I don't think many other mmo's could get away with this honestly. Wow has proven time and time again that they are the most fun, and that they will continue to be fun with each patch. A purchase in wow is a purchase in an mmo that I likely will play in a year.
I tried many other games and even pre-ordered for the special in game perk, but I left them all. Would I buy an in game mount for Conan or for Warhammer? Nope. Never happen. I left both games because they lacked the quality and vision of wow. Wow is simply a game that will be there long term and the rest of the wanna be games simply don't have loyal players that would buy digital stuff in the game.
I just laugh and have fun in wow, from festergut screaming "you killed stinky!" to XT-Deconstructor smashing the ground and screaming like a kid in a tantrum, the game is just better than the competition. I may sound like a fanboy, but honestly I have really enjoyed the game. I also enjoy LOST, it's in the same category as groundbreaking and wonderfully fun. If Wow is Lost most other mmo's are flashforward. They are kinda ok, but feel cheap in comparison.
The only judgement call on an issue like this to made is, how it effects you personally. It doesn't have an effect on me, as i don't play WOW, or any mmo at present that offers micro-transactions, at least of the legal variety. If the game I currently play, starts offering them, only then will I need to make a decision based on such practices. I'd probably still play.
Then I understand your lack of concern. Can you understand that those of us who want some games available free of any cash shop, ARE concerned?
Not to say I wouldn't lose respect for the Developers or Company running said game. As long as I'm not buying they're not seeing support for it from me.
They don't care about your respect. They don't know you. You are just an income source to them.
If you are paying a sub fee or buying boxes, then you are supporting their practices - even if you won't use the shop.
Will WOW's new model affect the rest of the industry? Who knows, it's possible, yet their new model could possibly positively affect other studios, that don't offer or support MT.
How so?
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I would like to know when capitalism became a bad thing?
1. This mount give no advantage in game over any other player.
2. You don't have to buy this mount to have a mount in game.
3. They are not being shady in anyway shape or form. They are simply giving the consumer a product and not forcing anyone to buy it at all.
Who cares how you or anyone spends their money. that is the bottom line.
There is nothing wrong morally or legally with what blizzard or any company for that matter that makes a profit for their services.
lol, well i have to say that the first statement could open up a whole can of worms that goes far beyond the realm of something as minor as video games.
However, your last statement I think comes to the crux of the matter. Some do truly believe that what they are doing is, in the context of the hobby of video games, moraly wrong.
And that is a tough thing to argue on either side as it does come down to taste and values. In the end there is no winning this discussion because its not winnable.
Personally I don't think it's an issue. But there are people who will bristle at having something they enjoy broken down and commoditized.
Like Skyrim? Need more content? Try my Skyrim mod "Godfred's Tomb."
i bought one and love it. It is just a mount not a weapon or armor set or something game changing to everyone else. It does however change the game for me. All my toons now have a mount that levels with them. That is what I like. I dont have to grind rep or farm dungeons.
You bought an in-game item for real money that saves you gold (since you no longer have to buy mounts for your characters.
There is nothing wrong morally or legally with what blizzard or any company for that matter that makes a profit for their services.
Wrong, at least as far as universal opinion goes. As it's a matter of opinion whether you feel Blizzard is doing nothing wrong. What the players do is their own business. What a Business does is everyones business, at least anyone who is a possible customer.
We're all possible customers of Blizzards as we're all MMO gamers, at least I would assume we are. Anyone who doesn't like where they are going with their business model should speak up.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I did. Read it again. You bought an item that saves you from having to buy mounts in the future. So, you are getting a money advantage in game from a cash purchase.
A mount is not a fluff item.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
This is a 'blue variation of an existing mount, right? No?
This is a purchasable variant of an in-game eranable steed, right? No?
As I understand it this is a reskin of a very rare mount that drops off the hardest boss in the game. Most people will never see this rare mount but they can purchase the Celestial version. In my opinion it kinda cheapens the experience for the people who are lucky enough to get the boss drop. For the amount of money Blizzard is making off this at least they could have made the mount truly unique.
Basically it all comes down to Time or Money which of more do you have and which do you value more. It seems that people are having less time to play but more money they are willing to spend on games which IMO is bad. Aren't games made to be played, not bought and the game plays its self for you?
Its actually kinda funny because people are willing to work hard in real life and spend real money on virtual items items but aren't willing to work hard in a virtual world for virtual items. If more and more of things start happening all MMO's will be about is how much money you make in real life.
