Ive just requested cancellation of my WOD purchase out of principle. The greed here is astonishing, blizzard continue to make huge profits from this game, and should NOT be passing on additional costs to customers in this position especially considering the fact they have not actually delivered any content in the last x months for our money!
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
"So Blizzard feels to adjust the price, but what about EvE, Everquest, etc, and all the other old MMO's ?"
The ones that accept Sterling pounds already have adjusted it, some over two years ago.
"On a side note, why did the price not go down in a recession? Yeah... thought so Blizzard."
For the same reason your cable, netflix and gym memberships didn't.
Can you list the MMOs that accept pounds that haven't adjusted the price?
Did you read the article you linked?
Let me quote it for you then...
"Beginning 1st May, you can use pounds sterling to pay for your Eve Online subscription. This, Icelandic developer CCP said, will result in an estimated 20 per cent price reduction versus the current rate."
What they did was to allow players to pay in OTHER currencies with 20% DISCOUNT over the current price.
And then you should mention that any player with half a brain should be able to play for free after 2-3 months.
Exactly!
And CCP will be able to thrive and continue development of the game and also pay salaries to its staff in monopoly money.
For some people to play free, others have to spend real money. Just remember that next time.
I cant understand people whining about this. its one frickin pound and people with recurring subscription will have for 2 years the same price as it is since 10!! years.
Tell me one company who kept for 10 years the same price for any subscription?
If the price went up all round then it would seem more fair, but Blizzard are only attacking the pound sterling / UK. US payments have always stayed the same at $15, then they calculate off that, and non US payments just fluctuate
Other MMOs have actually been reducing the costs, to attract more people. SOE dropped the price from £9.49 to £8.99 in 2011, and then recently instead of dropping price further, made it so one sub would work on all SOE games, and therefore dropped the Alll Access price from £13.99 to £8.99.
In a genre that is being taken over by the F2P model, price hikes will fail.
I bet Blizzard got this idea from Netflix, they recently upped their price from £5.99 to £6.99 and those already subscribing keep the £5.99 price for 2 years. If they keep adding content no problem, but I found they get rid of content after a while, and have lost a lot of TV shows that I was in the middle of watching and did not pick up on it, and then I had to go and buy the DVDs to carry on, so when I cancel I will cancel permanently, because they are not adding more content they are getting rid of content to bring in new content.
Originally posted by Elsabolts Look on the bright side folks, there will be less people that means less time loging into the game and less servers . Seems like a big win for Blizzard to me ?
I'm sure this affecting the UK only will empty out the game.
So far the OP and one or two others are the only ones in this entire thread who are actually affected by this lmao.
Originally posted by Elsabolts Look on the bright side folks, there will be less people that means less time loging into the game and less servers . Seems like a big win for Blizzard to me ?
I'm sure this affecting the UK only will empty out the game.
So far the OP and one or two others are the only ones in this entire thread who are actually affected by this lmao.
Actually I am not, as I quit a long time ago and I am much happier playing FF:XIV :P
I am just upset as this can mark a bad precedent over other developers in the sense of who can spike up the prices and still get away with it...
WoD hype then price increase, Blizzard will be Blizzard I guess...This killed any remaining interest I had in maybe returning to WoW to try out the WoD expansion, for this I thank thee Blizzard.
Its for one particular place, as such I highly doubt it will go beyond UK. Blizzard is already making a killing off their (anti-consumer) cash shop, losing over 1 million subs yet raking in more revenue despite the large drop. Its highly unlikely considering their already iffy appearance to many others they will throw out higher subs globally, particularly with the popularity of F2P and with many P2P options being (lets be honest) superior MMo experiences just lacking the nostaligia and numbers WoW simply has from its age.
I'd assume it has to do with something locally with the UK, perhaps some tax or something of the sort that blizzard felt they needed to put on the consumer rather then taking a trivial hit themselves.
Originally posted by Ice-Queen Even if it were $20-$50 a month, it's still cheap entertainment compared to going out to the movies or your cable bill
This is very true, BUT....WoW has degraded itself over the years imho. I can find it's equal in entertainment value in games like GW2 or even TSW which I can B2P, and save that subscription fee on some ground beef for my freezer or at least 5 gallons of milk for the month. Hey, food isn't entertainment, but it is totally awesome to have around!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Originally posted by Kyleran Looks totally like an exchange rate adjustment, so of course it's a mechanical announcement.
Not sure when gamers started expecting regular content updates for their sub fee, that fee gives you the right to play the game as is, nothing more.
If they choose to release new current in between the paid expansions, that's just them being magnanimous, they are perfectly within their right to go off and spend the sub fees on beer and hookers if they choose.
Well said.. Totally agree.
Out of every 100 men, 10 should not be there, 80 are nothing but targets, 9 are the real fighters. Ah, but one, ONE of them is a warrior, and he will bring the others home. -Heraclitus 500BC
Originally posted by Hariken So that comes out to around 17.00 U.S. dollars right? If they are willing to pay it, do you think it will go up in the U.S. later?
