you, theres no denying t his, but id rather have small frequent patchs then huge xpacs that totally change the game. Any one else agree?

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Comments

  • Daedalus732Daedalus732 Member Posts: 589
    Taking TBC expansion as an example, what was really fundamentally changed about the game? Seems like it plays the same way as before for the most part with just a few new features, races, and territory.



    Unless you're hopping back and fourth between MMOs, expansion packs are a must. The game just gets way to stale with small content updates not being enough. These games need to evolve over time, and that's part of the challenge.
  • AshGUTZAshGUTZ Member Posts: 339

    The reason I don't like expansion packs wasn't really caused by TBC.

    It was caused by EQ and GW. In a way, when I see a new game i'm semi-interested in I don't want to have to purchase the game, then not the expansion packs. I don't want to enter a new game without all the content of it. Then again, I don't want to fork out hundreds for a game I havn't even played yet, just to have to pay for the monthly fee as well.

    TBC wasn't so bad, WoW only has one expansion. It is not intimidating when you see that, as it is when other games have 3, 4 even 5 expansions.

    image

  • qombiqombi Member UncommonPosts: 1,170

    I agree. I hate expansion packs. I see the lore go out the window, stupid changes, and usaully it never blends in with the original game. I don't see why MMORPG devs go so crazy on expansions. It always makes me weary of one. In EQ Luclin was bad and didn't fit the original game. Cat People? Cheapened travel? Planes of Power screwed up stuff even further. The game was ruined. Lore was gone, everything was just added because of whining and it killed the game.

    WoW's first expansion has made the game feel bad in my opinion. Flying mounts but not in the original world? This just makes the game feel like two different games. The whole on another planet theme sucks. I hate the alien crap, why must good fantasy MMORPGs always go this route?

  • Daedalus732Daedalus732 Member Posts: 589
    Originally posted by qombi
    WoW's first expansion has made the game feel bad in my opinion. Flying mounts but not in the original world? This just makes the game feel like two different games. The whole on another planet theme sucks. I hate the alien crap, why must good fantasy MMORPGs always go this route?
    This has been part of Warcraft's lore since Warcraft 2 when it was discovered that Orcs came from a different planet altogether.



    What "route" has WOW gone down that's so bad?



    I swear, people will never be happy. They cry content, and when they get it, they call for the classic servers because it ruins their perception of the game's fantasy. Well, in WOW's case, all the Chuck Norris jokes kind of ruined the fantasy anyway.
  • LinuxxxLinuxxx Member Posts: 102

    If the expansion just adds mobs,more levels weapons armors.. better gameplay or whatever i think it's great, but as soon they start to change stats and make mobs/players/skills/magics stronger or weaker, it sucks. specially if it has been on the market for a long time.. 1 year or so..

  • CleffyIICleffyII Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 3,440

    I really don't mind GW Expansion packs since they can be played independant of other expansions which really makes them just another game.

    What I don't like about expansion packs is that you normally pay half a full game's price; but don't get that in return.  Really most of what expansion packs offer, other games provide for free in updates on a 6 month basis.  An expansion pack should be an add-on that expands gameplay; and no game has really done that yet.

    image

  • paulscottpaulscott Member Posts: 5,613
    expansion packs SUCK and are a  royal  pain in the butt.

    I find it amazing that by 2020 first world countries will be competing to get immigrants.

  • keygankeygan Member Posts: 237

    I am all for expansions as long as they wait atleast 1 year before they put it out. 

    Hey AshGutz is that you in your sig?

  • ZindaihasZindaihas Member UncommonPosts: 3,662

    I don't mind expansions if they enhance the game.  EQ is a great example.  I thought the Kunark and Velious expansions were great, the Luclin and PoP expansions were not (I stopped playing after PoP).  Kunark brought the epic weapons to each class and they were nice items to boot.  Velious brought the high end quest armor and the great opposing factions between the dragons and the giants (in keeping in line with the lore of the game that others have mentioned).

    After that, it seemed to me that the devs just started cranking out expansions as a way to raise some easy money.  Not much thought put into them, nothing very exciting in gameplay and nothing adding to the lore.  So the answer to the question is "no" if the expansion is done right and "yes" if it is done wrong.