I did. Read it again. You bought an item that saves you from having to buy mounts in the future. So, you are getting a money advantage in game from a cash purchase.
A mount is not a fluff item.
Is that true? Really, it doesn't seem to be. As doesn't this mount only travel as fast as your fastest mount? Which would mean to go faster you would need to purchase additional mounts.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
There is nothing wrong morally or legally with what blizzard or any company for that matter that makes a profit for their services.
Wrong, at least as far as universal opinion goes. As it's a matter of opinion whether you feel Blizzard is doing nothing wrong. What the players do is their own business. What a Business does is everyones business, at least anyone who is a possible customer.
We're all possible customers of Blizzards as we're all MMO gamers, at least I would assume we are. Anyone who doesn't like where they are going with their business model should speak up.
That is the question though, where ARE they going with their business model? Everyone has been speculating wildly on what they will sell next without any facts.
We have no idea WHERE they are going, unless you are merely opposed to them selling mounts for 25 bucks each, in that case I personally disagree with that stand point. I feel that ANY item that does not give you an advantage in game is fair game to be purchased at a cash shop. Its reasonable.
The argument that Doubter made saying that buying it is like buying gold is ridiculous. What if you go buy a soda from the corner store and the store owner goes out and buys Crystal Meth and dies, are you killing him?
Your action, buying a mount, does not make you directly at fault for every consequence that follows. IE them selling you a mount for money does not mean they are selling you gold, there are mounts you can only obtain through the trading card game, does that mean that when you buy trading cards you are buying gold too?
No, because the "funds" are non transferable you can't sell your mount that you bought with money for gold, the action may SAVE you money but SAVING money is not in effect SELLING you money when you buy something that SAVES it.
If you buy insurance and you need to collect on it, does that mean they were selling you "money"?
If it saves you from buying a mount on alternate characters thats all nice and good, however that is insurance, what if you never roll another character, then you are in effect not saving any money at all.
We're all possible customers of Blizzards as we're all MMO gamers, at least I would assume we are. Anyone who doesn't like where they are going with their business model should speak up.
Exactly, we should say things like "I would never pay $25 for something like that", or "item sales like that make me want to quit playing Warcraft / MMOs."
My point here is just that we shouldn't say that Blizzard is greedy, unethical, evil, etc just stop at saying you would never buy a product like that.
I just took another look at WorldOfWarcraft.com on quantcast, the website hit tracker. More than any other MMO I have checked on Quantcast, WoW has the most affluent users, with 32% making over $100,000 a year. That's why it makes sense for Blizz to price their item so high, their customers are rich. It's not evil or greed, just regular business economics.
Is that true? Really, it doesn't seem to be. As doesn't this mount only travel as fast as your fastest mount? Which would mean to go faster you would need to purchase additional mounts.
My understanding is that it scales to your skill - so you still have to learn the skill (which is the far greater cost), but not the new mount.
I could be wrong on this.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Basically it all comes down to Time or Money which of more do you have and which do you value more. It seems that people are having less time to play but more money they are willing to spend on games which IMO is bad. Aren't games made to be played, not bought and the game plays its self for you?
This is one reasoning I don't buy into. As whether they paid rl cash for their mount or not, bought their toon on Ebay, or turned tricks for epics, they're for the most part still playing the game occasionally. Whether they're PVPing, running dungeons, crafting or simply dancing in a tavern, they're doing so to have fun. Regardless of the means in which they aquired their items. That is why they paid for them afterall, so they could enjoy the game more.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Is that true? Really, it doesn't seem to be. As doesn't this mount only travel as fast as your fastest mount? Which would mean to go faster you would need to purchase additional mounts.
My understanding is that it scales to your skill - so you still have to learn the skill (which is the far greater cost), but not the new mount.
I could be wrong on this.
I'm not really sure myself, I've seen it stated as such a few times though, I could be wrong too.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
They made the game, they own the game, they can do what the hell they want with there game, even turn it into smurf online if they want too.. why should we even really care..
The only power we have as a costumer is: Stop playing there game, and that is True Power..
No matter what you do..If you get 1 fan in something, you always get 2 haters.. if you try to befrend 1 of the 2 haters, you end up with 3 haters and 0 fans, because you gave your power away!
The argument that Doubter made saying that buying it is like buying gold is ridiculous. What if you go buy a soda from the corner store and the store owner goes out and buys Crystal Meth and dies, are you killing him?
That is the most bizzarre and illogical analogy I have ever read.
I'm not going to write it again. If you can't understand it, that's your issue, not mine.
