Wow testing in-game payments

[Pann]

As you say for yourself. People want to have fun. Will people have fun when they skip all content by using potions? Will it be better if they in addition make less content? The answer to both questions is probably no.

If you have fun by doing quests it's ok and you don't need to buy the potion. You don't like questing and just want to do high level things like raids and PVP? Great, buy the potion and have fun at max level.

I don't think that the itemshop will harm WoW. We already have an itemshop outside of the game where we can buy pets and mounts. Also they explicitly said that they want to add it to Asian regions and I think they need to add it to have a real chance over there. MMOs without itemshop are considered hardcore over in Asia because you need to invest a lot of time and money. They already have a pay per hour system over there and to reach more people in Asia they need to add the itemshop to speed things up and so that people stop thinking that WoW is an hardcore MMO. In addition I don't think they will add the shop to Europe and US that fast because companies are still trying out what kind of shop people here accept. Look at all the F2P MMOs or full price games like Dead Space 3 and NFS. They have itemshops where you can buy things to speed up your progress.

Also as long as thing from the shop don't give you an advantage in the game that big that you need to buy the item from the shop I'm ok with that. Potion to gain more XP? That's ok. Potion to gain more honor or conquest points? Not ok. Blue level starter gear that's as good as the gear you can craft? That's ok. Gear that's as good or even better as gear that only drops in dungeons? Not ok.

So actually addressing the problem that people do not find the content fun is not an option? If they cannot make the content fun why charge people to skip it? Instead why not add additional ways to level? Increase the number of dungeons. Increase the amount of exp gained from PVP. Add a BOA tome that allows flying for alts like in Wrath. Give people multiple paths to follow when levelling so the story does not become stale. We have add these options in the past (apart for PVP exp) why are we getting less now?

For charms why not let them drop from raid bosses so those that only enjoy raiding are not forced to do dailies? Or award them for Honourable Kills or Arena wins for PVP players?

Call me old fashioned but I always believed that as a business if you wanted extra money from your customers you offered something of value to them not expect them to pay extra for what is essentially less.

[Woakerio]

It's 100% irrelevant to me.

I trust that Blizzard is smart enough not to put anything on this store that could even hint at the slightest advantage. XP and Rep potions will most likely be disabled when a new expansion comes out, there will NEVER be full gear sets up on this thing, And because lesser charms are so easy to obtain but can be slightly time consuming if you're paying for every hour of gameplay in a korean internet cafe and you have to obey the government's regulation of gaming curfews, I don't consider them being purchasable as a bad thing.

I don't buy mounts, and I don't buy pets. If they put up an incredible Cosmog (Cosmetic Transmog © Mike Schaffnit) set, and if it isn't painfully common, I may spend a few bucks to look like a hot dog. I would DEFINITELY drop some cash for that XP potion.

Blizzard isn't dumb enough to emulate EA's pathetic attempt at micro-transactions. They're not going to unbalance their game by posting legendary items or full gear sets. I"m happy that they're addressing in-game purchases NOW instead of working on it shortly before they transition to free-to-play (Someday) and miss some crippling bug that plummets WoW into a terrible chasm of unbalance and pay-to-win. Let them iron the kinks out now, and have some god damn faith.

It'll be fine. They've lasted this long by treading cautiously, and they'll continue to do so.

That's a very good point...considering that the shop is starting/only in other regions, exp boosts and lesser elder charms makes more sense for players that pay by the hour. It helps expedite leveling and getting some charms for a weekly quest, freeing them to get more done in their limited sub time. Some of those shop items may not even be for US or other regions.

[Bullettime]

Aimed at Asia where they don't use the subscription model we use. It's a way to get more revenue on the Asian market that has been dwindling by selling them convenience products like other games being released in that market that are taking players from WoW left and right.

It's a smart decision.

If it gets really popular and there's a demand in the NA/EU markets, they can simply copy the tech over. But as long as they're not selling actual gear or gold, no big deal. XP boosts and such are fine since it's an optional advantage some of us can use instead of manually leveling our 50th alt, especially considering Blizzard does not want to add more heirlooms to the game. Riot Games sells XP boosts on League of Legends and even though they're F2P, they still haven't been accused of being buy to win.

