Wow testing in-game payments

[Deleted]

It won't stop there, they very well may move onto selling gear. THAT is the big fear.

You mean the same fear that came up when the introduced server transfers? and then faction changes? and then the pet store?

How many times does the "fear" of something have to be unfounded before it goes away?

[Pann]

Zarhym's tweet (or was it a forum post?) last week on the matter implied it was only for specific regions where their sub model is different.

So you're likely getting upset over nothing.

No it did not. If this was meant for the Chinese market why did it appear in the Western PTR client? Considering that there are many who have have voiced their concern at this being added why not come out and say that it is not meant for the Western market? It makes no sense to leave players speculating over a feature that many of them do not want when Blizzard have no intention of releasing it here. Make no mistake unless there is a backlash similar to the Real ID fiasco this will be live on Western servers.

[Doylez]

Leveling up your zillionth alt faster isn't exactly pay to win, if this even did apply to NA or EU realms (which I doubt it will).

Everything that goes beyond cosmetic items is p2w. Next expansion comes along with new race/class -> you have to buy XP potions or you'll no longer have a shot at realm first X.
One could even argue that the pets from the Blizzard store are kind of pay2win because with pet battles they're no longer just cosmetic items. I'm not sure if they have unique abilities though.
But yeah, don't really care if it's just for Asia. Sucks for them I guess.

[Tziva]

is this a fact, or just rubbish you made up with some people?

Well, you don't have to believe me, but I'm not in the habit of making up random BS.

And the fact two of us from MMOC went to the mixer was in the news post on this site.

[Harmzuay]

No it did not. If this was meant for the Chinese market why did it appear in the Western PTR client? Considering that there are many who have have voiced their concern at this being added why not come out and say that it is not meant for the Western market? It makes no sense to leave players speculating over a feature that many of them do not want when Blizzard have no intention of releasing it here. Make no mistake unless there is a backlash similar to the Real ID fiasco this will be live on Western servers.

Go back and read the previous posts.

Also, if they wanted to add this particular item to Western servers, there are other ways to make it available. I love that people here know exactly what's going on. They know what Blizzard is up to and it's never anything good.

[Mad_Murdock]

Blizz tests something in wow because they will implement it in Titan.

hmmm, didn't Titan get put on hold\semi canceled\start over from scratch ?

[Pann]

Go back and read the previous posts.

Also, if they wanted to add this particular item to Western servers, there are other ways to make it available. I love that people here know exactly what's going on. They know what Blizzard is up to and it's never anything good.

Do any of the previous posts address why they have not said that it is for Korea? It seems pretty silly to let people believe that a feature that many simply do not want is potentially going to be released on Western servers when they have no intention of doing so.

[Harmzuay]

Do any of the previous posts address why they have not said that it is for Korea? It seems pretty silly to let people believe that a feature that many simply do not want is potentially going to be released on Western servers when they have no intention of doing so.

Nothing I can say to someone who chooses to be willfully ignorant.

[Pann]

Nothing I can say to someone who chooses to be willfully ignorant.

So none of the posts address this point then?

[MoanaLisa]

No it did not. If this was meant for the Chinese market why did it appear in the Western PTR client? Considering that there are many who have have voiced their concern at this being added why not come out and say that it is not meant for the Western market? It makes no sense to leave players speculating over a feature that many of them do not want when Blizzard have no intention of releasing it here. Make no mistake unless there is a backlash similar to the Real ID fiasco this will be live on Western servers.

Because new stuff requires testing very often. There's no specific Chinese/Korean PTR. There are the PTR's that we know. Ergo, when something needs to be tested it shows up on the Western PTR. Because that's where everything gets tested.

See how easy that was.

[Pann]

Because new stuff requires testing very often. There's no specific Chinese/Korean PTR. There are the PTR's that we know. Ergo, when something needs to be tested it shows up on the Western PTR. Because that's where everything gets tested.

See how easy that was.

Again that does not address the issue of why have Blizzard simply not stated this is not for Western realms? There is an 86 page thread on the US forums and many of the posters are unhappy at the potential of an in game store and we have one cryptic blue response four days ago. Why if it is only intended for Korea why did Zarhym not say so in his reply on page nine? Why, when this is such an emotive subject, let the speculation go on? Surely Blizzard would want to remove any kind of confusion as to their intentions as early as possible?

[Deleted]

Do any of the previous posts address why they have not said that it is for Korea? It seems pretty silly to let people believe that a feature that many simply do not want is potentially going to be released on Western servers when they have no intention of doing so.

They've stated:

Take data-mining and even PTR itself with a grain of salt. PTR is our Petri dish and not every experiment works.

https://twitter.com/Ghostcrawler/sta...61491808616448

And in relation to the XP thing, someone mentioned this on the first page, pretty much quoted it but here's it in full with a link:

"We are currently exploring the possibility of adding a way for players in certain regions to make purchases directly within the game. As part of this process, elements related to this will be appearing on the PTR."

