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http://videogames.yahoo.com/feature/warcraft-testers-pay-big-for-access/1233047
Yahoo article.
by mike smith
Would you have paid $1,000 to see Indy 4 a few months early?
Unless you're a real hardcore Harrison Ford fan, probably not. But that's the conundrum facing the 10 million players of smash online RPG World of Warcraft, some of whom are forking out hundreds of dollars for a several-month-long preview of the game's latest expansion.
Wrath of the Lich King, Warcraft's second expansion, is due to launch later this year, and in the last few weeks it began "beta testing," becoming accessible to a small group of specially-selected subscribers via an online keycode system, to help the developers find bugs and game balance problems. And although this role is often filled with professional, paid game testers, Blizzard isn't short of volunteers who'll do it for free -- or even pay for the privilege.
Even though beta-test servers are typically wiped altogether just before the release of the completed game, fans are still eager for a sneak peak of Lich King's new continent, new playable class, and a host of other enhancements to what's become the most successful online game in history. Demand is so high that keycodes for the beta test are currently selling for between $400 and $500 on Ebay and, according to Eurogamer, fetching the equivalent of about $1,000 in the UK.
Lich King is expected to be released before the end of the year. Once it's on the streets, it'll be accessible to anyone for a mere $40 purchase -- and all the characters, gold, and experience of the testers will have vanished.
This is by far the dumbest purchase anyone could try to make.
Comments
Agreed. Why would you want to pay for something that will be wiped?
there is a real market for this. Power games want to know as much content as they can, so they can rush through it and try for world firsts and server firsts. betas let them all figure out the best places to level, the places to avoid and all kinds of things like that.
also some people really want to play it.. and have WAY too much disposable income... c'mon people $1000? imagine how much beer you could buy for your friends with that?
Everything creates huge amounts of negativity on the internet, that's what the internet is for: Negativity, porn and lolcats.
Why not wait a few months...What retards, so much money wasted
Beta buying is not news. It has been around for awhile. Just have to know the sites to find them (which aren't hard to find).
well i didnt know there was beta buying but i guess its news when its the 10million sub mmo that news branches talk about it
Agreed. Why would you want to pay for something that will be wiped?
Gold farmers and powerleveling sites. Using the beta as a means of learning all the new exploits, drop rates and mobs, and basically getting to plan out there routes and strategies for when it launches. They'll make the money back in a days worth of sales.
well i guess that makes sense. Damn gold farmers/sellers i think they ruin mmo's
well i guess that makes sense. Damn gold farmers/sellers i think they ruin mmo's
I agree, but they share the blame with the lazy douches who buy their services as well.
well i guess that makes sense. Damn gold farmers/sellers i think they ruin mmo's
I agree, but they share the blame with the lazy douches who buy their services as well.
True damn douches
Maybe if they did not buy from them they wouldnt complain of spammers ruining chat all the time...
Not when you have money.
It's all relative. There are people who think nothing of dropping several thousand on a weekend's worth of entertainment.
I'm sure there are people starving in the world who could do quite a lot with 15 dollars a month (which is an amazing sum for "some".
And probably think what retards we are for spending it on something as frivolous as a video game.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
I don't like gold sellers or powerleveling services nor have I used them. But, on the same hand in my personal experience they don't affect my playtime. Besides the occasional spam I don't see how they affect me, I ignore them or don't even see them really ever. I've played months in games and never been affected by these sellers/levelers. I am being sincere here I would like to hear how they ruin mmo games...I'm not saying they don't, It just has never ruined my playtime.
thanks
hell I used to drop $600 a weekend on meth, so paying a little for as beta is not that bad lol.
My god has horns.... nah, I don't think he is real either.
That explains alot............
j/k
hehe :P has been about 6 yrs or so since I touched the stuff, i now try and keep my addictions limited to mmos :P
My god has horns.... nah, I don't think he is real either.
Most powergamers don't put so much stock in a game that they'd drop hundreds or thousands to get a sneak peak. They might take the game super seriously when they do play it, but that doesn't mean they have the willingness to drop tons of dough when they're not.
Yeah, 1% of the people doing this might simply have more money than sense, but for 99% of the others, I'd think it's something completely different.