[MoanaLisa]

Agreed... but this one will be. Selling Lesser charms means no more dailies or farming them. Now you can just buy as many rolls as you want.

If you're in Korea.

[Deleted]

People keep shitting their pants over nothing.

This stuff is for the asian regions. They have a completely different payment model than we do.

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Lesser charms being sold changes all that.

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Because they are a "For-Profit" company and they KNOW people will pay it.

Dont use words you do not understand. Makes you look like a fool.

Even if they sold charms, which they arent. They sell a BUFF that increases the droprate, it still wouldnt be pay to win.

pay to win implies that people can buy stuff that people who do not pay cannot get.

Not the case.

The XP potion already drops in the game, and getting lesser charms is a joke.
You're complaining over fuck all.
Buy as many rolls as you want? Get lost, you can only hand in the quest once per week.

[AlderaiMischi]

I'm on the fence about ingame payments....

In both EQ1 (recent ftp, not back in 2000 when I first ran hardcore) and EQ2 I paid a little cash to get preferred status but eventually always bounced onto a sub. Think I bought a total of 2 items and they weren't worth it....

LOTR I paid for preferred status and then subbed

Vindictus I never even looked in the cash shop....

GW2....I also completely Ignore the cash shop....

SWTOR....I think if I remember I preferred and then subbed and then promptly quit that boat

So in my experience....the only time in game cash shops have worked for a company for profit against me is when they offer ftp, ftp preferred and a sub tier

so they have succeeded on that $5 to get preferred status multiple times

[Miley]

Call me old fashioned but I always believed that as a business if you wanted extra money from your customers you offered something of value to them not expect them to pay extra for what is essentially less.

The thing with WoW though is how do they earn the extra money from me without an item store. I've taken multiple breaks from WoW where I've played other games with item shops. Now I shouldn't have to justify/defend/etc my situation but I don't mind spending money on whatever game I am playing. Now if I am willing to spend even $200 a month on a game, even if WoW was an absolute perfect game to me, how can they get this money from me with no item store? Making a quality product would only mean continuing to receive my $15 a month sub.

[Sosuke Aizen]

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/Ramin...130626/194933/



In MoP Blizzard introduced grindy leveling and coins to "encourage people to leave towns" these chores became major time sinks. Now when people are tired of these chores Blizzard will offer a "way to skip these chores" for money. They are trying to see how many people will be gullible enough to pay to skip something that was introduced just a few months ago. If enough suckers pay up then the game is doomed.

We do not know what they intend to do as far as coins go; for all we know they may say, "You know what, 500 JP for 50 lesser coins". As the moderator mentioned before, you should really refrain from making the topic about other players and what they are able to do with their money and more about the topic itself.

[connorsnelson]

not a fan kind of sillt

[Sosuke Aizen]

Next step will be gear. LFR gear or something of similar power. Knowing blizzard it will be LFR gear, rebranded or renamed to something else.

And as always , it will come with the typical blizzard excuse that they use as a crux for why they shit on everything.

"Well , not everyone has the time to participate in raiding, and we didn't want those players feeling excluded just because they don't want to play the game, so to make everyone happy we've introduced an innovative new system to allow for these players to earn their rewards in their own way.....via a mastercard or visa payment."

You forgot to mention PayPal and Discover. They accept those currently. I think it would make for a great idea for those that are not able to waste an hour in LFR, don't you?

[Cybran]

As the moderator mentioned before, you should really refrain from making the topic about other players and what they are able to do with their money and more about the topic itself.

The discussion has been very on topic, apart from your attempts to rile people up by calling them poor, uneducated and children.

I think it would make for a great idea for those that are not able to waste an hour in LFR, don't you?

If they can't spend time on progressing in a fair setting like everyone else that pays a sub fee then they should look for another game.

[Buxton McGraff]

If they're doing it because Vivendi might siphon money from them, then I support it. I only support them if they NEED the money or if they're planning on going F2P.
I do not support this if they're just doing it to be greedy and milk their customers for more money.