No, it will not. Even after this price increase those playing WoW will get discount from Blizzard for paying in pound sterling instead of paying it in euro. Blizzard is just changing the pound sterling price to match more closely that of the rest Europe, like it originally was in 2004 when WoW launched and exchange rates were different.
If anything this means Blizzard doesn't have any plans to raise WoW EU sub rate (in Euro). If they had plans for raising it, they wouldn't have changed the pound sterling price so that it's below the current euro price. US customers will continue to enjoy a bit cheaper sub costs because there's no tax added to it in the US.
Even if they increased it a lot let's say up to $20 people who have years invested will not blink an eyelid. That is what a lot of current MMOs lack that investment that makes it impossible for the players to leave. I had that in Everquest. Friends,community and achievement making it impossible for me to leave Everquest. You might say Blizzard is greedy but their player base will accept it and continue to pay.
I have been buying the expansion each time and getting a couple months out of if - but this decision by blizzard is just greed, just had my refund approved. Silly company.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
It is not about going up 2 dollars, 1 pound or whatever... it is the total poker face they have when they are out of content for over 9 months AND are now raising the subscription!
People who love WoW would pay much more than that, but of course that is not the point here.
I am just amazed that Blizzard is doing it, specially at this moment in time with this year long content drought.
On a side note, why did the price not go down in a recession? Yeah... thought so Blizzard.
Take a break from gaming, and go take a macroeconomics class and learn about exchange rates. Or just do some google learning.
Funny to me to watch people's heads explode when the decision has NOTHING to do with Blizz or WoW at all and has only to do with currency markets.
Lol grow a spine. 1) I'm in uk and I would have been painf more. 2). The exchange rate is due to the relative strength of the companies - does this mean every company should be changing prices on an Ongoung basis based on markets?
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Markets or not is is a test on the subscription model. For a game 10 years old, is it really as worthy of a higher sub than in other countries?
I still think the ultimate test of this game would be to do a server wipe at WoD. If you want to get to end game in WoD you will need to level from 1 to 100. Since the server is wiped, you have no level 50 characters, thus no DK. For this experiment, there is no free boost to 90. If you wish to insta-90, you will pay $60 for it as it is now in the cash shop.
How many will return to their beloved game if it means they will actually have to replay it from scratch. Granted it won't take much time at all to get to 100, but since you have no old characters, massive bank accounts of pre stocked materials et al, you have no connection with your characters. Just like in any other new game you would start. How many people will actually stay and sub like they did before?
It is not about going up 2 dollars, 1 pound or whatever... it is the total poker face they have when they are out of content for over 9 months AND are now raising the subscription!
People who love WoW would pay much more than that, but of course that is not the point here.
I am just amazed that Blizzard is doing it, specially at this moment in time with this year long content drought.
On a side note, why did the price not go down in a recession? Yeah... thought so Blizzard.
Take a break from gaming, and go take a macroeconomics class and learn about exchange rates. Or just do some google learning.
Funny to me to watch people's heads explode when the decision has NOTHING to do with Blizz or WoW at all and has only to do with currency markets.
TTFN.
So why aren't other companies doing the same? ESO, SWTOR, Wildstar and FFXIV all charge £8.99.
It is not about going up 2 dollars, 1 pound or whatever... it is the total poker face they have when they are out of content for over 9 months AND are now raising the subscription!
People who love WoW would pay much more than that, but of course that is not the point here.
I am just amazed that Blizzard is doing it, specially at this moment in time with this year long content drought.
On a side note, why did the price not go down in a recession? Yeah... thought so Blizzard.
Take a break from gaming, and go take a macroeconomics class and learn about exchange rates. Or just do some google learning.
Funny to me to watch people's heads explode when the decision has NOTHING to do with Blizz or WoW at all and has only to do with currency markets.
TTFN.
So why aren't other companies doing the same? ESO, SWTOR, Wildstar and FFXIV all charge £8.99.
I do believe you stumped him with your logic.
At any rate, I'm sure since the "Big Dawg" is going to do it, the rest will follow suit.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
I just resubbed a couple of weeks ago and was charged 16 bucks in Aussie dollars. Funny, because i don't remember the price going down when the Aussie was smashing the US a year ago.
The pound is actually stronger than the dollar from 1-2 years ago; so it should be cheaper. Also there have been no changes to tax in the UK that would affect the price. So this is pure simple profit making from UK customers. However this is nothing new, generally the price of something in the UK is more expensive than the equivalent product in the US
Comments
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
And CCP will be able to thrive and continue development of the game and also pay salaries to its staff in monopoly money.
For some people to play free, others have to spend real money. Just remember that next time.
