Do you think Blizz will ever allow people to buy rating / gear directly?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Nah, only indirectly, as otherwise they couldn't do their e-sport chest thumping.

[Fantazma]

When I drew the inverted pentagram on the floor using the blood of a virgin goat, Satan promised me that by 2022 we will have several beautiful xmogs (including full-black color) being sold in the in-game store.
Amen. \m/

Now about this thread.... it's some amazing thoughts. People accept that their wife is 75% unfaithful... but they would be very upset if she is 100% unfaithful. lol.

Blizzard has nothing to worry about for now. There is no need on the horizon for WoW to explicitly become a 100% pay to win game for now. At least as long as there are people happy to pay the sub... just so they can farm renown.

[MoanaLisa]

As long as they're charging a subscription fee the odds on pay-to-win power from the store are close to zero. If the game goes F2P or B2P, that might rise a bit but the true revenue generator in most games like this are cosmetics and mounts.

[Lahis]

No they won’t, and you have no evidence that the population is dwindling.

Logging into the game should be all the evidence you need.

[Yriel]

Indepently of the game, Blizzard will never allow you to buy anything directly anymore.

If anything, there will be WoW lootboxes at some point with an assortment of pets, mounts, lots and lots of useless fluff and maybe some loot pieces.

They made more money with OV lootboxes than with SC2 in total.

[ONCHEhap]

I actualy think alot of buyable stuff is where we are heading towards.
Blizzard does not seem to have any shame or connection with the players anymore.

But they have a strong connection with the best ways to siphon as much money from players as possible.
Right now the "pseudo-P2W" system they have works,but as soon as they start selling their own boosts,a lot of people would leave

[Lahis]

Indepently of the game, Blizzard will never allow you to buy anything directly anymore.

If anything, there will be WoW lootboxes at some point with an assortment of pets, mounts, lots and lots of useless fluff and maybe some loot pieces.

They made more money with OV lootboxes than with SC2 in total.

Yeah, allowing direct purchases is stupid. Much less income than in gacha.

[Darsithis]

Logging into the game should be all the evidence you need.

Yeah, no. Anecdotal “I don’t see as many players as I think I used to in this one zone” means nothing.

For example, I’m taking a break until 9.1 because my raid team did. My sub is still active.

[DechCJC]

I genuinely don't think he's trolling and I see why they feel this way.

Being able to buy gold right now is the same as being able to buy gear but with extra steps (You know, getting invited to a boost, clearing the raid...). If Blizzard instead sold a currency like valor that could be used to purchase gear, would that be different than gold?

No, I don't think it will actually happen for obvious reasons. But to act like what we have now is much different is naive.

[Shaetha]

I actualy think alot of buyable stuff is where we are heading towards.
Blizzard does not seem to have any shame or connection with the players anymore.

I wonder why the FFXIV forums never have things like this? Even though their cash shop is far worse.

Stop insulting everyone else's intelligence by acting like it's still 2005.

[Razion]

Hell no. P2w is toxic as hell. It'd also destroy whatever credibility they have left. It basically did in Diablo, too. Wasn't received well there and that game is actually liked by comparison. Way too stupid a move for even the greediest of idiots.

[Lahis]

Yeah, no. Anecdotal “I don’t see as many players as I think I used to in this one zone” means nothing.

For example, I’m taking a break until 9.1 because my raid team did. My sub is still active.

And how many of those will actually come back?

[tacoloco]

Can't we please not make this another "is wow pay to win" thread?

[Darsithis]

And how many of those will actually come back?

I don’t know. You don’t know. None of us know, except Blizzard. None of this is evidence of subs plummeting, much less a sign Blizzard will start selling gear to skip content.

[Glorious Leader]

I genuinely don't think he's trolling and I see why they feel this way.

Being able to buy gold right now is the same as being able to buy gear but with extra steps (You know, getting invited to a boost, clearing the raid...). If Blizzard instead sold a currency like valor that could be used to purchase gear, would that be different than gold?

No, I don't think it will actually happen for obvious reasons. But to act like what we have now is much different is naive.

I mean they implemented the token because their was this huge gold selling marketplace where people would potentially get ripped off. I fail to see why they couldn't just make the same case about boosts as well.

[Thetruth1400]

Probably never.

I'd venture to say I bet that make more money off of the tokens than they do off of actual self paid subs at this point. They were told about multibox farmers basically raking in millions and billions of gold with 1 buttom macros and it took them until literally this expansion to finally put an end to it.

The reason? The token system.

They made so much money off of those people "paying for their subs" with the token system that it was profitable to just ignore the problem. Most likely, too many actual paying subs quit to the point where no one was actually buying tokens to sell on the AH so they had to scrap it and let those people ride off their money indefinitely.

When you could rake in over a gold cap a week, you're going to be sitting on plenty of gold right now since you're down to 1 account. They're counting on that revenue of those "for free" players to keep WoW profitable instead of putting out any content. It's been almost 8 months since launch and will most likely be late Nov to Dec if we're lucky for 9.2, probably pushing that off until January.

[Daedius]

Many people are already putting up with the WoW Token... to introduce store bought gear would cause a mass player exodus.

If I were still playing I'd immediately quit.

[XDurionX]

This will never happen, obviously. At the moment, they can (rightfully) blame players for this, why would they assume this responsibility without being able to make more money?

[Surfacin9]

Why is this topic being discussed like EVERYONE buys tokens and uses that gold for boosts??? Like token were created for this. NO! Its people, who DECIDE to spend their OWN money on tokens to buy an IN-GAME boost. What does it have to do with Blizzard making the game P2W?? Is it the only thing tokens are used for?

How about people who earn gold by farming and AH that just buy their game time? How about people who have accumulated gold using it to get cash in blizzard wallet to spend it on buying their games and ingame store stuff?

Tokens were created with the purpose of paying sub with gold or paying for someone else's sub. Secondly, it gave people a way to buy gold. They were buying it before, from untrustworthy sources that ended in their accounts being hacked and etc. Now those people can buy gold directly from Blizzard. Tokens were a player convenience improvement.

Boosting for gold and for money existed well before tokens and will continue afterwards. There will always be demand for it, and there is plenty of supply. The game has evolved to a state where people prefer buying boosts over actually doing the content themselves. It wasn't Blizzard's or Activision's idea. They're not stopping it, because the boosting is done by the players. It gives those, who have cleared everything, something to do, something that they also enjoy. Also they do when the content is cleared. You can't buy boosts at the start, until the boosters have finished their own progression and gotten enough gear to be able to arry boosties. If you allow direct purchase, you not only heavily impact the progression, but also make it kinda mandatory.

But the whole token for gold to buy boost is only a scheme that players started using out of lazyness and its convenience and availability. But not everyone does it, probably only casuals, who want the gear and accolades without making effort. So for God's sake stop using it as a fucking argument about P2W. If you do, you are part of the problem that you are crying about, of the people who buy boosts; and you should not pass your OWN responsibility, actions and decisions made onto the company and say that its their intention. Because boosters don't care where that gold comes from, people capable of getting KSM and at least AOTC by themselves, people who don't give a damn about gear and ratings - these people don't care about it.

[Lahis]

I do think there's a better than good chance we'll start seeing some xmog on the shop soon, though. The backlash against the sprite darter's wings wasn't very loud.

WoW armor lacks the technical sophistication and creative excellence to ever make selling transmogs a worthwhile idea.

There are only so manu flat textured jumpsuits one can make.