How Blizzard could make even more money: advanced char service

docminus

Blizzard has been banning accounts for diverse illegal activities. Why don't they make their life simpler?



All they'd have to do is to implement an advanced character service as in e.g. UO. You buy a character at, say level 50, or even 60, if your only goal is to raid. Since not all are willing to pay for such a thing, there is not risk that there will be hole bunch of 60s  suddenly.

Should take care of leveling services! Less checking of log files, more resources available e.g. for content developement instead - and blizzard can make some extra money!



*shrugs*



not that it matters, blizzard doesn't seem to care about their player base anyway - is there any company that does?

brutotal

There are a large amount of players that abhor virtual item shops. If blizzard were to implement pay for epics and pay for leveling people will leave the game in numbers. As apposed to them ignoring the issue all together and keeping the population that wants those and those who don't.

Godliest

Agree with Brutotal, and would also like to say that the community which is sometimes under what u can take, would get even worse. As it is now the most lvl 60s had to lvl it from 1-60 and to do that u must understand english, know how to cooperate with others and be relatively friendly. If some1 could just buy a lvl 60 character they wouldn't know a shit about the game, they would have thousands of skills which they didn't know what to make with and they would probably be 12 year old lamers. Selling epics and such is alrdy going on on the servers and it should be able to buy with money. Ppls put down much effort and many hours into getting something, and then a 12 year old guy who has rich parents buy the same thing. It would ruin the game totally.

bonafidee

so you want blizzard to completely deminsh the whole point of RPG's by allowing you to buy full geared players they create for you? Whats the point of that? The whole idea of RPG's is to manage and advance  your own character and feel a sense of acomplishment at the end.



Also everyone knows endgame leaves alot to be desired and is very boring. Indeed, the best thing in world of warcraft was the first time I leveled a character from 0 to 60, Its gone downhill ever since.

dslam

Originally posted by Godliest

Agree with Brutotal, and would also like to say that the community which is sometimes under what u can take, would get even worse. As it is now the most lvl 60s had to lvl it from 1-60 and to do that u must understand english, know how to cooperate with others and be relatively friendly. If some1 could just buy a lvl 60 character they wouldn't know a shit about the game, they would have thousands of skills which they didn't know what to make with and they would probably be 12 year old lamers. Selling epics and such is alrdy going on on the servers and it should be able to buy with money. Ppls put down much effort and many hours into getting something, and then a 12 year old guy who has rich parents buy the same thing. It would ruin the game totally.

See, I disagree. I bought gold when I played WoW, and a friend passed on some loot and gold as well. It was really the only way I'd play at all.



I am not rich, but I also hate grinding. I don't want to put many hours and much effort into getting something, I don't consider it fun. If you DO consider it fun, why do you question whether or not I should be able to skip the fun?



This whole entitlement thing, "I played longer, so I am more powerful" is what makes MMO's so hard to grasp for those who play games simply to enjoy themselves. I think every MMORPG should have a buy-in option, buy-in to a high level character, and you don't have to put up with all the crap of getting there.. and believe me it's crap. I was 2 levels from the cap on WoW when I decided to just put it back on the shelf.. wasted too much of my time, and there was very little of what I consider "fun"



Let me just present a scenario that might illuminate what I mean:



You work for an entire year cleaning ditches, saving up for a Mustang. You enjoy your Mustang, very much.



I get a Mustang for Christmas from my Wife.. Who saved, and took out a loan. I enjoy my Mustang, very much.



Now you believe I shouldn't get one because it was "easier" for me to get it. You dug ditches, I don't want to dig ditches, and I laugh at you for having dug them. In reality, this is called "jeaousy" on your part.

DrowNoble

Well another problem with buying a premade level 60 is that the buyer probably won't know how to play it very well.  Back in the ol' days of EQ1 ebayers stood out like a sore thumb.   Very quickly they'd get the "ebayer" reputation and very few people would group with them (let alone raid).  So they paid all that money for a toon that is pretty much a soloer or twink farming supplier.

Besides, Blizzard doesn't need more money.  Between the ungodly amount of subscription fees coming in and overcharging for character transfers ($25 each, pfft) they are hardly hurting for money.

retrospectic

Originally posted by docminus

Blizzard has been banning accounts for diverse illegal activities. Why don't they make their life simpler?



All they'd have to do is to implement an advanced character service as in e.g. UO. You buy a character at, say level 50, or even 60, if your only goal is to raid. Since not all are willing to pay for such a thing, there is not risk that there will be hole bunch of 60s  suddenly.

Should take care of leveling services! Less checking of log files, more resources available e.g. for content developement instead - and blizzard can make some extra money!



*shrugs*



not that it matters, blizzard doesn't seem to care about their player base anyway - is there any company that does?

 

I know most replies to this will say that this service would take the fun out of WoW.  If they did something like this I'm sure the only way to implement it would be to create a server that allowed people to buy high level characters.  If you did this it would give people who wanted to actually gain levels a place to continue while allowing people with limited time a place to purchase items.

Now, this being said, I think it is a horrible idea.  Blizzard takes in so much money a month that the new "services" they provide seem to be to stop whining more than anything.  Blizzard put into motion a server switch feature because people constantly bitch and moan about their server being under/over populated.  The only reason Blizzard added a fee to this service was so that people could not abuse it.  The amount of profit gained from this service is a happy side-effect.  Think about the strain on servers if people could hop and hop.

Another reason that this is a crummy idea is the fact that the game which put this into practice is Ultima Online.  If anyone else knows about UO, the game is so vastly different that having a character start out with one GM or set stats is not that "unfair" to other players.  The game has been out for over 10 years, and most players (in all honesty) are veterans or friends of vets.  The game is VERY hard to accidently pick up.  Also, UOs skill system is very different, and most vets dont want to start out RESIST gains at 0 every time. 

Also, please don't ever call Blizzard out for their lack of customer service.  In the MMORPG genre, WoW is about the most steadfast and consistant company when it comes to customer service.  The fact that we get the services and responses we get is amazing, to say the least.  Just because you read the WoW boards and see hate doesn't mean it is true.  Most of the time players are upset because their petition to the GM was "an issue we know about".  Don't hate just because people want immediate results on issues they feel are important.

DrowNoble

I agree that considering the sheer numbers of customers, Blizzard's customer service isn't as bad as people make it out to believe.  It is far better than SOE's and a bit below NCSoft's.  That is just my opinion, your mileage may vary. 

vinylnomiko

Blizz already suggested putting advertisements in the game so they can get more money. They don't need anymore money-grabbing ideas all they see is the big fat $.



Yeah, imagine adverts for comcast or best buy in your game that you pay for. They're a bunch of morons for even entertaining the idea for a pay to play game. Even the free ones don't do that shit.