EverQuest expands into monsters

The original EverQuest is adding yet another expansion set, Depths of Darkhollow. While the subscriber numbers haven't grown for years, they also never fell, in spite of EQ2 and WoW coming out. This is what economics call a cash cow, a product for which the development cost has fully been paid, and which continues to sell and make profit. And expansion sets are what keep this game alive for so long.

Depths of Darkhollow is interesting in that it will introduce "monster missions", where players can play as monsters instead of heroes. How that will work, and whether these monsters will then be able to PvP, remains to be seen. DoD will also allow people to play as lower levels, so they can adventure with friends, a sort of reverse CoH sidekick model. The expansion also promises items which evolve, as well as the usual new zones, new quests, and other new content.

That still doesn't make me want to return to EQ, because the underlying grind model isn't enjoyable to me. But I sure hope Blizzard is listening and learning how to perpetuate a MMORPG with expansion sets. Blizzard just announced breaking through the 2 million subscribers mark, and the game just has launched in China, where more growth is expected. I sure like how Blizzard is adding content in their big patches about every month, but a WoW expansion set would really be nice.

The only info we have is a "blue name" post on the WoW boards saying "Also, while we haven't made any announcements yet, we do plan to create an expansion set for World of Warcraft. We're currently focused on adding new content to the game through regular content updates, but when the time comes, we'll make an announcement on our community web site regarding our plans for the expansion.".
- posted by Tobold @ 7:00 AM Permanent Link