Do they abandon the expansion model?

I confess I did not understand very well, would there be a clear source to confirm it? or are they just saying that there will be just one season after and that maybe after it will be an expansion?Thanks you !

Since they are just going from LS4 to LS5 without an expansion in between most likely means they aren't to the point they want to release another expansion.

We cant know until they tell us. We also just nearing 1 year in pof so you never know if they will finish up se4 and 5 around the 2 year mark like hot.

I think so too ... in my opinion it's over expansionsGood bye Cantha ? :'(

I wonder at once, if they continue their model "3 months of waiting" because it is unjustifer in the end ... because it was planned basic, because the teams were split for the extension, as there is none, it means that they have undue delay ... and still now.So they knew necessarily from the beginning of season 4, see soon path of fire, that they would not continue the same model, in fact, they just took advantage of the time that they gave on information more viable than that .. .I do not see a company change model on a whim, in any case in the future it would be unjustified according to their current say to keep the model of 3 months no? If I leave their basic information, now all the information and situations have changed anyway...

More likely they just want more time to develop the next one, and don't want there to be a content drought in the meantime.

Also, we did just finish a major plotline. It makes sense as a place to start a new episode.

There is no real indication that they're switching away from expansions, just that the LW content coming will have some kind of delineation making Season 4 and Season 5 separate. I can imagine separate regions - maybe LS4 stays in southern Elona with LS5 taking place somewhere else.

@rylien.3824 said:I think so too ... in my opinion it's over expansionsGood bye Cantha ? :'(

Oh please... How can people seriously believe that? :s It makes no sense at all, really, when you think about it. Neither financially for ANet, nor based on any statement or information that has been released.

You guys are panicking over nothing.

The no expansion model failed at release with season 1. There is no way they are going back. Or is there?

Core Game, Season 1, Season 2, HoT, Season 3

PoF, Season 4, Season 5, (expansion), Season 6

Expansion, Season 7, Season 8, Expansion, Season 9

So I guess thats the model.

@Arden.7480 said:Core Game, Season 1, Season 2, HoT, Season 3

PoF, Season 4, Season 5, (expansion), Season 6

Expansion, Season 7, Season 8, Expansion, Season 9

So I guess thats the model.

You can't use core + S1 to make any predictions because at that time Anet believed they can survive without expansion. Game model change happen with Season 2 and HoT.

Core game - season 1 - season 2HoT - year no content but a season would have fitted here just fine - season 3PoF - season 4 - season 5.

Expansion - 2 seasons. You tell me how this is abandoning the system.

Is it weird that I don't mind either way?

I've never understood how an expansion is anything more than several Living Story episodes and feature packs/updates bundled together, except everyone has to buy an expansion and only people who miss the release period have to buy LS episodes. So to me this just sounds like we get more free releases before the next bundle we have to pay for, which is good for me because it will cost me less.

Time2P@N!C!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, they probably want more time to work on xpacs and fix old issues like bugs and balance

What makes you think they abandoned the expansion format? Pof is only out 1 year and the expansion format is 2 years between each. The fact that we go from season 4 to 5 means nothing at all, it’s just numbers… they probably didn’t want to make season 4 too long to finish the pof storyline and build the storyline for the next expansion up with season 5. If anything this speaks for another expansion.

Yeah, the ending of one season and the beginning of another is just a way of ending the Elonian story line by tying up loose ends (breaking the Mordent Crescent and freeing Elonia) before beginning another one.

Last we heard there were three LS teams and an expansion team. I don't see any reason to believe that they've changed that.

I've thought it would be a bit much for them to push another expansion at the end of LWS4. Post LWS5 makes sense because there is a lot of gaps in the maps around core Tyria, HoT and PoF. I wonder if they are going to use LWS5 to wrap up the elder dragons storyline then venture into a whole new plot involving Cantha.

@Danikat.8537 said:Is it weird that I don't mind either way?

I've never understood how an expansion is anything more than several Living Story episodes and feature packs/updates bundled together, except everyone has to buy an expansion and only people who miss the release period have to buy LS episodes. So to me this just sounds like we get more free releases before the next bundle we have to pay for, which is good for me because it will cost me less.