If the price went up all round then it would seem more fair, but Blizzard are only attacking the pound sterling / UK. US payments have always stayed the same at $15, then they calculate off that, and non US payments just fluctuate
Other MMOs have actually been reducing the costs, to attract more people. SOE dropped the price from £9.49 to £8.99 in 2011, and then recently instead of dropping price further, made it so one sub would work on all SOE games, and therefore dropped the Alll Access price from £13.99 to £8.99.
In a genre that is being taken over by the F2P model, price hikes will fail.
I bet Blizzard got this idea from Netflix, they recently upped their price from £5.99 to £6.99 and those already subscribing keep the £5.99 price for 2 years. If they keep adding content no problem, but I found they get rid of content after a while, and have lost a lot of TV shows that I was in the middle of watching and did not pick up on it, and then I had to go and buy the DVDs to carry on, so when I cancel I will cancel permanently, because they are not adding more content they are getting rid of content to bring in new content.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
I'm sure this affecting the UK only will empty out the game.
So far the OP and one or two others are the only ones in this entire thread who are actually affected by this lmao.
Actually I am not, as I quit a long time ago and I am much happier playing FF:XIV :P
I am just upset as this can mark a bad precedent over other developers in the sense of who can spike up the prices and still get away with it...
New players can get a welcome package and old/returning players can also get a welcome back package and 7 days free subscription time! Just click here to use my referral invitation
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
Its for one particular place, as such I highly doubt it will go beyond UK. Blizzard is already making a killing off their (anti-consumer) cash shop, losing over 1 million subs yet raking in more revenue despite the large drop. Its highly unlikely considering their already iffy appearance to many others they will throw out higher subs globally, particularly with the popularity of F2P and with many P2P options being (lets be honest) superior MMo experiences just lacking the nostaligia and numbers WoW simply has from its age.
I'd assume it has to do with something locally with the UK, perhaps some tax or something of the sort that blizzard felt they needed to put on the consumer rather then taking a trivial hit themselves.
This is very true, BUT....WoW has degraded itself over the years imho. I can find it's equal in entertainment value in games like GW2 or even TSW which I can B2P, and save that subscription fee on some ground beef for my freezer or at least 5 gallons of milk for the month. Hey, food isn't entertainment, but it is totally awesome to have around!
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
Well said.. Totally agree.
Out of every 100 men, 10 should not be there,
80 are nothing but targets, 9 are the real fighters.
Ah, but one, ONE of them is a warrior,
and he will bring the others home.
-Heraclitus 500BC
No, it will not. Even after this price increase those playing WoW will get discount from Blizzard for paying in pound sterling instead of paying it in euro. Blizzard is just changing the pound sterling price to match more closely that of the rest Europe, like it originally was in 2004 when WoW launched and exchange rates were different.
If anything this means Blizzard doesn't have any plans to raise WoW EU sub rate (in Euro). If they had plans for raising it, they wouldn't have changed the pound sterling price so that it's below the current euro price. US customers will continue to enjoy a bit cheaper sub costs because there's no tax added to it in the US.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
Take a break from gaming, and go take a macroeconomics class and learn about exchange rates.
Or just do some google learning.
Funny to me to watch people's heads explode when the decision has NOTHING to do with Blizz or WoW at all and has only to do with currency markets.
TTFN.
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
Markets or not is is a test on the subscription model. For a game 10 years old, is it really as worthy of a higher sub than in other countries?
I still think the ultimate test of this game would be to do a server wipe at WoD. If you want to get to end game in WoD you will need to level from 1 to 100. Since the server is wiped, you have no level 50 characters, thus no DK. For this experiment, there is no free boost to 90. If you wish to insta-90, you will pay $60 for it as it is now in the cash shop.
How many will return to their beloved game if it means they will actually have to replay it from scratch. Granted it won't take much time at all to get to 100, but since you have no old characters, massive bank accounts of pre stocked materials et al, you have no connection with your characters. Just like in any other new game you would start. How many people will actually stay and sub like they did before?
rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
So why aren't other companies doing the same? ESO, SWTOR, Wildstar and FFXIV all charge £8.99.
I do believe you stumped him with your logic.
At any rate, I'm sure since the "Big Dawg" is going to do it, the rest will follow suit.
Death is nothing to us, since when we are, Death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.
To those of you saying this is down to the exchange rate have a look at the charts.
http://quotes.wsj.com/GBPUSD/fx-interactive-chart
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/market_data/currency/11/12/twelve_month.stm
The pound is actually stronger than the dollar from 1-2 years ago; so it should be cheaper. Also there have been no changes to tax in the UK that would affect the price. So this is pure simple profit making from UK customers. However this is nothing new, generally the price of something in the UK is more expensive than the equivalent product in the US
http://blogs.which.co.uk/technology/news/uk-vs-us-do-we-really-pay-more/
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/181417-33-price-difference
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-03/29/kindle-touch
In the end though, if people think the price is worth the product they will pay for it, so boohoo for us stupid Brits.