Whats wrong with an in-game Blizzard Store??

[Ultimakilla]

After playing WoW for 8 years. I can genuinely say i'm so glad i quit. FF14 and hopefully sometime in the future EQ:NEXT here i come!

[But I Hate You All]

I honestly don't care about the store either way. I don't plan to buy anything from it (certainly not wearable gear) and don't really care if anyone does. It's none of my business what other people do.

So Under that argument its not your business what other people do. Blizzard could start selling BIS gear, level 90's, Glad, world first etc since thats not your business

[d0e1ow]

So Under that argument its not your business what other people do. Blizzard could start selling BIS gear, level 90's, Glad, world first etc since thats not your business

Essentially, some people are saying "I don't care until I do." It's really centered around the self and doesn't examine how this scenario could impact other players (because after all, it's not their business) or the game itself over a period of time.

I really think a lot of the arguments being thrown around are similar to what was said on the Diablo 3 forums a year ago when the Real Money Auction House went live. Most people threw their hands up, vowed to never use it, but excused its presence overall. The logic was "I will never use it so it doesn't effect me. If the RMAH was not present, people would sell gold/items on 3rd party sites. Why not just have the funds go to Blizzard instead."

At the time this sounded pretty reasonable, but overall, Diablo has suffered tremendously at the hands of the RMAH. I know some of you probably do not play Diablo, but take my word for it, we (Diablo players) excused the RMAH, and now we are paying for it. Our economy is... ridiculous.

I guess that's where a lot of my fear stems from. I've watched them slowly iterate on the cash shop for years now, ever since the Celestial Steed, and after Diablo 3, I'm terrified of this shit.

Look past your own immediate issues or lack thereof and think of things on a macro level. Think of the whole game, and think of down the line... that's what we failed to do with Diablo 3 and it sucks.

[Deleted]

It makes me sick to see so many players defending this XP-elixir crap.

I will never understand you people as i will never understand people that listens to crap dubstep-remixes from great bands that i keep hearing outside all the time.

And yet it seems that the majority are always defending it. But hey its CRAP!

[Eliot123]

Raw materials being sold in such a store would have a horrible effect on in-game economy.

[But I Hate You All]

Essentially, some people are saying "I don't care until I do." It's really centered around the self and doesn't examine how this scenario could impact other players (because after all, it's not their business) or the game itself over a period of time.

I really think a lot of the arguments being thrown around are similar to what was said on the Diablo 3 forums a year ago when the Real Money Auction House went live. Most people threw their hands up, vowed to never use it, but excused its presence overall. The logic was "I will never use it so it doesn't effect me. If the RMAH was not present, people would sell gold/items on 3rd party sites. Why not just have the funds go to Blizzard instead."

At the time this sounded pretty reasonable, but overall, Diablo has suffered tremendously at the hands of the RMAH. I know some of you probably do not play Diablo, but take my word for it, we (Diablo players) excused the RMAH, and now we are paying for it. Our economy is... ridiculous.

I guess that's where a lot of my fear stems from. I've watched them slowly iterate on the cash shop for years now, ever since the Celestial Steed, and after Diablo 3, I'm terrified of this shit.

Look past your own immediate issues or lack thereof and think of things on a macro level. Think of the whole game, and think of down the line... that's what we failed to do with Diablo 3 and it sucks.

Agreed and looking on a bigger level how is this going affect other games? Wow is one of the top games out there, If they can pull off a sub based game with microtransactions why wont others follow suit

[Lizbot]

Raw materials being sold in such a store would have a horrible effect on in-game economy.

That, actually, I agree with. On the one hand, it would give people a chance to bypass the bots, but on the other... the ramifications in-game could potentially be profound.

Am I right, though, that the whole "raw materials" thing was just a fan suggestion? I'm trying to only stress over stuff we know is coming down the pipe...

