The future of WoW Shop items for sale: What's on the horizon

[Yunru]

You only used "fanbois" 3 times. I think you could have done better.

Sheeps sounds better.
Oh yeah its posible they will lock the continent after money. Buy XXX *gems* for real money to unlock some instance, that only players who pay can enter.
Blizzard excuse why is there almost no 5 mans. So they can make some to sell you some for extra.

[Sturmbringe]

50$ per piece of current tier would seem reasonable, so it wouldn't be so easy to abuse and yet offer these who are unlucky with rng way to complete their set before next tier.

Good point too.

I can see several tens of thousands of "pro raiders" making heavy use of this feature for "progression".

Technically, the above still isn't P2W; you do not need to buy highest level gear to win. Pro raiders still need highest level gear they can get their hands on for "progression".

Huge potential right there, and millions of fanboi victims to skin alive :-)

[Super Kami Dende]

Dear OP,

The moment you used the word "fanbois" I completely disregarded your entire argument.

Better luck next time.

[leaks]

Sheeps sounds better.

It's definitely a better way to make yourself look stupid and get your point ignored, that's for sure.

[Perryn]

The slippery slope argument is irrational. Come back with evidence and I'll listen, because the moment current tier gear is for sale on the shop I'm out of this game forever.

This. I have a hard time seeing that will ever happen but yes, if it does I imagine a lot of people will call it a day. There are oceans difference between a level boost and selling gear that directly affects end game outcome.

[Sturmbringe]

This. I have a hard time seeing that will ever happen but yes, if it does I imagine a lot of people will call it a day.

Nobody will quit WoW if what's in the OP happens.

I have been playing since Dec 2005, and I have seen many dozens of threads with threats to quit. Some did but the overwhelming majority didn't. The vast majority of the fanbase consists of persons so addicted to this game (aka fanbois), that they will never quit it, no matter how much money they have to pay for it.

On the contrary, to feed their addiction they will gladly part with their money, even begging Blizzard in the process.

It is sad but this is how addiction works, and their addiction can be exploited further to skin them alive for profit.

[Deleted]

I also see them selling gear in the future. Not like BiS hc gear, but probably normal raid gear. I don't have evidence and I really want to be proven wrong, but I think they might start to go that path after WoD (with some stupid reasoning behind it).

[Granyala]

I seriously doubt that Blizzard will sell Endgame player power via the store anytime soon.
It might happen eventually, when the game goes F2P.

What we could see, however, could be more Transmog items.
Personally I hope they don't do more of them, but who knows.

Either way: I have enough disposable income to buy stuff i really want, so I don't care either way as long as player power remains gameplay only.

[Pann]

Just to add some facts. Blizzard are currently earning more money now then they did last year, or the year before that... They are even making more money now then when they had 10mil subs.

They earnt almost half a billion dollars less last year than the year before and over $100 million less than 2011.

- - - Updated - - -

People really need to stop saying this bolded part, every thread I see it I immediately think "that person is a complete fucking idiot" tell me now, if you ran a business and you could increase your revenue without increasing costs, therefore leading to a greater profit - would you do it? Of course you would. Please don't come back with "what about those who will leave" you are not a significant bunch, more people will join, and you're assuming lost sub fees are cumulatively higher than microtransaction profits, which if you look at data from previous store items is just not true.

Uhm, yeah, that is not happening in Blizzard's case and attempting to gain more money from a shrinking customer base is not a realistic or viable situation.

[Draconian7972]

I've been waiting for Blizzard to offer weapon transmogs in their cash shop. No luck so far. The transmog helms they offered were overpriced and not that great looking. Basically the helms just screamed "LOOK AT THIS FLAMING CIRCLE ABOVE MY HEAD. I PAID REAL MONEY FOR IT." Pass.

I'm surprised Blizzard hasn't made any moves to monetize the game world. They could make a lot of money if they sliced up portions of the game world (especially along the coasts), and sold those lots to players for $100 - $500. Players could then build a house or a farm or whatever. I think people would be willing to pay a lot to be able to own a part of the game world. There are lots of creative ways that Blizzard could monetize the game.

[Granyala]

Basically the helms just screamed "LOOK AT THIS FLAMING CIRCLE ABOVE MY HEAD. I PAID REAL MONEY FOR IT." Pass.

Aye.
Quite ugly and 12€ for ONE item is beyond absurd as far as pricing goes.
I'd rather stuff myself with 12€'s worth of unhealthy McDonalds food than pay that much for a helm.

