Content drought and monthly subscription

[Cracked]

Ethics? In private business? If its government company, funded by our taxes, I would agree, but since its private one, hell no.
Local govenment electric distribution company ended last year with 1bil € profit and they just announced 7% price increase for electricity. Thats what Im pissed about.

Ethics may be a funny concept when talking business, but it is something that affects customers quite a bit. Long term it makes perfect sense to show your players that you care about them and the game more than the bottom line.

And yeah, in your case, that sucks, since there is seldom a better option. But in gaming, it couldn't be further from the truth, even if the MMO market isn't the greatest.

[Super Kami Dende]

LOL, absolutely not. If WoW came out today it wouldn't have been able to charge for a box and for a sub, no way in hell. It wouldn't have been able to get much farther than 2-3 million players either. Quite possibly not even that.

Considering it is better than any current MMO actually out atm and to be successful as an MMO you don't need any more than 500k players AND other MMO's also charge the same amount.

You would be wrong. though that isn't an usual thing for you RDA. So it's expected.

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No it wouldn’t. I’ve played for 11 years now and I’m sure as hell if the game came out today I wouldn’t pay for the box and sub.

It’s like with the “sub” on PS4 and Xbox

On steam it’s free to play as long as you got the game.

So because you wouldn't you think it would fail. Lol ok. Good to know you are delusional and can be completely disregarded.

[Jtbrig7390]

No sub when there is content you want to play and when there isn't unsub.

I subbed to WoW for a month did what I wanted and now I'm unsubbed. Go play something else, You don't need to play or have a reason to play wow 24/7.

[Deleted]

Considering it is better than any current MMO actually out atm and to be successful as an MMO you don't need any more than 500k players AND other MMO's also charge the same amount.

You would be wrong. though that isn't an usual thing for you RDA. So it's expected.

But the problem is that wow came out after the series of the Warcraft games.. if it would’ve come out today 15 years later I doubt people would be interested in actually paying a sub and box for something they can pay once for and then have no extra cost except maybe p2w things in a shop or something.

Don’t get me wrong, I pay and play the game still.

So because you wouldn't you think it would fail. Lol ok. Good to know you are delusional and can be completely disregarded

I’m positive it would. Look at Star Wars, wild star, black desert how long could they maintain a sub without going f2p? Sure they offer sub still for extra perks and so on.

[rda]

Considering it is better than any current MMO actually out atm and to be successful as an MMO you don't need any more than 500k players AND other MMO's also charge the same amount.

If we start digging into what you mean by WoW being "better than any current MMO" we will just come back to it having more subs. In reality, WoW as of late is not much "better than any current MMO", it is more or less on par with them and slides lower and lower each expansion.

So, sure, WoW might be better than others but it is not much better and if WoW appeared today, it absolutely would not be able to charge for box and sub. It would not be able to get too many players either. Certainly it would not be a big new thing the way other games that appear are (latest example: PUBG).

[Cracked]

Considering it is better than any current MMO actually out atm and to be successful as an MMO you don't need any more than 500k players AND other MMO's also charge the same amount.

You would be wrong. though that isn't an usual thing for you RDA. So it's expected.

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So because you wouldn't you think it would fail. Lol ok. Good to know you are delusional and can be completely disregarded.

Today, it would be an incredible marketing fail to try and sell a game where you have to pay monthly when there is such a huge selection of games where you pay once and play. 15 years ago it wasn't the case, so WoW became popular DESPITE of it, not because of it.

[Fabinas]

Look, i'm the last person who's gonna defend Blizzard, but this thread is STOOPID.

There is enough content available to play in the period you call "content drought". You just don't want to play/participate in it.

So your premise for no-subscription charge is retarded, autistic and generally biased.

[Lochton]

From a consumer point of view, it is hardly conceivable to me why they keep charging monthly subscription during the infamous content drought period.
I understand the monthly sub during the active phase of an expansion - they keep adding new content to the game and that costs.
I also understand that the team need the time to develop the new expansion.
But since they are charging full price for the new expac, mean that we are not only paying in full for all the new content that comes with it, but we are also paying them monthly during the time they develop it and do almost nothing else.
This is why i almost always unsub during this period, even though there are some things that i want to do in the game (PvP, achievements and transmog farming mainly) and this is the only time i can do them - because i am no longer busy with the present content.

