World of Warcraft Expansions and Patches to Arrive Faster in the Future

Blizzard has admitted that it's trying to modify the release timing of its World of Warcraft expansions, while regular patches are now being designed to include new, smaller adventures that will keep high level players entertained.

World of Warcraft is still one of the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPG), with over 11 million monthly subscribers delving into the virtual world of Azeroth. 

These numbers are dwindling, though, so Blizzard, its developer, is trying to get content faster to the players, in order to keep them busy and entertained for a longer a time.

Game Informer caught up during Gamescom 2011 with World of Warcraft game designer Tom Chilton, who revealed that the company is trying to release the expansions and patches for the game in a faster pace, so that players have various things to do in the online game.

"I would like for all patches to reliably have raid bosses," Chilton said. "Our first Cataclysm patch didn't have raid bosses. From a raider's perspective, it probably doesn't feel any faster than it did before. For us, where the biggest improvement is going to be in this cycle is in the actual expansion release. Traditionally we've only been able to do an expansion about every two years. We're really hoping to make a meaningful difference in that."

The second most recent expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, saw its final content patch include a raid with the actual Lich King, but it was released over the course of a month, upsetting quite a lot of players who wanted to complete the battle immediately.

With the recent Cataclysm expansion, which arrived last year, things are changing, as Blizzard wants to deploy a new patch, which includes a raid against Deathwing, as soon as possible and in its entirety.

While Chilton declined to actually confirm a new expansion for World of Warcraft, he said that fans should definitely take interest in the upcoming BlizzCon event that will take place in October this year.