Introducing the Pet Store

[SparkofImagination]

dang over 800 posts, cannot be bothered to read all of them , but ill say that iam not surprised one bit, just take a look at my signature and that should explain everything. Whatever, been playing Torchlight lately, time to get back to it.

[Angevinus]

Does anyone know if gifting a pet tells the recepient your name?

I want to give one to my GM for his birthday but don't really want my WoW friends to know all my details. :P

[Vk]

Are you concerned about how other people might give in to Blizzard's tactics and give in to their evil ways? How about you just don't buy the motherfucking pet and let's end it at that.

No let's not end it at that. The morons protecting this whole pet shop idea pretty much sums up what is wrong with modern western society. There is nothing wrong with capitalism in itself, nor is there with communism or many other -isms for that matter (they're mainly ideals). But the thing that makes capitalism suck are people with more money than sense, and even tho 90% of the "wealth" is only in hands of 10% of the population (yes even in our own modern society and not even remotely thinking about 3rd world countries) 90% of the population also falls under the category of "more money than sense".

If you wanna spread your wallet as wide as your asscheeks for every new fancy 0 value gadget they throw your way, that is your choice. But don't even try to put a rational reasoning behind your whoreness.

Blizzard crossed a line by introducing this pet shop idea. A line for which I honestly believe they all deserve to have their faces bludgeoned. I'd almost be inclined to say that people that bought the pets also deserve the same treatment, but that isn't correct. Cause in itself I can perfectly fine imagine scenarios of people buying these pets cause it gives them little pleasures. I'm not one to take away little pleasures from others and yes, whining sucks, we all know the world sucks, we don't wanna hear about it constantly, we'd rather, and I don't blame you, shut ourselves in in our own little world and let it all pass by.

But when it really puts the cherry on the cake is when few airheads dare to have mustered enough bravery, or well it's probably just ignorance at best, to come and protect the whole concept of the never ending perpetuum shit mobile that is commercialism. Yeah, herp derp, we know that companies try to make money, cpt. obvious. What we didn't know was that you're such a big tard you've just accepted it as a fact of life without any sidenotes in your mind anywhere, that the whole thing might be a bit tacky and actually have a limit where it becomes ethically unacceptable for people at different degrees.

For quite a few people, Blizzard has crossed this line with the pet shop idea.


And yeah I might be insulting "some people" with this reply. But fuck me, they deserved it. Problem is that often the people I try to reprimand verbally, don't have the mental capacity to understand what I'm trying to say either way, cause the low mental capacity is what makes me frustrated at them in the first place. Oh well, so is life.

[Angevinus]

I think you are looking too hard at utility and not enough at consumer happiness.

If having a little pet makes someone happy, 10 dollars is not an outrageous price.

I like having nice things.

I like my car, I like my clothes, my wallet. I could keep my cash in a rubberband, wear burlap and ride a bike. These things make me happy, and allows me to use my money in a way that makes my quality of life better.

Granted, a WoW pet adds significantly less value to my life than my car or clothing, but that just underlines to me how silly it is for people to be raising such a face because Blizzard - a BUSINESS (you know, the things people create to make money) , dared come up with an idea to generate....money.

And communism is stupid. Its a stupid, unrealistic idea. And history proves it.

[Falcio]

I actually just cancelled my wow account because of this.

To all you people with more money than sense, you should have just given the money you paid straight up to a charity instead of slapping yourselves on the back about this.

I fucking hate American culture at times.

You were simply looking for an excuse.

Canceling an account because of an optional, vanity system that has been around in a small dose since the TCG came around...is just bogus.

[tamaroth]

perpetuum shit mobile

Why hello there Mr. Lahey, wanna some liquor today Mr. Lahey? Also Randy has some nice cheeseburgers.

[LordKain]

Blah blah.....bitch bitch....moan moan.
[img]Insert dumb pic[img]

Oh you so smart. You sure gave us a verbal beat down....really...... :

Come Lil' K.T. & Pandaren.....let the crazy man continue his rant. I for one can't wait for them to add EVEN MORE PETS!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

[Deleted]

It's pointless to defend the.. mentally handicapped or whats the politically correct term for them is, if they couldn't spend 10$ at Blizzards pet store, they would waste the money anyway for plastic stick, a piece of paper, toenail in a jar or worse.