I would say that most buyers here are virtual goods sellers or powerleveling services, perhaps 90%. Gray market competition is brutal and cutthroat. They will do anything for an advantage. Most of these companies do not have vast cash reserves on hand. If they rely on WoW for their primary revenue stream, and many do, and they're behind the curve for one or two months after WotLK launches while they perfect their strategies, that's bye bye for them. Doors closed, next guy gets the money of Joe Lazy.
I believe the WotLK beta includes the raid content, and I'm basing my next assumption on this. The other 10% of buyers here are probably a few hardcore raiders who want an extra edge in the race for world firsts. If you're one of the top raiding guilds worldwide but not quite in the very top tier, and you've never pulled off a world first kill on a raid boss, wouldn't this suddenly seem like a viable option if you were desperate enough? I'm betting the very top raiding guilds were invited to the beta en mass, but I'm talking about the guys one or two rungs below them on the ladder. Maybe 90% as good, but never earning any recognition.
Another thought, and I'm not so sure about this one, is the highest-end arena PvP'ers. They had cash prizes for the last season on the arena server, right? I'm betting the very first such season after WotLK launches will have many beta players at the upper echelons. Some people might look at a ticket into the beta as a leg-up in the competition, since it will give them more experience with the new talents, and they'd already have developed their strategies to incorporate/counter death knights. I doubt this will be a big issue, though, as I'm betting Blizzard will avoid this by simply starting the arena season a few months after WotLK launches, to give everybody a chance to figure things out.
People take this game very, very serious. A player on my server transferred over to death and taxes (top US raiding guild pre-tbc) raided, got geared out before 99% of the wow population, then sold his toon for over $1300. It was a holy pally too....LOL....PALLY lol. Not to mention that most people knew tbc was only a couple of months away and they still dropped money just to have shiny purples.
Warhammer beta's went for about $350-$450 about a year ago. They dropped down to about $60-$100 now because of the recent constant invitations...
How do I know this? I don't know...shhhh...
Actually I'm pretty sure they just want to brag to their "friends" in vent.
Agreed. Why would you want to pay for something that will be wiped?
In all reality, everygame will eventually be wiped, subscribers and itemmall shoppers will fade away and companies will have to close down all of their servers - so really you should quit gaming if you beleive that paying to enjoy something is a frail purchase, because nothing you do on an online game is worth a walk in the park with the fam, so reconsider that statement then go enjoy your favorite game..
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IVE PLAYED WOW AND LIKED IT SO IM A FANBOI PLZ FLAME MY THREADS CUZ I MIGHT MENTION WOW
Agreed. Why would you want to pay for something that will be wiped?
In all reality, everygame will eventually be wiped, subscribers and itemmall shoppers will fade away and companies will have to close down all of their servers - so really you should quit gaming if you beleive that paying to enjoy something is a frail purchase, because nothing you do on an online game is worth a walk in the park with the fam, so reconsider that statement then go enjoy your favorite game..
but by that time you are already not playing. I think the only people who ever got hurt by a game tanking was the Asheron Call 2 guys.
Agreed. Why would you want to pay for something that will be wiped?
Because the type of people most likely buy those beta codes off ebuy for 500 or even 1000 us dollars is an amount that's not that much to them. With their spending power they can feed their desire to get a sneak peak of the expansion. For us common people it's normal for us to think of far better things to spend that amount of money on.
Agreed. Why would you want to pay for something that will be wiped?
In all reality, everygame will eventually be wiped, subscribers and itemmall shoppers will fade away and companies will have to close down all of their servers - so really you should quit gaming if you beleive that paying to enjoy something is a frail purchase, because nothing you do on an online game is worth a walk in the park with the fam, so reconsider that statement then go enjoy your favorite game..
but by that time you are already not playing. I think the only people who ever got hurt by a game tanking was the Asheron Call 2 guys.
Earth and Beyond.
Just as I feared! Rash of the Itch King is using mind control. Blizzard is quite diabolical! Because no sane person would pay upwards of $500 to play a beta, nevermind $1000 in the UK...
That's quite sad in my opinion.
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A human and an Elf get captured by Skaven. The rat-men are getting ready to shoot the first hostage with Dwarf-made guns when he yells, "Earthquake!" The naturally nervous Skaven run and hide from the imaginary threat. He escapes. The Skaven regroup and bring out the Elf. Being very smart, the Elf has figured out what to do. When the Skaven get ready to shoot, the Elf, in order to scare them, yells, "Fire!"
Order of the White Border.
This game has messed up so many people and how they view games. Pathetic.