Wow, you guys are really evil. I don't see how it's insulting to add charity to it. Good for them. It's not their fault they're successful. It's us people that made 'em successful, ever thought about that, hmm? I guess not. You guys are naive to realize the mere fact that it is just another game that people play, that you used to play... so get over it.
Get over what? The fact that WoW ruined the MMORPG genre by making casual, themepark and linear norms in MMORPGs and bringing in millions of retards that wants everything handed to them on a silver platter and is now milking those retards for money through RMT?
No, I think that will take a while longer....
Blizzard may be out to make money, just like any other corp, but they are solely responsible for ruining the MMORPG genre.
The millions of retards existed long before wow released, but the problem is now "everyone" is dabbling in direct RMT.
There is no excuse for a cash shop from blizzard, none except they want more money for the same effort they were putting into the game last month. It isn't like they hired extra developers to create these pets. The pets are something people quest for in game. Oh well.
Anyone advocating support or apathy about this needs to rethink their positioning and look at the precedent being set. If a company can ask for $10 for a cosmetic pet that used to be part of the normal free updates, there is no reason to think they will not do the same for a sword, spell or a dungeon. They will continue to push and push until they make more money from the "premium" members and eventually push the "standard" members out the games.
Sure it is just a "few" "cosmetic" items now.... Think about where it will be in the future. We are making our own beds and don't even realize it.
I believe the excuse of "wanting more money" is why this game exists at all. Blizzard is a business. They are selling pets in game (that don't affect gameplay) for money. They want more money. They are a business. Generally speaking, the more money a business has, the more successful they are. I really don't understand what's so hard about this.
OMG....two more people on MMORPG.com with common sense? I don't believe it.
Common sense, funny you should bring that up. A person with common sense can look at this from a perspective other than their devotion to a game or company. No one expects a business to run a charity, which is a moot point that has been made numerous times.
If I look at this with an angle based on common sense, I can not help but realize when companies start down this path they rarely turn back. Once pets stop selling, what's next? Do not give me the same cop out answer I've seen time and time again in these threads. "Oh my, they haven't gone that route yet". Well what other route is there? Once they realize people will pay, they will add, that is the bottom line.
This isn't just about Blizzard, this is an issue facing the entire industry right now. When is enough, enough? Where are they going to draw the line on what is acceptable honest business and what is pure greed?
They are taking advantage of addictions IMO, which is hardly something I would call acceptable. They know full well how attached certain gamers get to their games, as well as how easily it is to sway them to give a little more to have everything.
It's become rampant in the PC and console sectors, DLC dlc dlc.... That's all you hear about anymore, when did it become standard practice to charge 50-60 bucks for half the product? That is in essense what these companies are doing today. It's as if they intentionally hold back developed content just to sell it to you later for a little extra. A person with common sense looks at things as a whole, not just the perspective they get from their own little world.
I touched on this in the previous post, but I guess I'll do it again here. There is no such thing as "acceptable honest business." These games weren't created out of honey and flowers to spread joy throughout the land. They were created to make money. Period. As it's still a (fairly) new genre, the best way to make the highest profits are still being figured out. If the "mall" approach makes the most money while losing the fewest amount of customers, that's the approach that will win. To attribute the notion of "greed" to a company is ridiculous and useless. The very thing these companies exist for is to make money, period. If you like what they sell and the method they sell it then you buy it. If enough people agree then it's a successful business model that is generating profit. If enough people disagree, no profit, no employees, no company.
Common sense, funny you should bring that up. A person with common sense can look at this from a perspective other than their devotion to a game or company. No one expects a business to run a charity, which is a moot point that has been made numerous times.
If I look at this with an angle based on common sense, I can not help but realize when companies start down this path they rarely turn back. Once pets stop selling, what's next? Do not give me the same cop out answer I've seen time and time again in these threads. "Oh my, they haven't gone that route yet". Well what other route is there? Once they realize people will pay, they will add, that is the bottom line.
This isn't just about Blizzard, this is an issue facing the entire industry right now. When is enough, enough? Where are they going to draw the line on what is acceptable honest business and what is pure greed?
