Is blizzard becoming like capcom?

[Deleted]

Realm transfers should be f****ing free atleast, give the player the ability to transfer 1 character for free atleast each month or two. Asking a lot of money for this is just legally stealing, other MMORPG's have free transfers aswell.

Let's say you have an icecream shop, and people are willing to pay 15 euro to put their icecream from a cup into an waffle. Why would you not accept it?

[lazypeon100]

its not nonsense when you've been playing the game for years and seen it happening.

As someone who played for over 8 years (from launch to just a few months after mists came out) I respectfully disagree with this statement. Yes there are more ways for blizzard to collect money. None of those features are necessary though. Either they are for convenience (race changes, realm transfers, etc) or they are for vanity (such as pets). None of these features provide ANY kind of advantage over another player.

At the end of the day, blizzard's job is to make a great game. And in my opinion they do make a great game. Sub losses could be from various reasons, maybe it's because people see blizz as greedy, maybe people don't like the direction of the game/story, or maybe some people got tired of playing it however long they were playing it (it's why I stopped). There's numerous reasons, and I highly doubt that blizz is trying to grab at more money because sub numbers are down from what they were. They makes millions of dollars every year from subs alone. Heck, they could maintain a huge income from probably only a few million players.

Blizzard needs to make money, that is their main goal (as well as making a good game). These services you talked about are just that. Services. Services SHOULD be paid for. They aren't mandatory.

As someone who lurks the forums, I'll kindly suggest that I think you should try taking a break from the game. You seem like you're really invested in it, but almost every post I read from you is either bashing the story direction, or blizzard itself. Maybe the game isn't for you anymore? Anyway, as I said I respectfully disagree. I don't think blizzard has become greedy. At least, no more greedy than what they already were (they are a company after all). Calling a company greedy is like calling the sky blue >.>.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

What a well written out and compelling argument. Thanks for enlightening a generation.

You have already had many well written and compelling arguments used against you. I'm trying to help you by asking you to stop.. sometimes people need that you know...

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This is the thing I cannot understand, I can see why people would not have an issue with the prices but to defend them and go so far as to actually attack and insult people who do have an issue with them makes no sense to me.

If the people that have issue with the prices of added services, expansions, etc are successful in causing Blizzard to review and reduce the prices surely the people that feel that the services, etc are value for money are now getting even better value?

Value is subjective. And saying "No man, those options are OPTIONAL, don't use them if you don't want to pay!" isn't attacking someone. I know you have a victims mentality Pann, but get serious.

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Realm transfers should be f****ing free atleast, give the player the ability to transfer 1 character for free atleast each month or two. Asking a lot of money for this is just legally stealing, other MMORPG's have free transfers aswell.

Thats in no way stealing.

[Mirishka]

there probably even charge us for character model updates when there finished, calling it now, this is what they will do.

I was interested in the conversation until you spat out the stupidity that is the sentence I quoted. They aren't charging anyone for updated race models and you'd have to be inept on so many levels to think that they would.

So you go ahead and 'call it now' - and when we start getting them for free, I'll be sure to send you a PM laughing in your face.

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They makes millions of dollars every year from subs alone. Heck, they could maintain a huge income from probably only a few million players.

WoW is profitable for Blizzard at/around 1 million subs. So yeah, you're right. At 7.7m they're pretty much drowning in cash. Which, incidentally, would be a hell of a wonderful problem to have wouldn't it?

"Help! Help! I fell into all this money and I'm drowning in it!"

[thoruga]

Now before you rant and rave about this, let me just break this down. You might argue that 'blizzards a company and needs to make money'. Yes, I agree with you, like any other gaming company. But, just like capcom has been doing now, it seems blizzard have been slowly, ever to inch by inch, finding ways to bleed more money from there consumer as much as they can.

What do blizzard charge for from world of warcraft right now? Well

- Cost of the physical/downloaded game
- Cost of every single expansion
- Cost of subscription fees
- Cost of every kind of additional service like race/appearance/realm transfer
- Cost of mini pets and mounts
- Cost of transmogrifiable armor.

Now, lets take for example other mmos. Games like Allods online, Tera online, Lord of the rings, Conan. These games are free to download and have no sub fees. They do have a system of buying items from an ingame shop, but compared to blizzard and what they do, thats nothing.
Even games you buy like guild wars 2 are buy ones, no sub fees.

What gets me more, is how this has happened over years, and these additional pay for features have been creeping in slowly. you again might argue 'well don't use them if you don't want them', but just like in the video about capcom charging money for cheat codes, a features they already implemented in there games, all so they can bleed more from the consumer, its exactly the same thing.

