What people seem to forget is that Blizzard has done this before, only back then it was called Collector's Edition. The only reason to buy a Collector's Edition was to get the pets and some WoW memoribilia. In the end it is the same thing as selling the things in the Blizzard Store. So it really baffles me seeing the uproar over this 'gigantic step' Blizzard has take when the step was actually taken FIVE YEARS AGO.
No dude don't tell people they have been supporting RMT by buying CE's and Deluxe editions for the additional content, don't let them know this, it will kill them! Please don't tell them they have been paying for extra content just like RMT!
I never buy CE for some stupid pet or gimmick. I bought them to add to my display shelf because I have a great deal of admiration for that game, and respect for the company, usually because their product is something that brings hours of enjoyment to me.
All this changes when they start holding out their hands in my face through the game, subtracting from my enjoyment, all while expecting me to line their palm with cash, forget it.
Cataclysm is the first WoW expansion I will not be buying. Not the normal version, not the downloadable version, and certainly not the collectors edition. WoW is no longer a product I admire, and Blizzard is no longer a company I respect, because it is my choice who I respect and what I admire, it is my choice what I display on my shelf at home.
Good for you man! i plan on buying 2 CE's for both my accounts and will be buying just about anything else i can from this fine upstanding company, can't wait for blizzcon next year either!
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand." - Lewis Thomas
What's the big deal? They already allow the following for a fee. PvE->PvP server transfers
Faction changes
Race changes
Gender changes
Name changes
Good point as Blizzard charge for just about any game perk they can now. The cash shop selling tier armour and weapons, instant level 80 character option or in-game gold might be next on the game improvement agenda. After all why let the eBayers, levelling services or gold famers make money off the game when Blizzard could do it instead. This might sound far fetched right now, but Blizzard Activision are clearly maximising profits, this explains the crazy situation with the next Starcraft and Diablo games and why they are so delayed, they don't want to hurt their current cash cow.
What people seem to forget is that Blizzard has done this before, only back then it was called Collector's Edition. The only reason to buy a Collector's Edition was to get the pets and some WoW memoribilia. In the end it is the same thing as selling the things in the Blizzard Store. So it really baffles me seeing the uproar over this 'gigantic step' Blizzard has take when the step was actually taken FIVE YEARS AGO.
No dude don't tell people they have been supporting RMT by buying CE's and Deluxe editions for the additional content, don't let them know this, it will kill them! Please don't tell them they have been paying for extra content just like RMT!
I never buy CE for some stupid pet or gimmick. I bought them to add to my display shelf because I have a great deal of admiration for that game, and respect for the company, usually because their product is something that brings hours of enjoyment to me.
All this changes when they start holding out their hands in my face through the game, subtracting from my enjoyment, all while expecting me to line their palm with cash, forget it.
Cataclysm is the first WoW expansion I will not be buying. Not the normal version, not the downloadable version, and certainly not the collectors edition. WoW is no longer a product I admire, and Blizzard is no longer a company I respect, because it is my choice who I respect and what I admire, it is my choice what I display on my shelf at home.
Good for you man! i plan on buying 2 CE's for both my accounts and will be buying just about anything else i can from this fine upstanding company, can't wait for blizzcon next year either!
Good? It's not good at all. No, I'd call it pretty freaking bad to say the least. I've been a devout Blizzard fan since D1 / WC2, bought all their titles, I can recite the entire game dialogue of Starcraft and Warcraft 3 including unit speech. I always run around saying shit like "fire it up" and making zerg noises. My friends actually call me a zerg lol I have memorized my Starcraft, WC3 and TFT CD keys. I've had wallpapers of Blizzard games on my PC for over 10 years. Looks like that's all finally going to change, though.
I was getting pretty leery of all the services for sale with WoW, they've been dancing around RMT this whole time. To be honest I've been distancing myself from WoW because I could just see it coming. They're getting too big, and too greedy. They, just like every other big shot company, seem to have completely lost sight of what they are, what they're doing, and how they got there to begin with. Now they've gone and sold out.. direct RMT sales in game, Blizzard! They who are supposed the be the example!
