The Cash Shop is about to get more crowded

[Kharadin]

Not sure if anyone really grasped what just happened in the last few months.

First they implement a new RAF system that rewards you with a full xmog set, a set that's extremely unique. Then they just used a full xmog set as an upsell with the new expansion. Another extremely unique set. These are just the beginning of many many more xmog sets. Possibly weapon enchants, skins...

Remember how the mounts and pets worked. Celestial Steed appeared. Then a long while until the next. Now there's a new mount added every few months. It was a long onramp to get the playerbase acclimated over time.

If you look at other MMOs, a loaded cash shop with cosmetics and boosts isn't anything new, however WoW is a subscription MMO, so that has to be taken into consideration.

Will be interesting to see where this all leads in a few years, personally I wouldn't even be surprised if we eventually see races.

Is this a bad thing? I'm more than happy for relatively unique xmogs/mounts and other cosmetics to be behind a paywall, so long as the amount of xmog/mount/cosmetic etc. content coming to live remains stable. More stuff is more stuff, I'll pay if I want to, I'll stick to stuff I can acquire by playing the game if I want to. More choice is cool, spending more money on a game I enjoy is also cool.

I guess the only way I'd interpret this as a bad thing is if the cash shop stuff was so unique that there exists nothing even remotely similar that I can acquire w/o payment. The only exception to this is if Blizz decide to do some class skins stuff that were mentioned in about 40 fake leaks, if Blizz added this as cash shop exclusive I'd be 100% happy and 100% oh no I spent all my money sorry.

[Soimu]

Honestly wouldn't mind. If it's just cosmetics, who cares. Even allied races, still wouldn't care. Long as they aren't selling anything that ups your in-game power level it isn't a big deal.

what most of you minions don't seem to understand is that those items that should be in game or the resources that are used to create those cosmetics could be used elsewhere.

[qwerty123456]

I actually didn't know FF14 required a sub, that's one MMO I haven't played. ESO, GW2 and EQ are the MMOs I play other than WoW, those are F2P. Def good to know though, there is precedent so Blizzard might not care that much.

ESO is only free if you don't want to play much. Crafting bag, double bag size, housing ,etc.... all make a sub pretty much required.

Also you can play wow by spending gold instead of cash.

what most of you minions don't seem to understand is that those items that should be in game or the resources that are used to create those cosmetics could be used elsewhere.

And what makes you think they would create those things in the first place if they weren't going to put them in the cash shop?

They could easily hire a B team to make extra side content but they don't.

[sam86]

so what mate ?

its just cosmetic, you buy them if you want, nobody is forcing you

did u miss the part that we are already paying for the game AND paying for a monthly sub ?

[Kokolums]

If this so important to you that you spend real money it be my guest.
May be someone doing this should think about it's relation to the game, it looks unhealthy to me and may be find another game...

I didnt say I was doing it.... I said its a problem.

[Loveliest]

As seen with boosts, people don't mind paying for anything game-related. I mean people buy boosts even to to level in classic, so nothing's exempt. So a cash shop is only natural to develop further. Cosmetics is the least worrisome.

If you think about it, the prices are outrageous. Go on Steam and see how many games you can buy for the price of one mount. But yeah, if people spend a lot of time in a game, their values get distorted and don't realize paying tens to of euros in a shop is insane. In other games, they have stuff priced at hundreds of euros even (different packs). And people buy them. There will always be people who buy them.

The gaming industry is no longer this safe haven for geeks, it's a very profitable industry. So yes, I believe your predictions are right. I also believe we'll see special packs priced at hundreds of euros in the future too (launch packs, we now have 3 versions) that will appeal to collectors.

[Blackmist]

Of course it is. WoW stopped growing. Started shrinking. Blizzard still want that money.

Easier to strap us all into the milking machine than it is to attract new players.

[Nebron]

eh... is it? supply and demand, simple as that
i cant believe someone would pay for painting thats literaly two color slashes on white canvas, yet paintings like that are selling for thousands, even milions of dollars, is it unethical? no, just stupid

as long as its purely cosmetic, i dont give a damn if someone is wiling to pay for mount/transmog/pet/whatever, its their money, and it doesnt impact me so why should i care?
and dont give me the bullshit mtx are ruining games, thats just not true (as mentioned before, buying ingame stuff with real money was kinda ingame since 2005)

Lol, obviously these are the basic market forces, there is no doubt about it.

Tell me now, if there's a supply for homeopathy and there's a demand on the other side, is it okay to sell that bullshit? Market forces are there, don't get me wrong, I'm a free market guy Well, you don't nned to buy it - you may not be interested - but others do. Does it have any negative impact on them? Nope. Does it make them feel good? Ceratinly. Is it fair to empower the delusion of people's mind? Is it okay to advertise the product that we all know have no positive impacts on their lives, yet they pay for it, in the most desperate time of their lives? Nope, it's not.