There came a point then blizzard lost that connection with its playerbase, stopped being the awesome company that made fantasy worlds, and became driven by greed, yes, they've become greedy, no point defending this you know its the dam truth. This is where a split has happened between the developers and the consumer, there they stopped looking at them as loyal fans, and started looking at them as wallets with money in them.

I do wonder what they intend to bleed the players for next? new raids (download raids for $5 each)?, instant max level? there probably even charge us for character model updates when there finished, calling it now, this is what they will do.

I say blame capitalism. As long as there are people who're willing to pay for stuff, Blizzard or any other company for that matter will sell stuff. You're giving examples like Tera, Guild Wars, etc. Do you think those games wouldn't sell stuff more expensive if they had WoW's subscription numbers. Or look at games like Swtor, Lotro, Age of Conan all started out with subscribtion based games, only later turned to free 2 play model. Do you think those companies made their games available for free out of kindness of their heart?
You don't like to hear it but it all comes down to don't pay for it if it feels so much. As long as companies are happy with their profits they sell stuff, when they're not they'll find more ways to bleed customers.

[Mooshelle]

I fully agree. It's gotten to the point where unless the next expansion to be revealed is something insanely awesome I'm probably gonna pull the plug. Shit's getting too expensive when all I really do anymore is raid on the weekends.

Too expensive? I pay less than 50 cents a day to play this game....that's some cheep entertainment

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I love how people defend the ridiculous prices. What to change factions? 30 dollars!!!!

Don't change factions....How hard is that?

[Anjerith]

There is nothing REALLY wrong with Capcom that simply throwing out the upper-echelons wouldn't solve. They have the talent and that talent has the dedication to their franchises. Sadly, Capcom Uppers have developed this insane formula where their games must sell an INSANE number of copies in order to be seen as successful.

This translates to them publicly claiming X game in Y Series didn't meet expectations, even if it outsold the previous title in the series. Resident Evil games are a prime example of this. They reach an increasingly larger audience per game, but they continue to fall short on the money the big guys want to see. The SF series largely worked off of arcade funds 15 years ago, Capcom wants to see that revenue with the current franchise - they EXPECT a continual flow and it can only work like that with DLC - something they semi-pioneered, which worked against them.

This is also mostly what happened to the Megaman franchise - they want 8 million units sold per title in a series? Megaman has *never* accomplished anywhere near that in a single game. It never will. So they dropped it.

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Blizzard .... I am not even sure how a parallel can be drawn between the two when they have more or less three franchises that they put a ton of time and energy into, regardless of the vocal minority opinion that floats around on the internet. A few microtransactions for vanity items in WoW, out of the millions of items your characters can find for free (minus time) do not a Capcom make.

Likewise, the RMAH in D3 was put in to try to provide a continual flow of capital to support that game. It didn't work out, so it is being removed. If it was Capcom, they would charge players a removal fee.

[Holtzmann]

Realm transfers should be f****ing free atleast, give the player the ability to transfer 1 character for free atleast each month or two. Asking a lot of money for this is just legally stealing, other MMORPG's have free transfers aswell.

Yes, because the people complaining that their servers are empty are going to be thrilled when a popular guild moves to a different server and drags 50% of the server population with them. That's going to work out wonderfully. :P

Realm transfers have a cost partly so people won't do it en masse in response to petty things or even just rumors. I'm sure if someone started spreading a rumor that a realm's datacenter was under threat of being shut down for a while (for whatever reason), a lot of people would move out to Illidan or some other high-pop server. Letting people move freely only results in two things: empty servers at the source and queues on the other end. So, no: that's not a good idea at all.

[Pann]

Value is subjective. And saying "No man, those options are OPTIONAL, don't use them if you don't want to pay!" isn't attacking someone. I know you have a victims mentality Pann, but get serious.

Which why I said that I understand people not having an issue with the price. I am not talking about people saying the services are optional there has been some incredibly rude posts in this thread including homophobic comments (which have thankfully been removed), comparing those that are complaining to the victims of sexual abuse and just the general level of rudeness that is unfortunately the norm from many posters as soon as someone says something that is not praising their favourite company. You really need to grow up.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Which why I said that I understand people not having an issue with the price. I am not talking about people saying the services are optional there has been some incredibly rude posts in this thread including homophobic comments (which have thankfully been removed), comparing those that are complaining to the victims of sexual abuse and just the general level of rudeness that is unfortunately the norm from many posters as soon as someone says something that is not praising their favourite company. You really need to grow up.

I need to grow up? I haven't said anything abusive. To the contrary, the OP started out with hostile actions. I haven't seen any homophobic comments personally. I've just seen people disagree (rightfully) with Trassk and explain why.

