In less that 2 years, the comments have gone from :
"GAH Pay to Win evilness!!!!"
TO:
"GAH To expensive to charge $60"
My 2 cents:
"Give me convenience or give me death!". Which I suspect is why I haven't logged into a MMORPG for more than 15 minutes, in well over a year. That even goes for this past weekends Wildstar stress test. The "care" is gone and all of it seems no better than the next Bieber single. "Popular" crap for the mindless masses. In my heart of hears I long for a place where I can get lost again, be someone else, blah blah blah. But there next to the longing, in the cockles, lies the truth. So I go to class to further my goals of adulthood, (getting there just 20 years behind most timelines), check these forums for a light of hope, find darkness, and move on.
The reasons it was so expensive to buy a max level toon prior:
-You're generally not buying a character, you're buying an account. That $150-180 includes the purchase price of the game and relevant expansions.
-You're paying someone for the time that went into leveling that toon.
-It's against TOS. Prices are always higher on "illegals."
$60 seems like a hefty price to pay Blizzard for about 15 seconds of "work" especially considering you're paying the price of a brand new game to SKIP CONTENT!
Would you pay $60 dollars for a level 90 character? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.
It certainly cuts the time of levelling alts, but at a huge cost. Yes, this does kill off the levelling services and the need to buy characters to cut out the levelling game, but the levelling game is the best part of WoW, the end game is always a gear treadmill. Yep, the business suits whom run Blizzard have finally implemented a clear buy to win policy. This makes them money, but it is a cash shop mechanism to cut in-game corners.
Long story short, I have 4 90's as is, if I buy WoD (which is seriously in question atm) I will use the free 90 boost for my 60 Warlock... and now due to the $60 price for a 90 boost, I will never use that feature again.
If it were around $20 I would consider boosting up a priest too.
So instead of getting $20 more of my money, they are getting zero because they priced it too high.
Long story short, I have 4 90's as is, if I buy WoD (which is seriously in question atm) I will use the free 90 boost for my 60 Warlock... and now due to the $60 price for a 90 boost, I will never use that feature again.
If it were around $20 I would consider boosting up a priest too.
So instead of getting $20 more of my money, they are getting zero because they priced it too high.
That is the result of their price gouging.
With the new upcoming models it would be just a crime not to buy the new WOD expansion
But yeah wise thing to do is to be patient and use the free lvl 90 boost.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
With all the greedy tactics pulled this new year from these company's did you expect them not to? people will buy it, and that justifies them enough to keep doing it. If you let some some dude rob you every friday don't you think he will keep doing :P
"By all means, reach for the stars but you need to build the spaceship first"
You have been able to buy a max lvl character since half a year after the game was released, now you just aren't as likely to get scammed. The only people who have a huge issue with this are people naive to how easy it has always been to buy MMORPG stuff online.
Blizzard has been fighting 3rd party sites taking advantage of their game for 10+ years now, they obviously decided the best way to fight it is to just offer the services they were offering legally in game.
You could buy the best items in the game in D2, you could buy a max raid gear character in EQ, you could buy characters in MUDs before MMORPG ever came out, this isn't something new.
Originally posted by EugeneKDudley With all the greedy tactics pulled this new year from these company's did you expect them not to? people will buy it, and that justifies them enough to keep doing it. If you let some some dude rob you every friday don't you think he will keep doing :P
I've said it before and I'll say it again, 10 years and zero subscription price increases? Where's the greed in that? The fact that they're introducing services which you have the choice of buying into doesn't make them greedy. If they need to supplement their income and microtransactions is how they do it, even better. I'm sure, err, I hope that the people working at Blizz have had raises, bonuses, and other incentives over the past 10 years. Otherwise, seems like it might be a pretty crap place to work. The fact that they only started supplementing their income now is astounding to me. It isn't like the cost to run the game has gotten cheaper over the years. So greed might not be te best way to describe it. If they were greedy, they'd charge what the market would pay and maximize their profits that way.
Of course with Blizzard it's about the almighty dollar otherwise they would just have ramped the xp curve to 90. I think they should have just taken a cue from swtor and ran double xp weekends and sold boosts. For a game that has more money generated than most it's shows how we as gamers rate in their eyes.
