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

[Sturmbringe]

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

------------------------------------------------->What we see here is the adoption by Blizzard of the successful business models of Private WoW Servers.

The following items are also sold in Private WoW servers:

Mod-note: I will take a note right here for you, there is no real line of any sort between Live (Actual) servers, and private servers. - Gehco

a. Raid Tier Armor
b. Raid Weapons
c. PvP armor
d. PvP weapons
e. Cosmetic Armor Sets (past tiers and popular xmogs)

It is only a matter of time before we see the above items also sold at the WoW shop IMO.

Blizzard fanbois will still tell you that the above does not constitute P2W: Strictly speaking, you do not need to buy any of the above items to win the game or progress your character. You are free to follow the normal progress path to acquire any and all of the above, therefore, even if Blizzard sold all of the above just like successful private servers do, their game would technically still NOT be P2W.

Now, I do think that Blizzard is losing tons of money by not making available for sale Raid Tier Sets/Weapons and PvP tier sets and weapons. There are hundreds of thousands of rabid WoW fanbois who would gladly pay any amount of money to get their 10 toons per server (across multiple servers) boosted and fully decked in the best PvE and PvP and Cosmetic armor possible.

We are speaking here about millions of $ of lost revenue.

Ofc, the above decisions would be unpopular with some forumies, but still the rabid fanbois would buy regardless.

Since Blizzard is a for-profit company and all that, it is only a matter of time before someone who's greedy from within Blizzard convinces the others to put the above in motion, and the older the game gets, the more in-game items will be put for sale.

Infracted

[leaks]

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

Post constructively

[toomes211]

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.

[Seditian]

I really doubt they'll start selling gear. The thing I'm afraid of is that they will add tattoos, but only via the cash shop. Because that'd be the first thing in the shop that I genuinely want.

Edit: And other character cosmetic stuff, other hairstyles, other skin colors etc..

[Deleted]

Now, I do think that Blizzard is losing tons of money by not making available for sale Raid Tier Sets/Weapons and PvP tier sets and weapons. There are hundreds of thousands of rabid WoW fanbois who would gladly pay any amount of money to get their 10 toons per server (across multiple servers) boosted and fully decked in the best PvE and PvP and Cosmetic armor possible.

We are speaking here about millions of $ of lost revenue.

Probably more like Billions. Devs who add this will get raise and climb on the corporate ladder for sure.

[Pann]

My feeling is that instead of the usual mid expansion lowering of experience needed to level a 90 to 100 boost will be released, of course the reason behind this will be because we asked for it.

[Graeham]

It's difficult to say for sure. The game has gone from the stance of considering micro-transactions to be a 'betrayal' of players to offering paid character related services to adding exclusive pets and mounts to the ability to instantly boost a character to level ninety. In other words some of the stuff that people said would never happen has in fact happened. I predict that they'll probably try and add as much as they can and that there isn't much limit to what could be done in that regard.

[Nekovivie]

Wouldn't be against adding things that have no gameplay impact. Old tiersets for example. Some people would though, but you can't please everyone.

Current gear would be too damaging.

[Evil Inside]

You missed the part about how they still get millions from subs alone..

[roflwaffle]

Tmog gear i could see. But of course that's nothing close to p2w

[Dispraise]

Things I could see them adding to the shop in the future: expensive boozes, cigars, condos, gold watches, escort services, donor organs, personal slaves, stamps, mail order brides, dentures, tandem bikes, corrective lenses, timeshares, scuba gear, prophylactics, second place trophies, sports cars, and toupees.

[Glurp]

If you honestly think Blizzard would put direct power buys into their store you have some sort of mental deficiency. Why would they do something which would cause an outrage from the majority of the player base in a game that requires a monthly subscription?

[Pann]

Wouldn't be against adding things that have no gameplay impact. Old tiersets for example. Some people would though, but you can't please everyone.

Current gear would be too damaging.

Why would current gear be too damaging and not older gear? Raiding has always been a niche activity and I would imagine that there are more transmog runs each week than there are heroic SOO. Why would removing the reason to participate in the more popular activity be too damaging?

[Sturmbringe]

It's difficult to say for sure. The game has gone from the stance of considering micro-transactions to be a 'betrayal' of players to offering paid character related services to adding exclusive pets and mounts to the ability to instantly boost a character to level ninety. In other words some of the stuff that people said would never happen has in fact happened. I predict that they'll probably try and add as much as they can and that there isn't much limit to what could be done in that regard.

Good point.

Level Boosts were first sold by certain popular Private WoW Servers, and Blizzard were quick to see the potential and adopted it. The rest of the items sold by Private WoW Servers is just about to follow in WoW, IMO.

It's all about the money. Blizzard are greedy about $$, there's a huge amount of money to be had by adding more micro-transactions, the business model has already been tested by successful Private Servers. It is only a matter of time before we see this.

[Pann]

If you honestly think Blizzard would put direct power buys into their store you have some sort of mental deficiency. Why would they do something which would cause an outrage from the majority of the player base in a game that requires a monthly subscription?

Yeah I know! And anyone that thinks they would allow players to transfer more than once month or transfer to a PVP server from PVE one is crazy as well! Or that they would ever sell anything you can sell in game for gold! Nutters the lot of them!

[Deleted]

because the moment current tier gear is for sale on the shop I'm out of this game forever.

People have been saying this forever that "if blizzard add <some feature/item/service> then I am leaving for sure". I am willing to bet that it would be very small minority that would actually leave and majority wouldn't care or would be happy to buy that piece of gear that RNG never seem to drop for them. In the end Blizzard would make a lot more money than what they are now. Currently people can already buy 3rd party boosting services, so its definitely something players want/ask and are willing to spend a lot of money into. 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.

[MerinPally]

IMO.
.

Right there we have it. Self admitted opinion and speculation rather than evidence. This thread may as well end where you typed that word. Have a nice day.

[Deleted]

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.

Everything added to the store is there to help your char and in no way affect end game events. 8 years of doing this and not a single item you can buy on the wow site will affect or cause an imbalance to end game level of play.


If for what ever stupid reason they did start selling gear it would follow the current wow model and be of raid finder or lower ilevel.

The timeless isle was the perfect catch up feature in game to help you jump right into current end game plays with your friends.

[Deleted]

Nothing more than comparing apples and oranges.

Perhaps if you looked at the reasons for the 90 boosts (End of expansion, another 10 levels coming, SoO has been out for a while, levelling content is very redundant and repetitive) you'd come out with less nonsense in your posts. Now let's see if there are any good reasons for them selling gear...

...

Oh yeah, none - because that would severely hurt the game perhaps?

[MerinPally]

It's all about the money. Blizzard are greedy about $$, there's a huge amount of money to be had by adding more micro-transactions, the business model has already been tested by successful Private Servers. It is only a matter of time before we see this.

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.