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I predict overflowing servers and long queue times when they get their long awaited graphics update and go F2P with their next Expansion pack.
Would you return to WoW if it went F2P?
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
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I'd goof around. Wouldn't get invested in it. (Never was).
Is a graphical update actually in the works or is this entirely hypothetical?
ahh ok so a cash shop that sells vanity items like pets and mounts that have no effect in gameplay is a barrier to not play the game. nice logic.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
entirely hypothetical indeed. Blizzard have pretty much pushed the engine as far as it can. Any change would be a full enhine overhaul and that is very costly and very labour intensive. They would have to spend pretty much ine entire expansion just to do that. And it would drive away a lot of old players with no sure way of getting new ones in.
As for it going F2P... I do not see that happen before they loose another 5-6 mil players.
Blizzard have a lot more to loose then gain by going F2P right now.
This have been a good conversation
i will stop playing wow if it goes f2p.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Yeah not sure what that guy's on about...
WoW's cash shop is strictly vanity.
As for returning.. Probably not unless they release a classic or BC server, or even a progression server.
Dark Age of Camelot has to be down to like 20,000 players, if that, and it's still $15/month.
My opinions on cash shops have hardened. I no longer believe in "vanity" items.
Some people don't believe in Unicorns, and yet, here you are!
I want a mmorpg where people have gone through misery, have gone through school stuff and actually have had sex even. -sagil
I just checked the WoW cash shop. You know how many items they sell? ELEVEN. That's it...a total of ELEVEN mounts and mini-pets.
Holy crap! Let's burn Blizzard to the ground!!
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/shop/
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Add up the cost of all the pets. Add in the cost of all the promotional pets. That sum cost is now the price of entry if you want to be a serious pet collector. Is the minigame really worth that price? Or is there something better one could get with that money?
Just say no to cash shops.
Well look at it like this. Without the cash shop none of those pets would have existed at all... So in reality you loose noting as a collector if you choose to not get them.
This have been a good conversation
Blizzard makes more than enough cash from the server transfers, race changes, cosmetic alterations, name changes, etc. And of course my little pony sales never hurt.
OP proposes a cash shop, but doesn't really posit a need that it would fill.
Alarmist speculation, thy home site is mmorpg.com.
There are thousands of pets in the game. Complaining about a few pets in the cash shop is a ridiculous argument.
Edit: and to answer OP's question: No, I would not return to WoW. I loved the game. It is very fun and probably one of the best, if not the best mmorpgs. But I played it on and off for years and i'm satisfied that I have closed that chapter in my life.
Considering they have unique pets obtainable only through promotions (some only available in certain territories) or collector's edition long gone, even without pet shop, there is no way you could obtain all pets if you start now.
Your agument is moot.
Also about every MMO nowadays has a cash shop for vanity items, even EVE. So I guess you are out of luck and are not playing any MMOs?
"If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime"
So, what can we expect from their "graphics update?"
Is it worth to update zones that:
A) everyone has gone through?
even with MOP graphics already look outdated?
C) update content when devs award bonuses to new characters to speedrun to max level (and therefore get out of the sub-endgame zones in a flash so noone will really notice it)
They have been promising graphics updates for years now.
What can a WOW player expect from those updates? Minor tweaks (better water/skies-bit better facial tweaks-more hairstyles) to the same engine or a real stunning graphics update?
I am curious because WOW can be fun to play if you don't look at the tedious circle grinding, it looks horribly outdated and I am curious what devs can do to make it better.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
The question comes at least 3 years too soon.
Even a 1 million subscription based game brings in more money than a F2P one.
For those interested:
One of the first biggest f2p games on the internet was Farmville. Data show that 81% of FV players never spend a dollar. 10% spend 1-3 dollars during the time they played. 6% spend a maximum of 10 dollars and only 3 % spend 20 dollars or more during their complete playing time.
Rough calculation that would mean that WOW would need 150.000.000 active players to beat a 6 million subscription based game.
Even in F2P format WOW will never have more than 40 million players, so unless they go under 1 million F2P it is not going to happen.
back in 2006, SOE servers had over 20 million registered -- with 1/10th of WOWs active playerbase
WOW easily has over 40 million registered players, probably over 100 million registered including trials
how many would want to play ftp WOW, i have no clue
EQ2 fan sites
If they're worthless, why are people paying real money for them? They are pay-to-win for collectors, plain and simple. Pet battles have changed what were purely decorative pets into a complete play style and the cash shop has made this a cash shop game on top of a subscription and for me, that crosses the line.