I don't want to fall into the false equivalence fallacy here, but I hope you understand me correctly. Yeah, ethics surely ARE involved in the business, or at least a human dignity would require such thing. On the other hand, as I pointed it out previously, business is just a business, and I understand some companies may take a particular way of monetizing their products. But your question is - does it truly impact the game in any sense. For some, it may be a stretch, but it actually does. Do you have a pig mount available outside the store? No. Do you have a Fey Dragon mount outside the shop? No. What about the Grinning Reaver model?

MTX are obviously ruining the game as the "pay-to-win" or more like "pay to gain adventage" is in game on a massive scale. You may not see much of that in PC/ consoles games, but mobile gaming is a drastically growing market. The market itself is, curiously, aimed for women and CHILDREN. That's where the problem begins. How many games with "pay to get more diamonds" have you seen in your life? I have seen thousands of them. It's the easiest way to suck the money of a user. Addict kids and then force them to pay for the game by limiting it's content to the level where it's almost neccessary to buy additional access.

It's evident as hell and ignoring that is just dishonest, and you know about it. People tend to analyze the problem on a single or limited amount of cases, and even more frequently, in a short-term. In fact, MTX is a disease in the mobile gaming, a market that's growing at a horrendous speed. BfA itself has introduced 6 mounts to the store (Alabaster Thunderwing and Stormtalon), 2 pets, and for the first time - toys. The last case is very interesting, as mounts may be cosmetic changes, but toys are quite a different thing here. They introduced a toy that changes your appearence, which actually compete with other toys that already do it. But his time, a store toy is hundreds times better than the ones you can get via gameplay itself. Don't forget that a few mounts have been removed from the store, but guess what... it has been noted that they may return one day. Why did they do it? To suck as much money as possible from the least-selling mounts through a simple psychological mechanism of fear of losing a chance to get something before it's gone. They surely get a lot of money from that, and in some time in future, it will return, that's certain.

How long before they introduce "class transmog sets" into the store? Will you say then it's just a cosmetic? When they introduce a new races accessible only through the store, would you say it's just optional? It's funny how people get mad for a need to grind the rep to unlock allied races, something that should be natural in any meaning. Play the game, unlock the access. And yet, the same people see no problem with in-game items being accessible only through a store and real money

[Casperite]

Well it's as I expected... after Classic release everybody who cares about game qualtiy left retail and don't care anymore. Now with nobody to oppose the greedy executives the game will truly finally go to shit... fortunately I'm with the ones that fled to Classic, so just dropping by to say this. I still feel bad for retail players though.

You do realize all you classic only players earned blizzard more money than the cash shop mounts right? So have fun in classic, you're still paying them the same as retail players. And retail players still have classic access the same as you. Not sure what point you're really trying to make here. You whine less now that you have classic to play? Or your whining has just turned into this weird "I'm better than you cause I play classic" type posts?

[RyudoTFO]

If they are cosmetic only and not time gated (buy now, or next season it will be gone) I'm ok with it. Also as long as you can buy tokens with gold and convert them to Bnet Balance to buy the stuff.

Let's say a full transmog set is 20-30$/€ (so as much as a mount)

That's about 480k - 720k in in-game gold on EU, even less on US. We have things like "normal" mounts you can just buy in-game with gold that cost way more or as much as this.

[anveena]

Of course it's going to get more crowded. Less people are playing wow so the only way to make more money is introducing more cash shop items for people to purchase.

[Nerovar]

I'd rather have cool stuff in the actual game. Don't we already pay a monthly fee and and have to buy a full-priced expansion every two years?

[Soimu]

And what makes you think they would create those things in the first place if they weren't going to put them in the cash shop?

They could easily hire a B team to make extra side content but they don't.

The perfect example are the WOD mounts. All those store mounts with the expansion thematic should have been in the game and instead of those we got tons of stupid ass recolored boars as ingame rewards.

[iosdeveloper]

Of course it is. WoW stopped growing. Started shrinking. Blizzard still want that money.

Easier to strap us all into the milking machine than it is to attract new players.

this!
They should milk us (old fans) instead of trying to attract new ones, cuz new ones don't have or plan on having a pc
I wonder what real Blizz guys are doing, since those at Blizzard now are just leftover management. They aren't creating stuff, they are managing.

[Aucald]

Would you mind if it meant cosmetics you earn in the game don't look as good as things you can earn with the mighty credit card to make them stand out more?

"Look as good" is a completely subjective assessment that's going to vary from person to person, so I don't really see how that'll matter overly. Also, if I'm paying cash for something in a game I would kind of want it to look good, to get more for what I'm paying actual money for, so to speak - but that's just my $0.02 on the matter.

[neik]

I would personally love to see more items added in in-game store, I always thought that blizzard shop was rather useless and empty with absolutely nothing to buy in it.

P.S Players were using third party boosting services decade before token was introduced, so I don't see any harm people giving money to blizzard instead, and cashing out those tokens to buy mythic boost, etc.