It's no surprise to me really been playing since 2k4 and every xmas you get that FREE cider recipe you already have, whoopie! Greedy bastads.
Generally speaking I'm definitely against such features to be sold in a cash-shop.
However, when its in a game that is 10 years old... Sure, go right ahead - When a game is so old I think it's OK for them do allow such a thing.
The game is 10 years old. Everyone and their mother has a fully leveled character, there is no "win"-scenario to be had. If you want to level your character without using a feature as this, feel free to do so. If someone else uses this to buy himself a lvl90 character, who in their right mind gives a f***k either way?
Bare with me here because I just saw this thread....
Let me know if I got this straight. People pay money for a high level character so they don't have to actually play the game?
Yep, they won't spend 2 days max of playtime to get level 90 char.
I am going to call bullshit on this. Even using a bot program, full heirlooms and guild bonuses you are looking at 3-5 days. Playing normal hours will take you 2-4 weeks easily, probably 1-2 months if you don't have any heirloom gear or RAF bonuses.
Originally posted by Satyros So many people bought max-leveled characters for a lot more. And illegally. Yeah, sure they will use it. Is it stupid? Yes, it is.
While I agree with this in theory, in practice $60 seems very steep.
Currently 1-90 leveling service are charging 175$ per character(not even a proper leveling site, just one person who is selling his service in ownedcore.com). if you are saying 60$ for a level 90 is steep then you have no idea what you are talking about. You are a column writer in mmorpg.com, you should be more knowledgeable about these stuff.
As for this service being stupid, it was just a matter of time. whether we like it or not thousands of players buy leveling service from illegal sites, just like thousands of players buy gold from gold farmers. if anyone should be making money off of WoW that should be blizzard and not chinese prisoners. i support this feature. now they should just add a RMAH where people can sell their extra gold.
The service is $brilliant$
It's called monetization or "Taking your customer's for all you can get"
ps. I agree with Suzie $60 for hitting a couple keys, is kind of steep
So it is perfectly alright to pay a chinese prisoner 175$ for a level 90 toon but when blizzard offers the same service in a legit and better price it is unethical? you don't want it, don't use it. just don't bash a company because they want to provide the best service to their customers and save their money(175-60=115, if you don't have what it takes to calculate) in the process.
The Great Blizz of Ozz is saving people from themselves and prisoner's in China
I guess according to your logic "Money Mart" is a wonderful company and has a wonderful service, charging dumbass people 51% interest on a payday loan, because they maybe saving a few of them from getting their leg's broken at a loan shark. (broken legs - 51% interest = Mother Teresa)
You can slice it anyway you like $60 way way too steep
Well at least blizzard will earn the money now and not mafia run organisations... this hopefully will mean more and better content.
I suppose the reward for buying WoD is a free 90 included in the package.
I might finally bother with a BE priest on Horde Dreanor EU.
This also solves my massive issue with CRZ, they generated the competition and then removed the competition by providing a paid service to 90. Clever clever bliz.
Finally this may not be the sale price, this is just what someone saw in a flicker on the test server... oO
This also solves my massive issue with CRZ, they generated the competition and then removed the competition by providing a paid service to 90. Clever clever bliz.
I've long been a WoW fan and Blizzard fan, but this is insulting.
$60? HAH
It's not the real price, just like the initial transmorg and void storage costs on PTR was much higher than the final price on live servers.
It'll probably cost as much as a realm or faction change, $25.
Blizzard wouldn't want players to all level to 90, like they don't want factions to get unbalanced (why faction changes have not only a $25 price tag, there's rules on how many toons you have that can transfer, and when).
$25 is the high end of "comfort" for players to pay. So expect it to be <$25.
I think no matter what price they set it at people would freak out its too much or too little. I think $60 is a decent price point its cost enough that people just wont go nuts leveling chars with it. But its cheap enough you can do it if you want.
If some people are correct and Blizzard really did this put the leveling services out of business. Then why did they wait so long until now? I mean all I really hear from these people who support this is, " Well, it costs less than buying characters illegally. Good on Blizzard for putting this in there."
I guess these people expect others to really believe that. I guess that's what they have to tell themselves to justify 60 dollars. The funny thing is, the people who don't consider 60 dollars a lot of money, think that means it's okay to spend it. Just because you have money doesn't mean you should throw it away.
