Blizzard's WoW is the market leader. When you are the market leader, you don't have to lower your prices to match companies that are struggling to compete with you. Welcome to capitalism, that how it works.
Well but if a market elader plays this game to far it sort of gets kicked out pretty afst as well. Also a part of captialism. Not that it happsn here but they make a kind of typical error in that system by try to find the point that they can milk the maximum or feel at one point to sure and overdo it which normally ends in a desaster. This happened pretty good to several banks and without support from gouverments they all would be away now. Ok taht is an other story.
if it had to happen it would have happened by now. BC, Lich King and now cataclysm has proved that Blizzard can charge whatever amount they like and it still sells like hot cakes.
Yes but only to a certain point, that is what I try to say about capitalism. They maybe can go even higehr in the prices and it still works out. But no company will be actually able to charge whatever they like becasue I sort of bet that not many people would pay 1000 Dollar for each expansaion and 100 Dollar fee in a months ( prices are totally fictional and out of reason n purpose but I guess they show what I mean). I just mean that tehre are natural limits on how high to can set your prices.
It is not at all about if the price right now is to high or not, I just dislike the argument that tehy could charge whatever they want is not true even is capitalism when you dominate the market.
Current pricing of WoW is sickly expensive, I could consider if whole thing was around 20€ as there is montly payments too, but not at current level...
pretty soon imo wow will be f2p """wich could also make them a tons more money the way blizz likes to sell stuff""" and dump loads of people will still play...all that money that blizz and company makes will go towards a "new" blizz titled mmorpg and tank horribly because we have seen what they are about...milking the cash cow for lil kiddies and even more fast lvling ...when that cow runs dry and the tank is empty or dead..what then?
Maybe those complaining should ask mommy and daddy for an allowance, or better yet maybe stop being lazy and get a job.
This is a buisness. And to the dude that said WOW will go f2p soon , u must know absolutly nothing. Sure guys lets go f2p when we are still making boat loads of money. Yea that makes sense.
I haven't played since Crusade, and to upgrade my account to Cata will cost £50, no thanks. As curious as I am about Cata I can't even trial it without buying Lich King.
Can't really call Blizzard greedy because they are a business after all, but considering just how much they are making letting people trial Cata without having to buy all of the expansions prior to it isn't too much to ask, it's £30 for me to try Cata for 10 days.
EDIT/ These are Blizzard store prices, I stopped buying physical media for my games years ago because it should be cheaper, no chance with Blizz.
Maybe those complaining should ask mommy and daddy for an allowance, or better yet maybe stop being lazy and get a job.
This is a buisness. And to the dude that said WOW will go f2p soon , u must know absolutly nothing. Sure guys lets go f2p when we are still making boat loads of money. Yea that makes sense.
If I didnt already own all the expansions I would be complaining as well. I mean honestly, its a pretty hefty sum for what you get. And I'm not saying that because I'm broke, I make well beyond my means, but the fact that blizzard has turned into the money grubbing company that they are now is just pitiful.
I for one blame Activision... I agree with part two of your post though, WoW is years away from F2P, if ever.
Maybe those complaining should ask mommy and daddy for an allowance, or better yet maybe stop being lazy and get a job.
This is a buisness. And to the dude that said WOW will go f2p soon , u must know absolutly nothing. Sure guys lets go f2p when we are still making boat loads of money. Yea that makes sense.
Agreed. It is not unlikely that Wow would eventually become F2P but not for the next 2-3 years.
It is of course possible that it would move from hourly fees to F2P in China, that would actually make some sense since they get in a lot less for a average Chinese player compared to an average Western one, and they might actually make more money that way.
But in the west they still have enough players paying the 15 bucks a month. It would be more likely that they would add a lot to the RMT shop instead.
But you don't know the economic situation of everyone so "get a job" isn't fair. Some people support their families on minimum wages and that isn't easy, buying a game like Wow with all expansions and monthly fees isn't cheap for them even if it is for most of us. For them I can only say: Get Guildwars instead.
If you are going to start from the beginning just buy WOW and that's it.
You wont need BC until you get to 58 which........................will be a couple weeks later but still.
Unless you are desperate to play a BE/Draenei/Wolf/Gob there is no need to get all expos from the start. And i know this doesnt help with the prices but it spreads them out.