  • ClatilClatil Member Posts: 41
    Originally posted by Zindaihas


    I don't mind expansions if they enhance the game.  EQ is a great example.  I thought the Kunark and Velious expansions were great, the Luclin and PoP expansions were not (I stopped playing after PoP).  Kunark brought the epic weapons to each class and they were nice items to boot.  Velious brought the high end quest armor and the great opposing factions between the dragons and the giants (in keeping in line with the lore of the game that others have mentioned).
    After that, it seemed to me that the devs just started cranking out expansions as a way to raise some easy money.  Not much thought put into them, nothing very exciting in gameplay and nothing adding to the lore.  So the answer to the question is "no" if the expansion is done right and "yes" if it is done wrong.
    Theres no way to "do an expansion right" in everyones opinion, somethng is going to messed up for someone at all times. The only answer is to release expansions less frequently with more polish which is something EQ1 never did, and I agree that those expansions ruined the game.
  • AnofalyeAnofalye Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 7,433

    I looove expansion.

     

    As long as they don't destroy past accomplishments or reset your toon.

     

    So...if I work hard on acquiring gear...I prefer that the expansion doesn't make my gear obsolete.  If acquiring gear was only a side order while I was leveling/getting AAs, I actually enjoy seeing all new gear that obsolete the old one.  (or if the old gear is a key to access the new gear, then fine, since I need to actually progress through the old gear first)

     

    See, if you have a endgame that is gear-centric, it is in direct conflict with the idea of a new expansion ever.

     

    IMO, you have to pick, expensions OR gear-centric endgame.  A mix is bad.  Nobody enjoy losing their accomplishment.  Personnally, I am a fan of endless levels, so an expansion that bring new levels is always welcome...as long as the game didn't make me farm the gear for 2 months with nothing else to do, and now make it obsolete.

     

    Expansions are the best things that can happen in a MMO, which just prove furthermore that the idea of a gear centric (raiding especially) endgame is stalling and hurting the game....unless the gear is dynamic and part of something more fluid, atm gear isn't dynamic, it is a loot that drop at random from X Y Z and that is it, regardless of what gear you wear.

    - "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren

  • AelfinnAelfinn Member Posts: 3,857
    Expansion packs that either A.) were never asked for nor needed or B.) should have been part of the regular updates get under my skin, the rest of em are just fine.

    No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
    Hemingway

  • MacrossXeroMacrossXero Member Posts: 14
    Expansion packs are not necessarily all that bad, but tend to be worse than if it had not come around.  I mean, most players don't mind the new areas, and the new stuff, but it throws off the entire status quo in the game at that moment, and most people, even if they don't wish to admit it, desire to retain their rank high up in the status quo; if their loot is invalidated, that person will be quite angry.



    It depends on how the expansion is done, and whether or not it is free also plays into the question.  Personally, I loathe expansions that cost money, and seeing how City of Heroes does "expansions" for free at random update intervals, it actually was never something that bothered me in that game.  On the other hand, the huge changes in UO were enough to drive me away from it.  I tried it again recently on a trial, and I did not mind the changes, but thats a period of around six years since I last played it.  I believe that the expansions in UO are prime examples of how not to "expand" a game by reworking it's inner cores tremendously.
  • SynxVIISynxVII Member Posts: 168

    I think expansion packs for mmos are just the game devs/publishers being greedy and i'm surprized you guys accept them at all. IMO the monthly fee we pay is enough for all future content that gets added, paying $15 a month or whatever and buying expansion packs.. its rediculous. Games that dont have a monthly fee its fair enough but expansion packs imo for pay to play games are wrong.

  • nomadiannomadian Member Posts: 3,490

    I didn't mind expansions which added areas, or advancements. I think itemwise is the problem area. Items in new expansions tend to outdo old items in old areas leaving mudflation and maybe a certain amount of resentment from some players -see WoW. Not sure what the answer is really, make items decomposable completely is one thing I read and could work.

  • Flyte27Flyte27 Member RarePosts: 4,574
    They add expansions because everyone has gone through the old content multiple times and are looking for new areas to explore.  The games are almost always fun when they first come out since they are something new to explore.  I believe people who feel that something like SWG would be so much better if they went back to the original are dreamming because the game is pretty old by MMO standards and the player base wasn't very big to begin with.  The game would be even smaller then it was.  The NGE isn't great either, but it was an attempt to make the game better.  It failed IMO, but they tried.
  • kb4blukb4blu Member UncommonPosts: 717

    I usually dont like them.  EQ has been mentioned.  Also Anarchy Online. Shadowlands.