The only argument I can really understand, is you are paying for your time to be freed. As an author (not a editor, hence the bad English, I pay my editor for that), I can understand how one, wants to play a MMO like this or you literally don't have the time to level that class you always wanted to play.
I get it, the free time you do have goes to gearing your other characters or raiding, and the time just isn't there to try out that Pally or Boomkin. I can understand where 60 dollars isn't a lot to pay for freeing up that time to level.
But again, I am against it and quitting WoW, and giving my guild as GM, to one of my trusted officers, because this is pure greed.
This isn't blizzard trying to put criminals out of business, if so they would have done it awhile ago, the reason they are doing this is they have lost subs, don't want to go free to play, and want to make tons up for it. Through pure greed. If it wasn't greed based they would have made it at least more affordable for the average gamer, like 35 or 40 dollars.
Blizzard will come out and say, "Look our customers were asking for this", like they said about selling charms. People seemed to be freaked out about that, and then blizzard retracted and said, "This will stay in Asia only."
Blizzard right now is just crunching the numbers, how many people will quit the game over this greed, how many will complain and stay... then look at all the blinded fans throwing their money at this. Whatever hurts them the least money wise, they will do.
If they come out and drop the price to 35 dollars, or stop the fact of selling the 90 characters all together (they say, they set it at 60 dollars so people couldn't just buy WoD again under a different account for the free boost. LOL like that makes it ok), I will come back, but not until then.
Sold everything I had, and along with the gold I had, I gave my guild 100,000 gold in the bank. Never quit the game before. Now I am just waiting to pass the lead to the guild. Going to vote with my wallet. Hopefully I am not alone on quitting.
This is just sneaky marketing by Blizzard, release with a $60 price, cause a fuss on the internet then announce it was a mistake and drop it to a more reasonable $20.
As much as I hate to think I didn't come up with it, I believe you're right. And the people that still play will buy 90's like wildfire because "it isn't $60. I'll do 3 of them now!".
Originally posted by Scalebane Its fine, people just love to complain. i know i know it effects you somehow, someway blah blah blah.
Well it affects the genre that I love and if more follow suit then indeed it will affect me. From what I gather from the first 7-8 pages of replies , some people have sense and think the whole idea is complete BS and some people just think it should either cost more or cost less.
Well if EA win the worst company 3 years running this year I will then realise that the people who vote for it haven't got a bleedin clue what so ever. That might give you an indication of what I think of both Blizzard/ Activision and SoE.
"Hey I'm starting a raiding group , who wants in ?" (gets a few replies) "Okay who is not a new bought level 90 ?" (tumble weeds).
I would swear lots about this BS but it would get edited to F**K.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing. "SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13 The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
All I can say about this is Blizzard greediness and gamer laziness for whoever buys a 90 level character. You can tell not only times have changed with the type of games with play but times have changed with how players are these days. Pretty sad.
If some people are correct and Blizzard really did this put the leveling services out of business. Then why did they wait so long until now?
It's profitable now.
You can level 100 levels on 49 other toons on 4 other servers, or pay a sum, instead.
But the $60 price tag would have to come down, as people griped about server/faction fees for $25. $60 no point even having it when it's the price of the entire game.
Comments
In less that 2 years, the comments have gone from :
"GAH Pay to Win evilness!!!!"
TO:
"GAH To expensive to charge $60"
My 2 cents:
"Give me convenience or give me death!". Which I suspect is why I haven't logged into a MMORPG for more than 15 minutes, in well over a year. That even goes for this past weekends Wildstar stress test. The "care" is gone and all of it seems no better than the next Bieber single. "Popular" crap for the mindless masses. In my heart of hears I long for a place where I can get lost again, be someone else, blah blah blah. But there next to the longing, in the cockles, lies the truth. So I go to class to further my goals of adulthood, (getting there just 20 years behind most timelines), check these forums for a light of hope, find darkness, and move on.
The reasons it was so expensive to buy a max level toon prior:
-You're generally not buying a character, you're buying an account. That $150-180 includes the purchase price of the game and relevant expansions.
-You're paying someone for the time that went into leveling that toon.
-It's against TOS. Prices are always higher on "illegals."
