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New Mount in Blizz Store = $2,000,000 in 4 hours
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I'd rather they improved their _soon in the deathbead_ graphics engine instead.
I love the game mechanics but the years old outdated for no reason (noone heard of scalability?) graphics engine keeps me away.
That is one seriously unattractive mount, imo....for 25 bucks. It's like a terrible copy of the spiritsteed from EQ2, but in EQ2 you can't buy it with real world money, you have to use 350,000 status and platinum to get one (in game currency and quested reputation), and they are HELLA better looking than that. That thing from WoW looks like a grade schooler drew it.
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
As far as funding for future games thats not a problem eac of their games have grossed enough to make the next sequal. This is simply another way fro them to make money my previouse post still stands.
My problem with the mount isn't that they sell some cosmetic stuff. The pets they have really are very minor. First the pets aren't PARTICULARLY special, as there are pets just as cool you can get in the game. Second, pets aren't used for anything.
A mount is a bit different, but it wouldn't be THAT big of a deal. Unfortunately, the Celestial Steed is by far the best looking mount in the game. There's literally nothing you can get by playing that comes close. That sets a bad precedent to me. They are also going to offer the only two-person flying mount via the Recruit-a-friend system, which some people are going to pay for just to get that mount -- and it is quite possible they'll add mounts like that available for cash before you can get them normally in the game.
I don't think they'll ever sell gear, but looking cool honestly does matter. Convenience also matters, and the Recruit-a-friend rocket will be stepping on that. Eh, I just need to build a new computer before FFXIV and SW:TOR come out -- I hope neither one of those games follows in the direction WoW seems to be going.
To the people who say Eve and LotRO add more content than WoW, is this really the case? I'm not familiar with how much content those games add, but it seems like WoW adds a good amount. Admittedly the vast majorit of new WoW content is raids, and I'm the first to say that's pretty lame (but the whole game is now focused on only providing a challenge if you have 9+ other people with you). Still, seems somewhat unlikely WoW is actually providing less content in terms of the time it takes to produce, but maybe I'm mistaken.
Makes me wonder if they already had these kinds of plans when they started to focus more on the gear treadmill and making it as casual as possible so everyone feels a part of it and progressing through it.
God forbid everyone feel a part of the game they are paying money to play!
I have no love for Warcraft, or what Blizzard has become, but, seriously, we are complaining about a 25 USD mount. How is this different from any other purchase system? Yes, you pay 15 a month to play, but it costs a great deal of money to keep as many servers and GMs running as they have. I hate hearing how EVE pushes out more content when the very nature of their content and the much, much lower volume makes it vastly cheaper to run when compared to the influx of money they have.
This is a vanity pet. It has long been shown that people pay for vanity items. Many of my girlfriends by designer bags because they want to show they have them. They are not better bags; it is the ability to say, yes, I paid for this. It exists in the real world, why not in the virtual world?
Please, people, there are many things Blizzard has done that are far worse than this. I would wager most companies want to try this and see a way to make it work.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
WTF? No subscription fee?
All products have a PLC. WoW too. WoW is no longer their STAR product, as it isn't attracting a lot of new customers anymore. The growth is rather steady or even slowly dropping.
WoW is Blizzard's cashcow now. A lot of customers and low costs to keep it running. Slowly, WoW will move to a dog. More and more customers will leave. This will still take a few years tho.
Now, we do know that Blizzard is working on a new MMO for in a few years. It will be their new STAR, hopefully, but a lot of money is needed to develop that STAR. And where do you get the money? Yeah, thats correct, from the cashcow.
Expect to see more of these kind of features soon, in a way or another (faster expansions with only 5 level cap raiso for example).
Eaglix
good thing is il be enjoying the "cashcow" untill their new mmo comes out:).
Already noticed lots of people buying and loving the mount on my server. I personally don't like it . . This doesn't stop me from enjoying the game though
they forget their gamers (although that defination gets put through a lot of shit when considering what most mmo's consider "gameplay") *ahem* anyways... they forget that they're gamers and have been on the forums too long and have actually turned into a new type of troll...
"the old woman"
it's an awful thing to see happening, it doesn't matter what any company on any subject does.. "it was better in the old days", i remember the old days - they were pretty shit. Some people need to take off their blinkers and actually remember the old days properly... they were pretty shit. I mean really bad like, Halo 2 campaign storyline type crap we're talking here....
After 5 years, Blizz has decided "screw it, lets make some more cash", 5 years ... not instantly (hello cryptic), or after months of failure (hello DDO).... but 5 years, 5 years where they've dominated the MMO market so much so... that we have more WoW clones than actual WoW content... (3 expansions and huge updates on the 5 years, thats pretty impressive).
Blizzards fault? not really, they made a product based on what they had seen in the market at the time and rolled with it, changing as they deemed fit... like most companies they LIKE money. no surprise there.
Should Blizz have put in the mount and pets somewhere into the game (maybe) don't see why they should... you can still earn well over 75 pets and 100 mounts IN GAME as it is.... i think that's covered on content.
-shakes head-
old women.. heh.... going through menopause .... thats what mmo forums have became... and they blame blizzard... It's not your game, deal with it and move on... occassionally mocking it (like an ex).
Blizzard don't care.... money fights are the best !
Customers who buy it... don't care. they want it, most seem to like the fact they have it... good for them. it's called having "fun" in a game you're playing. a concept not clearly understood.
"nothing actually matters, we're just slightly evolved monkeys clinging to a dying piece of rock hurtling through space waiting for our eventual death." - Frankie Boyle, Mock The Week
I'll say it now. If Blizzard starts offering armor dyes through the cash shop, they'll make more money per month off that then most games will make off subs.
