The Blizzard Store and the Monthly Fee. What you need to realize.

[Aleksej89]

You pay a monthly fee to be able to log in to your account and play; nothing more, nothing less.

I hope people are capable of reading this and comprehending they are NOT entitled to ANYTHING aside from access to blizzard servers when they are not on maintenance.
Any content that is made for the Store would have never been made if the store did not exist - even the employees that made those Store items would have never been hired (or they would be fired) if the Store did not exist.

[Mad_Murdock]

The latest tier of raiding doesn't equate to "everything."
It only makes up a fraction of the content that is WoW and you have access to 99% of it.

But why is it acceptable to then say "sorry, you don't want to pay extra, you can't have access to these mounts and transmog pieces."

You're 100% right, the latest tier isn't everything. But you want me to keep paying ? Then I want something new to do TOO. Don't tell me to keep running MSV\HOF\ToEs 10 months after release and think I'm going to be cool with that. But look it's your game, that's your rules, Fine. I'll leave, no hard feelings!

What the pseudo elitist want is for all those baddies to pay Blizzard to do whatever else there is. Those baddies are saying, no thanks, and the psuedo elitist are mad about it! How dare those casuals not do what we deem acceptable for them! How dare Blizzard give them more stuff to do around the same time they give us something new to do!

Ok. The only way to get one of the new helms is to pay extra. This gear is leaps and bounds more exclusive than anything in the game, because there's no possible way to acquire the gear by simply playing.

I don't get the point. The Helms, See-Saw, Hitching post isn't "something to do". The argument against Exclusive content has been made mainly around raids. Raids is something to do. The crowd complaining (or just plain leaving) is saying they want a easy raid they can do whenever. That isn't the same as some statless helm.

[lunchbox2042]

I understand why they don't expect to gain back subs now.

[majesta]

I could say that Canada will invade the US and make us all worship Justin Bieber too, but that doesn't mean it will happen. You are just like chicken little, running around complaining that the sky is falling, when you have idea what will happen.

I have never claimed I know what will happen. I am only voicing what I don't want to happen.

[User789]

Wait, a source from a representative of the company is not good enough, than what is? You need to see the skies split and the voice of Gods tell you this in person?

Only if he represented the whole company and not just a forum moderator, but thinking on it, that is actually not good enough as it is in the agreements things are set in "stone" and even that could be disputed. but I only wanted to see where Blizzard had said something like that.

[Deventh]

Every time Blizzard announces something new for the pet store we see the same threads come up about how a game with a monthly sub fee shouldn't have a microtransaction store. I get really frustrated when I see these posts because some people just don't get it.

You pay a monthly fee to be able to log in to your account and play; nothing more, nothing less.

Blizzard is a business and they have to do with that money whatever they feel will be most profitable. This can be anything from developing PvE and PvP content to developing items for the Blizzard store. The purpose of the former is to keep people subscribed to WoW and maybe even bring old people back/new people in. The latter is designed to bring in additional revenue to be able to develop more content.

The most important thing to realize is that Blizzard will NEVER make Tier Sets or any current content gear available for cash; they are not stupid enough to do that and you can mark my words that it'll never happen.

The Blizzard store is not a slippery slope, it is a smart business move to bring in more money for the company. The more resources Blizzard has, the more content they can develop and the better off we are as players.

Oh, so it's okay for mounts,pets,transmogrif, but when TIER sets are involved it suddenly is out of the question? I don't really give a **** about Tier sets. I want to be able to earn those mounts,pets and items for transformation in the game rather than to pay 20 euro for them. You get my drift? I was going to quit WoW sooner or later, but this put the final nail on the coffin for me.

[shanthi]

and thus bleed more from the consumer.

I'm on the side of people here who are saying blizzard already charges to buy the game, and then charges us for the monthly sub.. and now throwing in an item shop like other mmos today, yes, they are bleeding as much money from the consumer as they can.

This doesn't change the game, it just changes how the people will see the developers of this game in they are not sartified enough to get money for subs and the game itself selling, they want to bleed as much from the players as they can.

Is it unethical when a cable company charges you extra for a premium channel like HBO on top of the charge for your subscription to their normal cable package?

I think you're misusing the word "unethical." There's nothing unethical here...a business is offering more products with a cost. Each consumer has the option to buy it or not buy it, just like every other transaction in the marketplace. Just because other MMOs don't have a subscription and a cash shop doesn't mean that there's some rule about it dividing ethical from unethical.

[Jtbrig7390]

Like I said before its a bad form of double dipping and that is why I personally don't like it.

What i find funny is the same people defending blizzard doing this also bash F2p MMO's for doing the same thing at lease with a f2p mmo I can still play the game.

Like rift for example.

[Deleted]

Oh, I see, so to do a comparison with the "you pay for a service" thing, I'll make one with Diablo 3, tell me if I'm doing it right.

"So when people payed for Diablo 3, they payed to get the game, not to play it. But Blizzard, in the kindness of their heart, did not ask for more money to fix the error 37 bug, they left them play the game... for free. They are truly... saints!"

Ok, did I do it right?

Now, back to seriousness. If you have 2 companies, company A and company B, and company A gives you something, charges you more every month, then charges you even more to give you stuff you can't get otherwise, and company B just charges you for extra stuff, but doesn't ask you for money every month, it is in my right to call company A GREEDY! If that's too hard to understand, then tell me why don't you buy that amazing tasting [insert product here] that's 100 times more expensive then the other similarly tasting product? Because money isn't infinite so you choose the best option and if you have 2 or more similar products but one product's company rips you off, you call them greedy.