Do you agree with me that they should drop the sub fee during the content drought?

Nope, I don't agree. Just because there is content drought doesn't mean the whole company goes into a standstill and no one needs support, and no one needs electricity, and no one needs the servers etc. I am sorry but if you don't like the content there is, and there is a drought in the content you think for yourself, then you have the option to unsubscribe until a new patch and/or expansion.

[Deleted]

Seems like you have some weird perception on content - PvP and achievements are not content for you. Guess you killed Argus and you are done with expansion.
What about people who didnt kill Argus, but only pvp and do achieves?

How would Blizz know what content is for you and for them?

Content is something new added to the game. Something the devs have done to earn my 15 dollars. During the content drought i don't see them doing anything worth me paying them for.
PvP is a content (if you can call it that) that i feel like i paid many times over many years ago. Why would i be paying them more just to be allowed to play?

Content is not different thing for different players. It is one thing - what i describe above.
If you think that achievements grind is legitimate content for you, is OK, but why are you eager to pay money for it? Let's say you are after WotLK achievements. You already paid a ton of dollar to purchase this content and play it while it was current. Thus you, so to say, bought your rights over that content.
Wait, no, you didn't. Because Blizzard is the only company in the entire world that makes you pay several times over for something you purchased in full to begin with.

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I'm confused by what you mean when you say content. If people log in and have things to do, then wouldn't that mean that there is content there for them to enjoy (even if that content is something others don't enjoy, or content that has already been consumed by others)? If there isn't any content for them to do (and therefore nothing to do in the game) why would they continue to pay for a service they aren't using? Do people log in to the game and stare at the screen? It seems like the unsubscribe option is the solution you are looking for.

Furthermore, if they dropped the subscription fee, would that make a difference for you or others? If there isn't any thing to do, why would you want to log in to the game?

If they drop the sub fee that will make a lot of difference to me. Because there is still content in the game that i want to play, but not enough so i would pay for it. Perhaps i will not play as much as right after an expansion launch, but will still log in quite regular.

[Sansnom]

Do you agree with me that they should drop the sub fee during the content drought?

When is it considered a content drought? When you have consumed all possible content and completed everything that has been released? Just because you do not like a particular content does not mean there are none.

Or when they stop releasing content? In that case, the better solution would be to charge for content? A small or no sub fee and instead charge for contents that people can pay that they like. BG. Arena. Dungeons. Raids. Dailies. New quest chains etc.

[SirCowdog]

I almost feel like there's room for Blizzard to sell....uhg....it hurts just to type this, but....:

Season Pass.

A one time fee in addition to the cost of the expansion itself, but gives you unlimited access to everything that expansion without having to pay a sub fee. No monthly charge. Maybe throw in an extra character boost or server xfer or something too.

[Pickynerd]

Considering the ever-dropping sub numbers in the last half a year of every expansion, more and more players are finding the game not worth paying for in this expansion stage.
And that affects some areas of the game, like random BGs, auction house, LFG systems in general.
I think if the sub was not there, a lot of those players would still spend time in the game, thus making it more lively.
And sure no one is holding a gun to my head, that's why i will unsub withing the next month or so.
Would have stayed, but i won't pay anyone money to access content i already paid in full years ago.

Making the game essentially F2P during slumps would be more problematic overall.

Blizzard knows the numbers, what will, and will not turn a profit going ahead. If they decided to go F2P I can tell ya right now, that would be the final nail in the coffin for me, and I know I am not the only one who feels that way. That being said, what is to gain from doing free time during 'content droughts'? What would be the benefit of paying for more bandwidth, services, and tech support/monitoring while not making more money?

If you're bored unsub, problem solved, you get an itch to play, re-subscribe. EZPZ!

[Cracked]

I almost feel like there's room for Blizzard to sell....uhg....it hurts just to type this, but....:

Season Pass.

A one time fee in addition to the cost of the expansion itself, but gives you unlimited access to everything that expansion without having to pay a sub fee. No monthly charge. Maybe throw in an extra character boost or server xfer or something too.

But here's the kicker: any other game includes all of that in the box costs! Crazy, I know.