Just saying.
I am very much unsure what to think of this atm. If it makes the game more money for DEVELOPMENT and better HARDWARE - then great ! - if it goes straight into the wallet of the shareholders (witch is what happens in most cases - then its really bad)
About the mount itself. I dont care if they would have added a new looking tiger or lion or sebra or a flying lizzard. They desided to add a mount that has the same look as one of the rarest and most sought after mount in the game. And that really is terrible to think off for the future of the game. The most cool things are payed for extra here after.
Last - What will the future bring in this regard ? For me this mount (and the coolness of it) took things to new levels when it comes to WOW. Does it not effect the gameplay when you see every other player in the game riding a mount that you can NOT get ingame ? It would come as no surprise to me that withing few months we will see the third spec options beeing sold in Their cashshop.. and you know what.. it does NOT affect the gameplay.
Still - its a question how far a company should push before it backlashes on them. Im torn on this.... I am not playing WOW atm and Im not sure I will be buying or subbing for Cata - if this is the direction that the game is taking. And no ... Im not just saying that.
$2M USD eh? That's money better spent on hookers.
Alltern8 Blog | Star Wars Space Combat and The Old Republic | Cryptic Studios - A Pre Post-Mortem | Klingon Preview, STO's Monster Play
It is exactly this type of ignorance that fuels all the hate towards any industry leader as if everything is their sole fault.
This isn't exactly new ground blizzard is blazing here. It sucks big time, but it is hardly anything new.
I don't think there is an example of a company that has added a cash shop to a subscription game and has shown an increase in content development. Maybe I am wrong, but everyone I can think of has slowed down content development.
Their reasoning might be that there are very few players (at this point) that will even be able to have a chance to get Invincible. He only drops from Heroic Lich King and last I checked only something like 5-7% of all guilds have even attempted that fight. I hear the argument that it removes the 'status symbol' aspect of it but in the end it's all about sales. Nobody is going to buy a mount that looks like one you can buy from a vendor and if they make one that doesn't look like anything in the game, then you'll get just as loud an outcry (maybe even more) from people.
Other developers are watching the numbers roll in and are crying. This mount will make more money in 24 hours then they'll make in 6 months. Blizzard had dared any other developer to make a competing product and none can.
The trend is going to item shops. I hate to break it to some people but this is what the future holds.
If you dont like it then may want to find something else to spend your time on, because in the near future I bet almost every MMO will be doing this.
And honestly these companys dont care if you like it or not because as this has shown the money is rolling in.
I really could care less about fluff items, however I personally would not play anything with game altering item shop sales.
People that spent money on this thing are so stupid. They have no idea the monster they unleashed. I'm normally not all doom and gloom, but this is truly the beginning of the end.
Ugly thing to do by Activision Blizzard, but if the players actually pay for this crap (and can endure the 'lol you bought that mount' jokes for rest of their WoW career), then I guess I should applaud them. C'mon, one fairly simple skin for a model already in game and they make 2M in 4 hours, shame on those who bought it. I'm hoping this isn't becoming a norm, but yeah, microtransactions is a better way of making more money than upping the monthly fee. It's obvious that they are not going stop it here. I was interested in SC2, but I read there will be maps you can buy and I just read something about Russians going to have to pay a monthly fee for bnet..? Was that a joke? I might have to boycott all games of this company.
Waiting on Xsyon & betaing stuff
I'm not a WoW player so this is just a general opinion on the matter...I guess as long as these cash shops stick to fluff and the extra income lets them not have to jack monthly rates, I'm OK with it, even though I would prefer they make the same fluff available/earnable in game either through quests or spending in game money.
I'm more OK with it for a 5 year old game like WoW that already has a ton of content than I am with a new game like STO that was so lacking content that it is shameful to be spending time making fluff to charge for.
I just bought it because I thought it looked cool, it reminds me of a particular raid dungeon that was the best time of the current expansion content for me, and I found out that every single character on my account gets it as well as all future characters.
Thanks.
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
I sort of understand if you have such nostalgic value to it and really, really like the looks, and not just because it's shiny and makes you stand out in crowd. But still, such silliness shouldn't be supported, you make a disservice for the whole gaming community.
Waiting on Xsyon & betaing stuff
Great job Blizzard! Once again you proved that you are money machine! Many games do not have such budget to create their own games but you made 2.5m in 4 hours... AMAZING MONEY MACHINE! I want a piece of it .
I agree 100% The market has spoken. Players who cannot currently afford to pay $15 a month are attracted to the F2P system and when they finally get disposable income they will be coerced to spend it towards the MMO they know and love.
WoW is P2P so its a bit different, but I feel like Blizzard is testing the waters here, not so much trying to convert to P2P + Item Shop.
What would be exciting if Blizzard's next MMO was F2P with item shop (they would probably still do a $40 or $50 game purchase) with the quality of a Blizzard game I cannot imagine the numbers that kind of MMO would bring in. Hubla.
Welcome to the future.
"They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath
President of The Marvelously Meowhead Fan Club
I was not aware of this but apparently Russia will be an *exception* for being charged BNET fees
- probably more due to the country's laws than Blizzard
http://www.starcraft-source.com/article/news/view/?id=513&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+starcraft-source-news+%28Starcraft+2+News%29
paying for additional maps doesnt surprise me tho
Blizzard did say there would be optional charges on Battlenet but it wouldnt be Hellgate style
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/10/13/blizzcon-2008-rob-pardo-talks-battle-net-monetizing/
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