NWN2 - Third Expansion Possible?

The latest NWN Podcast includes an interview with John Mamais and Raphaël Boyon from Atari Europe. Among the questions asked are the release of Mysteries of Westgate, to which the response is "we're currently reworking our online strategy" but that "could be subject to change and we could release it sooner than later".
On the subject of another NWN2 expansion pack, John responds "We don't have anything signed but we are discussing doing another expansion pack with the team. And I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen." Presumably the "team" is Obsidian.
Finally, on more Adventure Packs / Premium Modules, John says "noone's proposed or approached us about doing more Adventure Packs" (not surprising, because any potential developers have seen what happened to Mysteries of Westgate).
Head over to listen to the full podcast (~26Mb, 51 mins). The interesting bits with Atari Europe can be found around the 26 minute mark on.
More information.

I guess that NWX3 will be released way before MoW. :-p

Someone would have to be pretty desperate to allow themselves to be screwed the way Ossian has … again!

3rd expansion??? thats uber, i hope, i just hope? cross my fingers.
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Originally Posted by txa1265
Someone would have to be pretty desperate to allow themselves to be screwed the way Ossian has … again!

Have you seen the news lately? I think everyone is pretty desperate right now

Originally Posted by skavenhorde
Have you seen the news lately? I think everyone is pretty desperate right now

*ahem* Not that desperate

What's happened with MoW is entirely regrettable. And yes, as the delay in release became clear, I used to feel like we dodged a major bullet. As time has past and the delays lengthened to incredible proportions, that "bullet" looks more and more like an artillery shell.

It's a really sad bit of business. I do hope that some day, MoW is released.

They do admit they have held on to MoW too long and they say they "need to release it". They also say the release would be a key part of their online strategy…but it's clear they don't know what that strategy is. So, unfortunately, MoW sits around while they figure out what their online shop/portal/whatever looks like and what they want to do with it. In turn, this makes me assume they haven't really started full development of the shop/portal/whatever, which would mean MoW is still in total limbo.

I think that the third expansion could potentially be the best one. With the first expansion they focused on the story and characters and it was really good but the engine held it back. With the second they focused on the engine and features and the storyline suffered. Since the third one will be based on the current engine and feature set they can focus more on the storyline and not have as much focus on the engine and the engine won't hold back the game as much.

I liked the second expansion in terms of overland map, party generation + npcs, trading, etc. The only thing I missed was a really deep story, like in MotB. So, if you could combine the two, I would be really, really happy to see (and play) the result.

Originally Posted by skavenhorde
Have you seen the news lately? I think everyone is pretty desperate right now

If they are desperate they should be developing for WiiWare or XBLA. I can't imagine that modules for a moderate selling PC game from 2006 is the fast track to fame and fortune.

I just want the expansion 1 and 2 in the 3 a mixup
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Originally Posted by Dhruin
They do admit they have held on to MoW too long and they say they "need to release it". They also say the release would be a key part of their online strategy…but it's clear they don't know what that strategy is. So, unfortunately, MoW sits around while they figure out what their online shop/portal/whatever looks like and what they want to do with it. In turn, this makes me assume they haven't really started full development of the shop/portal/whatever, which would mean MoW is still in total limbo.

What makes you so sure about that point? A shop / portal / whatever would need around a year to get started. Atari did make mistakes but I don't think they would call MoW still a key feature if they wouldn't have a plan for the nearer future.

I think a third addon, that combines a deep, intensive story with the possibilities shown in SoZ could be a really interesting thing. I liked that open-world feeling. I don't need anymore classes or races. They could concentrate on story and level design instead of technical features. Except of hidden doors, would be nice to have.

Who said I was sure? Have you listened to the podcast? To me, the way John Mamais says they are "kinda reworking their online strategy" but "this could change and it could be released sooner than later" makes me think they haven't got a clue. Since MoW is over a year after completion and the DRM system has been out for a couple of months IIRC, I would have thought they'd have things in place, rather than "kinda" reworking their strategy. After all, as you point out, some of the facilities would take some time to put together. To put it simply, my interpretation of John's answer and tone was they didn't even have a plan.

Yeah, I listened to the podcast, but I thought he simply was unsure what he was allowed to say and what things have to remain untold.

I hope it's closer to MotB than SoZ - my hunger for custom parties and an open gameworld has been covered by SoZ. Now I need more good dialogue and a deep story!

I hope it's not epic level.

I almost installed SoZ yesterday. Still haven't finished MotB though (and I figured I'd wait until they've patched it a few more times and it doesn't break the OC or MotB at all).

I like the overland map concept of SoZ, I'd love to see the next installment use it, but have a deep story and start with a level 1 character.

No level 1 character please. I can't stand those. Really. I just can't see them any more. They are so fragile. So limited. So boring (and I do not only mean in NWN but just in every DnD RPG, be it PnP or PC or whatever. I can't stand level one characters.)

Might I suggest that Atari just does the as EA has done; just go or run with Steam.
This mean putting Ossians MoW out on Steam. Many of us (including me) would be very happy about this if it came into being.

Originally Posted by Avantenor
Yeah, I listened to the podcast, but I thought he simply was unsure what he was allowed to say and what things have to remain untold.

You're closer to the subject matter than I am but that's not how I heard it.

That aside - and realising that companies do strange things with their confidentiality - is it not rather ridiculous that he would be comfortable revealing a 3rd expansion is likely but they can't say their new shop / online presence / whatever is deep in development and will be unveiled in the next few months / whatever?