I still have no idea why people are up in arms about Blizzard opening up shop. If you've ever played it you would know that it's had a cash shop ever since they released limited edition mounts.
Play for fun. Play to win. Play for perfection. Play with friends. Play in another world. Why do you play?
I have a feeling they will double dip to make up for declining subs then switch over to F2P when they feel it would be more beneficial to them. They do have stuff already cosmetic you can buy, don't see why not trying to dip here as well since its 'familiar' and hey, milk more money!
Originally posted by Purutzil I have a feeling they will double dip to make up for declining subs then switch over to F2P when they feel it would be more beneficial to them. They do have stuff already cosmetic you can buy, don't see why not trying to dip here as well since its 'familiar' and hey, milk more money!
I think going f2p might get them more money then they make now
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)
Could not care less to be honest. Mostly because i have played a good chunk of games that are now so top heavy that leveling up is a honest hell. If Blizzard want to sell XP pots all i can say is good for you, now i might actually bother to level up all the chars that got stuck in bloody awful Outlands.
And honestly it is a win/win situation. Blizzard get more money and people get to level more quickly... As for the people that are angry in this thread... You are always angry so nothing changed there.
Actually, by this age of the game i do not really care if they sell gear either. It would ofc not be top teir (that would be counter-productive) but anything else is fair game.
But who knows, maybe they make the XP pots tradeable ingame. That would solve the issue completley.
or the next stage would be allowing Heirlooms to be bought.
once they start on this path... they'll be steps.
I'm hoping one day you get a mixture, half the sub cost just now for the basics in a game and then microtransactions on top of it for all the fluff.
at the moment it's one or the other.... and the sub is dying a death faster than samuel l jackson during his shark speech in deep blue sea.
"nothing actually matters, we're just slightly evolved monkeys clinging to a dying piece of rock hurtling through space waiting for our eventual death." - Frankie Boyle, Mock The Week
So today I was watching the business news, and they were talking about flying these days and how the airlines were constantly adding new fees, and taking away what were inclusions in ticket pricing in the past.
I was struck at how much it sounded just like F2P games with cash shops.
You see, it started with the cut rate carriers, the ones that have flights from hubs, to destination places like LA, NY city, Miami, Vegas, you know the places. What they stated doing was charging 100-200 bucks for flights. Sweet deal everyone says. Until they find out, no free soda, $25 to check a bag, $50 to pre screen through security, $4 for a blanket. Well the thing is these cut rate carriers started making lots of cash. Now there are fees for everything. In fact just today I heard Spirit Airlines will be charging for the overhead compartment, you still get under your seat, but any more you pay for.
Now sure I can fly to Vegas for under 200 bucks and have cash to gamble, but I get no ice for my headache let alone asprin on the return flight, or I have to fork over some MORE cash. "Convenience" they say, that is all it is, "Consumers didn't want to pay for an all inclusive flight, so we allow them to pay for the services they want or need.".
Sound familiar? It should. Just take out plane ride, and replace it with play a game. Take out charging for space, drinks, blankets, speedy check-in, and toss in bag space, mounts, skins, xp gain potions, yadda, yadda.
Why does this matter?
SImple. It isn't just the small cut rate carriers charging fees for every little thing and claiming it is great value now. It includes big legacy carriers, Delta, American, and United. Why are they doing it? Because they are making more money doing it. Same as EA, NC Soft, and all the rest of the publishers are making more money the same model.
Realize this model is here to stay. In MMOs, and the entire rest of you consuming life.
Just like the big carriers are taking on the fees, WoW I suspect will soon take on a broader cash shop, and possibly transition to F2P.
Tax has been the same way for decades why not introduce it to private commerce? pay for what you consume and not pay for that guy who's knocking back the umpteen Johnnie Walker Black Label's on a six hour flight, its a fairer system in my eyes. My Mum lives in Spain so when I visit from the UK I want a no frills flight as it only takes 3 hours to get there I don't need all the extra fluff thats in an all inclusive flight. Ultimately if consumers cannot keep tabs on their spending thats their fault and no one else's
This doom and gloom thread was brought to you by Chin Up the new ultra high caffeine soft drink for gamers who just need that boost of happiness after a long forum session.
The speculation thus far is that players think (or hope) that this only applies to Chinese servers. Though even if that's true it could also be to test how well their systems handle an in game store for a potential F2P conversion. This will likely occur within the next seven years or three expansions to revitalize interest in what may then be considered a "classic".
you are 1005% wrong, wow will not be going f2p they are simply trying to add a cash shop to milk players .
Sorry, but Morhaime already said back before even TBC was released that they will go F2P if the situation calls for it. This was both answered out of fear from fans who thought they might take it offline if it was no longer profitable and tied into the fact that they have traditionally always supported their games beyond the golden years of it's life, as seen with battle.net titles of yesteryears. Back in 2011 Morhaime also said that the F2P Model wasn't right for them at that time, as he questioned the notion of F2P being more profitable than P2P. Fastforward, we're seeing evidence that it is. Add the nature of this speech into his ability to look at present time -- and the future -- as well as the severely diminishing subscriber base since then and you have a definite recipee. In addition to that, they most recently said that they were "content at the moment" with the P2P payment model. With them testing the possibility of an in game store, and knowing that F2P is a tool to revitalize interest, one could easily assert that it is an inevitability that this will come to pass rather than just being in denial. The seven year or three expansion was a conservative estimate that will being with them milking the product for as much as they can until they need an extravagant announcement to refresh interest. Though by then people will be used to the milking and the potential transition will not be cared much by those who are left, as it will bring in more players once more.
