WoW is 84 GB to download. Before updates ect.
Curious if there are any plans to compress the download into smaller file folders and then uncompress them after install?
Are there any plans to shrink the game files? Perhaps an option to make cut scenes download optional for those who wish to save monthly downloads or not spend 8 hours +++ downloading.
There are a limited number of ways to compress data unfortunately.
My WoW folder is 89gb too. It’s going to keep getting bigger and bigger. There are games on Steam that are over 100gb (Mass Effect Legendary and Borderlands 3 with everything for example). Cyberpunk I believe is 70gb. Doom Eternal is 90gb with all DLC. Games are just going to keep getting bigger and bigger.
The only way for things to get smaller is to remove content, so yes people need to start getting 2TB+ drives…
As someone with shotty internet, the file size of games these days is becoming stifling. I have unlimited data, sure, but the cost is less than 1 mb/s download. 
i think the issue isn’t with the total size of the game file but with the first download (especially for new players installing it or returning players who deleted it from the computer and now have to wait like 1-2 hours for the game to download) … based on cable internet speed/ bandwidth
Yeah, this. Most of the bigger files in the game (videos, audio, textures) have already been compressed as far as is possible without noticeable loss of quality, and the CASC data format compresses all of the textual data and squeezes what little it can out of of other compressed data. They might be able to switch out the compression used by CASC for a marginal improvement (low single digit percent) but it’s about as good as it’s gonna get already.
The reality is that even the most casual gamers should be upgrading their storage. SSDs have gotten reasonably cheap — even a high end SSD like the Samsung 980 Pro only costs $110 for 1TB of stupidly fast storage, while slower (but still quite fast) entry level 1TB SSDs going for $50-$60. Upgrading without sacrificing speed isn’t prohibitively expensive like it used to be.
Honestly, at this point gamers should be used to massive downloads if they play any MMOs. Should not be a surprise.
Really no need. It downloads in minutes.
Get more bandwidth is the real answer.
If you can’t handle the download the game is likely to be very laggy for you. This will negatively impact anyone who groups with you.
Again, get enough bandwidth to play properly.
no one ever got used to it. they just got better internet when they couldn’t take it any more. 
I know I’m very much in the minority here, but at 84GB it’d take me roughly 42 hours to download the game fully… no really.
OOF. that’s… that is DSL type speeds isn’t it? One day tech will advance enough for you to get better stuff… hopefully.
I feel for the people that can’t get internet speeds of at least 250 Mbps… 1 Gbps seems pretty common, at least in areas served by fiber infrastructure. If your stuck with DSL-speed service as what your monopoly ISP offers for “top tier bandwidth,” then it just sucks to be in that area. 
As others have said, the files are already compressed and switching to a cutting edge compression is going to be single-digit improvement (not a 2:1 compression on top of what they’re already compressing).
Other have also said that growing size is common among other games… If it’s unplayable for you, you need more bandwidth from your Internet provider. I get that if your particular market is cornered by a crappy provider offering DSL-speed service as their best offering, it’s just going to be awful. However, if you have a choice and can afford the added cost, a bandwidth bump to at least 100 Mbps seems warranted (and you want to go as high as your cost budget threshold).
Not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but you don’t actually need to wait for the entire game to download before you can play it. Fairly early on, it will get to the point where it’s “playable”. It knows that most people aren’t going to be digging into the textures from old expansions, etc, so it downloads that stuff last.
Also, further compression, even if it was possible, would not be desirable. It would mean that those files would have to be decompressed when that data is accessed, increasing loading times. Sorry, but more people would benefit from shorter loading times compared to the minority who complain about file size.
A 256GB SSD on eBay costs $15-20.
Wow isn’t a brand new game and has many expacs added to it so yea the game is getting larger on your drive as the years go on.
Better to have it on your drive then some temp system that down loads it and removes it as needed.
I genuinely think the only thing they could do to dramatically quash the filesize at this point would be to make any quest-related voiceovers for legacy expansions optional downloads.
Fortunately for me, my Internet speed seems to have outpaced the growth of WoW files. A fresh install, even at this size, takes a fraction of the time it took when I first started playing.
Starlink is the key
at that rate you shouild really get t-mobile home internet 50 dollars a month with auto pay and unlimited data still and wayyyyy faster downloads and unloads then that.
starlink isn’t bad as an idea. I think it ultimately depends on how the business maintains itself and generates profit in the long term. Execution and maintenance costs for stuff like this is sort of key.
It also has some stiff competition for similar speeds/latency so