I'm hoping for a new look for my pal, Wilson

Remember how many times Warhammer Online was delayed? It was a lot and looking back on it was a bit painful. But it was downright insane to believe the game would make the original launch date since it was slated for two years after the original announcement. That ambition and development cycle is unprecedented in the terms of big budget MMOGs as most average four years in development. Instead it took a little over three years to ship and now the development team is playing catch-up with the main game as seen with the recent Contribution System debacle.

What does this mean for Warhammer Online’s first expansion? Other than theoretical design actual development is officially on the backburner until the main game is more or less completed and ready for one. Mark Jacobs confirmed the news in the following statement:

Just so you know, we haven't begun work on an XPack yet and aren't going to until we get a lot more done in WAR. The expansion can wait a little longer but the main game can't. We are not pushing an XPack out the door at the expense of WAR. And once we begin work on an XPack, it's going to take us quite a while to do it. We're still at the talking stages and while we think we have some rather interesting ideas, it's not time yet to even go to GW to get their blessing.

Perhaps Electronic Arts and Mythic Entertainment have learned a valuable lesson. This is ultimately good news. The downside is that it could be another year before the first expansion launches. A lengthy development schedule without large incremental and free content additions to the main game could end up costing subscriptions. It’s a long wait. Let’s also hope that we don’t endure a dreaded repeat of delays once the expansion’s launch date is first announced.