What are ACCEPTABLE cash shop items?

[Zantera]

I think the current selection of the occasional tmog, mount and pet is fine. I guess a toy. Nothing that translates to benefits in game like early flying or player power.

[Greyvax]

Cash shop should not exist at all in a game that has both:

Buy-to-play
Subscription

You either have one or the other to warrant a cash shop. this is just blizzard being greedy. unfortunately there's too many people throwing their wallets at blizzard for it to change.

[glowpipe]

Only things you can get by playing the game. So if you want it without effort, you can pay for it, but you don't have to pay to get it. As you are already paying a sub fee and you bought the current expansion

[HateTrain]

I mean, it's fine as is ftmp.

- Just adding that nothing available should alter power.
- No mount should be sold that doesn't already have a similar model available to players in game. If there is a twitching Dickworm mount in the store, there should be a mount using that skeleton/movements/etc. already in game. Only art assets should be developed for a store mount, not new rigs etc.

[deepjazz]

loot boxes coming soon to the cash store, also think soon you will be able to buy gear also.

with so few subs and little cash coming in they need to milk wow as much as they can knowing new players only sticks around for 1-3 months max.

[Ikza]

Characters services: Yes
Pets: Yes
Mounts: At their current state, hell no. The game rarely has new mounts now, all we have are non-unique reskins and remodels with 400 recolors for the players to collect. If they want a different flare (Like A'lar back in BC times), they now have to pay 20€-40€. Takes no effort from any of the sides, its just ridiculous.
Subscription plans: Yes
Occasional Tmog: Yeah, but roughly the same complaint as Mounts.

[Echocho]

Pretty much anything as long as it doesn't result in player power. The WoW Token for example is a big fat no since you can use the gold to buy player power.

[Kalocy Jim]

It's basically just a thinly veiled thread demanding early flying under the guise of a cash shop survey. I mean they literally added nothing new other than making the level boost single levels(way worse except I think they're saying current expansion levels too which...no). The thread title should literally just be "Add flying to the cash shop to get it early". These people just do not give up.

No, that's not it at all. In fact, I'm quite against flying being in the game period, but to appease the staunch supporters of flying, there is the option. Buy it in the cash shop if you need it so badly before the patch where you can earn it for free.

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You should ask: what kind of game would be acceptable with cash shops items?
WoW as p2p is certainly not in that group.
LoL, DOTA, PoE (or any similar non p2w game) are fine.

I disagree with you 100%.

[Jshadowhunter]

BEFORE you start thinking about adding a CASH SHOP, you should first completely remove SUBSCRIPTION.

[Kalocy Jim]

None in a B2P+sub based game+paid services? Why would anyone here want??? You literally get a worse game by wanting a shop, i fail to see a single benefit for it for us consumers.
Lvl boosts? Gee maybe fix the game so the earlier levels are not just a shitty wall you need to hop over to reach the ''fun'' part.
Cosmetics? Yeah i bet it feels real good to swipe that credit card for them as opposed to playing the game and earning them within it.
Tokens? Maybe fix the botting problem/economy so normal human beings can earn gold at a reasonable pace themselves.
In a F2P game cosmetics are fine, and other similar non-power related things since they need to make money somehow but not in a f***ing B2P+sub based game.

I disagree with you 100%.

The game already has literally millions of items you can earn for free by just playing the game. Paid cosmetics and services that are completely optional that are quite literally fractions of what is in the game is perfectly acceptable to me because of the many free / play to achieve / get options in the game. Whether you like it or not, participating in the cash shop is completely 100% *GASP* optional.

[Arewn]

The game has a monthly subscription fee and paid expansions, and is very profitable based on those alone. No cash shop is acceptable. Even the account services shouldn't be there, it's honestly ridiculous to think you'd have to pay extra money just to move servers while paying a monthly premium to access those servers.

I disagree with you 100%.

The game already has literally millions of items you can earn for free by just playing the game. Paid cosmetics and services that are completely optional that are quite literally fractions of what is in the game is perfectly acceptable to me because of the many free / play to achieve / get options in the game. Whether you like it or not, participating in the cash shop is completely 100% *GASP* optional.

"The game already has lots of content, so it's okay that they charge extra for some it! And like, it's optional maaan."

None of the options in the game are free. You have to pay a monthly sub.

[Thelxi]

You shouldn't simply look at cash shop items to pass your judgement on it. You should look at the overall business model and how game design factors into it. For example I could be an idiot and say that I have no problem with cosmetics, but if you look for example at PoE that like WoW sells tons of cosmetics in their cash shop, they combine that with a refusal to design anything non-cash shop whatsoever, unlike WoW.