[the9tail]

Transmog gear has already been experimented with. But your thoughts on selling Tier/PVP Gear - even as a Transmog is irrational.

PVP gear is becoming less and less important - sooner or later your stats will be defined upon entering a battleground/arena, in the interest of skill vs gear.

Tier gear is a reason why people play the game, taking that away from players would be taking away the reason to play.

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You want an honest on what additions will me added to the store?

1. Profession boosts.
It will happen as soon as they remove the profession stat bonuses from the professions - something Ghostcrawler was interested in doing.
If a profession gives no stat increase, then its free game to be sold.

2. Tabard of Fast Flight.
It will increase the speed of paid travel by griffon/wyvern/etc.

3. Access to Classic Server.
They say they dont want to make a Classic Server, but money is a big incentive.
By using the store to gate access and making a classic server have no impact to game production by just and only putting a lvl 60 cap on players with no changes to the world (no old Nax, no rebalancing, no old world).

4. Access to Hardcore Server.
Similar to Classic Server access, Hardcore server is also something solved by money.
Hardcore could have some great extreme rules like: 1 life, no resurrection, no heirlooms, no mounts, pve minions have increased stealth detection, choice of PVP or PVE server. Rewards like: Raids would be personal loot, with you getting 1 or 2 loot on every raid boss kill.

[The Flavour Cat]

It's a tough one-at best, I could see transmog sets being added, but I just want the typical aesthetic items to be on the shop. You know what I really want to see? More RL items on the Blizzard Store, like mugs/shirts/key rings/toys etc.. I'd pay for stuff like that. I really don't think adding purchasable insta-90's is good. Blizzard still make enough money with their 3 main franchises. They're adding Diablo III and RoS to consoles. The renewed interest in WoD will likely see a great resurgence in numbers, especially since a return to the setting of the early Warcraft games will entice veteran players. And they should also entertain the idea that almost 2 years and a month from now, new audiences who enjoy Warcraft might join out of interest (Even if it is a while away).

[Galbrei]

If you honestly believe "it's just a matter of time" until Blizzard start selling raid gear then you're past the point of being able to remove your tinfoil hat, it's now already part of your scalp.

[cuafpr]

the worst i'd see is previous xpac gear dropped mounts for sale.... and tbqh i'd welcome that. Ive been farming some mounts for ages and seeing people like lol i got mine in 2 kills.. yeah just let me buy the damn thing at this point.

[Amerissis]

Right now the following items are for sale:

1. Pets
2. Mounts
3. Cosmetic Items (helms and whatnot)

In the near future there will also be for sale:

3. Level Boosts

"helms and whatnot". Well, only helms, actually... Way to start hyperboling in your first 'paragraph'.

Blizzard repeatedly stated they will not sell gear (with stats). Also, the first pet was sold in 2009. That is one hell of a long slippery slope, isn't it? There still aren't any P2W items on the shop, 5 years after it started. At this rate we'll see the first green leveling items in 2025...

Oh, and cosmetic armor sets: Yes please. Not P2W and they already have helmets, so please do bring full sets! Not for 50 euro though

[Thelxi]

If the cash shop goes over smoothly, which it most likely will, the next step would be to start selling valor/honor and conquest/honor boosts. After that goes well they might start selling increased valor/conquest weekly caps.

I doubt they would ever start selling raid gear in the cash shop, but knowing Blizzard they might just come up with yet another tier of gear that is not as good as raid gear, but almost. In any case all this will take years, so little point in worrying about it now.

[Eliot123]

I don't think they will ever sell gear that would give players power in-game, that would really be pay to win. Other than that, I don't really care what they add - I'd be fine with profession boosts, old tiers, hell I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with some extra player abilities that look awesome but have no effect on the game (something that could be compared to like Glyph of Confession for priests or balance druid Astral form only a lot better obviously), they wouldn't be the first game to do so. Also, as horrible as it might sound, I'd be willing to pay up to 20 euros for permanent 200% honour/conquest/justice/valour points boost (though if such a service did exist, it would probably cost more).

[McNeil]

Dear OP,

The moment you used the word "fanbois" I completely disregarded your entire argument.

Better luck next time.

Its no different than calling someone a troll, which happens much more often on these forums. Usually you shouldn't randomly throw the word fanboi around, unless your sure that that person has done nothing but defending Blizzard.

[Infernix]

And what exactly is wrong with selling Raid Gear for cash? I don't have time to grind it out like some of you.

I'd happily part with some of my cash in order to get the gear I need so that I can log in and get into Raiding directly without wasting my time grinding out starter sets.