They are taking advantage of addictions IMO, which is hardly something I would call acceptable. They know full well how attached certain gamers get to their games, as well as how easily it is to sway them to give a little more to have everything.
It's become rampant in the PC and console sectors, DLC dlc dlc.... That's all you hear about anymore, when did it become standard practice to charge 50-60 bucks for half the product? That is in essense what these companies are doing today. It's as if they intentionally hold back developed content just to sell it to you later for a little extra. A person with common sense looks at things as a whole, not just the perspective they get from their own little world.
I touched on this in the previous post, but I guess I'll do it again here. There is no such thing as "acceptable honest business."
Really?
To the rest, it's just the same tired argument. Of course they're out to make a profit, that's not the point and you know it (at least I would hope so). It's feeding off addictions like a crack dealer IMO, where there is a line crossed. They know full well there are people who have to have everything in game, those are the people these companies are exploiting. I view such customers as the hopelessly addicted to these games. They fall for these quick profit schemes just like a fly races for that pile of dung. They can't resist and these companies profit from that. That IMO is very much crossing a line.
As I said in my last post, no biggie I just won't play games anymore if things continue down this road.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I believe the excuse of "wanting more money" is why this game exists at all. Blizzard is a business. They are selling pets in game (that don't affect gameplay) for money. They want more money. They are a business. Generally speaking, the more money a business has, the more successful they are. I really don't understand what's so hard about this.
Your argument can be applied to any aspect imaginable in a video game. Anything can be applied to your statement no matter how bad or unimaginable an idea might seem. Blizzard could make the game black/white with color being a $10 option.
Just because something makes a company more money doesn't mean it is a good idea for A) their longterm health and their customers.
I can name a few games (and companies) that have cut their own legs out from underneath themselves to make a few bucks in the short term. Sure the bottom line is important, but lacking the ability to see beyond that has caused more problems to more companies than I can count.
Yes they are only selling pets.... right now. Yes they are not selling game altering items... yet. I know most don't care about it.... until it affects them directly.
However I see no value in what these cash shops offer. Removing content from a game and asking for an additional $10 is a disservice to players. I would rather not see companies ask me to pay for the service of having content removed. Their desire for money means nothing to me.
However I see no value in what these cash shops offer. Removing content from a game and asking for an additional $10 is a disservice to players. I would rather not see companies ask me to pay for the service of having content removed. Their desire for money means nothing to me.
In order for that argument to be valid, the pets would have had to be in game before they were available for purchase, which they weren't.
Seriously though, theres no use getting a heartattack over this, just vote with your wallets.
Of course, since forumdwellers are a clear minority of the WoW population, it wont make much of a difference if most players on this site would unsubscribe. Most people will just keep playing, and buy themselves a brand new pair of pets.
However I see no value in what these cash shops offer. Removing content from a game and asking for an additional $10 is a disservice to players. I would rather not see companies ask me to pay for the service of having content removed. Their desire for money means nothing to me.
In order for that argument to be valid, the pets would have had to be in game before they were available for purchase, which they weren't.
Their removal comes from the developer time that was diverted from game updates to cash shop updates. The resources used to create the cash shop items come from the development team and if they were not creating content for cash shops, they would be creating content for live updates, just like they normally do.
I believe the excuse of "wanting more money" is why this game exists at all. Blizzard is a business. They are selling pets in game (that don't affect gameplay) for money. They want more money. They are a business. Generally speaking, the more money a business has, the more successful they are. I really don't understand what's so hard about this.
Your argument can be applied to any aspect imaginable in a video game. Anything can be applied to your statement no matter how bad or unimaginable an idea might seem. Blizzard could make the game black/white with color being a $10 option.
Just because something makes a company more money doesn't mean it is a good idea for A) their longterm health and their customers.
I can name a few games (and companies) that have cut their own legs out from underneath themselves to make a few bucks in the short term. Sure the bottom line is important, but lacking the ability to see beyond that has caused more problems to more companies than I can count.