Cash shop design shoots its tendrils deep into game design, much more deeply than the crude PoE example I brought up. Obviously you can just look at "tokens", which is just an indirect currency conversion that lets Blizzard sell gold for cash, and how that lucrative hustle has influenced game design over the years, from crude gold-sinks to tightly controlling professions to encouraging boosting.

Other than currency conversions, which really is the oldest trick in the cash shop book that reliably fools children and dumb adults alike, there are even more interesting cash shop topics imo like buying time with cash. In WoW you can buy level boosts sure, but Blizzard hasn't quite (yet?) tapped into this like other games such as GW2 where the game is designed from the ground up to give you the choice of grinding for pennies for hours or get it right now in a couple of minutes with your credit card.

None of these discussion are relevant to WoW anymore though. Blizzard used to use their ethical business practices as a selling point of their games, probably to great effect, but those days are gone. They have spent years pushing and pushing to the point where now it doesn't matter. They know what they can get away with, and it's pretty much everything.

[Loveliest]

Bags. I want bigger bags. With the amount of crap we get from Korthia and the like, I would gladly pay so I don't have to sell trash every 2 mins.

[Kalocy Jim]

The game has a monthly subscription fee and paid expansions, and is very profitable based on those alone. No cash shop is acceptable. Even the account services shouldn't be there, it's honestly ridiculous to think you'd have to pay extra money just to move servers while paying a monthly premium to access those servers.


"The game already has lots of content, so it's okay that they charge extra for some it! And like, it's optional maaan."

None of the options in the game are free. You have to pay a monthly sub.

Your point?

You have to pay a sub to your local golf country club. But you seem to think that because you paid your monthly due to the country club, you are entitled to the new set of golf clubs, balls, tees, shirts and apparel that are in the OPTIONAL golf club store at the country club.

[Mendzia]

The game already has literally millions of items you can earn for free by just playing the game.

Yeah... sure.

Paid cosmetics and services that are completely optional that are quite literally fractions of what is in the game is perfectly acceptable to me because of the many free / play to achieve / get options in the game. Whether you like it or not, participating in the cash shop is completely 100% *GASP* optional.

Paid shit is one of the main reasons why this game is in soo horrible state.

[Schizoide]

Limited cosmetics only. Not a ton of cosmetics, that is not acceptable in a subscription game. In games like ESO that are B2P, you need to buy stuff to look cool. And that's fine, so long as there's no subscription.

Boosts pass the line for me, which of course WoW already sells. That's not OK. Any sort of power gain is also not OK, including selling currency, which WoW also does through tokens. Obviously this stuff wasn't enough to make me quit, but I do believe it makes the game worse.

Selling flying early is definitely not OK. That probably would make me quit, because I would feel downright obligated to pay.

[ohwell]

No, that's not it at all. In fact, I'm quite against flying being in the game period, but to appease the staunch supporters of flying, there is the option. Buy it in the cash shop if you need it so badly before the patch where you can earn it for free.

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I disagree with you 100%.

Your "logic" makes no sense because if you were against flying, you wouldn't give people an option to do so sooner than everyone else.

[Lolites]

You literally get a worse game by wanting a shop

eh, no you get exactly the same as shop items just wouldnt exist...

i fail to see a single benefit for it for us consumers.

how about the fact sub is the same price for 17 years? it probably wouldnt be without cash shop...
this way people who want to pay more can, and people who dont want to dont have to, seems to be pretty nice benefit for people, especialy those who are not so wealthy...

[ohwell]

The game has a monthly subscription fee and paid expansions, and is very profitable based on those alone. No cash shop is acceptable. Even the account services shouldn't be there, it's honestly ridiculous to think you'd have to pay extra money just to move servers while paying a monthly premium to access those servers.


"The game already has lots of content, so it's okay that they charge extra for some it! And like, it's optional maaan."

None of the options in the game are free. You have to pay a monthly sub.

The value of the subs to them is actually a lot less than you think. They have other sources of revenue in 2021 pertaining to WoW that people love to neglect. But hey don't let me remind you of the Twitch earnings leak and realize that Twitch bought the rights to steaming on most if not all of the Blizzard esports and get an idea of how much they paid for a 2 year contract. That's just one platform.

[Sinured]

in a b2p game with sub nothing.
i mean combining these 2 is greedy as fuck, + cashshop? lol.