OK, so $10 for a horse is apparently the harbinger of the apocalypse. If Blizzard gives it wings, what then?
Is it OK when Blizzard, the holiest of the holy subscription games, dips its toes into mount sales? Are they an Item Shop game now, further tainted by that pesky capitalism stuff? *cue rabid fanboy ranting*
Does anyone think that Blizzard isn’t going to make money with this?
…
Much as I think fussing about this sort of thing is spitting into the commercial winds, I’m with Darren on this in one way; I’ll spend that $25 on a complete game, thankyouverymuch, and play it forever. I can probably pick up Lost Odyssey for that on sale somewhere, or a few more Steam sales…
I don’t mind that this pretty, pretty horse exists, not at all, I just won’t be getting one. Ripples of the commercial Cataclysm I keep suggesting, perhaps?
I think what’s grating about this is that Blizzard demands a full subscription and then charges fairly hefty prices for their cash shop items.
I’d have no issues with spending $25 on a vanity mount in a “f2p” game…. but in WoW I think it’s ludicrous.
(More power to ‘em when they rake in millions as fanboys purchase the mounts in droves.)
I think the funniest part of all this is the legions of people who are bitching so hard. (I don’t count this blog post as bitching, I’m talking those people that are hardcore whining) They seem to fall into two camps, those who are just jealous because of lack of funds or mommy said no; and those who are convinced that the sky is falling, and that next week epic gear will be available. Trade chat in WoW is filled with non-stop whining, while the purchasing contingent is silent. I’m sure because they are happily flying around on their new mount.
If you don’t want it, don’t buy it.
“If you don’t want it, don’t buy it.”
That’s what it all boils down to, in any of these business models. Voting with your wallet and all that, eh?
So this is how they’re going to finance their next-gen MMO. Good for them.
This development hurts us even if we don’t buy it. There are always people that buy everything from the item shop.
And why give cool stuff away for “free” if you can sell it in the item shop? Guild Wars is also selling costumes at the moment, purely optional fluff.
Makes me fear for Guild Wars 2. But they are not nearly as over the top as Blizzard which also asks for a sub on top.
I fear many games will sooner or later copy Blizzard’s pony.
They have SUCCESSFULLY tested that they can ask for extreme amounts of money for just one item! The store almost broke down, 7h queues and so on.
I’m not likely to buy the MLP Mount, but I certainly don’t begrudge, despise, or hate on those people who did.
IMO they’re just like the folks who bought Li’l K.T., the Panda Pet, etc. If they want it, fine, let them buy it. I don’t really care. It’s not like their having something detracts from my own enjoyment of the game.
I said in an rpg net thread that you can get art that’s as good as that mount on elfwood. Yet somehow it being in wow makes it suddenly worth $25 to alot of people?
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=510154
Someone said it was about the context.
So it’s about context, not content? Style, not substance? I wrote that, but then because rpg.net has a line of poison through it’s thinking and I was afraid to check responces.
No, this is bad for gaming – gaming as in games which have actual content. It’s setting up a culture of BS scenesterism and all talk, no walk.
“Oh, just don’t buy anything and everything will be alright”
I’m just not aware of any galactic rule that says everything will be alright if I don’t buy it.
But in the end is this really blizzard doing this, or are they just showing there are literally millions of people who want to buy style rather than substance?
Even if blizz hadn’t done it, those people would still be there, depressingly willing to hand over $25 for zero content.
If you care about making real content, perhaps your not professional, eh? Wanna argue? Blizz now has several million reasons to say your wrong. This is the new professionalism.
I don’t mind the cash shop fluff in GW, because I’m not already paying a subscription.
Same like the ‘premium’ content in Dragon Age: Origins. I don’t mind that, since I bought the game already, and I’m not paying a subscription.
But cash shop on top of subscription, that gives me the ookiest feeling…not because I play WoW, but because WoW is getting away with it – and soon others will try it too.
$25 for a mount is indeed pretty insane. My big fears is that it’s sparking off a huge trend and because Blizzard can make a ton of money doing it, every other game will try it too. Plus, it really is only a matter of time before we start seeing non-fluff items for sale and then eventually the whole point of in-game progression and gear acquisition will be redundant. I have very mixed feelings about that.
Kind of funny, FFXI already did this and no one noticed, with the Tidal Talisman. You got a real-life necklace with it, but it was around 42.99 for it and an ingame cosmetic item.
If they do it, they do it. MMOs are dirt cheap for the amount of time they provide, and if they want to add fluff items for sale, let them.
You can fix your link in the post, Tesh, here’s Darren’s reaction http://commonsensegamer.com/?p=1717
Y’know, that was supposed to be the third link. Thanks for catching that! Fixied.
Gentlemen, although I agree with your concerns, I disagree with your conclusions.
I don’t think we will see a shift in moral and “two class customership” (I don’t consider courtesy Items as a class dividing factor.).
When I tried to explain it to Longasc I ended up seeming to proclaim economical cycles. Sorry for that.
So let me say before my explanation that I am not lecturing economy, it’s just about stating that you don’t have to surrender your hope to see a change for good.
Selling virtual goods at an absurd price is not a problem for me. It’s without a doubt the highest profit margin that Blizzard has, and whoever feels the need to throw his money after them, has my understanding.
But as every action creates a reaction, I don’t think we will see a shift in morality.
As Blizzard Developers will go deeper and deeper into demand and price calculation, other developers will probably not agree with said morality and go into the opposite direction.
Look at Tesh and Brians reaction, clearly stating that it’s not their way to go and look at Longasc etc comment saying, that they don’t support Blizzards business model.
The “bad” action already created a “good” reaction.
As long as we see this agreement in reactions (provider willing to abstain from this model and customer demand avoiding this business model), we can expect alternatives to be created.
One of the things that always fascinated me of WoW, is that they have a monopoly in a market that you would expect to be at least an oligopoly. With the respect to prices.
Sooner or later, capital will look for a way to enter this market, hiring Brian and Tesh to create a game for Longasc.
Again sorry, if it sounds like lecturing economy.
I’m just saying that the trinity: money, artist and customer will find it’s way to each other.
As long as you Gentlemen disagree with Blizzard there is an alternative.
[...] to write about the celestial steed that Blizzard added to its item shop last week, when so much has already been said about it. Instead, I want to focus on one element of it: the [...]
Another fun spin down the slippery slope:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/comics/stolen-pixels/7450-Stolen-Pixels-187-Operators-Are-Standing-By