What's the big deal? They already allow the following for a fee. PvE->PvP server transfers
Faction changes
Race changes
Gender changes
Name changes
Good point as Blizzard charge for just about any game perk they can now. The cash shop selling tier armour and weapons, instant level 80 character option or in-game gold might be next on the game improvement agenda. After all why let the eBayers, levelling services or gold famers make money off the game when Blizzard could do it instead. This might sound far fetched right now, but Blizzard Activision are clearly maximising profits, this explains the crazy situation with the next Starcraft and Diablo games and why they are so delayed, they don't want to hurt their current cash cow.
You are partially correct. Diablo and Starcraft have been delayed because of Battle.Net
Battle Net is essential to their plans going forward. It will provide centralized billing that can be used for the RMT that is included in all of their games going forward. Blizzard has made no real secret that they were planning to expand their offerings to include RMT.
Originally posted by heremypet I was getting pretty leery of all the services for sale with WoW, they've been dancing around RMT this whole time. To be honest I've been distancing myself from WoW because I could just see it coming. They're getting too big, and too greedy. They, just like every other big shot company, seem to have completely lost sight of what they are, what they're doing, and how they got there to begin with. Now they've gone and sold out.. direct RMT sales in game, Blizzard! They who are supposed the be the example!
The problem I have with your argument is that your are arguing that Blizzard has crossed some big, thick line. To me that line has been crossed years ago so on principle you should have quit supporting them years ago. Since you continued to support them then that line did not really matter to you then.
Blizzard has had what I call 'trivial impact' RMT since the beginning. It was bundled into CEs, the TCG and various promotions but it was functionally RMT. If you cannot stand any RMT then you should have quit back then. To me 'trivial RMT' does not matter so I support them. I have a problem with 'non-trivial RMT' so when Blizzard crosses that line I will reexamine if I still want to support them and if I do, I will decide what the next decision-making line is going to be for me.
I fully understand that you do not like Blizzard selling vanity pets through RMT . I simply have issue that you consider this addition to the existing setup as some massive change in policy.
If the most succesful MMO moves towards RMT the rest cant be far behind. Its great to see WOW continues its tradition of "improving" the MMO genre...
WoW Fanboi to the defense!
Oh wait...
Defending a game on MMORPG.com is like being given a wooden shield, stripped naked and then told to keep yourself alive while a dragon continuously breathes fire on you...
this one just cracks me up, mostly because its so freakin accurate
I bought both. For two reasons, A: They're awesome and hopefully won't be around after xmas, "through December 31, 2009", but even if they stay, still awesome! B: Make a wish. Yea, call me a softy but hey, so blizzard wants to make $5 off me and send $5 to make a wish, they already are donating a large sum to the cause anyway. Think about how many $5 they will be getting through this. Think of the greater cause?
It's $10 each, it's not like you're getting uber items that no one else can get. They're pets. This is no different than people buying the TCG and getting pets/mounts, or buying them off e-bay.
The Little KT is awesome . He kills critters, and laughs at people you kill in pvp lol.
Originally posted by heremypet I was getting pretty leery of all the services for sale with WoW, they've been dancing around RMT this whole time. To be honest I've been distancing myself from WoW because I could just see it coming. They're getting too big, and too greedy. They, just like every other big shot company, seem to have completely lost sight of what they are, what they're doing, and how they got there to begin with. Now they've gone and sold out.. direct RMT sales in game, Blizzard! They who are supposed the be the example!
The problem I have with your argument is that your are arguing that Blizzard has crossed some big, thick line. To me that line has been crossed years ago so on principle you should have quit supporting them years ago. Since you continued to support them then that line did not really matter to you then.
Blizzard has had what I call 'trivial impact' RMT since the beginning. It was bundled into CEs, the TCG and various promotions but it was functionally RMT. If you cannot stand any RMT then you should have quit back then. To me 'trivial RMT' does not matter so I support them. I have a problem with 'non-trivial RMT' so when Blizzard crosses that line I will reexamine if I still want to support them and if I do, I will decide what the next decision-making line is going to be for me.
I fully understand that you do not like Blizzard selling vanity pets through RMT . I simply have issue that you consider this addition to the existing setup as some massive change in policy.
Slowly crossing the line is still crossing the line. Besides, I'm not arguing anything. I just simply no longer respect Blizzard. Being as that is my choice to make, I just made it today, and I don't need approval or logic from anyone else to do so.
