Maybe it's "our" fault the Blizzard Store exist ...

[Deleted]

Just look at this thread. This is why blizzard can do whatever they want, apple fanboys are nothing compared to blizz ones.

[Choptimus]

You don't have to QQ if you don't like it. Unsub. I did. WoW is ded gam anyway.

[Mirishka]

But compared to other forms of similar entertainment (read: other games), no, not at all. You can buy a full-priced game with a ton of replayability for a max of 60 bucks, and you can play that completely without ever having to pay more. You can get a free-to-play game with a cashshop for completely free and still enjoy the hell out of it.

WoW simply is one of the most expensive games to play unless you're buying into something silly expensive like train simulator with it's thousands of expansions that all cost the price of a full game.

Um... wow. Ever heard of DLC? It says hai.

The Call of Duty series DLC costs more in total than buying every game in the series.

Mass Effect 2/3 both had DLC that came to more than the cost of their respective games.

Oblivion/Skyrim? lolhorsearmor and $20 for a 3 hour addon.

Even wrestling games charge extra for wrestlers, sometimes ones that are ALREADY on the physical disc.

So yeah.

Oh and games like TOR, Wizard 101 that claim to be 'free to play' do NOT allow you the full breadth of the game without paying. You are misinformed if you believe otherwise.

[Destinas]

Just look at this thread. This is why blizzard can do whatever they want, apple fanboys are nothing compared to blizz ones.

Liking something, and being a fanboy/girl, are two separate things.

[SodiumChloride]

The thread title seems to want to pretend that cash shops have never existed in MMO's least of all the cash shop for WoW that's been around for years. The Blizzard store exists because it's been shown that cash shops and game stores are good profit centers over a range of genres, game design studios and titles. People enjoy buying stuff. Why anyone on the planet thinks that this or the fact that Blizzard is a for-profit company that's interested in making a profit is some new insight that no one has ever had before is a complete mystery to me.

It's not pretending to anything.

Just that WoW started as a more or less "level playing field" game. I didn't mind the occasional sales of in-game items on special occasions. But it seem to have become routine.

"Blizzard is a for-profit company" ... So that's justifies unrestrained greed? When the hell did everyone become Gordon Gekko? When did Greed go from being one of the 7 deadly sins to a virtue?

[Pull My Finger]

Welcome to Capitalism I suppose. Ideals, integrity, "having a vision", screw all that. The "God" that is money is all that matters. In the words of the Lich King, "In the end, you will all serve me.".

Maybe you should grow up, earn your first paycheck and smell some reality first. And yeah, welcome to capitalism, where you're able to enjoy the concept of entertainment and play MMOs.

[Belize]

I think one of the biggest problem here is that a lot of people don't understand what Pay to Win means.

Being able to level faster isn't pay to win. It's a convenience. It's like saying being able to get heirlooms in game makes your character win all the time.

Buying gear is pay to win. The blizzard store doesn't sell gear. And until it does, no one has anything to complain about. Please don't start complaining in advance.

[shanthi]

"Blizzard is a for-profit company" ... So that's justifies unrestrained greed? When the hell did everyone become Gordon Gekko? When did Greed go from being one of the 7 deadly sins to a virtue?

I think you're a little confused. "Wall Street" was excoriating deceptive practices to destroy people's lives in the name of making money.

Blizzard is offering more products for people to buy if they want to. In other words, what every company does.

[Anevers]

Blizzard is quite aware of the fears the community has regarding their store, they aren't deaf, and they aren't blind. They specifically talked about this topic at the Fan site Social Mixer they had recently, so put your pitchforks and torches away.

Blizzard can put all the mounts, pets, and anything else that makes my toon look pretty and I don’t it affects game play in the least.

[SodiumChloride]

Maybe you should grow up, earn your first paycheck and smell some reality first. And yeah, welcome to capitalism, where you're able to enjoy the concept of entertainment and play MMOs.

Oh I assure you I'm quite "grown up" and know how money works.

But I believe companies can survive and prosper without being soulless machines of unrestrained corporate greed. Lets be clear here, companies are "allowed to exist" in order to provide "good and services", not solely to "grab money" - and definitely not at the expense of society at large. Being a bunch of greedy bastards is not being a "good corporate citizen".

