The Blizzard Store and the Monthly Fee. What you need to realize.

[lawow74]

They're gonna sell charms iirc? which means they're basically selling gear - Doesn't matter if it's just a small chance for gear, it's still gear in the end. I could be mistaken though

It's been floated as an idea alongside the market for XP boost items. Right now, only being considered in Asia. I personally don't mind XP boosts if they're only available for current level tiers after an xpac's been live for a patch or so, to keep it from pressuring people to buy them and win the server/world first race or feel like they have to boost their levelling in order to be able to play with others.

But here's the rub: if they add such things, will they have any incentive whatsoever to do what they recently did and reduce the XP needed to get to level cap in current content tiers? Will they take the XP boost items into consideration when determining how steep the curve is to reach the next cap? Same with the idea of them selling charms. If they do that, would there ever be a nerf to how many are needed for roll tokens, or alternative ways added to get them, or nerfs to how many you get from the in-game ways?

My issue with them selling things like that is not the retail in and of itself, it's them encouraging you to do it by strongarming you with in-game slants. I'm not saying that is what Blizzard will do or would do. But to deny the possibility is just being naive, IMO. And as I've said before, the time to voice concerns is now, before such things get implemented, to try and influence things so they don't go down that road.

[Rekiara]

How much would a handful of pets and mounts and three items really decrease the subscription's value by? When we have how many pets and mounts and items in the game?

And considering we've got more content than ever I don't see why there needs to be a decrease in the cost.



You haven't been paying attention if you truly think that there's less game in Mists than in previous expansions.

Thus the conveniently ignored word "MINOR" in my post. It's not a huge value decrease - but it IS a decrease and that's the entire point.

Shrug it off all you'd like, every new store item increases that percentage of the game that subscribers can never get without additional cost. That's the most important fact in the discussion, period. If you're willing to overlook that, then good for you, but you're an idiot of a consumer for doing so.

[Deleted]

The only people complaining tend to be the 25 year olds living in their moms basement who doesnt work for their own cash.

I'm fine with the store. I'd be fine if gear equal to heroic gear was in the store.

Yea, so true, having your own cash instantly means you absolutely have to give it away and toss it at everything! That's what money is for, right?! Right?! Why bicker over food prices or power bills? Or buy those hippie energy saving fridges and other fancy mumbo-jumbo?! It's for some sort of basement dwelling nature lovers anyway..

/sarcasm

[Obtuse]

Give it another 3 weeks and no one will even remember that people complained about this.

I wouldn't mind being able to buy some of the TCG stuff from the store. Don't think that's going to happen though

[Spike`]

i dont care about the store but people here are a little blind about one thing

this isn't good for making more content, stop saying that, WOTLK was the most subbed expansion and we got Cataclysm with almost no content

so that reason is wrong, stop thinking about that

The only reason i'm fine about Store is because of the Subs losses it can stop some people from being fired, thats it, now more content? ya right

[Khaza-R]

I see nothing wrong with the idea of the Blizzard store, but what I do find insulting is the pricing they use.

$10.00 USD for a pet, or $25.00 USD for mount? That's outrageous when you only pay $39.99 for an entire expansion pack. You're paying 60+% of the price of an expansion for probably 1/1000th of the content. That's revolting.

[atrixx]

I hope you realize the Chinese pay model has always been something like "pay to play once at an internet cafe, now Blizzard counts you as a subscriber". They have been padding their subscription numbers in this way since they released the game there (remember that peak in Wrath? Hey WoW was released in China around that time!). It would not surprise me if Chinese players are just not playing WoW in internet cafes anymore and have moved onto the other popular games there, which are LoL and Dota. I'm sorry, but it is hard to really gauge the Chinese player base and how long they have been playing and how much they play because of how their subscription model works, plus I really doubt they contribute THAT much to profits considering how their subscription model works as well. To say this store is needed because of them is something no one but Blizzard will ever know.