What's the big deal? They already allow the following for a fee. PvE->PvP server transfers
Faction changes
Race changes
Gender changes
Name changes
Good point as Blizzard charge for just about any game perk they can now. The cash shop selling tier armour and weapons, instant level 80 character option or in-game gold might be next on the game improvement agenda. After all why let the eBayers, levelling services or gold famers make money off the game when Blizzard could do it instead. This might sound far fetched right now, but Blizzard Activision are clearly maximising profits, this explains the crazy situation with the next Starcraft and Diablo games and why they are so delayed, they don't want to hurt their current cash cow.
You are partially correct. Diablo and Starcraft have been delayed because of Battle.Net
Battle Net is essential to their plans going forward. It will provide centralized billing that can be used for the RMT that is included in all of their games going forward. Blizzard has made no real secret that they were planning to expand their offerings to include RMT.
Blizzard unveiled the re-vamp Battle.net on March 20, 2009. AFAIK Starcraft II has a Q1/Q2 release for 2010, the next Diablo who knows, but beyond that...so no new release for one year after next generation Battle.net. Blizzard has only released WoW and its expansions since 2004. I think I am correct in writing that it is their cash cow, and they are not releasing anything that could skim off its subscribers until sometime before middle of next year. That is a little cynical in my view, and yes I do think they make good games.
Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009.
Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.
Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009.
Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.
I would have to write that I think that after Blizzard announced that they were implementing the WoW account merge into Battle.net that I do not think you can argue that it is primarily for Starcraft II, and it is always naive just to believe Blizzard marketing. Most likely scenario is that Blizzard want to have everything on Battle.net so they can micromanage their player base to the best extent, that sadly means that WoW with its large player base dictates very slow release dates for Blizzard's other games.
I don't support any world of warcraft upgrades or expansions for many reasons, one is that you get holy ungodly and uncalled for flame because someone who failed to get off their chair and go have some sex or breath fresh air humped on the mmorpg.com forums during their break session of WoW and saw someone decides to post against it, and by the looks of this post thats a lot of idiots. Well unless your sick like me and home from work then your personally excused from that insult since the people it was geared towards was the original insulters those who held open minds should know that this insult is is not towards them. Further more I think Blizzard's work with World of Warcraft wasn't even what you could call work to begin with, it's trash. It was a exact copies of copies before it, it just had the skins of Warcraft. I had more expectations and to be frank I hope they do fuck it up so they can make something better and more worthy of the company of blizzard, now I don't think badly of the company however I do think this game was a waste of their talents however not their efforts since easily pleased people play it. Smart move stupid method is my thoughts, and this pet things yea people aren't going to like it, it's start of slowly moving a cash shop ingame as well paying monthly which no other game has really bothered with. That in my opinion is greed on a parade lookin to get some ass from every chick in the crowd. Well thats my 2 cents those who don't like it will either ignore it or flame me, those who do will either elebarote on it further or form their own opinions on the matter.
Take a deep drink of your demon Lad, tonight we tangle with the fire in the gut.
The only thing that is disgusting abou the idea is Blizzard is only giving 50% to Make A Wish Foundation. If they really cared and if it wasn't about profit for them, they'd give 100% of the funds raised away. As it stands, it's just another Blizzard money grab. Very poor taste, Blizzard, very poor taste.
They didn't have to give anything in the first place.
How many here donate to these causes out of the goodness of their heart?
Least blizzard is doing something, i doubt anyone here does anything.
I do. Doesn't matter how much, point is I give thru payroll deduction and have been giving for most of my adult life. There is NO excuse what so ever for a VIRTUAL product to not give at least 95% of the proceeds to the charity. I understand there is a cost to make the virtual pets and how they intereact ingame, but keeping $5 off of each one is just a bit much on Blizzard's part, IMHO, especially considering the profit Blizzard already makes annually anyway.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
The only thing that is disgusting abou the idea is Blizzard is only giving 50% to Make A Wish Foundation. If they really cared and if it wasn't about profit for them, they'd give 100% of the funds raised away. As it stands, it's just another Blizzard money grab. Very poor taste, Blizzard, very poor taste.
They didn't have to give anything in the first place.
How many here donate to these causes out of the goodness of their heart?
Least blizzard is doing something, i doubt anyone here does anything.