The pet store idea is low and wrong, yes. Simply because they're selling items that you don't actually own and have no value whatsoever. You do not even own your WoW character. Blizzard does. So, even leaving out that it's really stupid, you're essentially paying 10$ for nothing. If you quit paying your subscription or get banned, you lose the access to the pet aswell.

It has nothing to do with businesses making money. A food store can sell you bread but it will become wrong when they start selling rotten bread and label it as the cool, unedible bread instead of throwing it away. It's the same thing here.

[Ceridith]

I think you are looking too hard at utility and not enough at consumer happiness.

If having a little pet makes someone happy, 10 dollars is not an outrageous price.

There are two things that anger me about this new pet store:

1) microtransactions/RMTs are terrible and ruin MMOs by turning the game into who can waste the most real cash on the game. Sure they're vanity items now, but there's already race transfers, and I'm sure class transfers or buying maxed level chars or gear/gold isn't far behind.

2) $10 for something that probably took one graphics developer a few hours of time to make, that costs Blizzard ~$0.00 to reproduce for every player in the game -- Why else do they keep throwing other vanity pets no-one asked for at us for free in-game?

The fact that Blizzard is charging $10 for something literally worth next to nothing, is insulting to me as a consumer, even if I have no intent on even buying such a ridiculous thing for an even more absurd cost.

I like having nice things.

I like my car, I like my clothes, my wallet. I could keep my cash in a rubberband, wear burlap and ride a bike. These things make me happy, and allows me to use my money in a way that makes my quality of life better.

If pointless, useless pixels that don't even have any impact on your gameplay make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, good for you. If you bought one of these pets though, then you just pissed away $10 on something that is quite literally worthless.

A few pointless pixels do not make your quality of life any better. If you think otherwise, go to Ethiopia and give out codes for these pets, and see how "happy" the people there will be from your gift.

Granted, a WoW pet adds significantly less value to my life than my car or clothing, but that just underlines to me how silly it is for people to be raising such a face because Blizzard - a BUSINESS (you know, the things people create to make money) , dared come up with an idea to generate....money.

Thanks captain obvious, I thought that Blizzard was a not-for-profit charity run by pixies intent on spreading joy across the land.

Being a business isn't justification for coming up with a sleazy scheme to charge people 1000's of times more than something is actually worth.

And communism is stupid. Its a stupid, unrealistic idea. And history proves it.

In 100 years from now people might be saying the same thing about capitalism if it collapses in on itself. The economic systems dreamed up by man so far all have their flaws, the main one being the human variable of greed. The systems aren't inherently wrong, it's how we as humans apply them that are generally wrong.

[iSay]

FUCK YOU WHALE!

[roflpot]

Just an FYI

I cancelled my account because of this.

I'll probably resub for one month between now and Cata just to see what ICC is like.

But genuinely I have cancelled my account with the Pet Store as the primary reason.

I hope I'm not the only person to do this, I just wonder, will the money they make from retards buying vanity pets make up for the loss of subscriptions from people like me? I hope it doesn't.

[phoenix02]

If you wanna spread your wallet as wide as your asscheeks for every new fancy 0 value gadget they throw your way, that is your choice. But don't even try to put a rational reasoning behind your whoreness.

Blizzard crossed a line by introducing this pet shop idea. A line for which I honestly believe they all deserve to have their faces bludgeoned. I'd almost be inclined to say that people that bought the pets also deserve the same treatment, but that isn't correct. Cause in itself I can perfectly fine imagine scenarios of people buying these pets cause it gives them little pleasures. I'm not one to take away little pleasures from others and yes, whining sucks, we all know the world sucks, we don't wanna hear about it constantly, we'd rather, and I don't blame you, shut ourselves in in our own little world and let it all pass by.

But when it really puts the cherry on the cake is when few airheads dare to have mustered enough bravery, or well it's probably just ignorance at best, to come and protect the whole concept of the never ending perpetuum shit mobile that is commercialism. Yeah, herp derp, we know that companies try to make money, cpt. obvious. What we didn't know was that you're such a big tard you've just accepted it as a fact of life without any sidenotes in your mind anywhere, that the whole thing might be a bit tacky and actually have a limit where it becomes ethically unacceptable for people at different degrees.

Look kiddo, if it's tacky don't buy it. Again, STOP BEING SO FUCKING CONCERNED about how OTHER PEOPLE spend their money. Worry about yourself, kk?