[Lolites]

And yet, the same people see no problem with in-game items being accessible only through a store and real money

didnt want to quote whole thing so pointers:
homeopatics are bad analogy, blizz dont advertise their mounts as something impactful or helpful
and fair point the shop mounts have different look, but thats DEFINITION of cosmetic reward they dont have any additional functions to regular mounts, actualy only mounts that DO have additional functions (traders,transmog,auction) are only available ingame... so does it impact me that i dong have pig (i have several hogs) mount? no, bcs its function is the same as my dragon...
as for "freemium" games, thats completely different topic, so no reason to be discussed here
as for BFA mounts, pets, toys... well sure they added 4(5) mounts to shop, and 100 others ingame (same for pets and toys), if they put the brutosaur with auction on shop, THAT would be issue, like this, its nothing just cosmetic (and tbh, ugly ) items
as for that toy, sure its more interesting than some ingame available trasformation toys, but it doesnt have impact on any game mechanic, its literaly just look (and some quotes)... now would it be better if this toy was available ingame? yes, does it cause any problem if you dont have it? no, so again, pure cosmetic issue...
as for "retiring" some shop mounts for time, yeah thats bullshit but again, no impact on gameplay

for the allied races or other stuff unlocking grinds (heritage armor and such), i think thats great

now one thing people tend to ignore when agruing against shop is that ALL thats there CAN BE gained via playing (gold farming) due to token
so explain to me please how white direhorn (recolor) available for 500k gold is fine, yet that pig (unique model) avalable for a little less (as of now aprox 480k in europe) is ruining the game? and since gold could be bought before token, its nothing new either, you could buy that vendor mamoth in dalaran basicaly for real money, how is it a problem so suddenly?

[owbu]

I'm okay with extra horsies and sets to buy as long as:

they don't come out of loot boxes. "buy item x for y money" is the only acceptable way to sell microtransactions.

they don't mess with ingame currencies. If you can buy it for money OR "grindpoints", the devs are incentivized to make the game suck in order to get more money.

the amount and quality of horsies/sets/pets you can exclusively get through gameplay doesn't suffer.

In WoD we got boars and wolfs and good looking store mounts. And people rightfully rioted.
In BfA we got awesome looking ingame mounts and some more store mounts on top. Which is totally fine.

If SL gives us shitty looking sets and additional shiny sets to buy, I'm sure people will riot untill it stops.
If SL gives us a bunch of nice looking sets and also sells us some sets on top - who am I to complain that other people are financing the game for me?

WoW is only as profitable as it is, because the average spending per sub has gone up while the amount of subs has declined. So as long as the game doesn't suffer from it, I don't mind some additional (!) artists being paid to make some shiny horses and items.

[Nebron]

didnt want to quote whole thing so pointers:
homeopatics are bad analogy, blizz dont advertise their mounts as something impactful or helpful
and fair point the shop mounts have different look, but thats DEFINITION of cosmetic reward they dont have any additional functions to regular mounts, actualy only mounts that DO have additional functions (traders,transmog,auction) are only available ingame... so does it impact me that i dong have pig (i have several hogs) mount? no, bcs its function is the same as my dragon...
as for "freemium" games, thats completely different topic, so no reason to be discussed here
as for BFA mounts, pets, toys... well sure they added 4(5) mounts to shop, and 100 others ingame (same for pets and toys), if they put the brutosaur with auction on shop, THAT would be issue, like this, its nothing just cosmetic (and tbh, ugly ) items
as for that toy, sure its more interesting than some ingame available trasformation toys, but it doesnt have impact on any game mechanic, its literaly just look (and some quotes)... now would it be better if this toy was available ingame? yes, does it cause any problem if you dont have it? no, so again, pure cosmetic issue...
as for "retiring" some shop mounts for time, yeah thats bullshit but again, no impact on gameplay

for the allied races or other stuff unlocking grinds (heritage armor and such), i think thats great

now one thing people tend to ignore when agruing against shop is that ALL thats there CAN BE gained via playing (gold farming) due to token
so explain to me please how white direhorn (recolor) available for 500k gold is fine, yet that pig (unique model) avalable for a little less (as of now aprox 480k in europe) is ruining the game? and since gold could be bought before token, its nothing new either, you could buy that vendor mamoth in dalaran basicaly for real money, how is it a problem so suddenly?

Wow, the token is actually a very strong argument, I have never looked at this case that way. Hmm... I'm free of confirmation biases as much as I can, so it would appear people can learn everyday nevertheless, as I acknowledge the fact that these store items are purely cosmetic, I just wonder how far Blizzard can go with that. I'm somewhat suspicious of Blizzard actions, and it always feel to me like they are checking the ground, and when there's no much fire in there, they propose something new - now is the time for transmogs. That's my fear, how far can they go with that. You say that auction house mount on store would be an issue for you - same for me. But be aware, that there are THOUSANDS of people who will still say, it's absolutely fine, as it's "optional".

But yeah, WoW Token argument is quite a game-changer here

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

Really? We said this when they put in pets during wrath, that they just had to use the bullshit reason to give parts of the profits to charity and thus, making it okay to buy the pet. Remember that you can buy gold for real money.

Blizzard is dead, wow is dead. Its just a cow now, they're milking it. Enjoy it while it lasts.