[d0e1ow]

Agreed and looking on a bigger level how is this going affect other games? Wow is one of the top games out there, If they can pull off a sub based game with microtransactions why wont others follow suit

You know, to be honest, I'm not too worried about other people following suit. I think Blizzard is a very special company with a very special IP with a very special fanbase. They get away with things that no one else would mostly because for so long they have produced products of an exceptional quality. I can honestly say that with games like LoL and DotA 2 meeting such wild success recently and with the negative response to Diablo 3 I am shocked at this move though.

I don't think other companies will follow suit not because they don't want to, but because after all the WoW clones that have come and gone in the past years trying to steal Blizzard's thunder, people are finally starting to realize that Blizzard is Blizzard and that's that. Too many studios have lost millions in trying to copy them at this point.

With so many games embracing F2P micro-transaction models only Blizzard is enough of a colossus and has the resume to pull something like this off.

[Lizbot]

Essentially, some people are saying "I don't care until I do." It's really centered around the self and doesn't examine how this scenario could impact other players (because after all, it's not their business) or the game itself over a period of time.

I really think a lot of the arguments being thrown around are similar to what was said on the Diablo 3 forums a year ago when the Real Money Auction House went live. Most people threw their hands up, vowed to never use it, but excused its presence overall. The logic was "I will never use it so it doesn't effect me. If the RMAH was not present, people would sell gold/items on 3rd party sites. Why not just have the funds go to Blizzard instead."

At the time this sounded pretty reasonable, but overall, Diablo has suffered tremendously at the hands of the RMAH. I know some of you probably do not play Diablo, but take my word for it, we (Diablo players) excused the RMAH, and now we are paying for it. Our economy is... ridiculous.

I guess that's where a lot of my fear stems from. I've watched them slowly iterate on the cash shop for years now, ever since the Celestial Steed, and after Diablo 3, I'm terrified of this shit.

Look past your own immediate issues or lack thereof and think of things on a macro level. Think of the whole game, and think of down the line... that's what we failed to do with Diablo 3 and it sucks.

The problem I'm seeing with this whole, "think on a macro level" position is that there's just no way to know if the sky is falling or not. Some of the speculation in this thread -- including some of the bad stuff -- could easily come true. But then, it could just as easily not come true and the Blizzard store could remain a bastion of pets, transmog gear and the occasional random quality-of-life crap that most players could easily take or leave.

That latter scenario, I frankly don't mind. I have a smartphone. Micro-transactions and I are good friends by now and, if Blizzard dreams up something nifty for the store, I'd rather it be there than not exist at all (the likely alternative).

So, that's where I'm stuck. Do I panic? I haven't seen anything to suggest I should panic. Nothing that they've done (at least so far) has offended me. How can I condemn something that hasn't done me wrong because, theoretically, in the future, it conceivably might?

[d0e1ow]

The problem I'm seeing with this whole, "think on a macro level" position is that there's just no way to know if the sky is falling or not. Some of the speculation in this thread -- including some of the bad stuff -- could easily come true. But then, it could just as easily not come true and the Blizzard store could remain a bastion of pets, transmog gear and the occasional random quality-of-life crap that most players could easily take or leave.

That latter scenario, I frankly don't mind. I have a smartphone. Micro-transactions and I are good friends by now and, if Blizzard dreams up something nifty for the store, I'd rather it be there than not exist at all (the likely alternative).

So, that's where I'm stuck. Do I panic? I haven't seen anything to suggest I should panic. Nothing that they've done (at least so far) has offended me. How can I condemn something that hasn't done me wrong because, theoretically, in the future, it conceivably might?

No, you shouldn't panic. <3 Consider my recent experience with Diablo though, a game produced by the same company. I mean, true enough, the dev teams for Diablo and WoW are two separate groups, but I think when it comes to how the games make money, that's off the table for the devs. It's not up to them, it's up to the suits. You don't get the suits to design dungeons and you don't get the computer nerd coders to come up with money making strategies.