$60 seems like a hefty price to pay Blizzard for about 15 seconds of "work" especially considering you're paying the price of a brand new game to SKIP CONTENT!
Quote of the day!
More time playing = better value.
Leveling is like peeling a 40lb bag of potatoes, when you really want to eat them like yesterday.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
It certainly cuts the time of levelling alts, but at a huge cost. Yes, this does kill off the levelling services and the need to buy characters to cut out the levelling game, but the levelling game is the best part of WoW, the end game is always a gear treadmill. Yep, the business suits whom run Blizzard have finally implemented a clear buy to win policy. This makes them money, but it is a cash shop mechanism to cut in-game corners.
Long story short, I have 4 90's as is, if I buy WoD (which is seriously in question atm) I will use the free 90 boost for my 60 Warlock... and now due to the $60 price for a 90 boost, I will never use that feature again.
If it were around $20 I would consider boosting up a priest too.
So instead of getting $20 more of my money, they are getting zero because they priced it too high.
That is the result of their price gouging.
With the new upcoming models it would be just a crime not to buy the new WOD expansion
But yeah wise thing to do is to be patient and use the free lvl 90 boost.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
"By all means, reach for the stars but you need to build the spaceship first"
You have been able to buy a max lvl character since half a year after the game was released, now you just aren't as likely to get scammed. The only people who have a huge issue with this are people naive to how easy it has always been to buy MMORPG stuff online.
Blizzard has been fighting 3rd party sites taking advantage of their game for 10+ years now, they obviously decided the best way to fight it is to just offer the services they were offering legally in game.
You could buy the best items in the game in D2, you could buy a max raid gear character in EQ, you could buy characters in MUDs before MMORPG ever came out, this isn't something new.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, 10 years and zero subscription price increases? Where's the greed in that? The fact that they're introducing services which you have the choice of buying into doesn't make them greedy. If they need to supplement their income and microtransactions is how they do it, even better. I'm sure, err, I hope that the people working at Blizz have had raises, bonuses, and other incentives over the past 10 years. Otherwise, seems like it might be a pretty crap place to work. The fact that they only started supplementing their income now is astounding to me. It isn't like the cost to run the game has gotten cheaper over the years. So greed might not be te best way to describe it. If they were greedy, they'd charge what the market would pay and maximize their profits that way.
Crazkanuk
----------------
Azarelos - 90 Hunter - Emerald
Durnzig - 90 Paladin - Emerald
Demonicron - 90 Death Knight - Emerald Dream - US
Tankinpain - 90 Monk - Azjol-Nerub - US
Brindell - 90 Warrior - Emerald Dream - US
----------------
Of course with Blizzard it's about the almighty dollar otherwise they would just have ramped the xp curve to 90. I think they should have just taken a cue from swtor and ran double xp weekends and sold boosts. For a game that has more money generated than most it's shows how we as gamers rate in their eyes.
It's no surprise to me really been playing since 2k4 and every xmas you get that FREE cider recipe you already have, whoopie! Greedy bastads.
Generally speaking I'm definitely against such features to be sold in a cash-shop.
However, when its in a game that is 10 years old... Sure, go right ahead - When a game is so old I think it's OK for them do allow such a thing.
The game is 10 years old. Everyone and their mother has a fully leveled character, there is no "win"-scenario to be had. If you want to level your character without using a feature as this, feel free to do so. If someone else uses this to buy himself a lvl90 character, who in their right mind gives a f***k either way?
Tweet at me - Visit my website
I am going to call bullshit on this. Even using a bot program, full heirlooms and guild bonuses you are looking at 3-5 days. Playing normal hours will take you 2-4 weeks easily, probably 1-2 months if you don't have any heirloom gear or RAF bonuses.
The Great Blizz of Ozz is saving people from themselves and prisoner's in China
I guess according to your logic "Money Mart" is a wonderful company and has a wonderful service, charging dumbass people 51% interest on a payday loan, because they maybe saving a few of them from getting their leg's broken at a loan shark. (broken legs - 51% interest = Mother Teresa)
You can slice it anyway you like $60 way way too steep
"Be water my friend" - Bruce Lee
Well at least blizzard will earn the money now and not mafia run organisations... this hopefully will mean more and better content.