One of the things about this thread that does make me smile is the use of the phrase "Free to Play" which is true to a degree for some games, but that really depends on how you wish to play and how involved you want to get in them. Came across an article about D&D online;
OK, if you want to play the game at the most basic level then fine you have a completely free to play game, but if you want to get involved a a greater level then it is going to cost you big time, in this case between $270-$423 depending on how you buy your points!! A very simple example is that with WOW you can create up to 50 characters, so if you wanted the same in D&D with a free account you could be looking at spending another $285 - $446 depending on how you buy your points. One thing that is also pointed out at the end of that article is that you are limited to how many points you can buy in a day, so you may not be able to always buy what you want during their 'sales'.
This isn't the only one, Guild wars is probably one of the best in terms of free to play, but again if you want all of the campaigns and expansions it will run you to about £43 (approx $66) and then if you want all of the other components you are looking at up to another £178 ($231).
These are just two examples, there are many more out there and when you start looking into it there are very few actual 'free to play' games if you actually want to play those games on an equal par with all of the other players. I don't want to knock free to play as i think it has a very important place in the future of gaming as a whole but i also don't think you can look at it through rose tinted glasses as the whole 'Free To Play' tag is just another marketing tool for companies to bring larger numbers of players in to then sell them the add ons as with any other business.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
One Warhammer miniature box with half a dozen figures is 6 months of subs and you play them 4 times.
You picked the most expensive box in the entire game (VA Blood Knights) to make an example. And that box is no more expensive than Cata Collectors edition. Also, what stops you for playing with them more than 4 times ?
One Warhammer miniature box with half a dozen figures is 6 months of subs and you play them 4 times.
You picked the most expensive box in the entire game (VA Blood Knights) to make an example. And that box is no more expensive than Cata Collectors edition. Also, what stops you for playing with them more than 4 times ?
I could use other examples: 3 boosters of Magic cost more than 1 month of a Wow subscription. And the chance of finding a useful card is 1 in 10. Want me to go on ?
11 Months Sub = £140.25 (todays conversion from euro to £)
Total = £147.23
Go with Eve and save yourself the princely sum of 22p/month, welcome to 'free' expansions.
Both based on month to month subs and current retail values.
This hits the nail in the head and pretty much invalidates this whole argument, the real difference is only 2 pounds for the first year, with EVE costing roughly 43 pounds per year more than WoW on subsequent years, so no WoW is quite cheap in comparison.
On a total unrelated note, MMO's in general are very very cheap entertainment when compared to most things out there, if I go out in town it will cost me nearly a years subscription, anything I do really, if I want to drive somewhere to spent the weekend it will definetly cost me more than a year's subscription of WoW.
Like someone said it is how you value your experiences and your money, I like to play games and to me that is my hobby among other things, I will probably whine at myself a more when I go out in London and realize the next day I spent £250 in one night than that I have recurring £11 every month ( since I pay for the remote AH too ).
That may be why i said "Both based on month to month subs and current retail values" so there was a direct comparison between the two and it is the way as far as i know that a majority of players pay their accounts.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I'll agree with the OP on this one. I decided to return to WOW after a 4 year hiatus and to come back I had to purchase BC, Wrath and Cata (they gave me a discount in there) so it cost me $87.98 and....I had to start my sub fee up for $14.99 so a total of about $103 to get started again.
I can afford it, but that's a lot. I think they really should fold all content into one box and sell it for the price of a normal new game, like say 59.99 at launch and include a free month of sub time as well.
Oh well, idiots like me pay the price so I guess I can see why they don't bother. Not like they'd want to be fair or anything.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Originally posted by Kyleran I'll agree with the OP on this one. I decided to return to WOW after a 4 year hiatus and to come back I had to purchase BC, Wrath and Cata (they gave me a discount in there) so it cost me $87.98 and....I had to start my sub fee up for $14.99 so a total of about $103 to get started again. I can afford it, but that's a lot. I think they really should fold all content into one box and sell it for the price of a normal new game, like say 59.99 at launch and include a free month of sub time as well. Oh well, idiots like me pay the price so I guess I can see why they don't bother. Not like they'd want to be fair or anything.
Just before the Cata expansion came out, they had the first three games for $20.99, which also came with 3 months of game time. My son got one of these from his friend for Christmas. That would have been the time to buy.
I think if they want to get more people playing (if that's even possible) they'll have to offer deals like that again. There's no way I would pay what it would cost to start playing from scratch now. It's just too much to get started.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
I won't think about how much money Blizzard has gotten from me because of WoW. Stop this thread!
Hmm, let's see. December 2005 till today that's 62 months, minus a 10month break i had after Ulduar makes us 52 months. 52 x 14€ = 728 euros. Plus 49€ for vanilla WoW + 40€ for TBC + 40€ for Wrath + 39€ for Cataclysm = 896 euros (1159 U.S dollars).