I do. Doesn't matter how much, point is I give thru payroll deduction and have been giving for most of my adult life. There is NO excuse what so ever for a VIRTUAL product to not give at least 95% of the proceeds to the charity. I understand there is a cost to make the virtual pets and how they intereact ingame, but keeping $5 off of each one is just a bit much on Blizzard's part, IMHO, especially considering the profit Blizzard already makes annually anyway.
Fact of the matter is most companies aren't like you nor do that share the same values. Sorry to say it rather generous they are giving 50%
The only thing that is disgusting abou the idea is Blizzard is only giving 50% to Make A Wish Foundation. If they really cared and if it wasn't about profit for them, they'd give 100% of the funds raised away. As it stands, it's just another Blizzard money grab. Very poor taste, Blizzard, very poor taste.
They didn't have to give anything in the first place.
How many here donate to these causes out of the goodness of their heart?
Least blizzard is doing something, i doubt anyone here does anything.
I do. Doesn't matter how much, point is I give thru payroll deduction and have been giving for most of my adult life. There is NO excuse what so ever for a VIRTUAL product to not give at least 95% of the proceeds to the charity. I understand there is a cost to make the virtual pets and how they intereact ingame, but keeping $5 off of each one is just a bit much on Blizzard's part, IMHO, especially considering the profit Blizzard already makes annually anyway.
Fact of the matter is most companies aren't like you nor do that share the same values. Sorry to say it rather generous they are giving 50%
They are only giving anything because it will make people buy more out of charity and consequently give them more money, it also gives them a better excuse to setup RMT in their game "its for charity" how can you critize that, if they were interested in helping any charity they could put up an add made in 5minutes saying "donate $10 to the make-a-wish foundation" it would probably give the make-a-wish alot more money than the sale of pets but in turn would make blizz no money so they are not interest in this type of charity where the help goes mostly to the needy.
If they want to donate feckin money to a charity why dont the rich basterd's donate some of there own money instead of trying to get the subscribers to pay them basicly to give money to a charity its fucken stupid.
Its like a red cross collecter standing around with a collection box saying give me 10 euro and il put 5 in this box because we the red cross want to donate the money were given to people in need but you have to pay us to do it !
lol no surprise, one day the bonfire will burn and their cds will be there while 3 milion ppl wake up from their daze and see sunlight again and they'll stop prothelitizing about their mistress and her sins that should be forgiven because she allows them to suckle upon each gear improvement in small increments until her teet is near dry then refills on the nectar of their dollars to offer them but increments again - let it come and let it burn is how i feel about it
wow's time has come and gone - those with taste have already moved on, it's just sheeple left and they stroke each others' fur fantasizing about "pets" they can buy, ya it fits in juuuust fine
ahem so like i was saying, the only pet worth purchasing ever was eggbert, that is all - no you are not allowed to refute that
It is funny watching the WoW-haters have heart attacks in their fevor...it will be even funnier when this has no effect on their subscriptions and those WoW-haters light themselves on fire in protest.
It is funny watching the WoW-haters have heart attacks in their fevor...it will be even funnier when this has no effect on their subscriptions and those WoW-haters light themselves on fire in protest.
I'm not against any point you're making, but I can't help but notice your idiocy and there was nothing I can do but to tell you this straight up, go to school.
I'll throw my straw onto this 18-page bandwagon o' fun. I bought both pets. I don't play games in which micropayments are needed to actually have in-game success - Dungeons & Dragons Online sucked before micropayments, and now it just sucks differently.
However, these pets confer no in-game advantage or disadvantage. This isn't the first time Blizzard's used pets to provide a "hook" for the game. Blizzard recently had a Mountain Dew tie-in that awarded pets to WoW account holders that participated in Mountain Dew's promotion. Again, those pets provide no in-game advantage or disadvantage. In fact, pets are probably the only safe way to provide a tie-in within the game. Neither do the pets, costumes, or other trivial items Blizzard hands out to BlizzCon convention goers.
what people dont understand about in game shops and buying in game items or ingame stats, or inv spaces or whatever is it could in fact be a slippery slope ..
its not a large step from selling cutsey ingame items, to selling in game invetory slots or character remodels .. ( which in aion the size of your toon has enormous impact on PVP ) ..and from that its not a large step to selling in game pvp gear and xp buffing items and such ..
and when things shift to ingame selling ... and it becomes real money which will dictate the fortune of one's character instead of ingenuity and skill .. it ceases to be an RPG imho
people play MMO's to escape the unlevel playing field of real life where money beats all ..