    I mean what was funcom smoking when they thought that one up.

    It destroyed the economy.  ( An AO dev that I met in RL agreed)

    It changed the whole game around.

    It made the original areas look like a ghost town.

    It was really a different game pasted on the original.  You could have played the shadowland exp without ever playing the original game.

    It made AO look like EQ ver. 1.5

     

  • OhaanOhaan Member UncommonPosts: 568
    I dislike the x-pack concept because it usually means segregating the players who decide to buy it from those who do not. This flies in the face of the spirit of MMO games. I would prefer to pay an extra $5 per month and get the added content incrementally rather than exhausting the content in 6 months, quitting, and resubscribing 6 months later when the x-pack is released.



    However I do concede that publisher's need x-packs to generate renewed interest and renewed sales. I just don't think that existing subscribers should have to foot the bill for it.
  • Publish6246Publish6246 Member Posts: 346
    Never played a good expansion pack to date :P Usually they just scared off new players who don't want the idea of having to purchase several expansions, even if they come in a ll in one pack it'll still scare em off.

    -----------------------------

    SWG - PrePub9 Jedi mastered all professions - June 26th 2003 > Nov 15th 2005
    EVE Online - 24 million SP - May 6th 2003 > Early 2005
    PlanetSide - BR20 CR5 - May 23rd 2003 > Sept 2003

  • AseenusAseenus Member UncommonPosts: 1,844
    sometimes there good sometimes there bad.. thats the way the cookie crumbles in life

    same with sequals of movies, majority of the time they are bad as but when a good sequal comes out its huge!
  • GameloadingGameloading Member UncommonPosts: 14,182
    I don't think there will ever be an expansion that makes everyone happy.



    If a company releases an expansion that adds the same content as the old game, just more of it, you will hear  "OMG, they didn't add anything new wtf!?!?!?1///111?". If a company releases an expansion pack that adds new things, you will hear "OMG, they toatly ruin the game, this isn't [insert game] anymore! I want a pre-[inserexpansionpack] server!
  • BattleFelonBattleFelon Member UncommonPosts: 483

    My only complaint about expansion packs is introducing new races or classes but not enough new content at lower levels. So you roll a new blood elf paladin or draenei shaman, enjoy all the new content till you hit 20, and then its back to grinding the same old areas and the same old quests till you can get to Outland.

    Even though I love the GW series, I think ArenaNet is also guilty of this. Sure Ascalon and the newbie islands in Cantha and Elona have different monsters and backgrounds, but the noobie starting quests are too similar across all 3 expansions.

    Oh, and biggest pet peeve is expansions introducing content that should have been in the original game - ie, some player-controllable spaceships should have been in the original version of SWG, not in an expansion. It's Star Wars for chissakes, not EQ in space.

  • wjrasmussenwjrasmussen Member Posts: 1,493
    Originally posted by Gameloading

    I don't think there will ever be an expansion that makes everyone happy.



    If a company releases an expansion that adds the same content as the old game, just more of it, you will hear  "OMG, they didn't add anything new wtf!?!?!?1///111?". If a company releases an expansion pack that adds new things, you will hear "OMG, they toatly ruin the game, this isn't [insert game] anymore! I want a pre-[inserexpansionpack] server!
    QFFT
  • Flyte27Flyte27 Member RarePosts: 4,574
    I didn't enjoy TBC much either.  Unlike in many of the EQ expansions they didn't add very much.  EQ always added lots of new zones and new classes.  The lack of adding new classes was what really hurt it for me. 
  • BattleFelonBattleFelon Member UncommonPosts: 483
    I never played EQ but one of my friends pointed out that one of the cool aspects of EQ expansions was lots of content both for new characters and veterans. I also heard that some of the expansions were staggered so one expansion would introduce more new classes and lower level zones and others would concentrate solely on veteran characters. I think this is a great idea and would rather have had TBC just be focused on high end content rather than not offer enough of both high end and new low level content.

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