WoW Classic PTR Update - Burning Crusade and Classic Era Info

[Selah]

Because I know how business works. Activision is investing their money expecting a rate of return on the project. If they don't get the rate of return they want, they will invest in other projects. I am perfectly happy, actually I'm downright DELIGHTED, to see that Blizzard is focusing on non-power related secondary revenue streams, rather than selling power or increasing my monthly fee.

Clearly you don't or are poorly informed. EA and Bethesda both have tried this and we all know how well that went. I don't trust Blizzard to do it any better than they have.

[NineSpine]

Clearly you don't or are poorly informed. EA and Bethesda both have tried this and we all know how well that went. I don't trust Blizzard to do it any better than they have.

WoW has had fees for trivial digital services for over a decade. This isn’t new.

[Hekazi]

I don't know why we aren't allowed one free character copy per character. Seems like a money grab more than anything. Especially considering the cloning is done completely autonomously.

Are you serious lmao

- - - Updated - - -

erm none? Retail will have its own dedicated teams and staff working on it. So it doesn't matter what other teams are doing, doesn't take away from their own job. Blizzard isn't using the same people to work on multiple games simultaneously, not how it works.

He said population, not development.
It means that nobody might be willing to pay the fee to keep his character on both servers and much of the population would just rather transfer to TBC, do you even read?

[Selah]

WoW has had fees for trivial digital services for over a decade. This isn’t new.

And? Just because something is the status quo doesn't make it okay or good. Using your reasoning we should put more character customization features back on the shop. Specifically the gender selection option. If they are in so dire need of all this money, why would they take this feature off of the shop and put it in-game for free? Seems like a lot of lost revenue. Do you think they should put this back on the shop?

[NineSpine]

And? Just because something is the status quo doesn't make it okay or good. Using your reasoning we should put more character customization features back on the shop. Specifically the gender selection option. If they are in so dire need of all this money, why would they take this feature off of the shop and put it in-game for free? Seems like a lot of lost revenue. Do you think they should put this back on the shop?

You can't say "We all see how that went" and predict doom about a system that has existed for over a decade.

I think Blizzard knows better than you or I what revenue streams they need to tap to hit their goals and secure continued investment from Activision into the product. You keep talking about "dire need" and crap like someone is arguing Blizzard needs to do this or will go bankrupt. Nobody has said that.

[Selah]

You can't say "We all see how that went" and predict doom about a system that has existed for over a decade.

Micro-transactions shouldn't be a thing in a game where we buy expansions and monthly subs, period. Let alone services that allow you to keep a continuity of your character within the same game. And damn near every game that has those transactions in the industry ends up doing something really shitting to their players. Again, completely autonomous systems, costs Blizzard almost nothing to maintain.

I think Blizzard knows better than you or I what revenue streams they need to tap to hit their goals and secure continued investment from Activision into the product. You keep talking about "dire need" and crap like someone is arguing Blizzard needs to do this or will go bankrupt. Nobody has said that.

The game needs to generate profit. Blizzard has clearly determined that secondary transactions are preferable to increasing the monthly fee (which has decreased annually with inflation).

You specifically used the word "need," do they need to or do they not need to? You're contradicting yourself now. Do you have any data to suggest that they won't be able to hit their financial goals without these transactions because I sure as hell don't.

[NineSpine]

Micro-transactions shouldn't be a thing in a game where we buy expansions and monthly subs, period. Let alone services that allow you to keep a continuity of your character within the same game. And damn near every game that has those transactions in the industry ends up doing something really shitting to their players. Again, completely autonomous systems, costs Blizzard almost nothing to maintain.



You specifically used the word "need," do they need to or do they not need to? You're contradicting yourself now. Do you have any data to suggest that they won't be able to hit their financial goals without these transactions because I sure as hell don't.

It seems like you are intentionally not getting it at this point, especially since you now trying to dishonestly conflate "Blizzard needs to turn a profit" and "Blizzard is failing and needs to turn a profit". Every business NEEDS to turn a profit. That doesn't mean every business is facing imminent catastrophic failure. It's not hard to just engage honestly. You should try it.

"Again, completely autonomous systems, costs Blizzard almost nothing to maintain."

These services are not discreet. They don't exist in a vacuum. WoW is an entire product. It needs a certain amount of profit to survive. Services in WoW are not priced based on the cost of the individual service, and expecting them to be is frankly really fucking dumb. Do you think it costs Blizzard $15 per month to allow you to log in? No, obviously it doesn't, so why dishonestly act like the character copy should cost whatever it costs Blizzard?

The game needs to generate profit. It has multiple revenue streams. If these were consolidated into one revenue stream (the sub), the sub would have to increase dramatically to make up for the lack of other revenue streams. Blizzard has calculated that increasing the sub is inefficient, because it would also cause players to leave. Therefore, they established the secondary revenue streams to capitalize on players who are able and willing to spend more while players that aren't willing to pay more than $15 per month will continue to pay their sub.

This isn't complicated. You want it to be complicated to placate your outrage, but it really isn't.