They thought they were in control with Diablo 3, and so did we. Now even the Diablo 3 devs express regret over the dominance of money over the game. That's where my fear is coming from. If you're a Diablo fan, your faith in this company is shaken and you're waiting on them to repair it, at least, that's how I feel.

You're absolutely right though, there isn't any need to start a riot, but like I said in my post, we were all too complacent when it came to Diablo, and now the game has suffered. I think it's good that we're all here talking. It's like group therapy and hopefully people from Blizzard read these forums.

[MoanaLisa]

So Under that argument its not your business what other people do. Blizzard could start selling BIS gear, level 90's, Glad, world first etc since thats not your business

I'm not the thought police for everyone else in the game and don't pretend that I want to be.

Even if they did sell BIS gear and I got into a group with someone that had a few pieces, am I going to ask for a receipt? Are you? Is anyone going to do purity checks before starting out on dungeon or raiding runs? I'm certainly not. I'll vote to kick them out if they can't keep up with that sort of gear. But I vote to kick out slackers in 502+ gear now in LFR and they got theirs the usual way. I'll also probably vote to kick out anyone that's holding stuff up while they do their little checks to see if the group is pure.

If someone buys a level 90, takes it through the proving grounds and certifies gold, will I be willing to be in a raid with him/her? Sure because I'm not going to ask how they got their character.

Selling a world first? Are you serious? Do you understand how ridiculous that sounds? As if I care anything about world firsts in any case. Guess what? I don't.

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Am I right, though, that the whole "raw materials" thing was just a fan suggestion? I'm trying to only stress over stuff we know is coming down the pipe...

Blizzard hasn't said anything at all about raw materials in a store. They've not really said much of anything specific about the store even being available in the US/EUR as of 5.4. The impression they've given is that it won't be. But you know...forums.

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@Sevvy88: Play D3 HC or found only. HC is where it's at and no RMAH.

[Deleted]

the pot is useless but i hope they will introduce some new mount pet or gear when they release the ingame shop, i already have all the shop can offer atm.

[Jaylock]

Nice try kiddo, speak for yourself - and try to grasp the point:

There are people out there that do play the game casually (believe it or not) to the point where they'll log on, do a dungeon and log off. And they'll never be able to play with their other friends who are max level.

That is the audience Blizzard is trying to appeal to here - however they're making people pay money to catch up, something that not only is probably the greatest ethical choice, but one that has killed lesser MMOs, and will probably only serve to speed up this one's demise.

OR providing the exp elixer as an optional thing to those who have already leveled several toons and just want a quicker leveling experience?

[Alphard]

I don't see the point in paying for a game only to open a window to pay more to have stuff handed to me. One of the biggest selling points of an mmorpg is the huge persistent world the players occupy and having adventures in said world. Back before all this cash shop/Blizz Store crap when they came up with a pet/item they put it on a boss or a rare drop off a mob somewhere in the world. It was up to you to go play the game and get it, to give you something to do in the world and as a side effect it populated zones that were usually only there for leveling.

Would you rather go out to a zone or dungeon you rarely visit to get a new pet or transmog item and maybe meet someone who needs some help and stumble on a new adventure, or do you want to sit in a city and click a few UI buttons to pay real money for an item that will give you 2 mins. of enjoyment before you look around and see the 100 other people around you with the same item?

[Arrowstormen]

They should drop the sub fee. The sub fee is a money grab, they've got no reason to keep it, they even take money for their account services for no other reason than to "stop you from doing it too often."

[Deleted]

Yeah, but you used a straw man argument to do it, which renders the whole thing useless. I mean, what do you expect people to say to that? Yes, the scenario you described would be entirely beyond the pale. Everyone would quit. World of Warcraft, as a game, would fail.

But it will never happen. It can never happen. It's too over-exaggerated and ridiculous to happen.

So what have you proven?

I get where you're coming from and I see what you're trying to say, but as an actual argument it's just... not relevant.