THIS. When GW2 launched they said the game would never get an expansion and I was 100% okay with that but then people cried... I prefer Living World, it's not only free but the episodes come out slower which means constant big updates every few months. I'm just glad they made LW replayable because that's more fun.

Remember there was a huge content drought after Heart of Thorns that could easily fit a Season. This time there is no such gap, which means they need to fill those months with another Season. It's way too soon for another expansion. Plus we don't have any kind of content that leads into an expansion, we are still in Elona and I seriously doubt the next expansion will be in Elona (no space left).

The rest of Season 4 will be about beating Kralk and exploring the rest of Elona. That's an appropriate Season ending right there. Then we'll move on to Season 5 which will introduce the new threat that we'll deal with in Expansion 3. Season 5 will take place outside Elona, maybe introducing something new that will lead to the next expansion.

That's my take on it.

@maddoctor.2738 said:Remember there was a huge content drought after Heart of Thorns that could easily fit a Season. This time there is no such gap, which means they need to fill those months with another Season. It's way too soon for another expansion. Plus we don't have any kind of content that leads into an expansion, we are still in Elona and I seriously doubt the next expansion will be in Elona (no space left).

The rest of Season 4 will be about beating Kralk and exploring the rest of Elona. That's an appropriate Season ending right there. Then we'll move on to Season 5 which will introduce the new threat that we'll deal with in Expansion 3. Season 5 will take place outside Elona, maybe introducing something new that will lead to the next expansion.

That's my take on it.

Content draught, yeah, but it wasn't a year long, it was 9 months. HoT release(october) -> december/january -> february/march -> april/may -> actual season 3 release in july.

That's 3 episodes if they really had the 2 month release schedule.

Expansion 3 shoudl release in 1 year or so. Sooo that's at least 2 more episodes of season 4 (we know there are at least 2, because of guild chat). Soo season 5 is going to be what 3 episodes long? Unlikely if you ask me.

@SloRules.3560 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:Remember there was a huge content drought after Heart of Thorns that could easily fit a Season. This time there is no such gap, which means they need to fill those months with another Season. It's way too soon for another expansion. Plus we don't have any kind of content that leads into an expansion, we are still in Elona and I seriously doubt the next expansion will be in Elona (no space left).

The rest of Season 4 will be about beating Kralk and exploring the rest of Elona. That's an appropriate Season ending right there. Then we'll move on to Season 5 which will introduce the new threat that we'll deal with in Expansion 3. Season 5 will take place outside Elona, maybe introducing something new that will lead to the next expansion.

That's my take on it.

Expansion 3 doesn't have to be released in 1 year from now / 2 years total, further Season 5 might be smaller, but it doesn't have to be. The expansion will be released once Season 5 is finished. So approximately 9 more episodes for the next expansion if Seasons 4 and 5 both have 6 episodes.

@maddoctor.2738 said:

@SloRules.3560 said:

@maddoctor.2738 said:Remember there was a huge content drought after Heart of Thorns that could easily fit a Season. This time there is no such gap, which means they need to fill those months with another Season. It's way too soon for another expansion. Plus we don't have any kind of content that leads into an expansion, we are still in Elona and I seriously doubt the next expansion will be in Elona (no space left).

The rest of Season 4 will be about beating Kralk and exploring the rest of Elona. That's an appropriate Season ending right there. Then we'll move on to Season 5 which will introduce the new threat that we'll deal with in Expansion 3. Season 5 will take place outside Elona, maybe introducing something new that will lead to the next expansion.

That's my take on it.

9 episodes is a minimum of 18 months, that's too long.

@maddoctor.2738 said:Remember there was a huge content drought after Heart of Thorns that could easily fit a Season.

On the current schedule, that gap only fits 3 episodes. They're taking an extra 1~1.5 months between episodes this season, which will be nearly equal to HoT's gap if there's 6 episodes total.

@Mea.5491 said:When GW2 launched they said the game would never get an expansion

They only said they had no plans for an expansion at that time and that the living world was meant to be the alternative by delivering an expansion's worth of content over time. They did say they wouldn't do standalone expansions however, as in starting from level 1 each expansion like GW1, since developing the tutorial content was a waste of resources.

@"SloRules.3560" said:9 episodes is a minimum of 18 months, that's too long.

Well how long it is depends on the kind of content we get with it. Maybe Season 5 will be bigger than any other Season and more "expansion-like"