Yes they are only selling pets.... right now. Yes they are not selling game altering items... yet. I know most don't care about it.... until it affects them directly.
However I see no value in what these cash shops offer. Removing content from a game and asking for an additional $10 is a disservice to players. I would rather not see companies ask me to pay for the service of having content removed. Their desire for money means nothing to me.
Of course it can be applied to any aspect imaginable, but it won't be. I realize you were being extreme with your example, but you won't see a company charge $10 to play in color. Won't happen. Trying to suggest that Blizzard might do something too extreme that ends up 'cutting thier legs out from under them" for short-term gain is not consistent with what Blizzard has done as a company. I would suggest that if they did start to offer "game-altering" items for sale then there would be a major uproar from the people that actually spend thier money on the game (of which I am one, but it seems many people commenting here are not). I would also suggest that Blizzard is well aware of this.
I've seen a person in game with the "spectral tiger" mount. That's basically an in-game vanity item that cost them $1000 on average from ebay. If the general game-playing public show an interest in this sort of thing then why wouldn't Blizzard try to get a piece of that? To the poster who suggested that this is like "crack" and Blizzard is taking advantage of customers all I can say is buyer beware. To suggest that Blizzard is somehow immoral for doing this is ludicrous. Games are designed to be addictive--particularly rpgs with monthly subscriptions with new content added all the time (mostly in the form of new goals and stuff for you character). It's a time-skill-reward system that will not ever end until people stop playing.
I agree with everyone that's stated that there is a line that can be crossed, but I would suggest that line is much, much farther away than $10 vanity pets, and that Blizzard (basing this entirely on history here) is smart enough to know not to cross over it.
Common sense, funny you should bring that up. A person with common sense can look at this from a perspective other than their devotion to a game or company. No one expects a business to run a charity, which is a moot point that has been made numerous times.
If I look at this with an angle based on common sense, I can not help but realize when companies start down this path they rarely turn back. Once pets stop selling, what's next? Do not give me the same cop out answer I've seen time and time again in these threads. "Oh my, they haven't gone that route yet". Well what other route is there? Once they realize people will pay, they will add, that is the bottom line.
This isn't just about Blizzard, this is an issue facing the entire industry right now. When is enough, enough? Where are they going to draw the line on what is acceptable honest business and what is pure greed?
They are taking advantage of addictions IMO, which is hardly something I would call acceptable. They know full well how attached certain gamers get to their games, as well as how easily it is to sway them to give a little more to have everything.
It's become rampant in the PC and console sectors, DLC dlc dlc.... That's all you hear about anymore, when did it become standard practice to charge 50-60 bucks for half the product? That is in essense what these companies are doing today. It's as if they intentionally hold back developed content just to sell it to you later for a little extra. A person with common sense looks at things as a whole, not just the perspective they get from their own little world.
I touched on this in the previous post, but I guess I'll do it again here. There is no such thing as "acceptable honest business."
Really?
To the rest, it's just the same tired argument. Of course they're out to make a profit, that's not the point and you know it (at least I would hope so). It's feeding off addictions like a crack dealer IMO, where there is a line crossed. They know full well there are people who have to have everything in game, those are the people these companies are exploiting. I view such customers as the hopelessly addicted to these games. They fall for these quick profit schemes just like a fly races for that pile of dung. They can't resist and these companies profit from that. That IMO is very much crossing a line.
As I said in my last post, no biggie I just won't play games anymore if things continue down this road.
Okay, so I was too extreme with that sentence, but you know what I meant. All these suggestions that Blizzard is somehow a minion of the Devil are ridiculous. They are doing business well within the law. And yes, the point is they are trying to make a profit. That is the only point. Why that is so immoral to anyone is truly beyond my understanding. They are not out to hurt anyone, they have age limits and require credit-cards to purchase the game, content, store items or anything else. Because people can't exercise self-control Blizzard should stop trying to figure out how to make more money? I think it's a brilliant move on thier part precisely because of what you said: there are certain people out there who will have to have these things. If enough other people aren't (not the case I suspect) then they won't do it again. If enough people do buy them they will probably test the waters with other things. Mounts, flying mounts, vanity helms, etc. Other people are already making mone from things Blizzard created anyway, why shouldn't they try when there's obviously a market for it? Do an ebay search sometime for WoW and sort it by price: highest to lowest. There will be items over $1000. If Blizzards way of combating that is to sell items at much more reasonable prices that's okay with me.