I didn't personally buy the pet and I likely never will because it does not hold that much value to me. That does not mean that I should go out and prevent OTHER PEOPLE from buying such a pet because I personally will not. You know why? Because that's really none of my fucking business. If it's "unacceptable for people at different degrees" then they 100% do not have to buy it. (And yes, if you want to end your account because of this, that's perfectly fine too.)

I think you mistaken the word "value" for "cost". It may cost Blizzard ZERO dollars to produce such a product (for argument's sake, let's say it's true), but it still has VALUE to some as long as people are willing to spend money to get a virtual pet. The entire game, as you said, is virtual. Yes you can play it, but at the end of the day you are paying money for nothing tangible. Just because YOU personally don't gain pleasure from having a minipet (and nor do I, personally), does not mean other people won't either.

Video games are the same way if you think about it. It costs money to develop, but once it's done, it's basically free to produce (save a couple of cents for a CD/DVD and packaging). And you're getting something that's virtual... on a disk. Should video game companies only charge to break even, then release the game as freeware as to not drive the "evil" Western commercialism machine?

The pet is the same way, on a much smaller scale. Again, if it's not worth the $10 to you, don't buy it. Stop worrying if the next guy will buy it or not. If you think it's a shitty idea, guess what? All you have to do is not do a thing. And if everyone thought it was a shitty idea, all they have to do is not do a thing. Blizzard's pet shop will be a failure, and they will go back to the drawing board. The system is working as intended. All you have to do is buy or not buy.

[Karr]

60 pages? I hope there is room for one more in this "civil discussion" whose sum writing energy could have been directed to a more noble pursuit such as Make-A-Wish foundation awareness. Yes, I am being sardonic.

Anyways, my thoughts.... and they will ruffle your feathers.

Pink Floyd's Money comes to mind after reading this.

"Money, it's a gas
Grab that cash with both hands
And make a stash"

Can't blame Blizzard, they're a company after all interested in profits, and I respect that. The question is how they go about their business, which every consumer should take note of. For example, just look at all their tertiary revenue streams: Race Change, Name Change, Gender Change, Faction Change, Server Change, Exclusive Pets, etc.

But, purchasing exclusive vanity pets from an official store for 66% of a monthly subscription?
It is nice that one is for charity (until Dec.), I wonder if that will be the normal approach for all future store pets. ???

Basically, don't rot your teeth in Blizzard's eCandy store

If it looks profitable with their initial offerings, they'll start to add more. The long tail comes to mind if they decide to add a large volume of digital vanity items. We know that the tertiary revenue streams have not gone down in price and have only been added upon because of the sheer profitability surrounding the community's needs. Naturally people want the best server, the best race, and the best experience. And hey, Blizzard is on your shoulder agreeing with your rationality, and they'll be glad to help you out, for a small fee of course. Fundamentally, the fees are in place for customer disincentive, not to cover the "IT expertise" to carryout the actual changes.

Personally bad initial design - both game design and hardware architecture has created the need for these services. Why not balance the racial abilities? Why not add these exclusive vanity pets as "gold sinks" for our in game economy inflation? Why not eliminate ghost servers? Why offer artificial funneling systems to servers for new players when they want to be on the popular servers/with friends? Why not have better "road signs" for new players trying to pick a new server and make the "right, long-term choice"?

So by intended or accidental design, Blizzard is profiteering on 'essential services' depending on your level of natural skeptcism. The "political" comment made by Blizzard was: "Bring the player, not the class" - yet we've seen in just our guild alone (imagine the entire WOW gamespace) that old habits like min/maxing still exist by virtue of design (lots of Orc race changes for PVE purposes, some are cosmetic). The comical irony is Blizzard is of course min/maxing their business model based on the inherent flaws mentioned in the system to begin with!

What is alarmingly worrisome is people are flocking to these services out of convenience or perceived necessity when in fact Blizzard should get things right the first time. Perhaps, cover these 'essential services' as a long cool down period (disincentive to manipulate) bundled with their subscription fee or in a loyalty program based on your history of subscription. As it stands Blizzard is farming the cash cows grazing in the field, and we're content eating the green grass and life couldn't be simpler. Exercise some level of consumer control and restraint.

If you feel a moral calling to charity, do it directly. Take your donation and contribute on their Make-A-Wish Foundation website. Some are using the charity as a scapegoat for their rationality in making this inane purchase.

Who agrees? Who has a different perspective? I'm all for a good discussion.

[superstargoddess]

Just an FYI

I cancelled my account because of this.

I'll probably resub for one month between now and Cata just to see what ICC is like.