[Queen of Hamsters]

We pay for access to the game. Plenty of us pay despite not taking part in all aspects of the game. Plenty of people moan about "CONTENT DROUGHTS!!!" despite partaking in 10% of the game's content.

Also: Legion's "content drought" hasn't started yet.

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They should introduce a mechanism whereby they offer a 100% discount when there is nothing for you to do.
In addition - this service should lock you out of the game to prevent malicious users logging in whilst you are elsewhere.

Anyone else think this is a good idea ?

In other words: The unsub option.

Seems like a perfect idea for the people that somehow manage to "run out of things to do".

[SirCowdog]

But here's the kicker: any other game includes all of that in the box costs! Crazy, I know.

Not necessarily. Many games often sell map packs or other DLC that tack on to the base game without having a subscription fee as well. What I suggested was simply an additional way for players to pay for the expansion and access to the game. You can go "All in" on an expansion at the beginning, paying an extra fee up front. Or you can pay by the month and keep the freedom to sub or unsub as you see fit.

Honestly, I'm not the biggest fan of the subscription model. I think it carries with it a direct conflict of interests between the players and the publishers. There's just too much incentive for a publisher to artificially stretch content in order to pad profits.

[Pull My Finger]

From a consumer point of view, it is hardly conceivable to me why they keep charging monthly subscription during the infamous content drought period.
I understand the monthly sub during the active phase of an expansion - they keep adding new content to the game and that costs.
I also understand that the team need the time to develop the new expansion.
But since they are charging full price for the new expac, mean that we are not only paying in full for all the new content that comes with it, but we are also paying them monthly during the time they develop it and do almost nothing else.
This is why i almost always unsub during this period, even though there are some things that i want to do in the game (PvP, achievements and transmog farming mainly) and this is the only time i can do them - because i am no longer busy with the present content.

Do you agree with me that they should drop the sub fee during the content drought?

From a consumer point of view, you can unsub any time you want.

Your whole logic is totally flawed. It's not like the game became unplayable after the last content patch of the expansion. Your sub fee buys you access to the game, not regular content patches. You can still do tons of stuff in the game and it's your own choice to divide stuff into two categories and occupy yourself with the one or the other mutually exclusively. But you can't act as if one category was "content" and the other one wasn't.

[Twdft]

If they drop the sub fee that will make a lot of difference to me. Because there is still content in the game that i want to play, but not enough so i would pay for it. Perhaps i will not play as much as right after an expansion launch, but will still log in quite regular.

You contradict yourself with this. If there is still content how can it be a content drought? Just unsub if you think the content that's available isn't worth your money anymore but don't expect to play for free.

[judgementofantonidas]

From a consumer point of view, it is hardly conceivable to me why they keep charging monthly subscription during the infamous content drought period.
I understand the monthly sub during the active phase of an expansion - they keep adding new content to the game and that costs.
I also understand that the team need the time to develop the new expansion.
But since they are charging full price for the new expac, mean that we are not only paying in full for all the new content that comes with it, but we are also paying them monthly during the time they develop it and do almost nothing else.
This is why i almost always unsub during this period, even though there are some things that i want to do in the game (PvP, achievements and transmog farming mainly) and this is the only time i can do them - because i am no longer busy with the present content.

Do you agree with me that they should drop the sub fee during the content drought?

Its just like being on a payment plan with a utility company. You pay a flat fee over the course of the year. You pay the same in the summer when use less utilities as in the winter when the bill would bankrupt you.

Blizzards fee is 15 dollars per month times 12 months. You CAN pay the entire amount in advance if you want a further discount.

Under the model you suggest every time a new patch comes out everyone would be charged an extra charge based on how cool the new content is.

Developers get paid to do their job all year round.

Your arguement is ka ka.

[SirCowdog]

Blizzards fee is 15 dollars per month times 12 months. You CAN pay the entire amount in advance if you want a further discount.

This is in response to the point I made earlier about a season pass:

I completely derp'd and forgot about buying subs in 6 or 12 month chunks for a discount. /facepalm

[Deleted]

From a consumer point of view, it is hardly conceivable to me why they keep charging monthly subscription during the infamous content drought period.

Wow..
From a consumer point of view, you as the consumer would stop paying for a service which does not deliver enough value for your money. And guess what? You can!
People come and go. Blizzard has always allowed this.

There's really no further discussion to be had