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Blizzard and Knowing when to stop.
Bruhza
Member UncommonPosts: 391
Edit: Please keep in mind this poll is regarding the ability to PAY for a level 90 at almost any time. It is not regarding the free lvl 90 with the expansion (As I feel the free 1 lvl 90 is a great idea). I've just noticed a few posts regarding the free 90 rather than the ability to buy one whenever you want. Thanks for the responses though.
Let me start by saying I never thought I would make a post like this.
So I was browsing the internetz with not really any goal other than just looking at recent mmos that will be receiving updates. I came across this on the World of Warcraft website....
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"Bolster the Ranks
We’ve also heard feedback from players that they’d be interested in boosting multiple characters to 90, including alts they play with friends on other factions and realms. We’ve been evaluating ways to make that possible without having players go through roundabout methods (such as purchasing multiple boxes and performing multiple character transfers), and in the near future we’ll be testing out a feature that gives you the option to purchase a character upgrade directly. We’ll have more information to share later—including details on our character-upgrade plans for Asian regions where players don’t buy expansion boxes—but you’ll start seeing pieces of the process soon on the PTR, so keep an eye out.
We’re looking forward to the closed beta test, and we’re excited we’re able to give players their character boost immediately upon pre-purchasing—hopefully that will help tide you over while you’re waiting for the epic battle for Draenor to begin. Stay tuned for more information on presales and our beta plans, and we hope you’ll join in and help us test this stuff out when it hits the PTR."
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How much farther are they going to take this? Isn't their money stream big enough yet? I understand its a business that needs to make money but there is also something called knowing when to quit. It's their game, and their community, but in your opinions...is this taking it too far?
Because for me, it is and I still enjoy WoW from time to time.
Here is the link.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/12426481/warlords-of-draenor™-scouting-report-1-16-2014
Comments
Yeah, I just noticed that....
Edit: thanks btw
I agree to a point. I do miss when mounts and (Visual based) gear were only obtained by playing the game.
Buying lvl 90s though is on a whole new level of poor business methods. Things like these only happen in F2P...and this isn't that. Granted its not power, but its showing that Blizzard is willing to have you pay for shortcuts.
Time to sit back and see how far they will take this.
I guess I don't understand why people would pay extra and be okay with it while paying monthly along with buying expansions. I know one other mmo that does/did this (There are probably more), EQ2, but it is a F2P MMO.
Though I know you are not specifically playing WoW. I feel as though many people continue to play WoW only because it is familiar. I must admit that there are not many other "Good" MMOS out there atm, but I wonder if a ton of people will actually leave WoW if a great one does arrive.
Does it affect me? No.
Would i purchase a L90 char? No.
Is this drama valid? No.
It is another 'option' for players who wish to take it up, they aren't forcing people to buy it, they aren't making an extra charge on the sub for it, it is an optional extra that you may purchase if you want it. I know i have and many others probably have a character that they have levelled so far but found they weren't enjoying it as much as they thought and so can't be bothered to level it the rest of the way, so maybe this is the option for them to see how it plays out at a higher level.
Moreover, they haven't confirmed that they will be doing this yet anyway, they are putting out feelers to the community to gather opinion and see whether it is something worthwhile doing anyway.
I will never understand the uproar of the shop when they are still maintaining a sub model that does not force you to use these options if you don't want to. If they start producing pay to win options then i could see some reason for concern within the community, but we aren't there yet, so maybe chill out a little.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
They stop when it starts hurting the bottom line. Just like every other business.
See D3 RMAH. They backed it and backed it, right up until they decided it was a horrible idea and bad for their game. All of a sudden? No, they just looked at gains (income from RMAH) vs losses (harming brand image, goodwill, box sales) and made a decision.
To complicate matters it's not just a matter of money. Account security is another concern of theirs. Players give out their passwords to powerleveling services all the time. The gold selling and powerleveling industry is a billion dollar a year institution (and growing). They'd rather just have players hit a button for quick leveling, than have to deal with the fallout of a compromised account that the player swears is secure!
Beyond that you have recruit a friend, and while Blizzard holds the data, I know I've done it and I know others who have as well (and many people discuss it on the forums). But you buy a second box for yourself under the same primary account (first month is free! Oh and WoW was on sale for $15 this christmas), and you level up two characters, then pay for a character transfer to your primary account. Bam two level 85's + you have 42 levels to grant to another character.