But genuinely I have cancelled my account with the Pet Store as the primary reason.

I hope I'm not the only person to do this, I just wonder, will the money they make from retards buying vanity pets make up for the loss of subscriptions from people like me? I hope it doesn't.

K, bai! They'll probably go bankrupt from you and the 30 other people who quit because of this since they can't get your $15 a month anymore.

[phoenix02]

1) microtransactions/RMTs are terrible and ruin MMOs by turning the game into who can waste the most real cash on the game. Sure they're vanity items now, but there's already race transfers, and I'm sure class transfers or buying maxed level chars or gear/gold isn't far behind.

They haven't yet. They might, and that might suck, but they haven't yet.

2) $10 for something that probably took one graphics developer a few hours of time to make, that costs Blizzard ~$0.00 to reproduce for every player in the game -- Why else do they keep throwing other vanity pets no-one asked for at us for free in-game?

The fact that Blizzard is charging $10 for something literally worth next to nothing, is insulting to me as a consumer, even if I have no intent on even buying such a ridiculous thing for an even more absurd cost.

If pointless, useless pixels that don't even have any impact on your gameplay make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, good for you. If you bought one of these pets though, then you just pissed away $10 on something that is quite literally worthless.

A few pointless pixels do not make your quality of life any better. If you think otherwise, go to Ethiopia and give out codes for these pets, and see how "happy" the people there will be from your gift.

It's worth nothing to you, obviously, and you don't intend on buying it. Working as intended. But then you claim that it is worthless to everyone. This you cannot accurately say, because you don't know everyone. Does it make some people happy to obtain a vanity pet? Yes. Will this pleasure be worth $10 to someone? Most likely. Can this person spare $10 after weighing opportunity costs? If yes, they will buy the pet. Again, absolutely working as intended. How do you know that these pixels don't increase the quality of gaming, albeit little, for someone? It's insulting and downright arrogant that you imply that something has no worth because it is not tangible in conventional means. Do you have loving parents? Perhaps a girlfriend? Their friendship or love for you is obviously worthless, then.

Thanks captain obvious, I thought that Blizzard was a not-for-profit charity run by pixies intent on spreading joy across the land.

Being a business isn't justification for coming up with a sleazy scheme to charge people 1000's of times more than something is actually worth.

In 100 years from now people might be saying the same thing about capitalism if it collapses in on itself. The economic systems dreamed up by man so far all have their flaws, the main one being the human variable of greed. The systems aren't inherently wrong, it's how we as humans apply them that are generally wrong.

Capitalism is driven by greed, completely. If Blizzard's scheme is sleazy, as you say, you have the chance to tell that to them buy not buying their pet. Companies respond to profits. If everyone thought this is sleazy, then they would simply not buy the pet. Blizzard would then see that their tactic sucks and think of something else. Again, companies respond to $$$$$$. So, buy or not buy. But the system is working as intended.

[roflpot]

K, bai! They'll probably go bankrupt from you and the 30 other people who quit because of this since they can't get your $15 a month anymore.

It's called principles my friend.

As I said about 50 pages back, I give 15% of my paycheck each month to charity automatically. Money isn't my concern.

It's selling in game items for money, which has finally happened, which means it's time for me to quit.

[Ceridith]

Look kiddo, if it's tacky don't buy it. Again, STOP BEING SO FUCKING CONCERNED about how OTHER PEOPLE spend their money. Worry about yourself, kk?

I didn't personally buy the pet and I likely never will because it does not hold that much value to me. That does not mean that I should go out and prevent OTHER PEOPLE from buying such a pet because I personally will not. You know why? Because that's really none of my fucking business. If it's "unacceptable for people at different degrees" then they 100% do not have to buy it. (And yes, if you want to end your account because of this, that's perfectly fine too.)

I think you mistaken the word "value" for "cost". It may cost Blizzard ZERO dollars to produce such a product (for argument's sake, let's say it's true), but it still has VALUE to some as long as people are willing to spend money to get a virtual pet. The entire game, as you said, is virtual. Yes you can play it, but at the end of the day you are paying money for nothing tangible. Just because YOU personally don't gain pleasure from having a minipet (and nor do I, personally), does not mean other people won't either.

Video games are the same way if you think about it. It costs money to develop, but once it's done, it's basically free to produce (save a couple of cents for a CD/DVD and packaging). And you're getting something that's virtual... on a disk. Should video game companies only charge to break even, then release the game as freeware as to not drive the "evil" Western commercialism machine?