Yes I'm well aware of the Chinese pay model. I'm looking at the situation though from the business perspective where most people here let emotions drive their reasoning. I'll try to find the original article that was pretty specific, but here is one from Forbes (financial magazine) that was released today: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...ends-in-china/

[Vigilant]

When they start selling XP, Honor, Valor etc. then im worried.

Thing is, even if they did that it wouldn't affect me in any way. Granted, I'm not a raider, but neither are the majority of players, I would assume. Doesn't matter to me if other people level faster, gear up faster, or whatever else. I can still play the game without paying for extra stuff (I would *never* pay for extras), leveling as I can, gearing up as I can, and enjoying it all along.

[The Madgod]

Thus the conveniently ignored word "MINOR" in my post. It's not a huge value decrease - but it IS a decrease and that's the entire point.

A point that makes a claim with only one variable in mind, ignoring all the others.

Shrug it off all you'd like, every new store item increases that percentage of the game that subscribers can never get without additional cost. That's the most important fact in the discussion, period. If you're willing to overlook that, then good for you, but you're an idiot of a consumer for doing so.

Your fact, once again, only takes one variable into account and thus is flat-out wrong.

What you're saying would only be true if they didn't add items into the game. They would be idiots to do that and they most certainly do not. For every item added to the shop in an expansion, there's about five to ten that are added to the game.

If anyone's willing to overlook things, you are.

[Mad_Murdock]

And what an increase in cash shop items tells players is that they're actually getting less value for their sub fee than they used to.

I just don't know that I can agree with this. Blizzard offers plenty of things in game, so much that I don't have everything. Of everything I could have, it's not worth my time to go get. They also offer 30+ more things outside the game that I can buy if I so choose, that I don't have to Grind or hope the RNG gods show me favor with if I want to spend the bucks on.

I think to make a fair argument one would have to show that the things available in game is dropping in a measurable way and the things in the cash shop is growing in a measurable way at the same time.

At the end of the day, the player base determines if it's acceptable to them or not. I suspect, as usual, people are unhappy in learning that they are really the minority of the playerbase and not the majority. If the cash shops turns into a huge success, you absolutely can not blame Blizzard. You have to blame all the players that have too much money and not enough better things to spend it on.

[Fagatronics]

Completely subjective opinion.

To any number of people it could literally be the best thing ever.
And quite honestly, if they released Vanilla (as it was in '05) today, even TBC, the game would do terribly.

Ummmmm, that's subjective too.

[Claymore]

It may be a business move, but it is not a smart one. It is incredibly short-sighted, and was clearly pushed through by someone who knows little of the trends of the Gaming industry. No game with a mandatory subscription has *EVER* found success with microtransactions, and the only reason it hasn't proven to be a bigger issue with Pets and Mounts, frankly, is because most players don't seem that involved with them. I think with the introduction of Transmog items, though, they're affecting people in a much larger capacity -- particularly when it is abundantly clear that Blizzard's artists are putting almost zero effort into the in-game sets.

Then there's the whole issue of the XP Potion. That's not a "frivolous item that doesn't affect game-balance". Quite the contrary; it upsets the balance of the most fundamental aspect of the game. It is a well-known issue that leveling in Mists of Pandaria is more arduous than any Expansion to come before, and rather than exercise better game design, they're going to charge you to play the game that Blizzard is openly admitting is the way they intend it to be played.

If that doesn't piss you off, then this will; they've also mentioned that Lesser Charms of Good Fortune will likely be added as microtransactions. That's right, people with more money will be able to gear out more quickly than you, and you're kidding yourself if you think it's going to stop there. I know this industry, and if someone has managed to push these transmog-helms through as microtransactions, then they have far more dire plans in mind, barring a huge, unified player-backlash. It will probably start with heirlooms being purchasable, followed by removing those Lesser Charms and Heirlooms from in-game. Who knows; Blizzard may just announce "Hey guys, there's already so many amazing pieces of art in the game, we're not going to bother adding any more armor-designs at all! However, out artists have created some amazing new stuff exclusively for the Pet Store!".