This isn't a "oh, it's a company and companies make money" bullshit. Yes, companies make money... but they can also make it in ways that doesn't bother their fans as much.

[Trassk]

What you lot don't seem to understand is how this has been a very gradual slip down the slope.

they started with the charged for everything cosmetic, from character services, to pets, to mounts, and soon armor to transmog.

All this has slowly been a gradual step by step to them eventually making some bad excuse why they are selling items you should be able to get in a raid or rep grinds, to buy it instead from there story..

And your just going to buy into it and not question it at all.

I've not seen a single decent argument from those backing that into it being a reasonable mandate for the developers to do, outside of saying 'they can do whatever they want its there game'. this isn't giving respect to your customer, its marketing more shit to buy.

[Kagdar]

WoW is a private club. You pay a monthly sub to get acces to the club, you pay the box like you pay the fee for filling the papers. Then you pay the Blizz store like you buy a drink while in the club.

[Deleted]

Is it unethical when a cable company charges you extra for a premium channel like HBO on top of the charge for your subscription to their normal cable package?

I think you're misusing the word "unethical." There's nothing unethical here...a business is offering more products with a cost. Each consumer has the option to buy it or not buy it, just like every other transaction in the marketplace. Just because other MMOs don't have a subscription and a cash shop doesn't mean that there's some rule about it dividing ethical from unethical.

If my cable company would own HBO and it would charge me more for it, it would be. But as it stands, they do not, so they have to pay HBO back. Same as Blizzard owns WoW and everything in it. Now, if for example... I don't know, another gaming company owned the pets and mounts and Blizzard would sell them, I'd understand them charging me, since they'd have to pay back to said other company. However... as far as I know Blizzard owns everything in WoW. Does your cable company own HBO?

But my cable company has some amazing tv stations of their own, which are theirs truly and are really good. And guess what, they threw them for free in their packages.

[Trassk]

Like I said before its a bad form of double dipping and that is why I personally don't like it.

What i find funny is the same people defending blizzard doing this also bash F2p MMO's for doing the same thing at lease with a f2p mmo I can still play the game.

Like rift for example.

EXACTLY, Thank God there are people who get this.

This is double dipping into our wallets.

I have no problem with MMOs that are F2P doing this item shop and micro transaction thing.. but a game that HAS A SUB and you still need to Buy the game for... thats beyond disgusting.

[Deleted]

WoW is a private club. You pay a monthly sub to get acces to the club, you pay the box like you pay the fee for filling the papers. Then you pay the Blizz store like you buy a drink while in the club.

Again, does your exclusive club own their own drinks? As in, do they make them themselves from ... I don't know, depends on drink, let's say from grapes to wine as in to fully own the drinks? No, they buy them, so they have to pay those money back to the other companies they buy them from. Blizzard does not. Blizzard owns the mounts, pets and whatever. They build them from grapes to wine so to say, from first polygon to finished product. So charging extra besides the monthly fee is nothing more but GREED.

[Trassk]

I understand why they don't expect to gain back subs now.

and this is whats most baffling about this. A move like this, could literally push more subs away from the game then keep them, because it makes the developers look like greedy corporate sellouts, which isn't in any way doing them a favor.

It almost makes to wonder if they are doing this, because there more focused on trying to make money from there game rather then actually make the content good.

[Brewski]

They are slowly transitioning to free to play, anyone who knows anything about business can see this. WoW will not have a monthly fee forever, eventually it WILL go free to play. Having the blizzard store and all this stuff makes it easier for them to implement it.

[shanthi]

If my cable company would own HBO and it would charge me more for it, it would be. But as it stands, they do not, so they have to pay HBO back. Same as Blizzard owns WoW and everything in it. Now, if for example... I don't know, another gaming company owned the pets and mounts and Blizzard would sell them, I'd understand them charging me, since they'd have to pay back to said other company. However... as far as I know Blizzard owns everything in WoW. Does your cable company own HBO?

That isn't relevant. Whether they own it or not, there's still money they're losing. If they don't own the premium channel, the money is what they have to provide to the company who owns it. If they do own it, the money is what they have to spend developing and running the premium channel. Either way, it costs them significant money to have the premium channel to offer you, so they charge you for it, above and beyond the subscription fee.

Similarly, artists cost money to employ. They're employing artist-hours to create some premium cosmetic items and they're charging you for it, because it's presumably extra artist time above and beyond what they'd consider normal subscriber content. You can disagree, of course, with whether it should be subscriber content or whether it's above and beyond, but there's nothing unethical about it.

[zito]

So they added new things to the pet store, a store that already existed.

SHOCKER that they add new things to a store they had for years.

[Feel The Power]

and this is whats most baffling about this. A move like this, could literally push more subs away from the game then keep them, because it makes the developers look like greedy corporate sellouts, which isn't in any way doing them a favor.

It almost makes to wonder if they are doing this, because there more focused on trying to make money from there game rather then actually make the content good.

Yet, I bet if the store sold nudey pics of Thrall autographed by Metzen, you'd buy 7.

[Myzou]

I've already cancelled my account.

Pretty simple really. Once they see how many people are leaving over this, I severely doubt those things will stick around.