Are price increases in WoW sub fees justified?

[Aeula]

Fuck no. It’s bad enough they’ve increased them once already, any more and people will start playing other games.

[FelPlague]

I feel i would be fine with an extra
1-2$ a month
if they gave us bundles (all chars on one server to another for like 100$)
lowered the prices cause holy fuck they are insane... Gender changes and really name changes? name changes should be free every 3 months.
Some level fucking 5 has my name on the server i moved to, and im well fucking pissed, and if i wanna get it back i will have to wait then pay blizzard... Why cant a 110 get a name over a level fucking 5 who hasent been touched in 2 years...
also if they give us free "1 time use, faction change, server change, or apperance change" every like 6 months we have been and continue to sub.

[Eleccybubb]

Thats basically what I am saying.

I think $20 for a triple A subscription game is completely fair, given the current economic landscape we are in right now.

I agree mate. Inflation is going to raise it eventually over time anyway so it'll happen.

As I said Jay as long as it keeps pumping out content in a decent manner as it has been I wouldn't be too annoyed if it went upto £12-15 over here.

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Not sure how it hasn't gone up tbh. When I started playing this game 15 felt like quite the sum each month. Now that's one hour of work before taxes and roughly equivalent to one entree at a restaurant. I think blizzard knows that increasing that would be super bad for the community but I expect it will happen eventually.

[HuxNeva]

The sub is on it's way out. In-game monetization is where it's at. A sub rules out adoption by the <18 demographic that seems to have no problem spending a few 100 a year on in-game purchases.

[eggs]

If it went up to say £12, i'd pay it but just cut down from being constantly subbed, i'd just locust up content then quit till the next decent patch each time.

[DisposableHero]

Thats basically what I am saying.

I think $20 for a triple A subscription game is completely fair, given the current economic landscape we are in right now.

$20 for a triple A subscription game is fair if the content justifies the price. That isn't what WoW is however. WoW is monetized as follows:

- Full AAA price for the game at Launch
- Full AAA price for each of its 6, soon to be 7 expansions at their Launches
- A monthly access subscription fee
- A real money for in-game currency market
- An in game cash shop
- Character services micro-transactions to navigate their aging server infrastructure, to navigate their faction split idea from the game's launch, or to skip their abysmally unsupported leveling content

WoW is heavily over-monetized by any metric you want to pick. It is very successful in that regard. Those revenue streams mean there isn't a lot of justification for an increase in the price of the monthly sub.

[slackjawsix]

I remember years ago when I was on this forum there was a poster that made a stupid topic with whatever dumb idea popped into his head that day. And look hes still doing it.

[Biggles Worth]

Lets assume the economy continues to grow and people continue flourishing financially, and lets also assume Blizzard includes access to WoW classic as part of the main sub fee.

Do you think Blizzard could be justified to increase the price of their subscription to WoW given these assumptions?

Personally, I think Blizzard could increase the price to $20 per month, and I wouldn't bat an eye and continue to pay the sub fee. $20 might be right up there with the top I think I would want to pay, but if they included other stuff I could justify even $25 a month. Not a ton of less expensive options for entertainment, given the value I get out of WoW.

How about you?

I've been batting eyes on the sub fee for 10 years now.

[Jaylock]

I feel i would be fine with an extra
1-2$ a month
if they gave us bundles (all chars on one server to another for like 100$)
lowered the prices cause holy fuck they are insane... Gender changes and really name changes? name changes should be free every 3 months.
Some level fucking 5 has my name on the server i moved to, and im well fucking pissed, and if i wanna get it back i will have to wait then pay blizzard... Why cant a 110 get a name over a level fucking 5 who hasent been touched in 2 years...
also if they give us free "1 time use, faction change, server change, or apperance change" every like 6 months we have been and continue to sub.

I like that idea of a bundle character transfer off a realm to another. So you could transfer all 12 characters of yours to another server completely for $100 bucks. Would be high enough to disuade people from just jumping ship all the time, but low enough (bundled) to give people incentive to do it if they choose.
@FelPlague I think the reason why the prices are there for name and gender changes and race changes is because Blizzard doesn't want people to change the identity of their character willy nilly all the time. Character identity is a huge part of this game, and the fantasy of an RPG and if people were doing it all the time nothing would have consistency. I understand your side, but I can understand why Blizzards as well.