As I said before I agree that there are lines that can be crossed, but this doesn't come close.
Comments
Get over what? The fact that WoW ruined the MMORPG genre by making casual, themepark and linear norms in MMORPGs and bringing in millions of retards that wants everything handed to them on a silver platter and is now milking those retards for money through RMT?
No, I think that will take a while longer....
Blizzard may be out to make money, just like any other corp, but they are solely responsible for ruining the MMORPG genre.
The millions of retards existed long before wow released, but the problem is now "everyone" is dabbling in direct RMT.
There is no excuse for a cash shop from blizzard, none except they want more money for the same effort they were putting into the game last month. It isn't like they hired extra developers to create these pets. The pets are something people quest for in game. Oh well.
Anyone advocating support or apathy about this needs to rethink their positioning and look at the precedent being set. If a company can ask for $10 for a cosmetic pet that used to be part of the normal free updates, there is no reason to think they will not do the same for a sword, spell or a dungeon. They will continue to push and push until they make more money from the "premium" members and eventually push the "standard" members out the games.
Sure it is just a "few" "cosmetic" items now.... Think about where it will be in the future. We are making our own beds and don't even realize it.
I believe the excuse of "wanting more money" is why this game exists at all. Blizzard is a business. They are selling pets in game (that don't affect gameplay) for money. They want more money. They are a business. Generally speaking, the more money a business has, the more successful they are. I really don't understand what's so hard about this.
People getting up in arms over frivolous luxuries makes for decent entertainment.
I'm not here to complete my forum PVP dailies.
Common sense, funny you should bring that up. A person with common sense can look at this from a perspective other than their devotion to a game or company. No one expects a business to run a charity, which is a moot point that has been made numerous times.
If I look at this with an angle based on common sense, I can not help but realize when companies start down this path they rarely turn back. Once pets stop selling, what's next? Do not give me the same cop out answer I've seen time and time again in these threads. "Oh my, they haven't gone that route yet". Well what other route is there? Once they realize people will pay, they will add, that is the bottom line.
This isn't just about Blizzard, this is an issue facing the entire industry right now. When is enough, enough? Where are they going to draw the line on what is acceptable honest business and what is pure greed?
They are taking advantage of addictions IMO, which is hardly something I would call acceptable. They know full well how attached certain gamers get to their games, as well as how easily it is to sway them to give a little more to have everything.
It's become rampant in the PC and console sectors, DLC dlc dlc.... That's all you hear about anymore, when did it become standard practice to charge 50-60 bucks for half the product? That is in essense what these companies are doing today. It's as if they intentionally hold back developed content just to sell it to you later for a little extra. A person with common sense looks at things as a whole, not just the perspective they get from their own little world.
I touched on this in the previous post, but I guess I'll do it again here. There is no such thing as "acceptable honest business." These games weren't created out of honey and flowers to spread joy throughout the land. They were created to make money. Period. As it's still a (fairly) new genre, the best way to make the highest profits are still being figured out. If the "mall" approach makes the most money while losing the fewest amount of customers, that's the approach that will win. To attribute the notion of "greed" to a company is ridiculous and useless. The very thing these companies exist for is to make money, period. If you like what they sell and the method they sell it then you buy it. If enough people agree then it's a successful business model that is generating profit. If enough people disagree, no profit, no employees, no company.
I am in no way up in arms, I just won't play games in the future if things continue down this path. Nothing to lose sleep over or be pissed about.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Common sense, funny you should bring that up. A person with common sense can look at this from a perspective other than their devotion to a game or company. No one expects a business to run a charity, which is a moot point that has been made numerous times.
