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

[zito]

Wrong! You are currently paying for whatever you are currently getting, whatever that may be. When any said thing changes for better or worse, you then may be paying for whatever that may be. You VOTE with your payment. Your monthly fee exists ONLY IF you keep paying it. People 100% should say whatever they want about something that they may have already paid 6 months in the future for!

This is as DUMB as saying.. "You eat in order to live; nothing more, nothing less." As if the kinds of foods will not have any effect on your future, or your end.

Wrong. You already payed for the game from the box which includes access to whatever that box contained. Vanilla if you only bought the orginal WoW. The $15 is to pay for a game you already bought.

They say it funds more content for you but then there are periods of time with zero content at all. From wrath to cata and cata to MoP both went almost a year without content and when they released the "new content" you had to buy it again even though you were already funding it.

[Deleted]

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.

I agree with you for the most part, but it's a little bit of a gamble by Blizzard. Putting too many items in the Blizzard store in a short time will probably scare off long time fans because they fear the game because too focused on microtransactions. This would cost Blizzard some profit by losing some subscribers.

So yeah, it can become a slippery slope. But as it is now it's still fine. Maybe if they make enough money on the Blizzard store they will eventually let WoW go free to play, especially since they are losing subscribers pretty fast and it's a continuing trend. Anyway, if that is the case we should all be thankful of the Blizzard store for paving the way for WoW to become free to play. I think the only real fear is that eventually Blizzard puts in more than just cosmetic stuff in the Blizzard store, but I don't think they're that stupid.

[Etrigan]

To the people saying "You're just mad because you're poor!" or whatever, I'm just gonna leave this here:

This is next level. Really funny.

People aren't complaining because they can't afford it. It's the principle of not bending over to an obvious money-grab. Instead of working to earn back those subscribers, Blizzard (or Activision/Sholders) are choosing to sacrifice the integrity of the game.

There was even a quote/screenshot from them a while back saying why WoW will never have an item shop.

Just because they're a business and out to make $, doesn't mean we as players should support blatant money grabs.

Besides, when did we lose all hope that the devs just want to make great games for us to play? Suddenly it's the norm for a gaming company to be all about money.

I for one want to believe that there are still are people out there who would be more than happy with an average salary and are in the business simply because they are passionate about gaming.

[Yriel]

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.

How about statless transmog gear of all the T-Sets. You like the look of the rogue heroic T-15 set ? Well buy a transmog version of it for 25 dollar. Without any stats of course, strictly cosmetic.
Would that still be ok ?

[mvaliz]

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.

Whilst I'd probably agree with this - I must also stress there are other ways that Blizzard MIGHT also consider instead of a direct-sale. For example, simply setting up an RMAH where players can put duplicate Tier Set tokens up onto a future RMAH, regardless of being soulbound or not.

I mean, look at the lion cub and subsequent pets that you could sell on the AH. Blizz said themselves it's a "safe alternative" to purchasing gold without flooding the market with useless gold. Sure, they don't sell you gold DIRECTLY... but then they have this "alternative".

If there's one thing I can say about Blizz, is that they really know how to lean over on the "bad/greedy" side of the fence without completely falling off! ^_^

[Deleted]

They need to change the prices. The current price for a single item is obscene, a collegue of mine who does stuff like this, can draw and animate those 3 helmets in a matter of hours, the price is absolutely atrocious.

[Phookah]

Whenever I see "itemshop is sooo bad guise" threads, I just think about how mad these people must be. RAWR
"locked content guise I no can has ugly helm for free QQ blizzard is the antichrist and when 500,000 people buy a helm there are going to go P2W guise OMG"

[Pann]

Cata had the most content of any expansion to date. You just don't realize it because you're probably ignoring the several dozen zone revamps they did, a lot of which were basically complete rebuilds. Cata had the least max level content, that much is true.

I can assure you that having completed the Loremaster achievement both pre and post Cataclysm that 90% of the quests were exactly the same.

[GoldNSilence]

Just watching the drama unfold almost makes this worth it. I don't support the prices at all, but seeing people kicked from LFR for wearing one of these things is just too funny.

[Deleted]

Whenever I see "itemshop is sooo bad guise" threads, I just think about how mad these people must be. RAWR
"locked content guise I no can has ugly helm for free QQ blizzard is the antichrist and when 500,000 people buy a helm there are going to go P2W guise OMG"

I think that people are mostly pissed because is a model that could be used as a reward for an interesting piece of content, or to add interest to some difficult achivement. Instead, they ask for 12€ (which absolutely no one paying for wow would have any trouble paying if they so wished), and kill all interest and mysticism for them.

It's a horse beat to death, but yes, things are far more enjoyable when they require something to achieve. You enjoy the voyage to get them, you enjoy showing them off after achieving them. The very basic pillar of MMORPGs. Asking money for them instead makes them void. But Blizzard can do whatever they want with the content they create of course, but hey, they should be wary of these things. They do suck the life of the game, one step of a time.

[Huehuecoyotl]

Go burn WoW mice, keyboards and T shirts too because Blizzard makes MONEY by selling them too. just like my new fluff helmet, which absolutely has NO added value other than ...for me.

making WoW mice does not take resources away from developing WoW content that subscribers have access to. neither do keyboards or t-shirts. cash shop items will, and Blizzard have already said that they have limited resources to develop new content. this is Blizzard saying "from now on you will be getting less for your subscription, because part of our development team will be focussed on the cash shop". and you can add to that "oh, and it will be our best developers working on the cash shop items, because everything in there generates additional income for us". but of course they would never admit to that last part.

keep ignoring things that disagree with your view of how wonderful Blizzard are. you are nothing if not consistent.