I suppose the reward for buying WoD is a free 90 included in the package.
I might finally bother with a BE priest on Horde Dreanor EU.
This also solves my massive issue with CRZ, they generated the competition and then removed the competition by providing a paid service to 90. Clever clever bliz.
Finally this may not be the sale price, this is just what someone saw in a flicker on the test server... oO
Not much competition I say...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNr6aM43ckQ
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
It's not the real price, just like the initial transmorg and void storage costs on PTR was much higher than the final price on live servers.
It'll probably cost as much as a realm or faction change, $25.
Blizzard wouldn't want players to all level to 90, like they don't want factions to get unbalanced (why faction changes have not only a $25 price tag, there's rules on how many toons you have that can transfer, and when).
$25 is the high end of "comfort" for players to pay. So expect it to be <$25.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.
This is no different from buying EXP boosts in F2P games.
It's a time saver, that's all.
Oh and btw 60$ isn't much even if you were the fastest leveller in the world.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
If some people are correct and Blizzard really did this put the leveling services out of business. Then why did they wait so long until now? I mean all I really hear from these people who support this is, " Well, it costs less than buying characters illegally. Good on Blizzard for putting this in there."
I guess these people expect others to really believe that. I guess that's what they have to tell themselves to justify 60 dollars. The funny thing is, the people who don't consider 60 dollars a lot of money, think that means it's okay to spend it. Just because you have money doesn't mean you should throw it away.
The only argument I can really understand, is you are paying for your time to be freed. As an author (not a editor, hence the bad English, I pay my editor for that), I can understand how one, wants to play a MMO like this or you literally don't have the time to level that class you always wanted to play.
I get it, the free time you do have goes to gearing your other characters or raiding, and the time just isn't there to try out that Pally or Boomkin. I can understand where 60 dollars isn't a lot to pay for freeing up that time to level.
But again, I am against it and quitting WoW, and giving my guild as GM, to one of my trusted officers, because this is pure greed.
This isn't blizzard trying to put criminals out of business, if so they would have done it awhile ago, the reason they are doing this is they have lost subs, don't want to go free to play, and want to make tons up for it. Through pure greed. If it wasn't greed based they would have made it at least more affordable for the average gamer, like 35 or 40 dollars.
Blizzard will come out and say, "Look our customers were asking for this", like they said about selling charms. People seemed to be freaked out about that, and then blizzard retracted and said, "This will stay in Asia only."
Blizzard right now is just crunching the numbers, how many people will quit the game over this greed, how many will complain and stay... then look at all the blinded fans throwing their money at this. Whatever hurts them the least money wise, they will do.
If they come out and drop the price to 35 dollars, or stop the fact of selling the 90 characters all together (they say, they set it at 60 dollars so people couldn't just buy WoD again under a different account for the free boost. LOL like that makes it ok), I will come back, but not until then.
Sold everything I had, and along with the gold I had, I gave my guild 100,000 gold in the bank. Never quit the game before. Now I am just waiting to pass the lead to the guild. Going to vote with my wallet. Hopefully I am not alone on quitting.
"What tastes like purple?"
As much as I hate to think I didn't come up with it, I believe you're right. And the people that still play will buy 90's like wildfire because "it isn't $60. I'll do 3 of them now!".
Well it affects the genre that I love and if more follow suit then indeed it will affect me. From what I gather from the first 7-8 pages of replies , some people have sense and think the whole idea is complete BS and some people just think it should either cost more or cost less.
Well if EA win the worst company 3 years running this year I will then realise that the people who vote for it haven't got a bleedin clue what so ever. That might give you an indication of what I think of both Blizzard/ Activision and SoE.
"Hey I'm starting a raiding group , who wants in ?" (gets a few replies) "Okay who is not a new bought level 90 ?" (tumble weeds).
I would swear lots about this BS but it would get edited to F**K.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
It's profitable now.
You can level 100 levels on 49 other toons on 4 other servers, or pay a sum, instead.
But the $60 price tag would have to come down, as people griped about server/faction fees for $25. $60 no point even having it when it's the price of the entire game.
.:| Kevyne@Shandris - Armory |:. - When WoW was #1 - .:| I AM A HOLY PALADIN - Guild Theme |:.