[Saber Cherry]

I intensely dislike expansion packs. In fact, I have only purchased one in my life (for Morrowind) and regretted it. If I have not purchased the game, I would not want to spend $70+ to buy the "complete" game; and if I have already bought the game, being forced to pay extra for an expansion irks me. Kohan had an expansion, which I did not buy, and which resulted in my being unable to play multiplayer games. AoW2 had an "expansion" that I consider mainly a bugfix, which I also did not buy. Bugfix expansions tell me, "If we screwed up, you're the one that will pay."

Expansions, IMO, segment the community - something that is not a good idea. I see them as a way to milk profits from a half-assed effort, and when the expansion + original are released in a "treasure chest", like Blizzard does, I see them as a way of milking profits by abusing the most devoted fans.*

Microsoft is a good example. For several generations, Word and Excel have added no new useful functionality for most Users... the only important change was to generate files in a format incompatible with old Versions, so that owners would be forced to upgrade even though their current Version was adequate. Windows 98 is also a good example; it is essentially a bugfix for Windows 95, which cost (at release) over $100.

In my opinion, software products released by a company should be either distinct, or free upgrades. Penalizing early adopters, as Blizzard (and sometimes Microsoft) likes to do, makes their early adopters hate them.

In other words, I would rather that effort be spent either fixing bugs OR designing a next-generation product, but not on devising schemes to generate additional income from the most devoted fanbase by selling marginal enhancements to an existing product. To put it bluntly: I will never again buy an expansion pack, and will never buy the first Version of a product from a company that engages in "expansion pack tactics".

-Cherry

*Edit:

In other words, devoted fans have to pay full price for the expansion pack, but people that waited get the expansions for free. Thus, the hardcore fans are penalized. If a company punishes people for trusting them... well, downhill is the only way to go. Unless the fanbase is a group of devoted, gullible masochists, like... hmmm... some companies spawn.

[ February 25, 2004, 01:14: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]