except in the respect of collectors and preorder editions and of course the intial game package cost and subscription fees, i make it a point out of personal preference to avoid MMo's which use in game shops or sell items for real money
if the MMO genre as a whole ever turned toward game shops or selling in game currency or items.. which sell things that give players a competitive edge .. thats the day id proly go back to playing street fighter 2 in some old dungeon-esque smokey arcade for competition, for my own personal reasons and principles ..
what people dont understand about in game shops and buying in game items or ingame stats, or inv spaces or whatever is it could in fact be a slippery slope ..
its not a large step from selling cutsey ingame items, to selling in game invetory slots or character remodels .. ( which in aion the size of your toon has enormous impact on PVP ) ..and from that its not a large step to selling in game pvp gear and xp buffing items and such ..
and when things shift to ingame selling ... and it becomes real money which will dictate the fortune of one's character instead of ingenuity and skill .. it ceases to be an RPG imho people play MMO's to escape the unlevel playing field of real life where money beats all ..
except in the respect of collectors and preorder editions and of course the intial game package cost and subscription fees, i make it a point out of personal preference to avoid MMo's which use in game shops or sell items for real money if the MMO genre as a whole ever turned toward game shops or selling in game currency or items.. which sell things that give players a competitive edge .. thats the day id proly go back to playing street fighter 2 in some old dungeon-esque smokey arcade for competition, for my own personal reasons and principles ..
Well, there are already lots of games doing that and the millions of people playing them (ROM, DDO, Free Realms, maple story ...) don't seem to have a problem.
Comments
No dude don't tell people they have been supporting RMT by buying CE's and Deluxe editions for the additional content, don't let them know this, it will kill them! Please don't tell them they have been paying for extra content just like RMT!
I never buy CE for some stupid pet or gimmick. I bought them to add to my display shelf because I have a great deal of admiration for that game, and respect for the company, usually because their product is something that brings hours of enjoyment to me.
All this changes when they start holding out their hands in my face through the game, subtracting from my enjoyment, all while expecting me to line their palm with cash, forget it.
Cataclysm is the first WoW expansion I will not be buying. Not the normal version, not the downloadable version, and certainly not the collectors edition. WoW is no longer a product I admire, and Blizzard is no longer a company I respect, because it is my choice who I respect and what I admire, it is my choice what I display on my shelf at home.
Good for you man! i plan on buying 2 CE's for both my accounts and will be buying just about anything else i can from this fine upstanding company, can't wait for blizzcon next year either!
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Good point as Blizzard charge for just about any game perk they can now. The cash shop selling tier armour and weapons, instant level 80 character option or in-game gold might be next on the game improvement agenda. After all why let the eBayers, levelling services or gold famers make money off the game when Blizzard could do it instead. This might sound far fetched right now, but Blizzard Activision are clearly maximising profits, this explains the crazy situation with the next Starcraft and Diablo games and why they are so delayed, they don't want to hurt their current cash cow.
No dude don't tell people they have been supporting RMT by buying CE's and Deluxe editions for the additional content, don't let them know this, it will kill them! Please don't tell them they have been paying for extra content just like RMT!
I never buy CE for some stupid pet or gimmick. I bought them to add to my display shelf because I have a great deal of admiration for that game, and respect for the company, usually because their product is something that brings hours of enjoyment to me.
All this changes when they start holding out their hands in my face through the game, subtracting from my enjoyment, all while expecting me to line their palm with cash, forget it.
Cataclysm is the first WoW expansion I will not be buying. Not the normal version, not the downloadable version, and certainly not the collectors edition. WoW is no longer a product I admire, and Blizzard is no longer a company I respect, because it is my choice who I respect and what I admire, it is my choice what I display on my shelf at home.
Good for you man! i plan on buying 2 CE's for both my accounts and will be buying just about anything else i can from this fine upstanding company, can't wait for blizzcon next year either!
Good? It's not good at all. No, I'd call it pretty freaking bad to say the least. I've been a devout Blizzard fan since D1 / WC2, bought all their titles, I can recite the entire game dialogue of Starcraft and Warcraft 3 including unit speech. I always run around saying shit like "fire it up" and making zerg noises. My friends actually call me a zerg lol I have memorized my Starcraft, WC3 and TFT CD keys. I've had wallpapers of Blizzard games on my PC for over 10 years. Looks like that's all finally going to change, though.