If I look at this with an angle based on common sense, I can not help but realize when companies start down this path they rarely turn back. Once pets stop selling, what's next? Do not give me the same cop out answer I've seen time and time again in these threads. "Oh my, they haven't gone that route yet". Well what other route is there? Once they realize people will pay, they will add, that is the bottom line.
This isn't just about Blizzard, this is an issue facing the entire industry right now. When is enough, enough? Where are they going to draw the line on what is acceptable honest business and what is pure greed?
They are taking advantage of addictions IMO, which is hardly something I would call acceptable. They know full well how attached certain gamers get to their games, as well as how easily it is to sway them to give a little more to have everything.
It's become rampant in the PC and console sectors, DLC dlc dlc.... That's all you hear about anymore, when did it become standard practice to charge 50-60 bucks for half the product? That is in essense what these companies are doing today. It's as if they intentionally hold back developed content just to sell it to you later for a little extra. A person with common sense looks at things as a whole, not just the perspective they get from their own little world.
I touched on this in the previous post, but I guess I'll do it again here. There is no such thing as "acceptable honest business."
Really?
To the rest, it's just the same tired argument. Of course they're out to make a profit, that's not the point and you know it (at least I would hope so). It's feeding off addictions like a crack dealer IMO, where there is a line crossed. They know full well there are people who have to have everything in game, those are the people these companies are exploiting. I view such customers as the hopelessly addicted to these games. They fall for these quick profit schemes just like a fly races for that pile of dung. They can't resist and these companies profit from that. That IMO is very much crossing a line.
As I said in my last post, no biggie I just won't play games anymore if things continue down this road.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Your argument can be applied to any aspect imaginable in a video game. Anything can be applied to your statement no matter how bad or unimaginable an idea might seem. Blizzard could make the game black/white with color being a $10 option.
Just because something makes a company more money doesn't mean it is a good idea for A) their longterm health and
their customers.
I can name a few games (and companies) that have cut their own legs out from underneath themselves to make a few bucks in the short term. Sure the bottom line is important, but lacking the ability to see beyond that has caused more problems to more companies than I can count.
Yes they are only selling pets.... right now. Yes they are not selling game altering items... yet. I know most don't care about it.... until it affects them directly.
However I see no value in what these cash shops offer. Removing content from a game and asking for an additional $10 is a disservice to players. I would rather not see companies ask me to pay for the service of having content removed. Their desire for money means nothing to me.
In order for that argument to be valid, the pets would have had to be in game before they were available for purchase, which they weren't.
I'm not here to complete my forum PVP dailies.
LOL, you guys are all like a bunch of cattle being led to slaughter and blizzard is really hungry for steak.
Mmmm... steak..!
Seriously though, theres no use getting a heartattack over this, just vote with your wallets.
Of course, since forumdwellers are a clear minority of the WoW population, it wont make much of a difference if most players on this site would unsubscribe. Most people will just keep playing, and buy themselves a brand new pair of pets.
In order for that argument to be valid, the pets would have had to be in game before they were available for purchase, which they weren't.
Their removal comes from the developer time that was diverted from game updates to cash shop updates. The resources used to create the cash shop items come from the development team and if they were not creating content for cash shops, they would be creating content for live updates, just like they normally do.
Your argument can be applied to any aspect imaginable in a video game. Anything can be applied to your statement no matter how bad or unimaginable an idea might seem. Blizzard could make the game black/white with color being a $10 option.
Just because something makes a company more money doesn't mean it is a good idea for A) their longterm health and
their customers.
I can name a few games (and companies) that have cut their own legs out from underneath themselves to make a few bucks in the short term. Sure the bottom line is important, but lacking the ability to see beyond that has caused more problems to more companies than I can count.
Yes they are only selling pets.... right now. Yes they are not selling game altering items... yet. I know most don't care about it.... until it affects them directly.
However I see no value in what these cash shops offer. Removing content from a game and asking for an additional $10 is a disservice to players. I would rather not see companies ask me to pay for the service of having content removed. Their desire for money means nothing to me.
