Economics 101 - WOW Tokens, Blizzard Profit, and such things

[des1235]

<snip>
It is geared to the fact that they want more people buying tokens with $20 cash so that idiot people will buy them for gold.

I was with you until this line line, where you seem to be under misapprehension that people who buy tokens are (a) interested in true market or (b) care about blizzard shareholders or (c) should care that blizzard is getting $20 per month for their subscription from another player instead of getting $15 from them. None of which hold.

As someone who hasn't puchased time with real money since tokens came out I'm both perfectly aware of how lucrative this deal is for Blizz and do not care because it allows me to spend in game currency. Now granted I'm paying at about 19k (the original price of the tokens) and not sure if I would buy the current 150k tokens but there you have it. Making 19k takes less than 5 min on AH so it's definitely working for me so far.

My job is NOT to give as little money as possible to Blizz, but rather to play the game. Blizz gives me the ability to do that easily with tokens and gets rewarded with an extra $5. Oh and before you argue that the idiots are the people spending $20 to get in gold currency that is also win-win for blizzard since they're now spending it on Blizzard services instead of gold farmers. And a win for me since there are fewer gold farmers! So win-win-win. Great idea by blizz.

[Thzz]

They still get money from people buying token for €20, and you buying a €13 sub with gold, still means they made €7.

Same goes for Bnet balance, which only gives $15 / €13 out of a $€20 token.

Blizzard found a way to both make Profit and create a Pretty large Gold Sink within their game with 1 item.

Whatever Blizzard Staff member thought of the Token is a fucking genius. Literally printing Real Money with Fake Video Game currency demand.

If you buy a token, that means someone paid €/$20 for it. That means that instead of you giving Blizzard €13/$15 you're effectively giving them €7/$5 more.

Not to mention, the gold you're spending isn't free, since you're spending time farming for it

agree with all the above.

Totally agree it was genius move. but could have been more genius.

Think of it like this. IF you love to only run Mythic+, and because of doing that and nothing else you get more gold then you could ever spend thus you never have to pay blizzard a penny again for game time or expansions. blizz shareholders have lost the revenue they would have otherwise gotten from me, and yes get a little more from others, but not 1:1 .

To make the genius move even better why not plug the leak that allows you to play for free.

Why let me play for free just because I happen to love to manipulate the AH, they could easily plug that leak .

I hope this is your last post. It really makes you look stupid. I will spell it out for you.

.

I hope this is your last post. It makes you look like a chode.

one of these two posts was written by a douche. one was not. you all decide

[Twilight Cultist]

agree with all the above.

Totally agree it was genius move. but could have been more genius.

Think of it like this. IF you love to only run Mythic+, and because of doing that and nothing else you get more gold then you could ever spend thus you never have to pay blizzard a penny again for game time or expansions. blizz shareholders have lost the revenue they would have otherwise gotten from me, and yes get a little more from others, but not 1:1 .

To make the genius move even better why not plug the leak that allows you to play for free.

Why let me play for free just because I happen to love to manipulate the AH, they could easily plug that leak .







one of these two posts was written by a douche. one was not. you all decide

You aren't understanding how the system works. Allow me to break it down further than others have.

Player A purchases a WoW Token for $20. Player A then sells the Token to Player B for gold. But Player A still has to pay for his own WoW Account for $15. So Player A pays $15 for his game time and $20 for a WoW Token to trade for gold. Blizzard gets $35 in the end.

In the past, you could only purchase game time with $15 for 1 month of game time. So Player A and Player B would have both paid $15 each to play WoW, for a total of $30.

With the WoW Token, Blizzard now makes more money than they did before. You aren't playing for free. Someone else essentially is paying $20 for you to play, and they get some of your gold in return.

[Ealyssa]

If you dont pay for something you are the product being sold.

Blizzard is selling your time (the gold you made during that time) to someone in exchange for a month of gametime, and they take their share at the same time (as the earn ~5€ more for that month).

Juste make me laugh when some stupid teens thinks they lure blizzard by not paying with money. Sure kido, keep having no life in a game, they make even more profit of your back.

[schwarzkopf]

And i know everyone here is an AH master who makes a million by just enabling their addons, but this is not true for the average player,

It can't be true for most players, the only way to make gold on the AH - is to take gold from other players. If everyone is making gold on the AH, then someone isn't doing maths properly.

[Shostradamus]

one of these two posts was written by a douche. one was not. you all decide

Mine was a reply to his, friend. I don't understand why he decided to attack you based off your question, thus making him look like a chode.

[Gravity2015]

Howdy fellas,
is token investing intelligent /worth? - the cost of token never seems to drop... and if you purchase one now, save it for a year or just after the next big expansion to sell - is it an almost guarantee to be profit?

[Mhyroth]

If you dont pay for something you are the product being sold.

Blizzard is selling your time (the gold you made during that time) to someone in exchange for a month of gametime, and they take their share at the same time (as the earn ~5€ more for that month).

Juste make me laugh when some stupid teens thinks they lure blizzard by not paying with money. Sure kido, keep having no life in a game, they make even more profit of your back.

This is the proper answer and right one.
Let's see if a no-lifer can come up with an arguement against it.

[Nnyco]

if you buy something blizzard still gets money, someone buys token for 20€ you get 13€, if you buy a 40€ game someone else paid 60€ for it

nothin is free

[Super Kami Dende]

agree with all the above.