I was getting pretty leery of all the services for sale with WoW, they've been dancing around RMT this whole time. To be honest I've been distancing myself from WoW because I could just see it coming. They're getting too big, and too greedy. They, just like every other big shot company, seem to have completely lost sight of what they are, what they're doing, and how they got there to begin with. Now they've gone and sold out.. direct RMT sales in game, Blizzard! They who are supposed the be the example!
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."
Good point as Blizzard charge for just about any game perk they can now. The cash shop selling tier armour and weapons, instant level 80 character option or in-game gold might be next on the game improvement agenda. After all why let the eBayers, levelling services or gold famers make money off the game when Blizzard could do it instead. This might sound far fetched right now, but Blizzard Activision are clearly maximising profits, this explains the crazy situation with the next Starcraft and Diablo games and why they are so delayed, they don't want to hurt their current cash cow.
You are partially correct. Diablo and Starcraft have been delayed because of Battle.Net
Battle Net is essential to their plans going forward. It will provide centralized billing that can be used for the RMT that is included in all of their games going forward. Blizzard has made no real secret that they were planning to expand their offerings to include RMT.
The problem I have with your argument is that your are arguing that Blizzard has crossed some big, thick line. To me that line has been crossed years ago so on principle you should have quit supporting them years ago. Since you continued to support them then that line did not really matter to you then.
Blizzard has had what I call 'trivial impact' RMT since the beginning. It was bundled into CEs, the TCG and various promotions but it was functionally RMT. If you cannot stand any RMT then you should have quit back then. To me 'trivial RMT' does not matter so I support them. I have a problem with 'non-trivial RMT' so when Blizzard crosses that line I will reexamine if I still want to support them and if I do, I will decide what the next decision-making line is going to be for me.
I fully understand that you do not like Blizzard selling vanity pets through RMT . I simply have issue that you consider this addition to the existing setup as some massive change in policy.
WoW Fanboi to the defense!
Oh wait...
Defending a game on MMORPG.com is like being given a wooden shield, stripped naked and then told to keep yourself alive while a dragon continuously breathes fire on you...
this one just cracks me up, mostly because its so freakin accurate
I bought both. For two reasons, A: They're awesome and hopefully won't be around after xmas, "through December 31, 2009", but even if they stay, still awesome! B: Make a wish. Yea, call me a softy but hey, so blizzard wants to make $5 off me and send $5 to make a wish, they already are donating a large sum to the cause anyway. Think about how many $5 they will be getting through this. Think of the greater cause?
It's $10 each, it's not like you're getting uber items that no one else can get. They're pets. This is no different than people buying the TCG and getting pets/mounts, or buying them off e-bay.
The Little KT is awesome
. He kills critters, and laughs at people you kill in pvp lol.
The problem I have with your argument is that your are arguing that Blizzard has crossed some big, thick line. To me that line has been crossed years ago so on principle you should have quit supporting them years ago. Since you continued to support them then that line did not really matter to you then.
Blizzard has had what I call 'trivial impact' RMT since the beginning. It was bundled into CEs, the TCG and various promotions but it was functionally RMT. If you cannot stand any RMT then you should have quit back then. To me 'trivial RMT' does not matter so I support them. I have a problem with 'non-trivial RMT' so when Blizzard crosses that line I will reexamine if I still want to support them and if I do, I will decide what the next decision-making line is going to be for me.
I fully understand that you do not like Blizzard selling vanity pets through RMT . I simply have issue that you consider this addition to the existing setup as some massive change in policy.
Slowly crossing the line is still crossing the line. Besides, I'm not arguing anything. I just simply no longer respect Blizzard. Being as that is my choice to make, I just made it today, and I don't need approval or logic from anyone else to do so.
"Good? Bad? I'm the guy with the gun."
Good point as Blizzard charge for just about any game perk they can now. The cash shop selling tier armour and weapons, instant level 80 character option or in-game gold might be next on the game improvement agenda. After all why let the eBayers, levelling services or gold famers make money off the game when Blizzard could do it instead. This might sound far fetched right now, but Blizzard Activision are clearly maximising profits, this explains the crazy situation with the next Starcraft and Diablo games and why they are so delayed, they don't want to hurt their current cash cow.
