How much should a WoW sub cost now?

[vincink]

If I'm playing the role of an accountant at Blizzard, it should go up, tailing inflation slightly.

If I'm playing the role of a gamer, it shouldn't change. Because I can take my money elsewhere.

If I'm playing the role of a person who thinks he's always right, it should be free. Because me, me, me.

[Eazy]

15$ is max, I'd even say 10$ would be fine also.

[Unlimited Power]

This is not the first topic of this kind, but I'll reiterate my opinion here.

I want to gatekeep f2p players as much as possible.

Some people are already complaining about WoW's playerbase being toxic, but it doesn't even remotely compare to the toxicity of a playerbase with no vested interest.

And it's dishonest to say WoW is expensive. If anything, the fact that the sub hasn't increased in America and the Eurozone since the game released makes it comparatively cheaper as there's been significant inflation since then.

[Nerph-]

Game should be free, it's just not what it used to be.

Edit:

I can't fathom why there are so many people thinking it's ok to pay 15 a month for this..

I'd personally stop playing if it became f2p. There would most definitely be more in-game toxicity, more bots, etc.

"15 a month" is literally peanuts if you enjoy the game. If you don't, no one is forcing you to pay and play.

[Polybius]

If I'm playing the role of an accountant at Blizzard, it should go up, tailing inflation slightly.

If I'm playing the role of a gamer, it shouldn't change. Because I can take my money elsewhere.

If I'm playing the role of a person who thinks he's always right, it should be free. Because me, me, me.

Thank you. Had to be said and it’s always nice to compare other perspectives.

[Utrrabbit]

Lets be honest, WoW xpacs lately haven't really been a huge success.

When the product of a company loses its quality, why should it cost the same?

It is literally already extremely cheap. I am sorry but if you can not afford what is basically the cost of 1 medium pizza once a month. Perhaps you need to look for a better job or re-evaluate your life.

[Asrialol]

15 seems fine.

[Utrrabbit]

WoW should be free because nothing is ever finished so obviously the money taken from subs isn't spent on development. Plus the game is complete shit.

I can say the same thing about FF14. That game in my eyes is complete dog shit. In ever single conceivable way.

[Dakhath]

15 is a steal for everything you get with a subscription, even as bad as the last two expansions have been. I played maybe 1-3 days a month for most of the last year and I still never questioned if it was a waste of money or not. It's the same cost as a completely forgettable lunch for one.

[Utrrabbit]

To be honest, if WoW didn't have a cash shop etc i would be fine with $15usd a month. As it stands now with all the cash shop crap it should be $9usd or $5usd for classic only access.

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Day one sales include all the time it was on pre-order as well. It's a fluff metric just as is MAUs etc

No that metric ONLY included in game or digital sales that day. The actual total sales of you include pre orders was double that.

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Game should be free, it's just not what it used to be.

Edit:

I can't fathom why there are so many people thinking it's ok to pay 15 a month for this..

Better than playing that shit game FF14 (as you can tell I absolutely loathe that game and every single thing to do with it.)

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As a matter of fact, I'm not.

But, even better, people who *think* they are playing for free are actually fueling the $20/mo subscriptions paid for by whales and wannabe whales.

Regardless, this is not a good argument for why some people pay. Some people still go to McDonalds, and only morons argue that they produce quality food. Some people go to McDonalds out of convenience or as a comfort food, but not because it is a high quality experience.

WoW is charging you Morton's prices while providing McDonalds food anymore. There are multiple bugs in the game that they haven't fixed (and will never fix) for *years* now. They provide less actual content than in the past (difficulty sliders is absolutely not content) with 1/2 the dungeons and raids than they used to provide. They have no interest in expanding the game instead providing parasitic systems instead (aka temporary powers). And yet they still charge ~$50 for expansions and $13 to $20 / month for this reduced effort.

Just because you've accepted corporate PR doesn't mean that the rest of the world is wrong in pointing out the reduction in quality.

1. Raids and dungeons have actally increased in numbers
2. If you can not afford to pay what is the cost of a pizza once a month. You should get a better job.