[reemi]

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

In 2013, there's no reason to pay to log in. Most online games are free to play, even Diablo 3. Servers are cheaper than in 2004, internet and computers are faster. People are still playing WoW because of the content, and we have content because we pay.

I pay for content, and if some content is not available with my 15$ each month, I'm not happy.

It's never good to have unhappy customers.

[Deleted]

IMO go crazy with blizz store, keep the subs but reduce them by half-ish. If you're an active veteran player you're probably in 4 figures zone already.. makes you think :P

[Celista]

Just watching the drama unfold almost makes this worth it. I don't support the prices at all, but seeing people kicked from LFR for wearing one of these things is just too funny.

Funny but still, not really cool.

Honestly I think this blowup about itemshop stuff is just as much about the decline in art design for in game items versus the stuff you can buy in the store. T16 looks like crap for many classes....and with the exception of a few pieces here and there, there hasn't seen solid weapon/gear art since BC.

I guarantee you that the qq on this issue would have been reduced significantly if T16 had artwork of similar quality as the store helms, and the purchasable helms were the quality of the tier gear.

[Deadite]

keep ignoring things that disagree with your view of how wonderful Blizzard are. you are nothing if not consistent.

They could be $50 a month to rent per Helm and BenBros would be here saying what a great deal it is and how great Blizzard are.

What i find staggering about this thread is how many people are arguing for the right to give Blizzard more money. The more people that buy them means that more and more shit will go into this store. That means less and less people to work on content for everyone. I know the apologists will shout 'They have some other team doing this stuff!!' Yeah that is the irony. They use your sub money to pay for guys to design shit to sell back to you. Win/Win for Blizzard. Now the people who don't want a cash shop in the game are paying for it as well. They are paying for the degradation of the game. Pretty grim imho.

So all you saying it does not effect people who don't buy them can get a grip. They are now paying a sub to get less content. Their sub fees are being use to pay guys who should be making content for everyone.

[BenBos]

making WoW mice does not take resources away from developing WoW content that subscribers have access to. neither do keyboards or t-shirts. cash shop items will, and Blizzard have already said that they have limited resources to develop new content. this is Blizzard saying "from now on you will be getting less for your subscription, because part of our development team will be focussed on the cash shop". and you can add to that "oh, and it will be our best developers working on the cash shop items, because everything in there generates additional income for us". but of course they would never admit to that last part.

keep ignoring things that disagree with your view of how wonderful Blizzard are. you are nothing if not consistent.

I am pretty sure the old Tabards, Mounts and Pets... in the CCG and few dozen IN GAME items sold in the last 6 years used some resources too.

But you had no problem with it because they were made by Cryptozoic and even sold on ebay at ridiculous prices, but NOW that Blizzard introduces a few of these fluff things in their cash shop they are .. evil...

... So to YOU it is a problem that Blizzard gets the money instead of Cryptozoic or just another 3rd party (in which you never saw anything negative early on).

Which proves you are a simple Blizzard hater while not even playing their games ... (Fans couldn't care less about merchandised stuff, on the contrary).

BTW: designing, producing and distributing merchanised stuff takes resources too from a company. Blizzard is bigger than a bunch of digital encoders.

So making T shirts, mice, mats, in game items sold by 3rd parties has been happening since the start of WOW. You simply are terrified Blizzard is now being paid by selling them on their website (instead of someone else getting rich by selling Spectral Tigers at 500 dollars each).

[Lastlivingsoul]

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.

This is the most sensible post I've read all day.

No one cried up a storm over the Celestial Steed, or the Bloodbat why should random transmog helms really matter. I blame the wannabe elitist who actually think people ONLY logon to Wow to admire their precious Hardmode gear.

Real Solution: If Blizzard announced that the proceeds toward purchasing the helms would go to the "<insert any natural disaster> Relief Fund" no one would have cared.

[Celista]

No one cried up a storm over the Celestial Steed

A TON of people complained about the Celestial Steed. I wasn't one of them, but people certainly did complain.

[BenBos]

A TON of people complained about the Celestial Steed. I wasn't one of them, but people certainly did complain.

So did they complain about my Tabard of Flame (gear ! in 2007 !) or my "I owe you flag" or my pets bought from 3rd parties ?

Nope, they just complain because Blizzard now adds a direct to pay option instead of someone OTHER selling Spectral Tigers for 500 dollars on ebay ...

The logic of this: these guys hate Blizzard and they have no problem with others gaining money from WOW for the SAME kind of fluff items.

That's a double standard, that's a non argument.

In fact ... devote WOW players would be very pleased that Blizzard gains MORE money by selling this same stuff directly instead of seeing 3rd parties go sell these fluff items on ebay.

It sure is that those 3rd parties will NOT use "resources" to create WOW content...while a direct shop surely brings in resources...

[Jessicka]

A TON of people complained about the Celestial Steed. I wasn't one of them, but people certainly did complain.

They did, but follow up mounts, pets etc didn't raise so much as a murmur.