I don't want to think about the man hours spend cause it's likely that i'll throw myself out of my window. And it's a loooong way down.
Comments
Yes but only to a certain point, that is what I try to say about capitalism. They maybe can go even higehr in the prices and it still works out. But no company will be actually able to charge whatever they like becasue I sort of bet that not many people would pay 1000 Dollar for each expansaion and 100 Dollar fee in a months ( prices are totally fictional and out of reason n purpose but I guess they show what I mean). I just mean that tehre are natural limits on how high to can set your prices.
It is not at all about if the price right now is to high or not, I just dislike the argument that tehy could charge whatever they want is not true even is capitalism when you dominate the market.
Current pricing of WoW is sickly expensive, I could consider if whole thing was around 20€ as there is montly payments too, but not at current level...
pretty soon imo wow will be f2p """wich could also make them a tons more money the way blizz likes to sell stuff""" and dump loads of people will still play...all that money that blizz and company makes will go towards a "new" blizz titled mmorpg and tank horribly because we have seen what they are about...milking the cash cow for lil kiddies and even more fast lvling ...when that cow runs dry and the tank is empty or dead..what then?
For new players its not so bad, heres how it can be done, if your not interested in one of the expansion races straight away:
Start and play through a 10 day trial,
buy the game somehow and apply the code,
play through your free 30 days,
start the burning crusade 10 day trial,
after that buy that expansion,
start a 10 trial of the lich king,
then buy that expansion,
start a 10 day trial of Cata,
and lastly buy Cata.
At least you can get 70 days of free gametime. You can buy everything you need in one go and apply the codes as and when needed.
From play.com a few minutes ago;
World Of Warcraft;
Original + BC + Strategy Guides = £9.99
Wrath of the Lich King = £17.99
Cataclysm = £22.99
11 Months Sub = £98.99
Total = £149.86
Eve Online
Game = £6.98
11 Months Sub = £140.25 (todays conversion from euro to £)
Total = £147.23
Go with Eve and save yourself the princely sum of 22p/month, welcome to 'free' expansions.
Both based on month to month subs and current retail values.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Maybe those complaining should ask mommy and daddy for an allowance, or better yet maybe stop being lazy and get a job.
This is a buisness. And to the dude that said WOW will go f2p soon , u must know absolutly nothing. Sure guys lets go f2p when we are still making boat loads of money. Yea that makes sense.
I haven't played since Crusade, and to upgrade my account to Cata will cost £50, no thanks. As curious as I am about Cata I can't even trial it without buying Lich King.
Can't really call Blizzard greedy because they are a business after all, but considering just how much they are making letting people trial Cata without having to buy all of the expansions prior to it isn't too much to ask, it's £30 for me to try Cata for 10 days.
EDIT/ These are Blizzard store prices, I stopped buying physical media for my games years ago because it should be cheaper, no chance with Blizz.
If I didnt already own all the expansions I would be complaining as well. I mean honestly, its a pretty hefty sum for what you get. And I'm not saying that because I'm broke, I make well beyond my means, but the fact that blizzard has turned into the money grubbing company that they are now is just pitiful.
I for one blame Activision... I agree with part two of your post though, WoW is years away from F2P, if ever.
Agreed. It is not unlikely that Wow would eventually become F2P but not for the next 2-3 years.
It is of course possible that it would move from hourly fees to F2P in China, that would actually make some sense since they get in a lot less for a average Chinese player compared to an average Western one, and they might actually make more money that way.
But in the west they still have enough players paying the 15 bucks a month. It would be more likely that they would add a lot to the RMT shop instead.
But you don't know the economic situation of everyone so "get a job" isn't fair. Some people support their families on minimum wages and that isn't easy, buying a game like Wow with all expansions and monthly fees isn't cheap for them even if it is for most of us. For them I can only say: Get Guildwars instead.
If you are going to start from the beginning just buy WOW and that's it.
You wont need BC until you get to 58 which........................will be a couple weeks later but still.
Unless you are desperate to play a BE/Draenei/Wolf/Gob there is no need to get all expos from the start. And i know this doesnt help with the prices but it spreads them out.