I never said it will happen, what I'm saying is, if ''Blizzard is just a company trying to make money'' and ''It's all cosmetic so it doesn't matter'' then it would be fine to remove all cosmetic variety and put it on the store, but as you said everyone would quit if there was no cosmetic variety so what does that mean?
It means that cosmetics do matter, so no, it isn't fine to put exclusive cosmetic items in the store that we are already paying with our subscriptions.

Some of the speculation in this thread -- including some of the bad stuff -- could easily come true. But then, it could just as easily not come true

Well, it will come true if people keep blindly defending everything Blizzard does.

[Lizbot]

I never said it will happen, what I'm saying is, if ''Blizzard is just a company trying to make money'' and ''It's all cosmetic so it doesn't matter'' then it would be fine to remove all cosmetic variety and put it on the store, but as you said everyone would quit if there was no cosmetic variety so what does that mean?
It means that cosmetics do matter, so no, it isn't fine to put exclusive cosmetic items in the store that we are already paying with our subscriptions.


Well, it will come true if people keep blindly defending everything Blizzard does.

If I'm blindly defending, are you blindly criticizing? I don't think you are. You've thought through your position and so have I. Please afford me the same courtesy.

Personally, I don't see why items that would likely never otherwise be available in game can't be available for sale. There's nothing to indicate that the three helms have adversely impacted the game in any way. Countless game-only items remain available and countless more will continue to be made. Even if they introduce more transmog items to the store, it won't be more than a trickle compared to what's in game.

So where's the crisis?

[bcbully]

Really.

Whats wrong with having an in-game virtual store? It is a more convenient option for players to buy vanity items and other cool things from blizzards collection of virtual goods. Why are players personally offended by the Blizzard store in the first place, you dont have to buy the items if you dont want to, so I dont see what the big deal is.

Its about time they added an OPTIONAL + experience item to the store.

Think of all the awesome things they could add to the in-game store:

-Experience elixer
-New unique, never before seen / conceptualized mounts
-Unique and awesome exclusive transmog sets with custom animations / effects when spells are cast
-Coins for bonus rolls (so you dont have to go out to farm them)
-Flight training (so you dont have to use gold to buy it in game)
-Herbs, Ores, Leather, Cloth (basically any raw materials so players who choose wont have to go out to farm it)
-Exclusive transmog raids (bosses drop nothing but transmog gear, new unique raids developed solely for blizzard store customers to have content to just get transmog gear)

As you can tell, nothing on that list increases character power. It would be awesome to just click a button, and have your credit card linked to your account and buy some cool stuff while in game without having to leave it.

This guy is good.

Infracted

[d0e1ow]

I'm not the thought police for everyone else in the game and don't pretend that I want to be.

Even if they did sell BIS gear and I got into a group with someone that had a few pieces, am I going to ask for a receipt? Are you? Is anyone going to do purity checks before starting out on dungeon or raiding runs? I'm certainly not. I'll vote to kick them out if they can't keep up with that sort of gear. But I vote to kick out slackers in 502+ gear now in LFR and they got theirs the usual way. I'll also probably vote to kick out anyone that's holding stuff up while they do their little checks to see if the group is pure.

If someone buys a level 90, takes it through the proving grounds and certifies gold, will I be willing to be in a raid with him/her? Sure because I'm not going to ask how they got their character.

Selling a world first? Are you serious? Do you understand how ridiculous that sounds? As if I care anything about world firsts in any case. Guess what? I don't.

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Blizzard hasn't said anything at all about raw materials in a store. They've not really said much of anything specific about the store even being available in the US/EUR as of 5.4. The impression they've given is that it won't be. But you know...forums.

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@Sevvy88: Play D3 HC or found only. HC is where it's at and no RMAH.

I do play HC only! Yeah! Glad to see a fellow HC believer!

[Lord Blackmore]

Typical Jaylock thread. And that's not a compliment.

Infracted