Raids should be value-added DLC.

[Seefer]

If they care.

Did those WoW devs that staged PROTESTS in EQ leave EQ because a Paladin tank out tanked Furor?

No.

They stayed until they were hired by Blizzard, though! lol

No one who cares leaves a game. ^-^

I have played for 9 1/2 years, if it's not fun for me I would quit........doesn't mean I don't care, it merely means I am not having fun and I will spend my money elsewhere, I mean after a while doesn't paying just to bitch and complain sound silly?

- - - Updated - - -

Well people did quit. 3 million and more counting. But every time that's brought you immediately dismiss it as nothing wrong with the game merely expansions tourists or some bs. It's really a dumb circle. People are unhappy they quit they let you know why they quit you deny the reasons they quit.

We are at MoP numbers, when the game launched it gained 3 million subs, 3 million left and we are now back at MoP numbers..........do you see this as a coincidence? I mean I forgot I am talking to the person who bitched ENDLESSLY about MoP, so I mean who knows with you, other than you are just another doomsayer who has nothing better to do than bitch about something he still pays for or if you DID actually quit (which I doubt) are bitching just to bitch.

[Kourvith]

you understand this would include your LFRtard raids as well? so you'd be paying 15$ a month to play garrison-ville.

That's the entire point. Blizzard couldn't hold on players interest only with garrison ville. So it would force them to put much more efforts in non-DLC content, hence get rid of fluffy non-raid features, turn them into something worth playing. And become real again.

[Jessicka]

That's the entire point. Blizzard couldn't hold on players interest only with garrison ville. So it would force them to put much more efforts in non-DLC content, hence get rid of fluffy non-raid features, turn them into something worth playing. And become real again.

I love how you're making the assumption that those 'not raiding' are 'world players', a lot, probably even most, are PvPers who have less interest in the world than Raiders. The breakdown of PvP content usage isn't dissimilar to the PvE split with a minority doing rated Arena, more doing RBGs, and half the playerbase using random battlegrounds.

The implication that half the playerbase aren't using instanced content (Raids and Battlegrounds) and are out in the world doing 'world stuff' instead, and that that's where the investment would go, is pretty wide of the mark on every level. Of course there's an overlap of players seeing both aspects of PvE and PvP, but those doing neither are a small minority.

[Ebalina]

If raids are DLC they need to be above everything else.
They need to provide best gear possible all the time at every time.

A none DLC player shouldn't even come close to a DLC raider not even 50% close to it.
In a game where you already pay subscription a DLC will mean a pay to win big time.
DLC is a bad design for every game.

I'm not sure if the op even understands the way DLC works... DLC doesn't work for online MMO sub games.

[Pharreldruid]

If raids are DLC they need to be above everything else.
They need to provide best gear possible all the time at every time.

A none DLC player shouldn't even come close to a DLC raider not even 50% close to it.
In a game where you already pay subscription a DLC will mean a pay to win big time.
DLC is a bad design for every game.

I'm not sure if the op even understands the way DLC works... DLC doesn't work for online MMO sub games.

OP and Gloriois Leader just like to make outrageous claims about how raiding is ruining wow and that it's unfair people who do harder content then them have better rewards. Don't feed the trolls.

[tehdef]

The fact that so many raiders are so incredibly happy with raiding in today's WoW has led me to the conclusion that by not charging more for access to raids, Blizzard is wasting money. But not just that: In fact Blizzard isn't only sacrificing the happiness of not just the 80-90% of players who have no real interest in raiding, but shortchanging the already deliriously happy raiders as well.

Let me toss out some simple what-if math. At the moment there are something like 1 million people who are engaged enough in raiding that they could be considered at least occasional raiders. (I'm not counting people who just do LFR or world bosses or whatever.) Let's suppose that the actual market for value-added DLC is much smaller. Suppose it's just 250,000 people. The other 750k will just leave the game or go back to 5-mans or run the previous tier like they did up till patch 4.3, or whatever. Not important.

How about, Blizzard offers a new tier every 4 months for $40. After the tier "expires," it is made available to everyone else in the game, just like existing old raids.

250,000 * $40 = $10M. Suppose that ATVI keeps 50% off the top. That leaves $1M/month to spend on additional raid content development. (Remember, this is an added charge -- the servers, customer service, insulting tweets, bimonthly dev water coolers, et cetera, are all paid for by your box cost and monthly subscription fee.)

Artists and IT support staff are relatively cheap; coders and management suits are relatively expensive. Let's supposed that the fully burdened cost of an average raid content developer is $15k/month. That would be a $5k/month burden on top of an average of $120k/yr, which if in error is in error considerably in favor of employees. How many people can you keep busy designing raid content with that $1M/month if you spend it all?

5-1/2 dozen people is how many. WOW! That's a shitload of skilled full time raid design bodies! It's a freakin' army! (Well, actually, it's more like a couple of platoons, but still.)

Problem solved. Now, just make it so.

Blizzard needs to turn raids into DLC. Blizzard makes more money. Raiders get more great raids. People who aren't raiders might have something to do in-game thanks to not having to delete every other bit of content in order that "we can afford a raid tier." Everybody wins!

And this is why you don't run a business that brings in 4.41 billion dollars collectively.