WoW Sidequests
One of the things about this thread that does make me smile is the use of the phrase "Free to Play" which is true to a degree for some games, but that really depends on how you wish to play and how involved you want to get in them. Came across an article about D&D online;
http://furlugedepot.com/2009/09/15/the-true-price-of-ddo-unlimited-free-to-play/
OK, if you want to play the game at the most basic level then fine you have a completely free to play game, but if you want to get involved a a greater level then it is going to cost you big time, in this case between $270-$423 depending on how you buy your points!! A very simple example is that with WOW you can create up to 50 characters, so if you wanted the same in D&D with a free account you could be looking at spending another $285 - $446 depending on how you buy your points. One thing that is also pointed out at the end of that article is that you are limited to how many points you can buy in a day, so you may not be able to always buy what you want during their 'sales'.
This isn't the only one, Guild wars is probably one of the best in terms of free to play, but again if you want all of the campaigns and expansions it will run you to about £43 (approx $66) and then if you want all of the other components you are looking at up to another £178 ($231).
These are just two examples, there are many more out there and when you start looking into it there are very few actual 'free to play' games if you actually want to play those games on an equal par with all of the other players. I don't want to knock free to play as i think it has a very important place in the future of gaming as a whole but i also don't think you can look at it through rose tinted glasses as the whole 'Free To Play' tag is just another marketing tool for companies to bring larger numbers of players in to then sell them the add ons as with any other business.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Wow is expensive.
Here goes the (false) MacDonalds analogy.
Some games cost more because they sell more and everyone wants them.. COD/ Black Ops is another example.
That being said: Wow is the cheapest "hobby" I ever had.
One Warhammer miniature box with half a dozen figures is 6 months of subs and you play them 4 times.
Wait till Blizzard launches their leaked Computer Collectable WoW Cardgame: then you can complain.
You picked the most expensive box in the entire game (VA Blood Knights) to make an example. And that box is no more expensive than Cata Collectors edition. Also, what stops you for playing with them more than 4 times ?
I could use other examples: 3 boosters of Magic cost more than 1 month of a Wow subscription. And the chance of finding a useful card is 1 in 10. Want me to go on ?
The WoW TCG is lame. All the cool kids still play Pokemon.
This hits the nail in the head and pretty much invalidates this whole argument, the real difference is only 2 pounds for the first year, with EVE costing roughly 43 pounds per year more than WoW on subsequent years, so no WoW is quite cheap in comparison.
On a total unrelated note, MMO's in general are very very cheap entertainment when compared to most things out there, if I go out in town it will cost me nearly a years subscription, anything I do really, if I want to drive somewhere to spent the weekend it will definetly cost me more than a year's subscription of WoW.
Like someone said it is how you value your experiences and your money, I like to play games and to me that is my hobby among other things, I will probably whine at myself a more when I go out in London and realize the next day I spent £250 in one night than that I have recurring £11 every month ( since I pay for the remote AH too ).
Umm:
12-month-plan
€ 10.95
€ 131.40
110,57 Pounds acording google...
Still, cost of wow and content for 3-6 months is bit bad, ofcourse if you are choosing the one and only game to play for rest of life...
I might think better option is to go with cheaper games and play them out...
Ummm:
That may be why i said "Both based on month to month subs and current retail values" so there was a direct comparison between the two and it is the way as far as i know that a majority of players pay their accounts.
It must be Thursday, i never could get the hang of Thursdays.
I'll agree with the OP on this one. I decided to return to WOW after a 4 year hiatus and to come back I had to purchase BC, Wrath and Cata (they gave me a discount in there) so it cost me $87.98 and....I had to start my sub fee up for $14.99 so a total of about $103 to get started again.
I can afford it, but that's a lot. I think they really should fold all content into one box and sell it for the price of a normal new game, like say 59.99 at launch and include a free month of sub time as well.
Oh well, idiots like me pay the price so I guess I can see why they don't bother. Not like they'd want to be fair or anything.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Just before the Cata expansion came out, they had the first three games for $20.99, which also came with 3 months of game time. My son got one of these from his friend for Christmas. That would have been the time to buy.
I think if they want to get more people playing (if that's even possible) they'll have to offer deals like that again. There's no way I would pay what it would cost to start playing from scratch now. It's just too much to get started.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
wow thats ALL you've gotta pay?
Come back when its $30 for vanilla, 30 for BC, 40 for wotlk and 60 for cata
Hmm, let's see. December 2005 till today that's 62 months, minus a 10month break i had after Ulduar makes us 52 months. 52 x 14€ = 728 euros. Plus 49€ for vanilla WoW + 40€ for TBC + 40€ for Wrath + 39€ for Cataclysm = 896 euros (1159 U.S dollars).
I don't want to think about the man hours spend cause it's likely that i'll throw myself out of my window. And it's a loooong way down.