So Blizzard sees this and say, okay, people are obviously willing to spend $25+$15+ 2 or 3 days of their time leveling at 300% with recruit a friend, maybe we should just selling the 90.
Remember, businesses don't do something unless there's a reason to do it. Everything they do costs them money, so there has to be some ROI here. Which means whatever player data they've collected is showing a significant portion of the playerbase is engaging in some type of speedy leveling (not counting heirlooms).
I personally don't like that it's being offered as cash shops can turn into slippery slopes.
Though I know you are not specifically playing WoW. I feel as though many people continue to play WoW only because it is familiar. I must admit that there are not many other "Good" MMOS out there atm, but I wonder if a ton of people will actually leave WoW if a great one does arrive.
There's only so many times you can go through the same content with new characters before it's just a chore. There is a benefit to having max level characters for crafting and such, but at the same time there's no enjoyment in actually leveling those characters to max level. I think paying $20 for a level 90 would be worth the convenience, but I don't think I'd pay it. I'm just too much of a penny pincher.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I haven't played WoW since around the start of Cataclysm.... but I know for a fact that after leveling through Cataclysm quest content with two characters, I never wanted to do it again, which is why several of my character's never made it past level 80.
This service is fine for people who just don't want to go through the same content for the umpteenth time. It also doesn't take long to learn how to play a new class even if it was boosted to 90, just read the skill descriptions a few times and you should get the basics down enough to start the new WoD content.
You just answered to your own question. Leveling content 1-89 is worthless, and doesn't even qualify as a gaming experience. Blizzard knows this, and sells short cut to skip the whole boredom those early levels have become.
This is getting ridiculous. Lotro cash shop already has an item for sale that stops your experience gain for a short period of time. Now WoW sells auto leveling services in their CS to bypass content they've deliberately made tedious and boring. So it's a good idea business-wise to f*** up your own game and then sell fixes for real money?
Pathetic!
Blame Blizzard for focusing their entire game on endgame content and making their expansions godawful to go through so players are willing to pay to skip it.
"going into arguments with idiots is a lost cause, it requires you to stoop down to their level and you can't win"
This is actually really good reasoning for the most part. It would probably lower the amount of accounts compromised by these "Services". I wonder though if they will use this same reasoning to sell in-game gold. I know there is already a pet that is purchasable but also tradable in the auction house. While this is fine as EVE online has done something sort of like this with PLEX, it makes me think that they would be willing to sell flat out gold.
However, others also bring up very good points regarding this too. If Blizzard knows that people are willing to pay to level, and pay quite a bit at that, then what is stopping them from making leveling slower? They may also decide to entirely stop buffing exp. gains when new expansions arrive just so people will feel like their purchased character was worth the price to skip that content.
I suppose all in all it is a bad and good thing in many ways and from different viewpoints. Though as I have stated before in this thread that I am just interested now to see how far they will take this. Considering at first their plan was to only add EXP boosting potions, and then it turned into this. It escalated quickly.
I don't think this is really accurate. It's not so much the content as a whole, it's that the content is all the same. There is no real differentiation between the content from class to class. This isn't really a Blizzard problem though, it's an industry problem. SWTOR tried to create some differentiation, but it still ended up feeling repetitive.
I would ask, though, is there any game that you'd go back and play again after investing 1000 hours into it?
I'd do it for sure. I've got like 4 level 90s now and 2 level 85s. I mostly play tank classes, though, so I'd love to get a couple DPS classes as well, and I'd pay $20 or $30 for it, maybe even $40.
People call it bad business, but I call it monetization. There will be some initial pushback because people right now don't like it, but it's becoming the norm, so my kids will know nothing different, and if WoW is still around at that time, I'm sure it'll be heavily monetized.
I hope you're not an American, because if you're an American and you're complaining about capitalism at it's finest, I think they kick you out of the country for stuff like that.
Crazkanuk
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Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
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What's the point any more. Why don't they just remove the levelling and make the entire game raid and end-game focused. This is really one of the final nails in said coffin for me. I've been with WoW since it launched and I've seen it morph into this un-challenging, repetitive cash cow and it makes me a little sad.
Someone should tell Blizzard the whole point of an MMO is the journey, not the destination.