Your action, buying a mount, does not make you directly at fault for every consequence that follows. IE them selling you a mount for money does not mean they are selling you gold, there are mounts you can only obtain through the trading card game, does that mean that when you buy trading cards you are buying gold too?
Those mounts don't scale to your character's riding skill.
No, because the "funds" are non transferable you can't sell your mount that you bought with money for gold, the action may SAVE you money but SAVING money is not in effect SELLING you money when you buy something that SAVES it.
If you buy insurance and you need to collect on it, does that mean they were selling you "money"?
If it saves you from buying a mount on alternate characters thats all nice and good, however that is insurance, what if you never roll another character, then you are in effect not saving any money at all.
If you buy it on a low level character, then you never have to buy another mount. Even as your riding skill goes up in level.
If Blizzard sold you a code that dropped all your purchase costs by 10%, that would be the same as selling you gold. A penny saved is a penny earned.
As I said in another post - I may be mistaken on that point (about it scaling with your skill(, but that is my current understanding.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Is that true? Really, it doesn't seem to be. As doesn't this mount only travel as fast as your fastest mount? Which would mean to go faster you would need to purchase additional mounts.
My understanding is that it scales to your skill - so you still have to learn the skill (which is the far greater cost), but not the new mount.
I could be wrong on this.
I'm not really sure myself, I've seen it stated as such a few times though, I could be wrong too.
It does scale to the highest mount, but if you have epic flying training. Which usually allows you to go 280%, because most of the epic flyers are 280, this mount allows you to go 310% speed, which is like the ultra rare drops, and the arena mount.
Comments
I don't think many other mmo's could get away with this honestly. Wow has proven time and time again that they are the most fun, and that they will continue to be fun with each patch. A purchase in wow is a purchase in an mmo that I likely will play in a year.
I tried many other games and even pre-ordered for the special in game perk, but I left them all. Would I buy an in game mount for Conan or for Warhammer? Nope. Never happen. I left both games because they lacked the quality and vision of wow. Wow is simply a game that will be there long term and the rest of the wanna be games simply don't have loyal players that would buy digital stuff in the game.
I just laugh and have fun in wow, from festergut screaming "you killed stinky!" to XT-Deconstructor smashing the ground and screaming like a kid in a tantrum, the game is just better than the competition. I may sound like a fanboy, but honestly I have really enjoyed the game. I also enjoy LOST, it's in the same category as groundbreaking and wonderfully fun. If Wow is Lost most other mmo's are flashforward. They are kinda ok, but feel cheap in comparison.
This is not a trend that can be copied easily.
I would like to know when capitalism became a bad thing?
1. This mount give no advantage in game over any other player.
2. You don't have to buy this mount to have a mount in game.
3. They are not being shady in anyway shape or form. They are simply giving the consumer a product and not forcing anyone to buy it at all.
Who cares how you or anyone spends their money. that is the bottom line.
There is nothing wrong morally or legally with what blizzard or any company for that matter that makes a profit for their services.
How so?
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Wooooo, first post, just joined. Played WoW for years and I can tell ya if I still played I would rather buy some items.
<mod edit>
lol, well i have to say that the first statement could open up a whole can of worms that goes far beyond the realm of something as minor as video games.
However, your last statement I think comes to the crux of the matter. Some do truly believe that what they are doing is, in the context of the hobby of video games, moraly wrong.
And that is a tough thing to argue on either side as it does come down to taste and values. In the end there is no winning this discussion because its not winnable.
Personally I don't think it's an issue. But there are people who will bristle at having something they enjoy broken down and commoditized.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
How is buying a fluff item, like buying gold?
If you wanted to make a point, you didn't.
Wrong, at least as far as universal opinion goes. As it's a matter of opinion whether you feel Blizzard is doing nothing wrong. What the players do is their own business. What a Business does is everyones business, at least anyone who is a possible customer.
We're all possible customers of Blizzards as we're all MMO gamers, at least I would assume we are. Anyone who doesn't like where they are going with their business model should speak up.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Doesn't the mount have 310% speed?
I did. Read it again. You bought an item that saves you from having to buy mounts in the future. So, you are getting a money advantage in game from a cash purchase.
A mount is not a fluff item.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
As I understand it this is a reskin of a very rare mount that drops off the hardest boss in the game. Most people will never see this rare mount but they can purchase the Celestial version. In my opinion it kinda cheapens the experience for the people who are lucky enough to get the boss drop. For the amount of money Blizzard is making off this at least they could have made the mount truly unique.