Your point about a level 5 that hasn't been touched in 2 years is valid. They should give priority to names to those who are currently playing especially if the character is under level 60 and hasn't been played in a long time.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Thats basically what I am saying.

I think $20 for a triple A subscription game is completely fair, given the current economic landscape we are in right now.

Yup. The value of money changes. If anything providing the service has only gotten more expensive because wages go up, devolopment goes up, security costs go up, server hardware prices go up. Everything goes up. So if the price of a sub goes up slightly over time than no big deal.

[FelPlague]

I like that idea of a bundle character transfer off a realm to another. So you could transfer all 12 characters of yours to another server completely for $100 bucks. Would be high enough to disuade people from just jumping ship all the time, but low enough (bundled) to give people incentive to do it if they choose.
@FelPlague I think the reason why the prices are there for name and gender changes and race changes is because Blizzard doesn't want people to change the identity of their character willy nilly all the time. Character identity is a huge part of this game, and the fantasy of an RPG and if people were doing it all the time nothing would have consistency. I understand your side, but I can understand why Blizzards as well.

Your point about a level 5 that hasn't been touched in 2 years is valid. They should give priority to names to those who are currently playing especially if the character is under level 60 and hasn't been played in a long time.

17 come BFA they are adding 5 more slots.
charecter identity was a huge part, like in vanilla, bc, and wrath, but since cross realm has fallen off.

[Jaylock]

$20 for a triple A subscription game is fair if the content justifies the price. That isn't what WoW is however. WoW is monetized as follows:

- Full AAA price for the game at Launch
- Full AAA price for each of its 6, soon to be 7 expansions at their Launches
- A monthly access subscription fee
- A real money for in-game currency market
- An in game cash shop
- Character services micro-transactions to navigate their aging server infrastructure, to navigate their faction split idea from the game's launch, or to skip their abysmally unsupported leveling content

WoW is heavily over-monetized by any metric you want to pick. It is very successful in that regard. Those revenue streams mean there isn't a lot of justification for an increase in the price of the monthly sub.

I disagree with you on Full AAA price for expansions. You can get the base expansion for $40 USD at launch. Its only if you want the digital deluxe or collectors edition that you pay the higher prices. Base price for AAA titles is usually $60 USD.

Furthermore, the sub fee is justified because it is the most polished, highest quality MMO on the market. In terms of gameplay and replay-ability there is no comparison. Also, all those micro-transactions and character services are completely *GASP* optional, and not required to play the game.

To add to that, if you are somewhat savvy in game and learn how to make gold efficiently, like many players have, the WoW token is an amazing way to pay for the subscription fee. Yes, I get that SOMEONE is paying for your subscription by buying gold from you, but hey, if other players want the gold, and you want the game time, why is that an issue? It just opens up more options for people, which is a good thing.

[TheDeeGee]

If anything, Subs should be removed by now.

Pay for Major Patches that include Raids/Zones as DLC.

[Jaylock]

17 come BFA they are adding 5 more slots.
charecter identity was a huge part, like in vanilla, bc, and wrath, but since cross realm has fallen off.

hot damn, i forgot about them adding more character slots per realm. Unfortunately, i have 50 characters on my main account, so won't really do me much good :/

[Deleted]

If people are able and willing to pay the price, than yes it is justified.

No doubt they have analysed the data and crushed the numbers at Blizzard/Activision to come up with just the right amount.

[Daedius]

Considering they haven't increased at all till recently to reflect on inflation... yes.

[THEORACLE64]

For a 13 year old game, no. Especially with blizzard using recycled art for all their models (terrain, armor, etc). Blizzard is actually spend far less to develop now than they were even 5 years ago and with subscriptions declining for 4 xpacs, I doubt a price hike would help them and it would in fact hurt them.

It's not really a 13 year old game though, is it. It's at least half of that because Cata changed anything left from the original game that is that old. The current game, with current content, is just over a year old. Classic WoW is 13 years old, and i don't expect they'd make people pay the full sub price for it. It'll either be included or have a reduced price with no access to main WoW.

[darklogrus]

For what you basically get 3/4 of the time which is a server rental it should be lowered to something like $4.99 a month or $30 for the year..

[Zenfoldor]

I would pay, but I would worry it would reduce subscriptions from some of my friends. One in particular already had a tough time selling it to his family, so I'd rather them find another way to monetize.