You are partially correct. Diablo and Starcraft have been delayed because of Battle.Net
Battle Net is essential to their plans going forward. It will provide centralized billing that can be used for the RMT that is included in all of their games going forward. Blizzard has made no real secret that they were planning to expand their offerings to include RMT.
Blizzard unveiled the re-vamp Battle.net on March 20, 2009. AFAIK Starcraft II has a Q1/Q2 release for 2010, the next Diablo who knows, but beyond that...so no new release for one year after next generation Battle.net. Blizzard has only released WoW and its expansions since 2004. I think I am correct in writing that it is their cash cow, and they are not releasing anything that could skim off its subscribers until sometime before middle of next year. That is a little cynical in my view, and yes I do think they make good games.
It looks like RMT is the future.
Those pets are COOL. I bought both already. I have no problem supporting RMT on pets & other vanity items.
My only complaint is that their webship bugged out on me last nite and I couldn't buy the pets till this morning.
that paying money to change race and that. It's bad but I'd pay on doing that.
Blizzard had plans to release SC2 in 2009
but in Aug 2009 -- Blizzard announced it was delayed to 2010 because of Battlenet
forums.battle.net/thread.html
Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009.
Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.
EQ2 fan sites
Blizzard had plans to release SC2 in 2009
but in Aug 2009 -- Blizzard announced it was delayed to 2010 because of Battlenet
forums.battle.net/thread.html
Today we announced that StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will not be ready for release by the end of 2009.
Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.
I would have to write that I think that after Blizzard announced that they were implementing the WoW account merge into Battle.net that I do not think you can argue that it is primarily for Starcraft II, and it is always naive just to believe Blizzard marketing. Most likely scenario is that Blizzard want to have everything on Battle.net so they can micromanage their player base to the best extent, that sadly means that WoW with its large player base dictates very slow release dates for Blizzard's other games.
I don't support any world of warcraft upgrades or expansions for many reasons, one is that you get holy ungodly and uncalled for flame because someone who failed to get off their chair and go have some sex or breath fresh air humped on the mmorpg.com forums during their break session of WoW and saw someone decides to post against it, and by the looks of this post thats a lot of idiots. Well unless your sick like me and home from work then your personally excused from that insult since the people it was geared towards was the original insulters those who held open minds should know that this insult is is not towards them. Further more I think Blizzard's work with World of Warcraft wasn't even what you could call work to begin with, it's trash. It was a exact copies of copies before it, it just had the skins of Warcraft. I had more expectations and to be frank I hope they do fuck it up so they can make something better and more worthy of the company of blizzard, now I don't think badly of the company however I do think this game was a waste of their talents however not their efforts since easily pleased people play it. Smart move stupid method is my thoughts, and this pet things yea people aren't going to like it, it's start of slowly moving a cash shop ingame as well paying monthly which no other game has really bothered with. That in my opinion is greed on a parade lookin to get some ass from every chick in the crowd. Well thats my 2 cents those who don't like it will either ignore it or flame me, those who do will either elebarote on it further or form their own opinions on the matter.
Take a deep drink of your demon Lad, tonight we tangle with the fire in the gut.
They didn't have to give anything in the first place.
How many here donate to these causes out of the goodness of their heart?
Least blizzard is doing something, i doubt anyone here does anything.
I do. Doesn't matter how much, point is I give thru payroll deduction and have been giving for most of my adult life. There is NO excuse what so ever for a VIRTUAL product to not give at least 95% of the proceeds to the charity. I understand there is a cost to make the virtual pets and how they intereact ingame, but keeping $5 off of each one is just a bit much on Blizzard's part, IMHO, especially considering the profit Blizzard already makes annually anyway.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
They didn't have to give anything in the first place.
How many here donate to these causes out of the goodness of their heart?
Least blizzard is doing something, i doubt anyone here does anything.
I do. Doesn't matter how much, point is I give thru payroll deduction and have been giving for most of my adult life. There is NO excuse what so ever for a VIRTUAL product to not give at least 95% of the proceeds to the charity. I understand there is a cost to make the virtual pets and how they intereact ingame, but keeping $5 off of each one is just a bit much on Blizzard's part, IMHO, especially considering the profit Blizzard already makes annually anyway.