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/to...765?page=9#177

Plus when have you ever seen them flat out say something is not going to happen, it's always 'we have no plans at the moment' simply because someone somewhere will file what they say away and should they ever change their minds spam it repeatedly.

[Deleted]

Even then it is not worth any sort of mob mentality, for the above reasons I just stated.
The benefit of xp boosts are short lived, and a very small fraction of time compared to how long many of us have played our more established characters.

Indeed this is true for the XP Buff, However Mob mentality does work. Remember the uproar and anger when blizzard where going to publish peoples actual names to the account they played on ? Fan met shit at high speed then. although not the same as that situation I believe that if blizzard where to star offering in game items for cash that where more powerful than items in game that where obtainable via dungeons / raids / PVP / Point system etc, then people should make it known that it is not wanted system.

However that being said, it seem that the RL money items seem to be for the Korean server..... At the moment.

[MoanaLisa]

Again that does not address the issue of why have Blizzard simply not stated this is not for Western realms?

Because it's data mining. Because nothing is settled. Because Blizzard rarely says much at all about anything until it's settled. Because Blizzard--correctly--doesn't let forums and fansites dictate their policies on what information gets released.

People that use data-mined information just to stir things up look foolish as often as not. That's their business I guess.

Blizzard doesn't need to address anything at all simply because you or anyone else wants it addressed.

[bluspacecow]

No it did not. If this was meant for the Chinese market why did it appear in the Western PTR client? .

There is only One PTR.

It has 2 EU realms , 2 US realms and 1 Korean Realm.

If your implying there is an Eastern PTR realms and client you would be mistaken. Of Wow China and Wow Korean only Wow China would have the size of company sufficient to run a proper asian public test client. Which will never happen given Net Ease , the company that has the license to run wow in China has at least 5 other MMO clients they actively code for. It would be a conflict of interest.

[Flaks]

Their thoughts are that it is aimed at improving the sub losses.

Thoughts?

I think the cash-grabbing is pretty blatant here. Especially considering how they've been netting greater revenues through WoW NOW with 4 million less players/payers than when they had 12 million.

[Flaks]

You mean the same fear that came up when the introduced server transfers? and then faction changes? and then the pet store?

How many times does the "fear" of something have to be unfounded before it goes away?

Was it really unfounded? Especially when the pretty much lied to our faces about it ever being implemented in the first place? And what it's done to the game since (destroying faction balance; making low pop realms worse and worse; attempting to implement all these features into the game that have been undeniably toxic to the playerbase while earning more money than ever before)

[Seezer]

Everything that goes beyond cosmetic items is p2w. Next expansion comes along with new race/class -> you have to buy XP potions or you'll no longer have a shot at realm first X.
One could even argue that the pets from the Blizzard store are kind of pay2win because with pet battles they're no longer just cosmetic items. I'm not sure if they have unique abilities though.
But yeah, don't really care if it's just for Asia. Sucks for them I guess.

Then so is purchasing in game pets to sell for gold that you can use to purchase gear, and other performance enhancing items.

[Pann]

Because it's data mining. Because nothing is settled. Because Blizzard rarely says much at all about anything until it's settled. Because Blizzard--correctly--doesn't let forums and fansites dictate their policies on what information gets released.

People that use data-mined information just to stir things up look foolish as often as not. That's their business I guess.

Blizzard doesn't need to address anything at all simply because you or anyone else wants it addressed.

You are avoiding my question. Of course Blizzard needs to address this look at the fansites and the official forums there are many players that are unhappy at the thought of an in game shop, why if there is no intention of adding one have they not said so? It makes absolutely no sense to keep quiet and allow people to continue speculating when there is no possibility of what is upsetting them happening.

There is only One PTR.

It has 2 EU realms , 2 US realms and 1 Korean Realm.

If your implying there is an Eastern PTR realms and client you would be mistaken. Of Wow China and Wow Korean only Wow China would have the size of company sufficient to run a proper asian public test client. Which will never happen given Net Ease , the company that has the license to run wow in China has at least 5 other MMO clients they actively code for. It would be a conflict of interest.

They were quick to clear up the additional lock outs and the higher item level gear that can be obtained in Korea why have they not done the same with this?

[Faroth]

"We are currently exploring the possibility of adding a way for players in certain regions to make purchases directly within the game. As part of this process, elements related to this will be appearing on the PTR. We’ll provide additional updates on our plans as development progresses."

As others have said..."in certain regions."

My bet it's something they're considering for regions like China that don't have the traditional subscription option.

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They were quick to clear up the additional lock outs and the higher item level gear that can be obtained in Korea why have they not done the same with this?

Possibly because this is still in total testing "will this work" phase and that one they knew they were going to implement it?