[Tzalix]

They created grinds to gate content and rewards (rep, charms and valor). Now they are offering you a way to skip the gating for money. This is extremely unfair and intended to extort people from the start. If people don't say they won't stand for that, then it will only get worse from here on.

No, it's not skipping the gating... It's still a weekly quest to turn them into bonus rolls.

[Deleted]

blizzard went full retard. Never go full retard.

You either have sub fee or you have a system like League of legends, you can't have both. As I see it, playing on private servers will be a better deal since its free ROFL

You can have anything as long as the customers don't get pissed enough to leave in large numbers and I don't see how this cash shop would be reason to piss people off, unless it turns into p2w.

Also, lol private servers.

[Gilian]

It's not an advantage.

Does it say "hey, buy these charms and you also get an extra 3 Mogu charms"? No it doesn't. At the end of the week, both players have to accumulate 50 charms, how they go about it is up to them. If Bob wants to buy them, let him buy them, if Joe would rather play for them let him play for them. It makes no difference to how the game currently is, Joe has always played for them and will continue to do so. Bob buys his but he loses all 3 bonus rolls, what a shame, oh well it's NOT LIKE IT MATTERS. I highly doubt that extra bit of loot would score him a realm first Garrosh kill and Gladiator for the season

An actual advantage would be selling Mogu chains directly up to the 10 cap, which they aren't doing purposely because their intention is not to turn the store into play to win. The experience boost, I'm sorry, it is not an advantage at all, you blink and level up these days.

The poster I "insulted" is spewing all sorts of assumptions that this is the beginning of the end and we'll be getting gear in the store. This is based on other F2P games, but news alert, WoW isn't F2P so they are testing out adding micro transactions for convenience not for "win" that can co-exist with subscriptions.

Clearly the argument is won, but for some reason certain players enjoy bitching about things that "may" happen.

So me having more time to do other things than obtaining charms than you is not an advantage? Yeah oke...

And it is going to get worse untill too many people make clear they don't want to go this route. They will push it as far as possible to squeeze out money.

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I am also not sure why you would be happy with being able to buy mounts/pets ingame instead of through the website. Like you are constantly buying mounts and pets.
The real benefit from this is that Blizzard can constantly advertise those mounts and pets to ALL players ingame instead of the few that go to the website.

[Pann]

The thing with WoW though is how do they earn the extra money from me without an item store. I've taken multiple breaks from WoW where I've played other games with item shops. Now I shouldn't have to justify/defend/etc my situation but I don't mind spending money on whatever game I am playing. Now if I am willing to spend even $200 a month on a game, even if WoW was an absolute perfect game to me, how can they get this money from me with no item store? Making a quality product would only mean continuing to receive my $15 a month sub.

As I said before I have no issue if people want to purchase mounts or pets as I feel they add value to the game allowing people to skip boring content, in my opinion, does not. Also considering the insane amount of profit Blizzard make from WOW, have seen claims that it is in excess of 85% of their income although this does seem a bit excessive, but for arguments sake let's say it is around 80% do you think it is reasonable for a company to ask you to spend extra when only 20% of the money you are already spending with them goes back into their product? How about they take some of the 80% and spend it making interesting content instead of expecting people to pay even more to skip the boring parts? I would argue that had they concentrated on offering value to their customers that the decline in subs would not have been so extreme and the need to make up loss of income would not be nearly as pronounced.

[Raelbo]

So me having more time to do other things than obtaining charms than you is not an advantage? Yeah oke...

An advantage over whom exactly?

Some people may regard this as an advantage in terms of how much fun they get out of the game.

However it is not really a competitive advantage. Hypothetically, it allows you to devote more time to making ludicrous amounts of money which could hypothetically mean you get an edge over some other player somehow.

In practice, those who will be paying for these services are not those who are "winning" at WoW, because the people who are at the top of the game are already pulling in far more lesser charms of fortune than they can possibly use. I literally have thousands of the damned things sitting on my main and I can nothing with them. No I lie, I can buy the useful coins every week for the next 10 years. Buying more won't help me one little bit.

And it is going to get worse untill too many people make clear they don't want to go this route. They will push it as far as possible to squeeze out money.