Only if your character has that level of skill. It scales to the character's skill level.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Yeah but even then. Normal epic flyers go 280%. So buying this is like having the really really hard to get flying mounts.
Basically it all comes down to Time or Money which of more do you have and which do you value more. It seems that people are having less time to play but more money they are willing to spend on games which IMO is bad. Aren't games made to be played, not bought and the game plays its self for you?
Its actually kinda funny because people are willing to work hard in real life and spend real money on virtual items items but aren't willing to work hard in a virtual world for virtual items. If more and more of things start happening all MMO's will be about is how much money you make in real life.
Is that true? Really, it doesn't seem to be. As doesn't this mount only travel as fast as your fastest mount? Which would mean to go faster you would need to purchase additional mounts.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
That is the question though, where ARE they going with their business model? Everyone has been speculating wildly on what they will sell next without any facts.
We have no idea WHERE they are going, unless you are merely opposed to them selling mounts for 25 bucks each, in that case I personally disagree with that stand point. I feel that ANY item that does not give you an advantage in game is fair game to be purchased at a cash shop. Its reasonable.
The argument that Doubter made saying that buying it is like buying gold is ridiculous. What if you go buy a soda from the corner store and the store owner goes out and buys Crystal Meth and dies, are you killing him?
Your action, buying a mount, does not make you directly at fault for every consequence that follows. IE them selling you a mount for money does not mean they are selling you gold, there are mounts you can only obtain through the trading card game, does that mean that when you buy trading cards you are buying gold too?
No, because the "funds" are non transferable you can't sell your mount that you bought with money for gold, the action may SAVE you money but SAVING money is not in effect SELLING you money when you buy something that SAVES it.
If you buy insurance and you need to collect on it, does that mean they were selling you "money"?
If it saves you from buying a mount on alternate characters thats all nice and good, however that is insurance, what if you never roll another character, then you are in effect not saving any money at all.
Exactly, we should say things like "I would never pay $25 for something like that", or "item sales like that make me want to quit playing Warcraft / MMOs."
My point here is just that we shouldn't say that Blizzard is greedy, unethical, evil, etc just stop at saying you would never buy a product like that.
I just took another look at WorldOfWarcraft.com on quantcast, the website hit tracker. More than any other MMO I have checked on Quantcast, WoW has the most affluent users, with 32% making over $100,000 a year. That's why it makes sense for Blizz to price their item so high, their customers are rich. It's not evil or greed, just regular business economics.
Cryptic is trying a Customer Development approach to MMO creation.
My understanding is that it scales to your skill - so you still have to learn the skill (which is the far greater cost), but not the new mount.
I could be wrong on this.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
This is one reasoning I don't buy into. As whether they paid rl cash for their mount or not, bought their toon on Ebay, or turned tricks for epics, they're for the most part still playing the game occasionally. Whether they're PVPing, running dungeons, crafting or simply dancing in a tavern, they're doing so to have fun. Regardless of the means in which they aquired their items. That is why they paid for them afterall, so they could enjoy the game more.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
If you'd like to jump in on a conversation about player housing being available through the cash shop please go to the following thread:
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/post/3500534/thread/275820#3500534
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke
I'm not really sure myself, I've seen it stated as such a few times though, I could be wrong too.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
They made the game, they own the game, they can do what the hell they want with there game, even turn it into smurf online if they want too.. why should we even really care..
The only power we have as a costumer is: Stop playing there game, and that is True Power..
No matter what you do..If you get 1 fan in something, you always get 2 haters.. if you try to befrend 1 of the 2 haters, you end up with 3 haters and 0 fans, because you gave your power away!
Blizzard, NCSoft & SOE.. No thanks!
If you buy it on a low level character, then you never have to buy another mount. Even as your riding skill goes up in level.
If Blizzard sold you a code that dropped all your purchase costs by 10%, that would be the same as selling you gold. A penny saved is a penny earned.
As I said in another post - I may be mistaken on that point (about it scaling with your skill(, but that is my current understanding.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
It does scale to the highest mount, but if you have epic flying training. Which usually allows you to go 280%, because most of the epic flyers are 280, this mount allows you to go 310% speed, which is like the ultra rare drops, and the arena mount.
After much deliberation I have decided this is a good thing.
This is the begining of the end for WoW, the money men just will not be able to stop themselves. WoW RIP thank god.
-----
The person who is certain, and who claims divine warrant for his certainty, belongs now to the infancy of our species.