Totally agree it was genius move. but could have been more genius.

Think of it like this. IF you love to only run Mythic+, and because of doing that and nothing else you get more gold then you could ever spend thus you never have to pay blizzard a penny again for game time or expansions. blizz shareholders have lost the revenue they would have otherwise gotten from me, and yes get a little more from others, but not 1:1 .

To make the genius move even better why not plug the leak that allows you to play for free.

Why let me play for free just because I happen to love to manipulate the AH, they could easily plug that leak .







one of these two posts was written by a douche. one was not. you all decide

Because you playing for Free nets them $20 a month, whereas you paying a Sub nets them $15.

[vsb]

Yes, Blizzard could print gold, causing huge devaluation and astronomical token prices (how long can you afford them for 10 mil/token?). It would change nothing for players, who's buying gold with tokens. But it would hurt players, who manage to earn gold via in-game means, so I don't think that Blizzard would do that.

[Ealyssa]

Howdy fellas,
is token investing intelligent /worth? - the cost of token never seems to drop... and if you purchase one now, save it for a year or just after the next big expansion to sell - is it an almost guarantee to be profit?

Blizzard isnt stupid, you can only sell token bought with real money. Token bought with gold can only give game time or increase your balance.

You can't resell a token bought with gold.

[chazus]

You aren't getting free game time, someone simply bought it for you, at a higher price. In fact, it was a brilliant move on Blizzard's part, and the shareholders. There are people who are willing to pay more money into the game but had no outlet for that, now they do. Consequentially, there are people who are willing to pay less (or literally not play), and now they have options as well. It did two things.

1) Raised the price of a subscription
2) Added more players to subscriptions

[Jester Joe]

Blizzard found a way to both make Profit and create a Pretty large Gold Sink within their game with 1 item.

Whatever Blizzard Staff member thought of the Token is a fucking genius. Literally printing Real Money with Fake Video Game currency demand.

Actually it could end up adding gold to the market.

If someone buys a token when they're selling for 180k, and that token isn't bought until the price dropped to 150k, then that's now 30k added into the game that wasn't there before, since the token is guaranteed to give you the amount advertised when bought.

[Gravity2015]

Blizzard isnt stupid, you can only sell token bought with real money. Token bought with gold can only give game time or increase your balance.

You can't resell a token bought with gold.

oh damn, im glad i asked lol... - what about the opposite tho, if i purchase a token with RL$$ today, and sell later - its almost a sure thing to be worth more in game gold than it is today, am i rite?

[Jester Joe]

oh damn, im glad i asked lol... - what about the opposite tho, if i purchase a token with RL$$ today, and sell later - its almost a sure thing to be worth more in game gold than it is today, am i rite?

There is no 'selling it later' as far as I know, it just adds it right to the AH. I could be wrong on that.

You do get however much gold it says the token is worth at the time though.

[Elbryan]

Actually it could end up adding gold to the market.

If someone buys a token when they're selling for 180k, and that token isn't bought until the price dropped to 150k, then that's now 30k added into the game that wasn't there before, since the token is guaranteed to give you the amount advertised when bought.

It goes the other way aswell, seller puts it on for 150k and buyer buys it for 180k, 30k gold is lost to the economy, so in the end it probably average out.

[slime]

You can't "put aside the fact..."
That is the whole explanation to your question. SOMEONE paid for the thing. What the fuck does Blizz care if one guy bought 15 of these to sell and make gold or if 15 random people paid them. They got paid that's all that matters. Not to mention, they make more money from tokens than straight $15 for time.

[Thzz]

Mine was a reply to his, friend. I don't understand why he decided to attack you based off your question, thus making him look like a chode.

yes sorry for not being clear. I was thanking you for being civil and calling other dude for being such a wanker.

You aren't understanding how the system works. Allow me to break it down further than others have.

Player A purchases a WoW Token for $20. Player A then sells the Token to Player B for gold. But Player A still has to pay for his own WoW Account for $15. So Player A pays $15 for his game time and $20 for a WoW Token to trade for gold. Blizzard gets $35 in the end.

In the past, you could only purchase game time with $15 for 1 month of game time. So Player A and Player B would have both paid $15 each to play WoW, for a total of $30.

With the WoW Token, Blizzard now makes more money than they did before. You aren't playing for free. Someone else essentially is paying $20 for you to play, and they get some of your gold in return.

Ok thank's, becoming clear, I see now blizz shareholders are +$5 for player A and B. might the THC in my head but now we are getting to the Econ 101 stuff.

why couldnt Blizz just go full on candy crush get the gold sales and game time from Player A, get my sub and expansions $$ from me Player B, by not allowing me to profit so heavily from something i would be doing anyway (grind AH) regardless if I could convert all my gold to game time / expansions or not.

Really I guess getting down to question about how much more in game gold could Blizz print before effecting token supply/demand or other meaningful things in the game. I guess this was really the question I was trying to get at. I'm just slow that way.

like any economy of things I guess this is just a simple and typical supply demand curve with the the additonal ability of them being able to set / regulate via token price? what other ways do they regulate it?

[chazus]

Actually it could end up adding gold to the market.

If someone buys a token when they're selling for 180k, and that token isn't bought until the price dropped to 150k, then that's now 30k added into the game that wasn't there before, since the token is guaranteed to give you the amount advertised when bought.

Technically yes, but they never go for that long. The amount added to the game with that system is so small that it's not really worth noting from an economy level.