Aren't the WoW services priced a bit excessive?

[Kul Tiras]

Look I work a job with a decent salary, I make in the 50k CAD/year range and I'm not in debt or anything financially going well.

But I grew up poor and I appreciate the value of money, so for me when I consider the price of a server transfer and faction change to play with a friend and it's 55$ USD, i.e like 65-70 CAD, I'm like holy fuckarooney. It's the price of almost 4 months of WoW, which pays for all the servers, programming and maintenance work and future content!

What warrants these prices? The programming for these services was completed years ago, everything is automated now. Wouldn't like 10$ everything be more reasonable? Paying the price of a new AAA game so I can play WoW with a friend just strikes me as what the fuck.

Although then again we live in an age where people pay over 1000$ for a cellphone because its screen is more shiny than the previous version, so what do I know...

[Eleccybubb]

Nope.

/10 char

[deadman1]

100% What warrants the prices is that stupid people pay them.

[Aeula]

Yes. Didn’t stop them from increasing the price though.

[A dot Ham]

Nope.

/10 char

Yep.


What an engaging conversation we're having.

[Kul Tiras]

Wow, what an insightful reply. Btw, "they're not" is actually shorter to type than "Nope. /10 char" and still gets your 10 character limit in.

[ro9ue]

Well the market determines the prices so ... looks like they work for most people.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

I feel like server transfers need to be at where it is now so server transfers aren't going crazy. Still don't like the microtransactions though.

[clevin]

Depends how yo look at it...

Based on cost? Yeah.

If they want to dissuade people from casually doing these things (i.e. they don't want people switching servers at the drop of a hat, etc). No.

To maximize revenue? Hard to say since you'd need to calculate the effect of various prices on sales. Apparently they're OK with the revenue this brings in and feel that they wouldn't see a significant bump by dropping prices.

[Kul Tiras]

I feel like server transfers need to be at where it is now so server transfers aren't going crazy. Still don't like the microtransactions though.

I get that but they people who transfer all the time are either the no-lifers paying for it through gold farming or the excessively rich. And isn't there like a 30 day limit between transfers?

[Radaney]

Yes they are but until people don't buy them and complain enough they'll stay at their price.

[clevin]

Well the market determines the prices so ... looks like they work for most people.

Actually, in this case that's not true since there's not a free market for these things. It's a monopoly situation - Only Blizzard can sell you the services and products.

[Kul Tiras]

They're not overpriced. Maybe by like... 5 dollars? lol it's nothing compared to what you get in return.

Being able to group with a friend whilst questing? Don't see how it's worth 55$.

[Eleccybubb]

Yep.


What an engaging conversation we're having.

Well a question was asked and I answered it.

[Kul Tiras]

Actually, in this case that's not true since there's not a free market for these things. It's a monopoly situation - Only Blizzard can sell you the services and products.

I think he means that if people weren't buying them, blizzard would probably reduce the prices or offer discounts.

[Eleccybubb]

Being able to group with a friend whilst questing? Don't see how it's worth 55$.

Well nobody is making you spend that. You could always level on that server which takes no time at all.

[MonsieuRoberts]

I thought spending $60 to level a character was a huge waste of money, but I also thought that pouring a week or two into leveling a character to the current content was a good investment of time.

What you're asking for is an objective conclusion to a subjective question. The value of the services and their price lies in the eyes of the customer. People buy 'em, so they can't be outrageously value-less. Not like Creation Club in Fallout 4 and Skyrim, for example, where the content is markedly cheaper than the services in WoW, but the value is simply absent.

WoW's services have a lot of inherent value, because of the nature of MMOs. The price is set, and some people feel that the value and price are fine. There's your answer I guess. It depends.

[toxicrusader]

I feel like server transfers need to be at where it is now so server transfers aren't going crazy. Still don't like the microtransactions though.

And what about a reasonable price, but with a limit of one per month?

To the OP:

No, the prices for the services are not a bit excessive, they are extremely excessive.

[TyrannicalPuppy]

Wow, what an insightful reply. Btw, "they're not" is actually shorter to type than "Nope. /10 char" and still gets your 10 character limit in.

But that doesn't give you a simulated sense of having the final word

[MoanaLisa]

Don't buy or use them and tell Blizzard why. They'll come down. Right now that's what people will pay.

And the high price serves the purpose of limiting how many server and faction changes you can do. I'd be in favor of everyone getting a full set of free services for one account good for one character every year though.

Conversely, you can do it by rolling a new character and leveling. It doesn't take long and with catch-up mechanisms in place you can be mostly where you want to be in a relatively short period of time. That costs nothing.

The cost of services is basically a non-issue if you have free alternatives. Trading time for money is all.