In case you haven't heard, Blizzard will start selling companion pets in the blizzard store for $10 apiece. The title is self explanatory,so I shall dive into it.
1)I don't really care about pets.
This is purely subjective, as of course some people enjoy collecting and displaying pets. I'm likely to pop 'em out when I get them for a little bit, then forget them forever. It's just not an engaging part of the game for me.
2)$10 is a lot for what you get.
That's as much as it costs to play some subscription games for a whole month. I'm a monetary min/maxer (i.e. cheap) so this doesn't really jive with me. If I were to spend $10 on my gaming I'm more likely to put it towards another month of Warcraft, or towards another game.
3)This blurs the lines of content access.
Blizzard says they will never sell items, etc. that will strengthen your character. These are just cute pets. However, since WoW has launched many policies have fallen by the wayside, such as PVE->PVP transfers and name changes, the kinds of things they once said they 'have no plans for at this time'. Now they are available...for a fee. What about other content? Will there be pay-to-play zones or holiday events (buy a 'ticket' to the NEW Darkmoon Faire!)?
4)Their charity angle bugs me.
Blizzard is donating 5 of every 10 dollars from Pandaren pet sales to the Make-a-wish foundation. That will probably come to quite a sum, and I am happy for the charity and those that benefit from it. What bugs me is it seems like they are tossing on the charity to the new items for reasons OTHER than charity (self-promotion, making an overpriced commodity seem more reasonable in price). Its almost as if they are using the charity as an excuse to introduce RMT commodities to a subscription game. "See, a charity is involved! This makes selling you services for a game you already pay for more palatable". For a multi-billion dollar enterprise they could do better.
I'm not one to gloom and doom about the game much, I enjoy it a lot, but this development bothers me. I hope blizzard doesn't take this game and commodify it much more.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
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You hit on a lot of the points that bug me too. The difficulty is that I don't think your hope that they won't commercialize the game further has a rational foundation. The thing that I am struggling with right now is that trust is gone. When they say they aren't going to do something, I don't believe them anymore.
I'm suspicious of all things RMT. Paid *services* like name/faction change are still things that are outside the game, despite the impact on how you play it... in game content quickly goes down a slippery road. It ranges from the mildly annoying (Oblivion's Orrery quest package was pretty sparse, and don't get me started on horse armor) to the out and out shameful (Tobold's been taking a look at RMT facebook games and some of the advertising/scam transactions that go on).
In fact, short of all out expansions, I'm having trouble thinking of a time that in-game purchased content was worth the money spent...
"Will there be pay-to-play zones or holiday events (buy a 'ticket' to the NEW Darkmoon Faire!)?"
Don't know if you've noticed, but they already have those... They're called expansions, and most people gladly pay for them.
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