World of Warcraft Expansion To be Shown

So for those of you who still play MMORPGs in general, how do you feel about paying for an expansion for a game that you already pay a monthly fee for?

Expansions in MMOs are usually very large additions to the game world. Typically very large landmasses, a pile of new features and in general a lot more content to play through. I don't mind paying in the least for a new large batch of content. To me, my monthly fee covers server maintenance, bandwidth and patching/balancing... if I get content too, that's an extra bonus.

I agree. I'm no longer a WoW subscriber, but if the expansion adds a lot of new content, etc., then I'd have no problem shelling out another $20 to $30. Heck, I got a few hundred hours out of WoW as it is.

I find it hard to believe that $60 million a month (4 million x $15, give or take 10% + another $200 million at least in box sales) in subscriber fees is not enough for them to just give free expansions.

Servers couldn't possibly cost THAT much to maintain. (correct me if I'm wrong if you have hard stats)

I can't give hard numbers because no MMO maker has ever released them, but I do know the pieces of the picture.

With an MMO you're paying for:
1. Server Hardware
We're talking the big-guns too. Servers that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars EACH. Now, each realm represents a FARM of servers to run. Each realm probably represents over a million dollars in initial hardware purchases.

2. Networking Infrastructure
I bet there are a lot of really nice, really expensive switches, routers and special load-balancing equipment that keeps the data flowing smoothly. That stuff ain't cheap in the least.

3. Maintenance of above hardware
Computers break, need to be replaced, or added to frequently in situations like this. We saw bad capacity problems at the beginning because they underestimated load and had to significantly expand all the realms to account for the load. That was a pretty penny no doubt. Plus, you have to pay network engineers and server admins to keep it all up and running. In CA, those guys ain't cheap.

4. Ongoing development
Patches, balacning, adding features and content. That takes more than a few people to do. They ain't cheap either.

5. Community Management
You have the web and forum teams that keep the populace happy (or at least quiet) They're a growing team of people. They cost money too.

6. Customer Service
With 4m customers spread over the globe, there has to be a small army of GMs and customer service reps, and they ALL cost money.

7. Bandwidth
Bandwidth is always expensive, and this game uses a LOT.

So in addition to just the hardware and infrastructure costs, you're paying for a LOT of people's salaries, and you're working on paying off the initial investment in the game in the years it was being developed but not making any money.

MMOs cost a LOT to keep going on a daily basis. Major content additions deserve being a separate boxed product.

I think WoW hit well into the black awhile ago now and has become an official Blizzard cash cow.   No question, however, that all the various bits that make WoW so profitable didn't come cheap.

I expect the expansion to be a pretty major update to the base game. Blizzard's been quite good about providing free update's to WoW as it is (big ones too, comparatively), so the expansion will be worth the extra money.