Was it smart to announce three expansions right away?

When Chris “Green Jesus” Metzen announced not just one, but three WoW expansions at BlizzCon this past weekend, I was initially quite surprised. Yes, the hype was there. In addition to the excitement for the next expansion, one question came to mind: “Why?”

Why announce three expansions right away? Where did the idea suddenly come from to spoil the next two add-ons? Several advantages and disadvantages immediately came to mind. Was it wise to announce more add-ons?

The hype killer

Chris Metzen can be a publicity beast no matter how big he is at the next BlizzCon: we already know the next WoW addon (and even after that).
Source: Blizzard (Youtube)


That’s not to say that it won’t be worth a look or even a trip to BlizzCon in the next few years, because the WoW expansions are already known anyway (someone on Reddit etc. actually wrote this). However, it is true that the hype for the next BlizzCon will not be as great as usual. Announcing three expansions at once is a bit of a hype killer.

It will still be exciting for us to see what the details of the upcoming addons are, what features await us and of course the entire lore has not been completely spoiled.

However, at the next BlizzCon or the one after, hardly anyone will be scared if a Metzen or whoever announces that the next WoW expansion (buy now ): It’s called midnight. Because we have known this for at least twelve months. The harsh history of Midnight and the subsequent WoW: The Last Titan is also known. So the “Aaahs” and “Ohhhs” will disappear in the future.

No safety net?

Three announcements, three WoW expansions. A filler add-on – and thus a kind of safety net between expansions – is therefore out of the question for WoW in the coming years.
Source: Blizzard


Now that the next three expansions have been decided, the developers must provide exactly these add-ons with exactly these themes. A deviation from the plan would reflect negatively on the organizational capabilities of the WoW team.

In the past it seemed that the team had repeatedly resorted to so-called “extension fillers”. In other words, expansions that had little or nothing to do with the previous story and ostensibly didn’t advance WoW, but are just add-ons to fill space until you get back on the “right” path with enough planning time. The community mostly sees WoD, Shadowlands, and BfA as filler add-ons.

WoD was followed by Legion, which is considered one of the best WoW add-ons. The time that passed after work on WoD features stopped was certainly one of the reasons for Legion’s success. The world soul parts must not allow these errors, because otherwise the developers’ planning would be even more obvious than in WoD.

The Weltensselen saga seems well structured and makes thematic sense. However, we have known for some time that the developers have had several expansions in the pipeline for years. When an add-on is about to be completed, you are already working on the next one and sometimes the one after that – it would also be strange if this were not the case.

If you remember this approach, the announcement of the three-part game of World Souls no longer seems so bold, since in any case you always plan at least two add-ons in advance. In my opinion, none of the three add-ons will be a filler extension, at least you can’t afford it.

Great for fans of tradition

We still don’t 100% understand Iridikron’s plans with Xalatath, but unlike other expansions, that’s not a bad thing thanks to the early planning of several add-ons with clearly defined main stories.
Source: Blizzard


While the hype for add-on announcements will be virtually non-existent in the coming years, expansion spoilers have particular benefits for fans of the lore. If the WoW team sticks closely to the three-part add-on, many stories and speculations can be invented and the intentions of the main characters can be better understood.

It hasn’t always been this way in the recent past *cough* Jailer *cough*. This is There will be no end to Iridikron’s stories or Xalatath’s interference in Dragonflight, but we know they will be woven significantly into the lore in future expansions.

As you can see, the announcement of the World Souls Saga has advantages and disadvantages. It still seems a little strange to me that we already know the next three addons. In fact, the wait for the next BlizzCons ​​is a bit tempered for me.