Fact of the matter is most companies aren't like you nor do that share the same values. Sorry to say it rather generous they are giving 50%
They didn't have to give anything in the first place.
How many here donate to these causes out of the goodness of their heart?
Least blizzard is doing something, i doubt anyone here does anything.
I do. Doesn't matter how much, point is I give thru payroll deduction and have been giving for most of my adult life. There is NO excuse what so ever for a VIRTUAL product to not give at least 95% of the proceeds to the charity. I understand there is a cost to make the virtual pets and how they intereact ingame, but keeping $5 off of each one is just a bit much on Blizzard's part, IMHO, especially considering the profit Blizzard already makes annually anyway.
Fact of the matter is most companies aren't like you nor do that share the same values. Sorry to say it rather generous they are giving 50%
They are only giving anything because it will make people buy more out of charity and consequently give them more money, it also gives them a better excuse to setup RMT in their game "its for charity" how can you critize that, if they were interested in helping any charity they could put up an add made in 5minutes saying "donate $10 to the make-a-wish foundation" it would probably give the make-a-wish alot more money than the sale of pets but in turn would make blizz no money so they are not interest in this type of charity where the help goes mostly to the needy.
RMT has not hurt Eve.
If they want to donate feckin money to a charity why dont the rich basterd's donate some of there own money instead of trying to get the subscribers to pay them basicly to give money to a charity its fucken stupid.
Its like a red cross collecter standing around with a collection box saying give me 10 euro and il put 5 in this box because we the red cross want to donate the money were given to people in need but you have to pay us to do it !
duhhh
lol no surprise, one day the bonfire will burn and their cds will be there while 3 milion ppl wake up from their daze and see sunlight again and they'll stop prothelitizing about their mistress and her sins that should be forgiven because she allows them to suckle upon each gear improvement in small increments until her teet is near dry then refills on the nectar of their dollars to offer them but increments again - let it come and let it burn is how i feel about it
wow's time has come and gone - those with taste have already moved on, it's just sheeple left and they stroke each others' fur fantasizing about "pets" they can buy, ya it fits in juuuust fine
ahem so like i was saying, the only pet worth purchasing ever was eggbert, that is all - no you are not allowed to refute that
It is funny watching the WoW-haters have heart attacks in their fevor...it will be even funnier when this has no effect on their subscriptions and those WoW-haters light themselves on fire in protest.
I'm not against any point you're making, but I can't help but notice your idiocy and there was nothing I can do but to tell you this straight up, go to school.
I'll throw my straw onto this 18-page bandwagon o' fun. I bought both pets. I don't play games in which micropayments are needed to actually have in-game success - Dungeons & Dragons Online sucked before micropayments, and now it just sucks differently.
However, these pets confer no in-game advantage or disadvantage. This isn't the first time Blizzard's used pets to provide a "hook" for the game. Blizzard recently had a Mountain Dew tie-in that awarded pets to WoW account holders that participated in Mountain Dew's promotion. Again, those pets provide no in-game advantage or disadvantage. In fact, pets are probably the only safe way to provide a tie-in within the game. Neither do the pets, costumes, or other trivial items Blizzard hands out to BlizzCon convention goers.
Sound and fury, signifying little.
what people dont understand about in game shops and buying in game items or ingame stats, or inv spaces or whatever is it could in fact be a slippery slope ..
its not a large step from selling cutsey ingame items, to selling in game invetory slots or character remodels .. ( which in aion the size of your toon has enormous impact on PVP ) ..and from that its not a large step to selling in game pvp gear and xp buffing items and such ..
and when things shift to ingame selling ... and it becomes real money which will dictate the fortune of one's character instead of ingenuity and skill .. it ceases to be an RPG imho
people play MMO's to escape the unlevel playing field of real life where money beats all ..
except in the respect of collectors and preorder editions and of course the intial game package cost and subscription fees, i make it a point out of personal preference to avoid MMo's which use in game shops or sell items for real money
if the MMO genre as a whole ever turned toward game shops or selling in game currency or items.. which sell things that give players a competitive edge .. thats the day id proly go back to playing street fighter 2 in some old dungeon-esque smokey arcade for competition, for my own personal reasons and principles ..
Well, there are already lots of games doing that and the millions of people playing them (ROM, DDO, Free Realms, maple story ...) don't seem to have a problem.