Charging $35 for a character copy is why people say Blizzard is greedy

[Legends303]

in TBC classic they are even trying to strip more money away from their player base from a 13 year old game. Not saying this feature should be free but $35 is outragous. I feel sorry for people who still white knight for this company, its sad.

[sarym13]

Agreed. Putting a $35 price tag for a required feature is absurd. If only this was optional.

Ohwait

[Sondrelk]

It's really weird. The need to not copy the character completely is fair enough, but surely transferring a character once should be allowed for free.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

I would feel more comfortable with it if they at least gave you one freebie, or it copied a servers full stable of characters, but the truth is the reason it is this high is because they spent a lot of time and money on figuring out if people would do it. So odds are a ton will and at this price point. As shitty as that sounds. To them we are just wallets and transferring max dollars from us to them is all that matters and it really isn't Blizzards or major corporations fault either. We as a consumer base didn't value customer support very high because companies poop on us and we might yell and carry on but then the wallet opens and money transfers. So that means they won. It's over.

So you just do you and accept it for what it is. If you hate it then don't buy. You can choose what direction the character goes and can still play the other fresh if you want. Or if you want both buy and realize that you may not like paying that much but in the end you do think it was worth paying that much.

[jellmoo]

I don't see how this is any different than something like a name change, race change or server transfer. All are basically just a database script. Why does this one generate outrage but the others do not?

[McNeil]

First Blizzard didn't saw potential in Classic, now they see they can take full advantage and go all out on monetizing after its huge and continuous succes. They should at least allow 1 character copy for free. The level boost is also far more hurtful for Classic than retail, with leveling being a much more integral part of the game. Out of all the changes they could have made for the game, this was the one thing people didn't want. The #NoChanges crowd warned us for this.

[Azerate]

It's really weird. The need to not copy the character completely is fair enough, but surely transferring a character once should be allowed for free.

Transfering IS free.

The cost is for CLONING your character.

[javierdsv]

I mean, you were supposed to play WoW Classic = Vanilla. Why copying over a character is a "required" feature?
TBC classic is basically a different game... that happens to be compatible with your old data.

Sure, they could charge you less, but at the end of the day we know they are here only to make money. So you could expect worse.

[Lodreh]

...$35 is outrag(e)ous...

You are right about that... it should be $60... the cost of a Boost.

[erifwodahs]

Also: I have a great solution to this! I just don't spend 35$ on that service. That is my way of telling them what I think about it.

But I guess for some people that also counts as white-knighting?

They know there will be people who will be psychologically pressured to buy it and they just use these predatorial methods and prices to suck the $ out. This is not about "you don't have to". This is about company leeching people who are at a disadvantage. It's not 10$, it's fucking 35$.I don't even have anything I want to keep on classic and never planned to, but it just leaves very disgusting feeling with you about a company who betrayed their community. Retail - sure, they are adapting to the market and all the crap. Classic was a breath from the past with no cash grabs and promos, limited time shit or items which were made by interns on their spare time and then sold for 70$.

Can you tell me, if you had a AQ mount and Naxx staff on your char, would you want to remove it from the classic? Or would you pay the price?
For people who have some mediocore characters, sure, not much of a problem, but it's pure milking from people who have "finished" characters or you still want to raid in classic with your guild i.e. you are a main tank for the guild. 35$ is a lot. It should have been included in the "TBC Pass"/Deluxe price for at least one character

[Sicarius87]

$35 is a bit insane, but at the end of the day, its Activision controlling the price and not so much blizzard. But also at the end of the day, they are a business. Businesses are allowed (and supposed to) make money. Without that money, they are unable to maintain a game that you want to play.

Should the price be lower than $35? Yes. $20 max IMO. But it doesnt effect me because I didnt play classic.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

First Blizzard didn't saw potential in Classic, now they see they can take full advantage and go all out on monetizing after its huge and continuous succes. They should at least allow 1 character copy for free. The level boost is also far more hurtful for Classic than retail, with leveling being a much more integral part of the game. Out of all the changes they could have made for the game, this was the one thing people didn't want. The #NoChanges crowd warned us for this.

It's that slippery slope. They toss out a seal of blood to the alliance change and people that were hard nochanges people cheered and became somechanges. A month later the game was monitized into the FIFA zone. Suprised they don't let you open vurtual packs for mounts yet. Probably WotLK announcement.

[Darsithis]

Since there isn't at least one free use, I do think it's a bit greedy. However, overall, I wouldn't call Blizzard particularly greedy. WoW has been the same price for more than a decade-and-a-half (at least here in NA), which is absurdly cheap for 24/7 available entertainment, and a character copy isn't a necessary feature.

[Crimson Spears]

It is just the death spiral of a game. Eventually every mmo turns to over monetizing their customers.

[Razion]

I can't even imagine myself using the copy feature, it seems so niche.
If it has to cost something or more than zero can't they just say it's a perk of having a subscription, slap a CD, or put a direct gold cost on it?

[Lorgar Aurelian]

$35 is a bit insane, but at the end of the day, its Activision controlling the price and not so much blizzard. But also at the end of the day, they are a business. Businesses are allowed (and supposed to) make money. Without that money, they are unable to maintain a game that you want to play.

Should the price be lower than $35? Yes. $20 max IMO. But it doesnt effect me because I didnt play classic.

Why would you think the price had any thing to do with activison? blizzard has always had over priced services like the 10$ name change or 30$ faction change.

[erifwodahs]

I don't see how this is any different than something like a name change, race change or server transfer. All are basically just a database script. Why does this one generate outrage but the others do not?

It's not like that because if you don't buy that - you loose all your progress in classic unless you pay.

It's a valid argument - you don't have to, but at the same time if you are invested heavily into your character and community, do you really have that choice? I would not have a problem, if they let you to choose what character to copy for free and said any others will come at a cost. But damn, 35$? Disgusting.

I know they will have to be running more servers because of that, that is absolutely understandable and I am happy for them to have Classic wow in same sub as retail as that is the only reason for me to even try it and if they come clean to the reasons why they need to sell boosts and deluxe - sure, but character copy is too predatory and disgusting.

[Zergin8r]

Transfering IS free.

The cost is for CLONING your character.

Yeah people seem to think that you need to pay $35 to play TBC at all with their current Classic characters. You only need to pay if you want to keep the same character on both servers, which obviously was not an option originally. Would you rather pay $70 for access to TBC again without the option of keeping a character on Classic?

[jellmoo]

It's not like that because if you don't buy that - you loose all your progress in classic unless you pay.

It's a valid argument - you don't have to, but at the same time if you are invested heavily into your character and community, do you really have that choice? I would not have a problem, if they let you to choose what character to copy for free and said any others will come at a cost. But damn, 35$? Disgusting.

I know they will have to be running more servers because of that, that is absolutely understandable and I am happy for them to have Classic wow in same sub as retail as that is the only reason for me to even try it and if they come clean to the reasons why they need to sell boosts and deluxe - sure, but character copy is too predatory and disgusting.

Maybe it's just me not understanding, but I thought the system as implemented allows you to either keep your character on the server that's being updated to BC or have your character migrated to another Classic era server. The charge is only if you want your character to exist on both.

How are you losing your progress?

[La]

Seems silly that you have to pay for it and that it's $35. Unsurprisingly, there's no shortage of people who defend it. The only people who so fiercely defend this kind of stuff are the people who play Blizzard's games. Everyone else would probably just call you an idiot for defending it for any other company. Well, either that or hardcore Vanilla players or hardcore players in general who get off to feeling special. I mean shit, you're already paying monthly for a game that was released years ago, for content that has all already been made and done.