Disagreeing with you isn't attacking you, nor is it an insult.

[Pann]

Yes, because the people complaining that their servers are empty are going to be thrilled when a popular guild moves to a different server and drags 50% of the server population with them. That's going to work out wonderfully. :P

Now if only the other players could take advantage of the suggested free server transfer that the popular guild had just used to move servers?!

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I need to grow up? I haven't said anything abusive. To the contrary, the OP started out with hostile actions. I haven't seen any homophobic comments personally. I've just seen people disagree (rightfully) with Trassk and explain why.

Disagreeing with you isn't attacking you, nor is it an insult.

Yes. What was you comment about a victim complex if it was not meant to be insulting? As I said the homophobic comment was removed (credit to the mods), in just the first few posts you, yourself, have called Trassk "paranoid" then are a few comments about him only complaining because Thrall is not Warchief as well as the obligatory "spoiled" comment. I know you struggle with the concept of politeness but none of these comments were needed in order to disagree with him or explain why, they are there to attack the poster rather than his argument.

[BellularGamingFanboy]

All of the things you bring up, pay for transfer, name change, etc, have always been in the game (or if not in it, were not available at all). so they've never given it free only to charge later.

[Cybran]

The removal of the RMAH in Diablo shows that they have learned a painful lesson and are trying to fix their biggest mistake. All of the problems in Diablo came from the RMAH. The Online only requirements were there to prevent cheating and that caused lag and login errors. The drop rates were monitored and throttled to sustain RMAH prices. The game was short and focuses on grinding items instead of having hard and interesting bosses and mechanics. The list goes on.

What the "Loot 2.0" system shows is that Blizzard realized that the 5% cut from RMAH isn't worth it in the long run. Releasing a subpar and unplayable piece of garbage is the quickest way to kill a franchise. They figured out that very few people are even considering buying the expansion pack (i know that i won't), if it doesn't have offline mode and better loot system.

This 180 degree turn in Diablo gives some me some hope about the future of Blizzard products. If they stop trying to milk their players and instead focus on expanding their player bases the company will have future. But the future doesn't look good for Blizzard. Starcraft 2 popularity is going down even in Korea where League of Legends is becoming the new top E-sport to watch. Diablo left such a bitter taste that few people will buy the next expansion. Warcraft is getting far too old and it's loosing hundreds of thousands subscribers every quarter. Blizzard's sources of revenue are dwindling and they will have to decide between investing in new and better games that will make people gladly return or continue down the path of milking their shrinking player base until there is no one left and they shut down like many other studios before them.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Now if only the other players could take advantage of the suggested free server transfer that the popular guild had just used to move servers?!

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Yes. What was you comment about a victim complex if it was not meant to be insulting? As I said the homophobic comment was removed (credit to the mods), in just the first few posts you, yourself, have called Trassk "paranoid" then are a few comments about him only complaining because Thrall is not Warchief as well as the obligatory "spoiled" comment. I know you struggle with the concept of politeness but none of these comments were needed in order to disagree with him or explain why, they are there to attack the poster rather than his argument.

Calling someone paranoid in their posting isn't the same as calling someone a homophobic slur. And yes, I find that you think everyone is attacking you and such. It wasn't meant to be insulting, it was meant as a means to help you understand that maybe, just maybe you aren't seeing things that clearly.

If someone makes a public post on a forum asking what others think, mentioning I find his post and ideas as paranoid, and not clear thinking isn't wrong or bad. Calling someone a homophobic slur IS VERY WRONG, as I don;t even see how you could come to the opinion of Trassk being a homosexual, and why it would matter in this post.

You just seem to think anything and everything that doesn't include "YOU ARE AWESOME!!!" is somehow a horrible insult, a form of bullying, and abuse. Thats simply not true.

[Marema]

Oh look another exciting thread about how blizzard is sticking it to players! The few million of us that still play must all be suckers!

That 15 bucks a month sure is gonna break me. Damn you blizzard!

I'm off to the bar to buy my 5.00 a pint beer. BBL.

[Tomana]

Now, lets take for example other mmos. Games like Allods online, Tera online, Lord of the rings, Conan. These games are free to download and have no sub fees. They do have a system of buying items from an ingame shop, but compared to blizzard and what they do, thats nothing.

Allods online have one of the worst P2W systems ever implemented.
Tera started as a sub game initially but collapsed like a sack of... err... decomposing organic matter, even in Korea.

If you want WOW to become like that, thanks but I'll pass.