[AVPaul]

Now you got it? But where have you been, when I was telling this in every "New mount/pet in store!" topic? I was telling you, that by buying this mounts/pets with zero effort, needed to make them, at half addon price, you leading this game to F2P, cuz devs may start becoming lazier and lazier and insted of trying to make game better, when they're losing subscribers, they will start selling more and more things in cash-store, cuz it gives them instant effortless profits and indemnification of any loses. Wasn't I? And now it's too late for turning back.

[SodiumChloride]

I think you're a little confused. "Wall Street" was excoriating deceptive practices to destroy people's lives in the name of making money.

Blizzard is offering more products for people to buy if they want to. In other words, what every company does.

It will impact the game ... I'm kind of tired of repeating myself here, levelled playing field, blah blah blah.

They are sacrificing the quality of the game for the sake of more money. I don't know what else to call that but "greed".

[Hanto]

People are looking too far into this lol. Blizzard is trying to make more money. That is all.

That's the thing though. People feel that if Blizzard is trying to make money that Blizzard is in the wrong. People feel they make enough as it is and that they should be content with that.

Totally not how a business works, but it seems that a general lot of the complainers don't understand that.

[shanthi]

Oh I assure you I'm quite "grown up" and know how money works.

But I believe companies can survive and prosper without being soulless machines of unrestrained corporate greed. Lets be clear here, companies are "allowed to exist" in order to provide "good and services", not solely to "grab money" - and definitely not at the expense of society at large. Being a bunch of greedy bastards is not being a "good corporate citizen".

Yeah, the problem is that "soul corporate monsters" is used any time anyone disagrees with a decision by a company, so rhetoric like this just loses all power and credibility. No particularly good argument has been provided as to why this is horrific greed while every other company offering products for money is just doing standard business.

[Punisher069]

It will impact the game ... I'm kind of tired of repeating myself here, levelled playing field, blah blah blah.

They are sacrificing the quality of the game for the sake of more money. I don't know what else to call that but "greed".

Where is this decline in quality? For something that is not subjective.

[zephid]

I'm sorry but this is one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.

As long as it's legal, there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with making ANY amount of money.

This is a bit OT but just because something is legal doesn't mean that it can't be unethical.

[SodiumChloride]

Yeah, the problem is that "soul corporate monsters" is used any time anyone disagrees with a decision by a company, so rhetoric like this just loses all power and credibility. No particularly good argument has been provided as to why this is horrific greed while every other company offering products for money is just doing standard business.

Blizzard is more or less soulless now. They are literally a machine that blindly chases money. No "thought process" required. Just crunch the numbers and pick the one that is the largest.

I'm not using the term just as rhetoric.

[shanthi]

It will impact the game ... I'm kind of tired of repeating myself here, levelled playing field, blah blah blah.

They are sacrificing the quality of the game for the sake of more money. I don't know what else to call that but "greed".

Yeah, but I don't agree with you. While I didn't love the pandaren race, technically and artistically, MoP has been as or more high quality than any other expansion. The leveling zones are gorgeous, the raid zones have been spectacular, I think the Elegon mount and challenge mode phoenixes are cooler than any of the store mounts and some of the ideas Blizzard has tried for story progression (the solo scenarios, the Barrens stuff) have been quite interesting, and Proving Grounds looks pretty great to me.

So, from my perspective, quality hasn't been lacking at all (and the store has existed since the backend of Wrath).

[zephid]

Just look at this thread. This is why blizzard can do whatever they want, apple fanboys are nothing compared to blizz ones.

Same can be said about haters.

[Pull My Finger]

Oh I assure you I'm quite "grown up" and know how money works.

But I believe companies can survive and prosper without being soulless machines of unrestrained corporate greed. Lets be clear here, companies are "allowed to exist" in order to provide "good and services", not solely to "grab money" - and definitely not at the expense of society at large. Being a bunch of greedy bastards is not being a "good corporate citizen".

You sound like a 14 year old who recently got into Che Guevarra, anti-imperialism and exploitation critique. Your banter is ridiculous and you're really making a fool out of yourself. What the hell are you talking about. Reading your post, one could think you're talking about Enron, Nestle, BP, BAE, Scientology or some other company that profits off of people's misery, exploitation of labour, war, destruction of the environment and walking over corpses. Give me a break.

You're talking about Blizzard Entertaintment, who's offering you a fancy glowing helmet for your online game character in exchange for a few measly dollars. Yeah, truly the epitome of despicable greed at the "expense of society at large". Do you even listen to your own thoughts?

I can only repeat myself - grow the hell up.