History repeats itself.
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Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I can't bash WoW for adding a revenue stream that just about every mmo has, I don't like it, but I don't blame them.
Also, WoW is almost 10 years old, it is still the big dog on the block, but its time is ticking. Blizzard is working on a new mmo. Combine these facts with the popularity of "free to play" and you encounter the very real possibility that WoW goes to a hybrid sub/FTP model or just flat out FTP.
I can't bash WoW for adding a revenue stream that just about every mmo has, I don't like it, but I don't blame them.
Also, WoW is almost 10 years old, it is still the big dog on the block, but its time is ticking. Blizzard is working on a new mmo. Combine these facts with the popularity of "free to play" and you encounter the very real possibility that WoW goes to a hybrid sub/FTP model or just flat out FTP.
does not matter a P2P game does not add Micro... so simply is that. either it goes Free to play or stay P2p and Blizzard has enough money to go on for 50 year's..
If this is any indication of WoW going F2P, then it will be the only F2P mmorpg on my HD. The other will be for a future sub game. I don't think people realize the impact something like this would have on the genre. Tread carefully.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
And if this thing goes through, they will add starting raid gear in the shop like rift, to cater to the QQ about dailies and rep grind in game ....
I'm sure losing what 15% of your subscribers (read $) in a quarter is due to crap game vision past Lich King which includes the daily quests and reputation grind.
Bottom line Blizzard got lazy with WoW and we are seeing it now.
don't blame blizzard, blame your dumb friends that actually dropped 25 bucks on worthless crap like pretty star horsey mounts
once the sheep started to drop heavy cash for pointless crap like that, blizzard did what any other business would do
Don't forget many of those mounts have some or all revenue going to great charities.
for the actual charity ones, fair enough. but celestial steed has no charity tied to it, and was the first cash shop item blizzard introduced to the game. and the dummies bought it in droves, ever so desperate to be 'unique' and 'high status' in their virtual fantasy world
I don't mind if Blizz does cosmetic based transactions or temporary stat and xp buffs like this. It makes sense.
I draw the line at Gear and other character adjustments that are permanent.
that works for f2p. Subscribtion games should give everything to their paying customers for in game gold. Thats why i dont waste my money on their additional "services". They want to have a full microtrans store? remove the sub then. No? im ok with that, stop the microtrans crap. Its a paid game.
Finally someone gets it. It is NOT OK to have microtransactions in a P2P game. I don't really care if they go F2P and have exp bonus or whatever but it was already a slap in the face to charge for pets/mounts. I understand charging for race/sex/world change because you made a choice in the past to determine those, you didn't make a choice a year ago to start paying $15 a month and then have a vendor who you can't buy anything from unless you pay real money.
WHY is it not ok?
You pay x amount a month for cable but if I want something extra, you pay extra why are games any different?
IE: if I want an on demand show, I pay, want HBO? I pay etc...
Same could be said with a lot of subscriptions, phones, xbox.
gonna wait to see if you notice the failure in your argument
there is not one, I pay $25 a month to watch cable, if I want to watch an on demand show I pay $5 (1 time fee) - I pay $15 a month to play wow, if I want an on demand XP buff I pay (x amount - 1 time fee) - There is no difference, Same argument on pets/mounts - if I buy a car for 15k I get the car - if I want those fancy rims or radio system in the dealership I pay a one time fee for them to be added.
I hope WoW stays subscription based, that $15 barrier has kept most the scum that dirty up F2P/B2P games out and with the explosion of F2P a lot of the time wasters have left WoW and that is nothing but good news. WoW subscriptions ensures players stay invested in the game and I likes that. So bring on F2P and B2P games they're doing nothing but cleaning up WoW.
Originally posted by expresso I hope WoW stays subscription based, that $15 barrier has kept most the scum that dirty up F2P/B2P games out and with the explosion of F2P a lot of the time wasters have left WoW and that is nothing but good news. WoW subscriptions ensures players stay invested in the game and I likes that. So bring on F2P and B2P games they're doing nothing but cleaning up WoW.
ironically the worst community I've ever played with was in WoW
Comments
I still have no idea why people are up in arms about Blizzard opening up shop. If you've ever played it you would know that it's had a cash shop ever since they released limited edition mounts.
Play for fun. Play to win. Play for perfection. Play with friends. Play in another world. Why do you play?
I think going f2p might get them more money then they make now
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)
*shrugs shoulders*
Could not care less to be honest. Mostly because i have played a good chunk of games that are now so top heavy that leveling up is a honest hell. If Blizzard want to sell XP pots all i can say is good for you, now i might actually bother to level up all the chars that got stuck in bloody awful Outlands.