This is an MMO with a mandatory subscription. Microtransactions simply cannot co-exist with a mandated subscription cost, and anyone who thinks otherwise is either foolish, or hasn't researched the topic enough. Now, if it's an optional subscription? Maybe. But consider this; WoW how 8 Million subscribers, by last count. What other MMO has even *half* of that? They're going to alienate a lot of players, just to make a few bucks here and there. Whoever made this decision to pursue this needs to be fired; not because it's unethical, but because it is simply poor business-practice, and risks a lot more than it could possibly make up for.

[Mawnix]

I see nothing wrong with the idea of the Blizzard store, but what I do find insulting is the pricing they use.

$10.00 USD for a pet, or $25.00 USD for mount? That's outrageous when you only pay $39.99 for an entire expansion pack. You're paying 60+% of the price of an expansion for probably 1/1000th of the content. That's revolting.

Once more: exaggerating.

[Celista]

Yeah sure, thats why the tier gear looks so good.

Oh wait, not, they look like fucking garbage, and these helms look good enough to be from a completely different game.

This upcoming tier looks like crap, agreed. And by crap I mean completely abysmal, and the quality of gear art has been in a steady decline imo, since BC. But I'm not exactly impressed with the helms either, and I'm certainly not going to be buying one.

[Megalithic]

You pay a monthly fee to be able to log in to your account and play; nothing more, nothing less.

Actually, no, that's not all I pay a monthly fee for. I also pay for support and access to new content (and for all of the content that is put into the game, including "cosmetic" and "novelty" items). If Blizzard turns my monthly fee into only getting me the "right" to log in and play but not access to content that they are developing, then I will then feel that the monthly fee is not worth paying anymore (I'm pretty much there already). Once they start having their development team focus more on developing items for the store and less on what my monthly fee gets me, then I'm gone.

The most important thing to realize is that Blizzard will NEVER make Tier Sets or any current content gear available for cash; they are not stupid enough to do that and you can mark my words that it'll never happen.

And you know this how? They already have things on the store that you can buy with real money, then sell in-game for in-game money. Which you can then use to buy Tier Sets and current content gear on the Black Market Auction House. Doesn't seem too far a stretch to just let people buy the stuff directly with real money.

[melodramocracy]

The only people complaining tend to be the 25 year olds living in their moms basement who doesnt work for their own cash.

Keep telling yourself that.

The game isn't about mounts so I would say as long as both options remain it wouldn't make a real difference.

The game is about beating bosses and getting more powerful gear. Until such a time when Blizzard sells that, the in-game store shouldn't do anything to change people's motivation to play.

The point is that, for example, the xmog gear on the store could have been used as a reward for any number of potential in-game activities.

HOO FREAKIN RAY!!! Now, if all the other crybabies would follow suit, everyone's mmo-c experience would be so much better.

The game has lost millions of subs over the past years. Hasn't your forum experience improved?

[Khaza-R]

Once more: exaggerating.

Please elaborate. You cannot possibly justify that a single mount is cost-relative to 60% of the content provided by an expansion like MoP or WotLK

[Mawnix]

Remember the threads how people think exclusiveness is great.

Now you have exclusive items....for people with money.

I am sure that isn't what the guys preaching against LFR had in mind, seeing some are the same who now hate on the petstore, but I like the irony.

Trust me, you're not the only one.

[Deleted]

what if i told you, that they have been using your sub money to develop the in game store and items, to sell to you, your sub money paid to develop the things they are going to sell you, and you say we should be grateful - wake up

[Tomana]

Most MMO developers add itemshops so they can reduce the cost of their subscriptions or other premium services.

Blizzard adds an itemshop so they'll have more resources to make more item shop items.

Did they present you with the accounting data about the destination of that money?