Do You Prefer Big MMORPG Expansions Or A Smaller, More Frequent Update Schedule?

Those of us that have been playing MMORPGs, F2P or not, for years now remember when there really was only "one" development pipeline for our favorite genre. "Back in the day," an MMO came out and the "big" decision really came down to what the game would charge. Would the game have a box fee? Would there be a subscription? Would the game try being free-to-play?

Once that decision was nailed down, it was just a question of if the game could support itself with whatever model it ended up choosing. Boy things have changed throughout the years. Box fees, subscriptions, free-to-play, cosmetic purchases, season passes, paid DLC, expansions to purchase, battle passes...the monetization options are crazy right now.

That will be a piece for another time. Today, I'd like to look at the primary ways the increase in monetization options has impacted development cadences for MMORPGs. 20 years ago, you could kind of get away with development cycles that saw expansions every two years or so. Competition wasn't as strong, and even if you counted EVERY MMORPG option out at the time, you didn't have many to really compete with out there. Just look at how long World of Warcraft was able to rule the roost in the space.

Today's MMO world is a bit different, and it isn't just on the side of players. Developers have been having a harder time maintaining certain development cycles. Layoffs, changes in company structures, and available funds have even caused some MMOs to totally change their process. Even World of Warcraft has changed things up. Sure, they're still doing full "expansions," but the Worldsoul Saga is actually made up of 3 expansions that are each slightly smaller that previous packs. They're also being released a bit faster than in years past.

Other games, like The Elder Scrolls Online, are doing away with expansions (what they called annual chapters) and shifting to a more "seasonal" model. We won't really know exactly what that means for TESO until their showcase this month, but even games like Guild Wars 2 have changed their cadence to smaller portions coming faster, so we have a good idea what to expect.

Developers espouse the merits of both the full expansion and the faster, smaller releases. Having 2 years to get content ready is nice...provided you don't bloat the project and force crunch. Smaller updates allow teams to really focus in on just a few additions and (ideally) refine them to a greater degree since the feature list isn't as long.

But which do you prefer as a player? I'll be honest, I miss the days gone by of a big expansion launch. I'm talking the "old school" midnight launch stuff. Standing in line with some friends, racing home to get things installed, it was a blast. Obviously, those days are long gone in this more "digital only" world and them being gone really has nothing to do with content delivery schedules, but I still miss them.

I still love me a big expansion though. My main MMO, FFXIV, still follows this content delivery schedule. We get a big expansion every 2 years, and 5 major patches in each expansion. It's consistent, sure, but even Square Enix has had to increase the development time between those patches. Having tens of hours of just new "main" content to do is nice, though. I love that. The time in between? Not so much. This is a problem that's only made worse if you aren't feeling very enamored with the expansion, something I'm having my own issues with for Dawntrail. It isn't a bad expansion, but it's far from being one I engage with every day.

Then that must mean I'm in favor of smaller content releases happening more frequently, right? Slow down, friend. Maybe not. More frequent content is certainly nice. On the flip side, though, if I'm not invested in the content being added (maybe it's some quests and 2 HUGE features that I don't engage with, like PvP) then it's easy to feel like the game offered "nothing" for me in this update. With the MMO space being as large and diverse as it is these days, it makes it far more likely that I'll be off playing something else.

Weighing the pros and cons of each...I think I'm still in the old school expansion camp. We'll have to wait to see exactly what TESO has planned, but I always worry that the idea of "smaller faster content" also comes with the "can we make more money faster" element of development. After all, if TESO made all the money it wanted from annual chapters, they certainly wouldn't change things up. They have to earn back what would have been "box sales" somehow, right? Give me a big old expansion every two years and I'll deal with the occasional dud of an expansion. FFXI will always be there...right? RIGHT?

What say you, though? Let me know how you prefer your MMO content to be released below.