It's no secret that WOM is a sandbox game at heart, so how about creating a campaing that blends into that?
When there is a good system in place, why not use it?

I don't think the whole campaign should take place on one map.  I would prefer a Warcraft 2 system, where for instance you have one mission where you have to create a navy to cross the ocean to get to... whereever the next mission is.
Too bad the only good spots with access to the sea are currently in enemy hands. Oh snap. What could we possibly do about that?
Then the sandbox game kicks in. Well, we could just annihilate anything that stands in our way. Or we could help the blocking force by fighting their enemies and eventually ally with them, gaining access to the sea.
Maybe we could research or quest for a high level wind spell so we could cross the "stormy region" that blocks our piddly sea ports from the main ocean we need to travel to...

A strictly scripted dealy like WOM Book 1 simply stands out like a sore thumb. It doesn't mix well with the whole premise of the "real" game and most importantly - doesn't allow the player to create multiple solutions to the problem. Not if there is exactly one scripted condition like "Kill Hairy the Troll over there" and nothing else would work at all.

Even if it doesn't have copious amounts of voice/video acting, Starcraft 1 or Warcraft 2 are still games I replay because the maps offer a variety of challenges.
(Starcraft 2 less so. This one is almost always about getting rushed to do xyz, replacing gameplay with hectic.)

With a one-map campaign, like in WOM Book 1, you build a power base once and then it's mop-up time 'til the end.
The whole building an empire bit is effectively gone for the remainder of the campaign.

And with different maps you can do a lot more funny scenarios, like having to melt an iceberg with massive fire spells to clear a road block.
Use raise/lower land or "Build" a dam structure to divert a river and flush out a hostile race of poisonous giant ants. Or merely go kill them...
I'm sure SD can come up with better ideas than these that I just made up on the spot.

Kill unit a, move to square x/y, talk to actor b.
Those really get old after a while and no amount of creative writing can hide the... Kill / FedEx Quest.

Yep, I agree with you. If we could have option with quest too in the sandbox: that would be awsome. I love the idea of melting a giant iceberg with a massive fireball to clear a path by the way .

These comments are completely true, so hopefully we can get an answer for this.

From the previous journals, it seemed like the expansions are bringing us a new part of the campaign, which is fine. I myself, personally, didn't like the campaign too much, but some people did/will. I have not bought an expansion from Stardock before, so I'm wondering what types of improvements we're going to see in the expansions. Is it only for a new book in the campaign (hopefully not) or are we going to see a lot of significant gameplay features added in? This is important to know for those who will not get it for free, because if people who buy it see that a lot of care and work has gone into the expansions (which will be rated again, on all review sites) then they might consider picking up the original game so they can get the expansion. I'm just wondering what type of content will be in the expansions (not the patches).

The expansions for Stardocks GalCiv II had tons of gameplay improvements and additioons, I think they added more campaigns too...but I never played them and I felt my money was well spent in buying those expansions.

Frog even says that he doesn't care a lot about the campaigns compared to the sandbox mode, so I doubt the campaigns will be the focus point of the expansions.

Funny because all the game I bough from Stardock was in a bundle that include all the expansion. I never play a single game (well, until I buy this one) without it be at it's fullest potential so I can't compare... but those game are really awsome .

GaelicVigil - RIGHT,

And when patch ?? today ?

They already did it in one of the expansions for GC2, and from what I've seen the XML already allows it.

I personally would like a VERY indepth campaign if you please, especially if they are going to be over 9 dollars for those who did not have the game prior to 1.1 and I think for that amount of money people would be very upset at such a "shallow" campaign as book 1. $19.95 is too expensive for another storyline like "book 1" IMO. And personally I bought this game specifically for the story, as I had heard it was going to be very indepth about the lore of elemental and what not.

I personally will be playing both CIV 5 and Elemental as will as MTW:Middle Earth mod (awsome by the way)

Honestly, the campaigns aren't something I care about that much.  I'd only play a campaign at most once, but I'd play the sandbox over and over.  I'd rather see a focus on creating a wide variety of toys for the sandbox via techs/quests/etc, so that games feel more unique.

Right now the tech tree for Elemental is nowhere near as varied as I was anticipating the finished product to be.  (It can get there though)

I'm ok with the Civilization line being fairly standard, Warfare should have a few tweaks, Magic/Adventure/Diplomacy is  where the weird/fun stuff should be in general.

Another vote for "I don't care about campaigns."  I just want Elemental to be the best, deepest sandbox Stardock can make.

Seems like we are doing the same thing here that was done pre-release.  Assigning arbitrary dollar value amounts to products that are nothing more the speculation.  Can we get some more idea on content before we all decide we are getting the deal of the century?

I for one believe that if it's true that the expansions really are worth 20 dollars each and they are free, then I will just about get my moneys worth when all is said and done, which I believe is exactly the idea.  But next time, I prefer the trade of money for products to be more timely.

@wayninja

Its a gift. Its right, at the moment i dont hold it in my hands. But its a gift. And i have learned that i should say "Thank you". For me it has something to do with good behaviour.