And honestly it is a win/win situation. Blizzard get more money and people get to level more quickly... As for the people that are angry in this thread... You are always angry so nothing changed there.
Actually, by this age of the game i do not really care if they sell gear either. It would ofc not be top teir (that would be counter-productive) but anything else is fair game.
But who knows, maybe they make the XP pots tradeable ingame. That would solve the issue completley.
This have been a good conversation
or the next stage would be allowing Heirlooms to be bought.
once they start on this path... they'll be steps.
I'm hoping one day you get a mixture, half the sub cost just now for the basics in a game and then microtransactions on top of it for all the fluff.
at the moment it's one or the other.... and the sub is dying a death faster than samuel l jackson during his shark speech in deep blue sea.
"nothing actually matters, we're just slightly evolved monkeys clinging to a dying piece of rock hurtling through space waiting for our eventual death." - Frankie Boyle, Mock The Week
Lets not forget that blizzard already got the most greedy system currently on the market.
pay for game + expansions
pay to actually play the game
pay for any and all services:
namechange, faction change, server transfer, etc
..Oh and lets put in a shop to sell minis and mounts on the side
I seriously don't understand how people can play this ?
Tax has been the same way for decades why not introduce it to private commerce? pay for what you consume and not pay for that guy who's knocking back the umpteen Johnnie Walker Black Label's on a six hour flight, its a fairer system in my eyes. My Mum lives in Spain so when I visit from the UK I want a no frills flight as it only takes 3 hours to get there I don't need all the extra fluff thats in an all inclusive flight. Ultimately if consumers cannot keep tabs on their spending thats their fault and no one else's
This doom and gloom thread was brought to you by Chin Up the new ultra high caffeine soft drink for gamers who just need that boost of happiness after a long forum session.
Sorry, but Morhaime already said back before even TBC was released that they will go F2P if the situation calls for it. This was both answered out of fear from fans who thought they might take it offline if it was no longer profitable and tied into the fact that they have traditionally always supported their games beyond the golden years of it's life, as seen with battle.net titles of yesteryears. Back in 2011 Morhaime also said that the F2P Model wasn't right for them at that time, as he questioned the notion of F2P being more profitable than P2P. Fastforward, we're seeing evidence that it is. Add the nature of this speech into his ability to look at present time -- and the future -- as well as the severely diminishing subscriber base since then and you have a definite recipee. In addition to that, they most recently said that they were "content at the moment" with the P2P payment model. With them testing the possibility of an in game store, and knowing that F2P is a tool to revitalize interest, one could easily assert that it is an inevitability that this will come to pass rather than just being in denial. The seven year or three expansion was a conservative estimate that will being with them milking the product for as much as they can until they need an extravagant announcement to refresh interest. Though by then people will be used to the milking and the potential transition will not be cared much by those who are left, as it will bring in more players once more.
History repeats itself.
Somebody, somewhere has better skills as you have, more experience as you have, is smarter than you, has more friends as you do and can stay online longer. Just pray he's not out to get you.
I can't bash WoW for adding a revenue stream that just about every mmo has, I don't like it, but I don't blame them.
Also, WoW is almost 10 years old, it is still the big dog on the block, but its time is ticking. Blizzard is working on a new mmo. Combine these facts with the popularity of "free to play" and you encounter the very real possibility that WoW goes to a hybrid sub/FTP model or just flat out FTP.
does not matter a P2P game does not add Micro... so simply is that. either it goes Free to play or stay P2p and Blizzard has enough money to go on for 50 year's..
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
And if this thing goes through, they will add starting raid gear in the shop like rift, to cater to the QQ about dailies and rep grind in game ....
RIP Orc Choppa
^
This
don't blame blizzard, blame your dumb friends that actually dropped 25 bucks on worthless crap like pretty star horsey mounts
once the sheep started to drop heavy cash for pointless crap like that, blizzard did what any other business would do
I'm sure losing what 15% of your subscribers (read $) in a quarter is due to crap game vision past Lich King which includes the daily quests and reputation grind.
Bottom line Blizzard got lazy with WoW and we are seeing it now.
Don't forget many of those mounts have some or all revenue going to great charities.
for the actual charity ones, fair enough. but celestial steed has no charity tied to it, and was the first cash shop item blizzard introduced to the game. and the dummies bought it in droves, ever so desperate to be 'unique' and 'high status' in their virtual fantasy world
there is not one, I pay $25 a month to watch cable, if I want to watch an on demand show I pay $5 (1 time fee) - I pay $15 a month to play wow, if I want an on demand XP buff I pay (x amount - 1 time fee) - There is no difference, Same argument on pets/mounts - if I buy a car for 15k I get the car - if I want those fancy rims or radio system in the dealership I pay a one time fee for them to be added.
If WoW goes F2P, that's probably going to take at least 50% of other MMOs players.
It'll be 'There's WoW and... well WoW.'.
Gdemami -
Informing people about your thoughts and impressions is not a review, it's a blog.
ironically the worst community I've ever played with was in WoW