[vincink]

By the way, with subs still at USD $15/month, that comes out to about USD $10 in 2004 money, so Blizzard has leaked pennies over the years.

[Adamas102]

I mean, if you're paying for a sub you also have full access to WoW Classic on top of Retail. I say 15 a month is fine...

Whoa... Full access to a 20 year old game for $15 per month? That's amazing!

/s

[Luxeley]

It certainly isn't worth $15 per month to a lot of people, the sub numbers clearly reflect that. Two out of the last four xpacs greatly lacked value: WOD and Shadowlands. Even though BFA is my least favorite xpac, I need to be fair, there was a fair amount of content. If this topic gains more traction Blizzard will argue back with one word: Classic. Instead of $15 for retail, you're now paying $15 for access to 3 and soon to be 4 xpacs. Rather than lower the sub fee, I'd kick in more perks and value for being subbed: get a month free or $25 credit for a microtransaction. Someone mentioned scrapping xpacs all together and simply pumping out DSL's. That's a very good idea, but I think the core structure of the game would need to be revamped as well.

[Reydan]

I'd personally stop playing if it became f2p. There would most definitely be more in-game toxicity, more bots, etc.

"15 a month" is literally peanuts if you enjoy the game. If you don't, no one is forcing you to pay and play.

You're right that there would probably be more toxicity. But 15 a month for such small or repetitive/out of date content is not worth it imo, that's why I indeed stopped playing this game quite some time ago. But I'll still check information about Warcraft from time to time. Because I like Warcraft and I hope for something new one day.

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No that metric ONLY included in game or digital sales that day. The actual total sales of you include pre orders was double that.

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Better than playing that shit game FF14 (as you can tell I absolutely loathe that game and every single thing to do with it.)

I don't know I never played FF14, that game never appealed to me anyway so I can't compare.

[Adamas102]

By the way, with subs still at USD $15/month, that comes out to about USD $10 in 2004 money, so Blizzard has leaked pennies over the years.

This is a pretty silly way of looking at it. You could also say they've been "leaking pennies" by not having the original (and today's) sub be $16, or $17, or $20, or $25. At this point they're quadruple dipping with the subscription fee, game/expansion price, service/cosmetic store, and gold selling. Could they have made more money if they slightly increased the cost on any/all of these? Yeah, more than likely. Most people don't look at these things in the long run, so as long as the incremental cost looks low they'll keep paying it. At this point WoW is a $3,500 game if you've been playing it since vanilla.

Yeah, everyone understands that the company wants to make as much money as possible, but these costs to the consumer aren't all necessary just to keep the lights on and development going. As a customer you don't need to argue in favor of companies maximizing their profits. You don't gain any benefit from executives getting paid more.

The question really is would the game attract/retain more players if it weren't trying to squeeze as much money out of them at every turn. I think it probably would.

[Woggmer]

Whoa... Full access to a 20 year old game for $15 per month? That's amazing!

/s

I didn't go for the sub, I used to go for the individual game time which is just 30 days to play and you can decide to pay for another 15 so it adds a lot more flexibility than a subscription.

30 dollars for 2 months as the default and only option on the other hand. Yeah, no. That's fucking stupid. And all because people were using the WoW Token to cheat the system....

Actually, if the WoW token was factored then yeah, the subscription model falls apart because people can just buy WoW tokens with exorbitant amounts of gold.

[Tic Tacs]

I'm sure many here would pay $50/month, this is not the question of quality or quantity, people tend to justify their spendings comparatively instead of figuring out the real value of goods/services.

[VinceVega]

If they go free the game is dead and everything you guys complain about will get pumped up to 100. Sooo... no keep it as it is

[Schmilblick]

In it's current state, It should be a p2p game, not worth a sub at all.

[Kokolums]

The answer depends on who I am in this scenario:

1. Am I a bean counter at Blizzard willing to sacrifice the long term health of WoW to maximize profits over the next fiscal year for the sake of boosting my own CV so I can advance my career by jumping ship and taking a better job somewhere else in 2023 while WoW suffers from the long term damage of my short term decisions????

2. A casual WoW player?

3. A hardcore WoW player?

4. A whale?