[Pann]

Calling someone paranoid in their posting isn't the same as calling someone a homophobic slur. And yes, I find that you think everyone is attacking you and such. It wasn't meant to be insulting, it was meant as a means to help you understand that maybe, just maybe you aren't seeing things that clearly.

If someone makes a public post on a forum asking what others think, mentioning I find his post and ideas as paranoid, and not clear thinking isn't wrong or bad. Calling someone a homophobic slur IS VERY WRONG, as I don;t even see how you could come to the opinion of Trassk being a homosexual, and why it would matter in this post.

You just seem to think anything and everything that doesn't include "YOU ARE AWESOME!!!" is somehow a horrible insult, a form of bullying, and abuse. Thats simply not true.

I did not say it was.

Brilliant, you deny being insulting with being condescending.

The definition of being paranoid is being delusion or irrational and quite clearly has nothing to do with the subject of the thread. I do not understand what you are trying to say, there was a homophobic comment that was removed I do not see how you have come to the conclusion that this has anything to do with my opinion of Trassk's sexuality.

Really I do not and I have been through this with you more times than I care to remember and I have no desire to explain it to you again.

[whirlingcloud]

here is my opinion.

I would almost rather buy a game for 60 dollars than play wow. When I buy a game at Game Stop, I know what i'm getting. The game I enjoy now, I will enjoy in the future. Wow is different though. Over the years, the developers have slowly stolen away almost every thing that made the game I paid and continue to pay for fun and enjoyable. Considering I don't want an item squish, and with this being forced on everyone, regardless of consumer opinion, I feel that this is the final straw. I would rather buy another troy ounce of silver every month than continue to allow the developers dictate how I play the game I pay for. That's just not what I find acceptable.

As is my right as a consumer, I will not continue to pay fees to play a game that in my opinion has been destroyed beyond repair.

[Deficineiron]

There is a limit. I can guarantee we'd speak very vocally with our wallets if Blizzard charged for raids

the boiled frog analogy applies. consider - its february 2007

sor is introduced, with a free instant-60 in great gear on a realm you may never have played on before. also free xfer

please note that as late a 2 years ago a person talking about instant-80-anything from blizzard would have been roundly ridiculed on this forum as a private-server player who was confused/trolling.

pet shop, with boe pets you can sell which are endorsed by blue as a good way to get some extra gold for cash vs. goldsellers
transmog gear cash shop

well they would have gotten on as a game but it would have been shocking to a lot of players. I cannot help but think it would have damaged the franchise at that time among players that would tend to become long-term subscribers.

Now, of course, its routine and just another day in the grind in Wow. So who can say how far will be too far? Give it time, and a future playerbase will gladly pay for things that this forum would mock or rant about now.

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The removal of the RMAH in Diablo shows that they have learned a painful lesson and are trying to fix their biggest mistake. All of the problems in Diablo came from the RMAH. The Online only requirements were there to prevent cheating and that caused lag and login errors. The drop rates were monitored and throttled to sustain RMAH prices. The game was short and focuses on grinding items instead of having hard and interesting bosses and mechanics. The list goes on.

What the "Loot 2.0" system shows is that Blizzard realized that the 5% cut from RMAH isn't worth it in the long run. Releasing a subpar and unplayable piece of garbage is the quickest way to kill a franchise. They figured out that very few people are even considering buying the expansion pack (i know that i won't), if it doesn't have offline mode and better loot system.

This 180 degree turn in Diablo gives some me some hope about the future of Blizzard products. If they stop trying to milk their players and instead focus on expanding their player bases the company will have future. But the future doesn't look good for Blizzard. Starcraft 2 popularity is going down even in Korea where League of Legends is becoming the new top E-sport to watch. Diablo left such a bitter taste that few people will buy the next expansion. Warcraft is getting far too old and it's loosing hundreds of thousands subscribers every quarter. Blizzard's sources of revenue are dwindling and they will have to decide between investing in new and better games that will make people gladly return or continue down the path of milking their shrinking player base until there is no one left and they shut down like many other studios before them.

well they went live in the first place with rmah which certainly says a lot about them as well. that said, I tend to think they will try to find smarter ways to implement a micro-transaction-pushed game format in future efforts. I don't know the game but everything I have read implies RMAH's potential greatly influenced some decision s on d3.

[Sierra85]

That 15 bucks a month sure is gonna break me. Damn you blizzard!

I'm off to the bar to buy my 5.00 a pint beer. BBL.

it's true that WoW is pretty cheap when you compare how most people spend their cash on weekends / friday night out at a pub etc. Staying in one friday night & watching a movie, not drinking etc would save you enough money to sub for wow for 1 month easily.

The real question is, is playing the game worth your time in its current state.