While a two-year gap have traditionally separated expansions to Blizzard’s World of Warcraft, the developer says it aiming for a shorter dev cycle with the release of its next worldly add-on. This comes amid news last May that WoW lost around 600K subscribers post-Cataclysm.

In true Blizzard fashion, game designer Tom Chilton wouldn’t commit to firm timeframe, but did say the company hopes to make a “meaningful difference” when it comes to ramping up development.

“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,” Chilton told GameInformer.

Then, assuming all goes according to plan, it sounds like we could catch a glimpse of the next expansion at BlizzCon in the coming months. Blizzard has always taken its “when it’s done” mantra to heart, though, so that’s of course a big if.

Follow this author on Twitter.