Sunday 21 July 2013

Cash Shop Controversy

So Blizzard really know how to cause a major S*** storm online don't they. I often wonder if they do it on purpose to wind up all the trolls and wingers on the forums. Not only have we seen Some data mining hinting at a cash shop but we have now had a full blown statement and items that may be sold previewed to us. Its difficult to judge at the moment whether the cash shop is going down well or not.  I briefly checked out the forums and as expected it all post like 'OMG adding cash shop to a Subscription game WTF' or 'i hate you Blizz im Quiting' or more of the same crap you normally get. (i feel sorry for the CMs dealing with some of the stuff, if i was a CM hint hint Blizz there would be a lot of banned accounts and i mean a LOT!) I am in favour of a Cash shop though to be 100% honest i probably wouldn't  use it, i like wasting hours of my life grinding for items. Hell i played Diablo 2 my character's were wiped several times and i kept grinding for that damn Crown of Ages! After the break i will break this all down for you, including a odd prophecy i made a while ago that may be true.

Ok this first thing i want to clear up is the continual winging about play to win etc etc. As the recently announced VANITY items have highlighted just how unlikely it is Blizzard add Weapons or Armour to the Store. (Except Vanity items ofc) It makes so little sense when you consider how very slowly and carefully they have been introducing micro transactions to the game, it was years ago we got that much hated sparkle pony. I remember the Outcry people on my server were going mental in trade and on forums. A few Months later no one cared any more, and slowly but surely more and more items have been added. This move has been on the cards for years, largely because a working cash shop on top of subscription would be a huge cash boost. irregardless of the moral standpoint/issues that may arise. While ultimately Wow is still going strong to lose 4 million active subscribers, and the increasing strength of Free to play games. Has meant that the in game cash shop is probably the first stage to towards a future free to play model.(When i say future i mean  like way in the future)

Also as a minor point when every nearly every other MMO has a Cash shop, it is hardly surprising that Blizz are making one. Its what they do they steal other companies ideas of major game features and then implement them in there own game better than the originals. So that we the user has no real reason to leave Wow for pastures new.

This next paragraph was going to be about how just because we have data mined items and the shop atm doesn't mean its coming right now. However i have had to retcon this as the Items are now live. While i wont buy any of them myself (i will post about what i would and wouldn't buy soon) i think they may be just a tad to expensive. I don't think any item should cost as much or more than a months game time  unless its awesomely useful. Like the mounts used to be before the advent of cross server mounts. I think if anything here Blizzard have maybe jumped the gun a little bit with these items. But maybe its a devious plan so when they announce the next items that are half the price we all go 'OH wow must buy' or something like that.

On to my two pieces of prophecy, a age ago i wrote a blog post discussing implications for the in game browser and a topic i touched on at the time was the ability to access Account functions including the store in game. Well Bingo the store is coming in game, and I'm my opinion this is a good thing. I like having everything i one place, i am a huge fan of the new Battlenet Launcher. Just need to get my grubby hands on its shiny shiny beta. I bugs the hell out of me that i have to alt tab and log out and in, to access different games/account functions. It is just plain stupid and time consuming. I have logged into the game/launcher i want access to all my account settings and games from one place.

My second attempt at being Nostradamus, came a few week/months ago when it was announced that Wow tcg's new deck would have no new loot. But would instead feature a bonus chance at all existing loot from previous decks. At the time i said to my Gfriend that i thought this was because Blizz were going to start making/selling there own Tcg loot. Though i did say that this would be via Hearthstone, which does not appear to be the case. I have always found it odd that you can get such awesome stuff from the Tcg loot cards, while i know that they must pay licensing fee etc. I have always felt that Blizz have missed a trick here, if they sold the Tcg Loot in there store they could make a killing. For example http://www.wowhead.com/item=49284 is currently for around $500 and upwards, and people pay that (i dont know why, but it is there life and there choice) . Say Blizz sold this in store for $10 or something around that amount, it would only take 1 million to people to buy it and BAM $10 million. I think that they could not only charge more for it, but also there would be a lot more than just 1 million people who would buy it.

I find the fuss created by the store quite surreal at times it amuses me to read other peoples blogs both in defence of and against it. Largely because in my mind having a in game cash shop doesn't bother me in the slightest because there are very few items i would ever buy. For example i have made a  lot money on the D3 RMAH yet i have spent a grand total of £0 on buying in game items. In Dota 2 i got a treasure chest i need to buy a key for £1.25 to open, have i opened the chest............. hell no. Ultimately spending money comes down to your own personal preferences, there are a large number of people who will spend a substantial amount of money on micro-transactions. Its a Cash Cow and while Blizzard continue to produce better content and a more complete gaming experience, as well as churning out content faster than ever. If they choose to milk it (sorry for the farming puns) you cant blame them, while the game remains hugely profitable for there company we will still get huge amounts of content and regular Expansions. In my books that's a win, nothing in life after all is really free. Money is the driving force behind pretty much everything.


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