Scott Hartsman on Rift subs, Twinks and maybe cross faction play?

[DeltrusDisc]

This thread shouldn't be about Wow.

They've stated multiple times they've learned from their mistakes (IE losing 2 million subs), and will be doing things much differently in MoP.

(I see another WOLTK in the making)

Yet they just put out another pet to buy in the store.

Sorry but no, they are still planning to exploit people.

---------- Post added 2012-04-22 at 07:34 PM ----------

Oh and I'll throw in, unlike Blizzard, Trion don't charge for transferring your character. I remember having to transfer 3 of my characters with my guild back in late 2010. $75!!! All I got was a transfer, that's it. And why does it cost that much? Why do the mounts cost $25? Why do the pets cost $10? I can assure you it's not because it cost that much to transfer your toon (it's all automated now) and the mounts and pets are just reskins lol.

It's all about extra revenue, it's called milking.

Trion have thus far only offered both of the CEs to anyone who truly wants it, and it is frankly very cheap and more or less just an upgrade, so it's about $10. And that's a lot more than $10 will buy you from Blizzard! $10 from Blizz? You get a pet. $10 from Trion? You get a mount, and a pet with a special use, on top of a tabard I believe and I think still, yet something else.

You say you don't play WoW anymore Mavfin, so why are you defending Blizzard so much?

[notorious98]

Excuse me, but Rift sells a mount and a pet for $10. Sure, it's less money, and they call it something different, but in the end *they're still selling it* for cash on top of what they sell the game for. I bought the game for 14.99 and paid another 10 bucks for the fluff so I'd have a scalable mount on every toon. So, Trion is OK, and Blizzard is evil? I didn't feel exploited and knew it was optional, but that's not the issue at hand here.

By what you just wrote above, Trion should not get a free pass on this from any of you who call Blizzard evil for it. No matter what you think of the practice, one company is no better than the other when it comes to selling fluff. They should have given those mounts out only in-game, not sold for cash, by what you wrote and I quoted.

Put simply, I don't care what your personal opinion on the practice is. YMMV, and all that. But to vilify one company as greedy and exploiting for doing the same as another company, is just contradicting yourself. "It's evil if they do it, but if Trion does it, it's fine!" is not working for me.

Edit; "I don't like the practice, and it shouldn't be done!" I have no problem with. But "I don't like the practice and Blizzard shouldn't do it, but Trion is just doing it a little, and is OK" is just contradictory. Just sounds like you're making up reasons to bash Blizzard, not out of any real convictions on the issue of selling fluff. Hating Blizzard is fine, too, but just say so, don't cover it up in this other thing that you give Trion a free pass on.

#1 Paying for a Collector's Edition is one thing. Blizzard had a Collector's Edition that included an in-game pet and I don't have a problem with that. It comes out with the game or the expansion. On the other hand, using resources to create a mount during the existing life of your current xpac, while pushing out LESS content, and charging for it is exploitation. The difference between what Trion has done by offering a pet that came with the original Collector's Edition and had no current resources used to create and what Blizz has done is so incredibly vast it would take a retard of considerable magnitude to compare the two.

#2 I don't play Rift and I never even brought Rift up as a comparison in anything that I said. Your edit is just foolish and uninformed. But, like I said in #1, comparing the two when it comes to selling fluff is misguided. Do me a favor. Head to the Riftgame.com and find me the Rift store. Then tell me how similar they are to Blizzard. Go ahead. I'll wait.

[Acquiesce of Telara]

Way I see it, Blizz has every right to sell anything they want, and players have every right to purchase or not, said items; that's hardly in contention. I personally think it's silly spending 50 bucks to get a transfer and a mount, as those two items are apparently worth more than an entire expansion, and that's what I find sad.

Notorious, while I certainly favor Trion over Blizz, there's nothing guaranteed to the consumer when purchasing an expansion as Blizzard isn't held by any contract to the consumer. Anything they provide is part of a service you (general) sign up for. You're contracted to abide by rules, they are not. It's a one way street that can only be avoided by finding companies that are desperate to please you.

Mafvin, I don't feel that Trion's shop is remotely similar to Blizz's, personally. If Blizzard awarded the Spirit of Competition pet to people who signed up for PvP, and later decided to sell that (or a reskinned version) to others who couldn't participate, I'd see the resemblance.

[notorious98]

Way I see it, Blizz has every right to sell anything they want, and players have every right to purchase or not, said items; that's hardly in contention. I personally think it's silly spending 50 bucks to get a transfer and a mount, as those two items are apparently worth more than an entire expansion, and that's what I find sad.

Notorious, while I certainly favor Trion over Blizz, there's nothing guaranteed to the consumer when purchasing an expansion as Blizzard isn't held by any contract to the consumer. Anything they provide is part of a service you (general) sign up for. You're contracted to abide by rules, they are not. It's a one way street that can only be avoided by finding companies that are desperate to please you.

I never made any assumptions that Blizzard OWES anything. However, I don't find what they do to be any less exploitative.

---------- Post added 2012-04-22 at 06:20 PM ----------

Actually, the spider and the turtle cost more than buying Rift did for me. 14.99 for Rift, the game, vs $20.00 (2x10.00) to upgrade to both CE fluff packs. So, by your quote above, that's also pretty sad. Two mounts plus other fluff sold for more cash than the original game. So again, it's ok for Trion, but 'sad' for Blizzard?

Again, I don't really care about whether they sell fluff or not, because as you say, that's up to the company. I'm just rolling my eyes at the contention that Trion selling mounts is any different than Blizzard doing it. Two Blizzard mounts or mount+character move > cost of game or expansion, yes. But the same is true for Trion. Two mounts+ other fluff > cost of original game. Trion used precious dev resources to do those two mounts at least as much as Blizzard did for the sparkly horse.

You'll never get it, bro. You're either clueless, a troll, or a moron.


<Mod edit: Please do not insult or call out people for trolling if you feel a post is questionable report it and move on>

[Acquiesce of Telara]

Actually, the spider and the turtle cost more than buying Rift did for me. 14.99 for Rift, the game, vs $20.00 (2x10.00) to upgrade to both CE fluff packs. So, by your quote above, that's also pretty sad. Two mounts plus other fluff sold for more cash than the original game. So again, it's ok for Trion, but 'sad' for Blizzard?

Again, I don't really care about whether they sell fluff or not, because as you say, that's up to the company. I'm just rolling my eyes at the contention that Trion selling mounts is any different than Blizzard doing it. Two Blizzard mounts or mount+character move > cost of game or expansion, yes. But the same is true for Trion. Two mounts+ other fluff > cost of original game. Trion used precious dev resources to do those two mounts at least as much as Blizzard did for the sparkly horse.

That's actually a pretty valid criticism of my argument, so well played, good sir.

If I changed my standard of comparison, say "2 mounts = 3 months of content" the argument might play out differently, but it doesn't really matter much to me. If people feel comfortable shelling out cash for services and digital goods, more power to them and Blizzard (or Trion). If you (general) are completely opposed to it, sweet, good on ya.

Paying for mounts does amount to an unfair advantage, however minor. That goes for Blizz, Trion, and anyone else who sells scalable mounts: you save gold/plat whatever and can travel more quickly than others. Fortunately, that benefit doesn't last long, and provides the most benefit at the levels that produce the least. As mounts aren't the only purchasable good, it's only a fraction of the money one may spend.

[Azuri]

Another thread that has run it's course and gone off topic. Safe thing to do is close it now.