The pet is the same way, on a much smaller scale. Again, if it's not worth the $10 to you, don't buy it. Stop worrying if the next guy will buy it or not. If you think it's a shitty idea, guess what? All you have to do is not do a thing. And if everyone thought it was a shitty idea, all they have to do is not do a thing. Blizzard's pet shop will be a failure, and they will go back to the drawing board. The system is working as intended. All you have to do is buy or not buy.

If someone wants to be a consumer whore and blow $10 a pop on these pets, they can go ahead. It's their hard earned cash for something worth a minuscule fraction of what they're paying, but hey, a fool is easily parted with his money.

What I am concerned about is the impact these things have on not only the game, but every single game Blizzard develops in the future. When Blizzard realizes they can A) give out vanity pets for free and have everyone happy, or B) charge $10 a pop to a handful of people who apparently have too much money and too little sense, why would Blizzard keep providing the playerbase with "free" (paid for by our boxed game sale and monthly subscription) content?

So where does it stop?

What's stopping a company like Blizzard from starting to intentionally exclude portions of what would otherwise be part of the core game, and starting to charge for them as DLCs or RMTs? The answer is nothing, short of a competent and aware consumer, which in reality, is very rare these days.

The pet store isn't really what's angering me, because it's a symptom of a much bigger problem. It's the whole road Blizzard has been headed down since they merged with Activision. The road where games suffer at the hands of corporate greed. Where companies charge significantly more than something is worth, or sell you a half-complete product at full price, then make you pay more than twice what you paid for the remaining pieces.

As a side-note, It astounds me that even after all of these underhanded schemes these corporate scum come up with to gouge customers, that they have the audacity to complain about piracy. If they would charge a more realistic price for their products, a lot more people would be willing to pay for them, rather than "steal".

[phoenix02]

What I am concerned about is the impact these things have on not only the game, but every single game Blizzard develops in the future. When Blizzard realizes they can A) give out vanity pets for free and have everyone happy, or B) charge $10 a pop to a handful of people who apparently have too much money and too little sense, why would Blizzard keep providing the playerbase with "free" (paid for by our boxed game sale and monthly subscription) content?

So where does it stop?

Assuming Blizzard is a profit-maximizing company, It stops roughly around the point when their profits go down because it's simply not worth (in the dollar sense) pissing off the player-base to appease those with "too much money". In other words, if they can provide "free" content and make up for lack of "paid" content by means of more subscription fees, then they would do that instead.

And if you're talking about blocking content from players who don't pay a fee, what do you call the Burning Crusade or the Wrath of the Lich King? Sure they take money to develop, but wouldn't you agree that they made massive profits off of those games? Are they now a greedy corporation because they are making a lot of money by investing in the developing of good game that allowed them to realize huge returns on investment? I don't know how much Blizzard made on the two expansions, but I'm sure the profits massively outweigh the cost, as well.

So expansion packs: okay. Pets: no. You may ask, where do you draw the line?

The answer: there is no line. Vote with your money, because that's what companies respond to.

[phoenix02]

As a side-note, It astounds me that even after all of these underhanded schemes these corporate scum come up with to gouge customers, that they have the audacity to complain about piracy. If they would charge a more realistic price for their products, a lot more people would be willing to pay for them, rather than "steal".

What's a "realistic price"? $5? $1? $free?

Everyone has different prices they'd pay for this pet. I'm sure if Blizzard charged $500 for an exclusive pet, SOMEBODY with too much money will go out will buy it. But Blizz probably wouldn't make too much money on it, since they would only be able to sell a couple of these. On the other hand, if they sold them for $0.50, they would sell a lot but not make as much on each transaction.

So price times quantity sold (revenue) is really what you're looking at when deciding a price. Blizzard thinks at $10 a pop they will be able to maximize profit. Obviously you are not willing to pay $10 for it, but they're betting a lot of people will.

Bottom line is, there is no "reasonable price" because that is completely subjective. You can charge one penny and someone out there will think it's unreasonable. Is $10 for a pet worth it? Then buy. Else, don't buy. It's really obvious, but that's all there is too it, really. Nobody is having money "stolen" from them.

[Príckenöveri]

Sorry, but if you aint buying it then you HAVE to insult those that do.

ITS LAW!

What??? :Ox15
Hmm, vanity pet buyers are ehm ... fat? and thy look like ehm .. nuns?... with baloons on theyre heads ? ....

Yes! I did it! 8)