Of course it can be applied to any aspect imaginable, but it won't be. I realize you were being extreme with your example, but you won't see a company charge $10 to play in color. Won't happen. Trying to suggest that Blizzard might do something too extreme that ends up 'cutting thier legs out from under them" for short-term gain is not consistent with what Blizzard has done as a company. I would suggest that if they did start to offer "game-altering" items for sale then there would be a major uproar from the people that actually spend thier money on the game (of which I am one, but it seems many people commenting here are not). I would also suggest that Blizzard is well aware of this.
I've seen a person in game with the "spectral tiger" mount. That's basically an in-game vanity item that cost them $1000 on average from ebay. If the general game-playing public show an interest in this sort of thing then why wouldn't Blizzard try to get a piece of that? To the poster who suggested that this is like "crack" and Blizzard is taking advantage of customers all I can say is buyer beware. To suggest that Blizzard is somehow immoral for doing this is ludicrous. Games are designed to be addictive--particularly rpgs with monthly subscriptions with new content added all the time (mostly in the form of new goals and stuff for you character). It's a time-skill-reward system that will not ever end until people stop playing.
I agree with everyone that's stated that there is a line that can be crossed, but I would suggest that line is much, much farther away than $10 vanity pets, and that Blizzard (basing this entirely on history here) is smart enough to know not to cross over it.
Common sense, funny you should bring that up. A person with common sense can look at this from a perspective other than their devotion to a game or company. No one expects a business to run a charity, which is a moot point that has been made numerous times.
If I look at this with an angle based on common sense, I can not help but realize when companies start down this path they rarely turn back. Once pets stop selling, what's next? Do not give me the same cop out answer I've seen time and time again in these threads. "Oh my, they haven't gone that route yet". Well what other route is there? Once they realize people will pay, they will add, that is the bottom line.
This isn't just about Blizzard, this is an issue facing the entire industry right now. When is enough, enough? Where are they going to draw the line on what is acceptable honest business and what is pure greed?
They are taking advantage of addictions IMO, which is hardly something I would call acceptable. They know full well how attached certain gamers get to their games, as well as how easily it is to sway them to give a little more to have everything.
It's become rampant in the PC and console sectors, DLC dlc dlc.... That's all you hear about anymore, when did it become standard practice to charge 50-60 bucks for half the product? That is in essense what these companies are doing today. It's as if they intentionally hold back developed content just to sell it to you later for a little extra. A person with common sense looks at things as a whole, not just the perspective they get from their own little world.
I touched on this in the previous post, but I guess I'll do it again here. There is no such thing as "acceptable honest business."
Really?
To the rest, it's just the same tired argument. Of course they're out to make a profit, that's not the point and you know it (at least I would hope so). It's feeding off addictions like a crack dealer IMO, where there is a line crossed. They know full well there are people who have to have everything in game, those are the people these companies are exploiting. I view such customers as the hopelessly addicted to these games. They fall for these quick profit schemes just like a fly races for that pile of dung. They can't resist and these companies profit from that. That IMO is very much crossing a line.
As I said in my last post, no biggie I just won't play games anymore if things continue down this road.
Okay, so I was too extreme with that sentence, but you know what I meant. All these suggestions that Blizzard is somehow a minion of the Devil are ridiculous. They are doing business well within the law. And yes, the point is they are trying to make a profit. That is the only point. Why that is so immoral to anyone is truly beyond my understanding. They are not out to hurt anyone, they have age limits and require credit-cards to purchase the game, content, store items or anything else. Because people can't exercise self-control Blizzard should stop trying to figure out how to make more money? I think it's a brilliant move on thier part precisely because of what you said: there are certain people out there who will have to have these things. If enough other people aren't (not the case I suspect) then they won't do it again. If enough people do buy them they will probably test the waters with other things. Mounts, flying mounts, vanity helms, etc. Other people are already making mone from things Blizzard created anyway, why shouldn't they try when there's obviously a market for it? Do an ebay search sometime for WoW and sort it by price: highest to lowest. There will be items over $1000. If Blizzards way of combating that is to sell items at much more reasonable prices that's okay with me.
As I said before I agree that there are lines that can be crossed, but this doesn't come close.