Here's the thing. I am very opposed of the idea of Pay 2 Win. I won't be buying charms or xp boosts. The fact that other people might choose to do so does not bother me in the slightest because it won't affect me in the slightest. All this crying by some paranoid people about how suddenly everyone else will have this "advantage" over them really makes no sense whatsoever.

I am also not sure why you would be happy with being able to buy mounts/pets ingame instead of through the website. Like you are constantly buying mounts and pets.

I am not happy about it. To be honest I don't care either way. What I don't understand is why anyone should be unhappy about it. If you aren't going to use it, it doesn't affect you. If you are going to use it, it is useful to you. Simple.

The real benefit from this is that Blizzard can constantly advertise those mounts and pets to ALL players ingame instead of the few that go to the website.

Just off the top of my head, and an answer I thought up in seconds (since you ask): Another benefit is that people can avoid landing up on phishing sites.

Another advantage too: If the thing is in game, people can see what pets/mounts are on special. For some people that is real value added.

[Cybran]

Just off the top of my head, and an answer I thought up in seconds (since you ask): Another benefit is that people can avoid landing up on phishing sites.

Another advantage too: If the thing is in game, people can see what pets/mounts are on special. For some people that is real value added.

I got into the beta for the Battle.net desktop App. The damn thing is plastered with adds about pets, mounts and D3 for consoles. Blizzard has plenty of exposure of their premium content and offers as it is.

Making the store in game means that they plan to aggressively up their money grabbing techniques.

[Raelbo]

As I said before I have no issue if people want to purchase mounts or pets as I feel they add value to the game allowing people to skip boring content, in my opinion, does not.

If it didn't add value for some people it wouldn't sell. If Blizzard didn't think it would sell, and given the requests they have had for such a feature, I am sure it will sell.

Also considering the insane amount of profit Blizzard make from WOW, have seen claims that it is in excess of 85% of their income although this does seem a bit excessive, but for arguments sake let's say it is around 80%

Yeah, I once heard these insane claims about a man 7 meters tall. Let's assume he was only 6 meters tall....

do you think it is reasonable for a company to ask you to spend extra when only 20% of the money you are already spending with them goes back into their product?

Would you be happier if this feature was offered for free?

How about they take some of the 80% and spend it making interesting content

How does adding this particular feature affect their ability to spend money to make "interesting content"? If anything it should result in more money being available to make interesting content. Or are you trying to imply that Blizzard are spending that 80% of profit making this particular feature simply so that they can make more profit?

Honestly, that just makes no sense. What makes a lot more sense:

People (particularly in Asia) have been requesting the ability to buy xp boosts for real money.
Blizzard are simply giving them what they asked for.

instead of expecting people to pay even more to skip the boring parts?

Who says they are expecting people to pay? They are giving people a choice. A choice they are asking for. If Blizzard thought that most people would rather just skip the "boring bits" surely they would simply remove those bits from the game.

I would argue that had they concentrated on offering value to their customers that the decline in subs would have been so extreme and the need to make up loss of income would not be nearly as pronounced.

Maybe. Or maybe they are doing the best they can already. Either way I don't see how adding this particular feature affects that particular argument one way or another.

Basically what you are saying is that, for you, it's not about the feature per se, but that you believe the addition of this feature proves that Blizzard are producing bad content. Which it, of course, does not.

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I got into the beta for the Battle.net desktop App. The damn thing is plastered with adds about pets, mounts and D3 for consoles. Blizzard has plenty of exposure of their premium content and offers as it is.

I have not seen the desktop app. What I do know is that for the current loader, I normally hit the play button before the ads load, and as a result I almost missed the half price promotion on the Moonkin Hatchling.

Making the store in game means that they plan to aggressively up their money grabbing techniques.

I am fairly certain that Blizzard are hoping this will bring them more revenue. But that's a world apart from assuming their motive for this feature is to "aggressively" market their ingame store.

Blizzard recently added the ingame browser to allow their players to access their online help ingame. Creating access to the store seems like a logical extension of that thinking.

Why do some people have to assume this huge conspiracy?

[Rhyder]

£40 to upgrade your character model to the new shiney one. each.