I'm sorry if this appears it was out of anger, as it is not. I did not cry out against the in-game store when it arrived as I knew it was already there for a very long time. They just made it more convenient. Mounts and armor for just visual looks is I suppose an "ok" thing (Though I do wish they allowed other means of receiving these or maybe just a different colored version for an only in-game obtainable mount.)
If this appeared as me wanting to start drama, I assure you it is not. I have played WoW on and off for many years and I was actually shocked that the exp. potion they were considering selling turned into this. While imo this is bad business procedure I suppose numbers don't lie and if Blizzard knows people are okay with this, then they won't stop until enough people are not "okay" with it.
This post is simply to show those who may have not seen this yet (As I haven't seen it and was quite surprised by the decision) and to ask for the opinions of others to see when enough is enough. So far I have noticed people seem to be alright with Blizzard almost selling anything as long as its not flat-out power for endgame.
In the end, all I will do is stop playing the game. My money is my vote and they have probably lost it for many years to come. I hope you are able to see some of my reasoning and forgive me if it seemed rash. I only wish for meaningful conversation, as we only know are own opinion before hearing others and looking at it from other views is not a bad thing.
I was going to write the same thing until I saw this.
so, er ^ this.
They will stop/change once they lose more players than they can get new players.
If every decision they make makes more money and they still have an acceptable amount of players then they will keep making those decisions.
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
Actually the 1-60 experience is quite fresh and awesome thanks to the Cata updates.
70-80 is awesome because Northrend kicks ass and is great storytelling and interesting quests/locales.
85-90 is the best questing Blizzard has done yet, even if you don't like all the Eastern themes.
So really, only 60-70 TBC and 80-85 Cata zones are poorly designed and tediously oppressive.
The free 90 idea is brilliant to help keep the game relevant and encourage people who left after TBC or Wrath or Cata to come back and be caught up.
As Blizzard themselves says, the number of completely new "never played WoW' players is quite low, but the number of people who could return for WoD is high enough to make the 90 boost a great persuasion point.
I know exactly what you mean. I believe leveling anymore is almost intended to be boring to some degree as this makes the endgame, in our mind, better than the leveling experience (Even if both may just be mediocre).
MMO's used to be about the journey back when they were first becoming popular as people didn't know any different. Now people expect endgame to be the only enjoyable part of the experience and so they rush to it expecting amazing. I think this may be due to the fact that there is very little and possibly zero reasons to drag the leveling experience on. Everything you can do while leveling you can do it better at endgame. Gathering is one part of this. Why gather while leveling with my low inventory space when I can come back on my super fast mount with loads of inventory?
Maybe I will get hate for this but I feel Runescape nailed this aspect. Endgame wasn't really what you did, leveling was. While some found it boring I personally found it entertaining doing whatever I wanted as there were also many different "Mini-games" to put your time into (For those who have played, mini-games can vary from being something like a battleground to just a distraction, but almost always had some kind of reason to do it). Now however, Runescape has changed too much for me to ever consider going back. It was fun while it lasted, but as always, good things must come to an end at some point.
Sorry, I probably should have cut the normal post down. I am referring to ability to purchase a level 90 character. I am completely okay with the free 90 and I can entirely see why they did that. I feel that it was a great move on their part.
I think what he means is that being able to pay for a shortcut is Blizzard simply saying "Yeah, we know a lot of you don't like leveling, so here, buy your way out of it."
WoW is im sure running into the wall that all games with this much mileage on them begin to show.
1. if you keep upping the level cap you're going to eventually start outpacing not only members of your own audience, but possible new players as well.
2. when you design a game with one goal: reaching endgame play, then you can't be surprised when no one wants to level through 90 or more levels in order to participate in 'the real game'.
this is why i enjoy games far more that have a large set of horizontal content, rather than vertical. i can enjoy hanging out at certain levels doing other things besides scrambling to get to the 'good stuff' at the top.
in the case of WoW i had thought they were going to address this in Cataclysm by not only upgrading certain low level areas for higher level play, but also revamping much of the pre-level cap leveling content as well.
didnt happen. which is a shame. i think a lot of games have a potential for much greater content if they would begin expanding horizontally. perhaps the player 'housing' in the next xpac will build some of that content into this game.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Yeah, it would be really nice if their new expansions were just adding onto the endgame, but just massive amounts of content and such. Imagine, all of the work that goes into leveling, going into new battlegrounds, raids and such. Sounds great.