The Most Frequently Patched PC Games

The editors at PC Games Hardware have compiled a list of PC games that have received numerous patches during their lifespan. Fallout 3 (6 patches), The Witcher (7 patches), Diablo II (12 patches), Gothic 3 (14 patches), Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (31 patches), and World of Warcraft (43 patches) are all mentioned.
Patches are both a blessing and a curse for games. What has been daily routine for PC gamers for years, is now even affecting the consoles. But a game that is often patched isn't necessarily bad. Quite the contrary is the case: Many developers offer new content or features with the patches. An example is Company of Heroes that received a DirectX 10 mode via patch. In C&C Red Alert 3 the multiplayer balancing has been tuned with more than ten patches and the game was upgraded with new maps. So patches don't necessarily are bad news. But of course there are also negative examples, like the unfortunate Gothic 3, which actually had been a good game but the flood of bugs in the release version made it almost unplayable. Furthermore there are games that are patched even before they hit the markets - such updates are called Day Zero Patches.