Cata at what cost?

[MiRai]

So here are my predictions:

- Existing players will have to buy Cataclysm in order to play Goblins, Worgen, or level up to 85.
- People with vanilla will get the revamped Azeroth, but not be able to be Goblins, Worgen, or level to 85.

No need to predict, it has been this way with the last 2 expansions and Blizzard already said it's the same for Cataclysm.

- New players can either buy Cataclysm, which will let them play Goblins, Worgen, and level to 85 BUT
- If people who bought Cata but not TBC&WotLK want to play draeni, blood elves and death knights, they'll have to buy those expansions or maybe the Blizzard store will sell the ability to play those races/class.

Not sure how you're expecting to fill the 60-70 gap of Outland or 70-80 gap of Northrend, both which require their own expansions, unless you're planning on grinding boars in Elwynn Forest. The expansions will need to be bought and applied to any new users account.

I think they're going to change the way the game and getting new content is gonna happen. I think they've been testing out that micro-transaction stuff a lot, and I think we'll see things like "Oh, hey, next month on the store we're gonna be selling, for $25, the ability to play as a Pandaren." "We added a new heroic class, and for $25, you can play as them". Then when they do actual new areas, they can sell those individually, too. "$10 to unlock this new zone" and so on.

I think this would have the potential for a LOT more revenue for them. If they come out with an expansion every 2 years that sells for $50, that's not bad. But if they come out with a new race every year for $25, a new class every other year for $25, a new zone every 6 months for $10 - they wind up having a much more dynamic game that is always giving players something new AND they win up charging more for it AND their content development team can focus on making the new stuff as good as possible.

Just something I feel in my bones. If Blizzard doesn't do it I'll be surprised, but SOMEBODY is going to take this approach to MMO expansions, that I'm sure of. Blizzard just has the fanbase to pull it off.

A fan base that they'd quickly lose. I can't imagine how many people would quit this game if they had to pay money to access classes or zones. I would guess that more people would quit the game than would be paying to access this content, in turn, Blizzard would be losing money for taking such a route.

Also, they've said before they don't want to flood Azeroth with new races and classes every expansion, It's hard enough to balance what they've got. There is lore and history to this game that they've been [semi] sticking to. And how would Blizzard just whip up another class that would fit nicely every year? Do you think that all the ideas and programming for an expansion are done in 6 months and the other 18 months their programmers and writers are just on vacation? Probably before Wrath was released they were already working on Cataclysm, and the way it's looking... they might not even hit the released date they had planned in their heads.