They are already discussing milking the subscribers

MoP is more than a new zone, it's a whole new continent. You also get a new class, a new race, yes the new levels and new dungeons and raids on top of that. That's what you call an expansion.
Makeb will basically be like one zone of MoP. What has annoyed people though is that Makeb was going to be a free update to subscribers. It seems they are thinking about going back on this by calling it an 'expansion', when it is in fact nothing of the sort, in the usual MMO sense.

Really? Did the Development team tell you that Makeb would just be one small zone? Did you get some information that the rest of us didn't concerning the new planet?

I ask because I see a few flaws in your reasoning. If you are adding one planet to a game along with 5 levels then it has to accomplish quite a bit. It has to have different zones for people to level up in, it has to be able to handle the population of the new super-servers, it has to accommodate end game and it has to be expandable via content. In effect, it would have to be very much like the new WoW continent in every way. For people to pay for an expansion it would also need to add new game play, new FP's and OP's and WZ's...it would have to BE and expansion for people to pay for it.

Likewise, we have no idea whether or not an expansion would JUST be Makeb. It might include a few other planets as well including a brand new end-game zone. Or existing planets could be easily expanded to include leveling zones while making Makeb the end-game zone itself.

In other words, without any sort of insight by the actual designers all we can do is speculate as to what will or will not happen with an expansion. You are whining about paying for something when you know absolutely nothing about it except from what you (wrongfully) infer from a few Dev statements.

What some people call "milking the subscribers" I call "business decisions". Since my 401k has holdings in EA, I hope they do whatever is necessary to turn a profit on this game but I expect them to do it by providing a quality product worth buying. Selling something no one wants isn't the path to prosperity, after all.

His assumptions probably aren't far off. I have a feeling this new planet Makeb won't be any bigger or different than any other planet. I'm not saying I support this game any less I just know from watching this game develop since launch not to expect too much from them because you will always be let down.

With less staff, I'd tend to agree, though I'm hoping it turns out for the best.

As an example, just take a look at what 1.4 did to the overall game. It has more problems in it than all the other major patches combined, and the problems aren't limited to nuisance-bugs. Many people can't play their characters, even though the game ran great before it.

If a patch is this poorly implemented after the layoffs, it's hard to imagine Makeb will even approach the quality of one of the leveling planets, let alone be an "expansion."

Considering you invest in them you really have no idea about EAs MMO track record do you.

Its a patch, not an expansion. At best its a mini-expansion. But, the fact that you're already saying its small and feeble tell's us you already made up your mind before you even played it.

I can agree, if it made a difference i wouldnt mind if the non-central story quests didnt have voice overs. But, to say that that was a mistake i dont agree. I think its really good that someone finally decided to put the RPG on MMORPG, and a modern one at that.

This whole "was" thing is QQ out of order. They did not say subscribers would have to pay and they DID say that subscribers will get a set ammount of cartel coins every month. Get off the mighty horse and realise that with those coins you will be able to get the content for free REGARDLESS, aslong as you're a subscriber.

Can't believe you justify blizzard's money glutton greed of subscription fees with idea that MoP is worthy of being bought for over $50 on top of the vanilla version and other expansions in the past. I look at Blizzard and realized long ago they don't care about you, all they wanted was money.

Why wouldn't they? There was nothing competitive to keep up with them stay with check aswell. I soon stopped subbing because of this, they had no direction, no clue where to take the game. Laughing at a new class because it was merely a band-aid fix because they listened to their dumb forum posters screaming against siege engines eliminating a very varied third person mechanic that could be used in PvP and bring life back to the old Warcraft RTS games to the current MMO.

All they want is your wallet number and thats it, everything new they make they require more money from you so they can own your wallet, thats all it comes down too. You forking out more cash for rehashed content crap recycled a game era ago.

It sickened me and I haven't looked back at WoW because of Blizzards financial direction. I would rather play new MMO's and invest my time in them and feel appreciated with rewards like the F2play model of DCUO and SWTOR ideas of loyalty points.

Screw blizzards EA gaming methods of making money. That's what most posters here should think about.

Finally I don't think SWTOR would make current subs pay for an expansion they have been loyal to a game for since it began, but I do think some extra vanity items alla GW2/DCUO methods may entice more financial security for them as they provide items that can be bought because of mere looks alone. If their is one thing blizzard has taught me its that many people will pay for vanity pets, mounts, etc for a few extra bucks, and honest so far that works with other MMO companies as well.

This should work like Champions Online. If you sub, you get all the content and character slots and all that stuff as part of your subscription, along with your monthly payment of coins. The coins then can be spent on vanity items, that could be mounts, pets, vanity gear, etc... If you are F2P then you have to buy coins for content, extra character slots, vanity items, and only get the base game for free. For those of us that paid for the game, and are paying a monthly fee, there should not be additional charges for content updates. Also, in my experience games that do a hybrid of subs and F2P do not really release "expansions" they release content in small doses that subs get as part of their subscription (we aren't paying $15 per month for character slots) and F2Pers purchase. If they use that model it will make sense. If they try to nickel and dime us, I am sure they will reap the whirlwind of cancellations.

This one must get a special title in game as Ultra Master Jedi for optimism level 1000.