World of Warcraft Survey Talks Annual Passes, Paid Character Upgrades

[MarlaDesat]

World of Warcraft Survey Talks Annual Passes, Paid Character Upgrades

A survey sent to some current and past subscribers asked about how likely players were to purchase the upcoming expansion, Warlords of Draenor, at a few different price points.

Some current and former World of Warcraft players have received a survey asking them about their interest in and willingness to pay for some new products. World of Warcraft Annual Pass [http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261372/world-of-warcraft-survey-asks-about-character-upgrades-annual-passes] is not currently available, but was a limited promotion that included a free copy of Diablo 3, access to beta testing for the Mists of Pandaria expansion, as well as an exclusive in-game mount. Blizzard may be considering reviving the Annual Pass in some form. The survey also asked players to rate their likelihood to purchase the upcoming expansion Warlords of Draenor if it were priced at $39 or $49. Whether the expansion included a free upgrade for one character to level 90 was also included for consideration, with one question asking players, "In your opinion, what would be the fair dollar value for just the character upgrade to level 90 (of any new or existing character)?"

The upcoming expansion [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129467-Warlords-of-Draenor-Expansion-Announced-for-World-of-Warcraft] Warlords of Draenor was announced at BlizzCon on November 8. The expansion will increase the level cap to 100 and will include a feature that allows a character to boost to level 90. The expansion will also improve detail on character models, and will allow travel to the new setting of Draenor.

Despite flattening the leveling curve, the ever increasing level cap can make World of Warcraft difficult to start as a new player, especially if you are joining friends many levels ahead of you. With Blizzard expecting to launch retain or gain some subscribers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129548-Blizzard-Expect-More-WoW-Expansions-Sooner].

Source: Polygon [http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261372/world-of-warcraft-survey-asks-about-character-upgrades-annual-passes]


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[Church185]

Glad I jumped ship when I did if this is any indication of things to come for the MMO giant. Paying for levels isn't my cup of tea.

 

[sneakypenguin]

I've always wanted a legit buy character option so hopefully wod will have some version of it. For pvpers grinding out a new character even with heirlooms/guild bonus is a pita.

 

[Ticklefist]

This is why I only play SC2 and D3 now, Blizz. Those games don't cost me an average of $200 a year. Not that I want you getting any fucking ideas. 'The hell am I kidding. You already have them.

 

[Do4600]

Honestly, my favorite part about WoW, and the reason I play it for three months about every 18 months or so is because I like re-experiencing the content, often in different ways than I already had before.

I like leveling, it invests me in the character, there's a sense of growth and exploration and there are at least four or five areas for each bracket of six levels. I suppose if I was playing it constantly for years and years since its release I would have already done everything and be bored with it, but right now, even with four max leveled characters I still think there's plenty more to see and do, paying for a level 90 character would just rob me of that. I suppose I've just played WoW very, very slowly.

 

[Kyrinn]

This is the saddest thing I've ever heard. So, WoW, as we vanilla players knew, is not only dead, nay nay, that happened back in WotLK, but it's been dug up, pissed on, sold for parts, and what's left has been shoved back into a shallow grave, upside down.

Yes, WoW is not the same game it was in 2004. However, vanilla WoW would not survive in today's market. Even if we did include everyone with nostalgia for the old days, they would all unsubscribe once they remembered all the terrible parts of vanilla.
Honestly I don't see many other options for trying to get new players into such an old game. The 1-100 grind can seem daunting, especially when endgame is everything.

 

[Colt47]

The move makes sense with instant leveling characters to 90 because all blizzard has ever cared about is the current content. I left before the siege of orgrimmar in mists of pandaria just because the game had become so derivative, lifeless, and mindless that it was painful to keep going. It got to the point where players could amass a scrooge McDuck treasury and have absolutely nothing to spend it on since the only important thing is valor and justice points.

World of Warcraft doesn't even have a fan base anymore! All that's left is the withered husk of weary long term players that are unwilling to come to terms with the games slow and inevitable decline.

 

[PPB]

Honestly, my favorite part about WoW, and the reason I play it for three months about every 18 months or so is because I like re-experiencing the content, often in different ways than I already had before.

I like leveling, it invests me in the character, there's a sense of growth and exploration and there are at least four or five areas for each bracket of six levels. I suppose if I was playing it constantly for years and years since its release I would have already done everything and be bored with it, but right now, even with four max leveled characters I still think there's plenty more to see and do, paying for a level 90 character would just rob me of that. I suppose I've just played WoW very, very slowly.

Story of my life. I've always thought that leveling is much more interesting than everything else in the game. I remember hitting 60 on my first character all the way back in vanilla. I was looking forward to it so much since everyone kept saying the game started at the level cap. When I got there I felt like I had run head first into a brick wall. Suddenly, the only way to grow my character was to run over and over again the same content in order to get a +10 belt instead of a +5 one. I promptly rolled a new character. Nowadays, with the commodities of the dungeon finder and LFR, I clear the new endgame content once and move on to another character or go on a break.

With that said, I feel like as the level cap gets ever higher, it is only logical for them to come up with ways of making leveling faster. I fully expect to see a paid character upgrade sooner or later but it saddens me somewhat. I'd rather see them coming up with in-game ways of easing leveling for those who want to get to the cap ASAP. I thought the Monk 50% XP buff was a great concept and I don't understand why they don't make it available to everyone.

 

[SecondPrize]

I know it's going to happen every time but I'm always disappointed when they announce they're raising the level cap. There are other ways to allow for character advancement than bumping up the number on your character sheet, ways that don't invalidate all previous raid content.

 

[BoogieManFL]

I guess my 7 years subscribing to it didn't make me worthy of getting their survey. Jerks.

 

[Nilanius]

Heh I didn't get the survey, and I was a customer since the original orcs and humans. I beta tested 3 of their expansions, and was a big supporter till the crap they pulled in mists of pandaria, and their response to bug reports on their official forums.

I quit that game this year around april I think it was. I uninstalled it in July along with every blizzard title. Far as I am concerned, Blizzard, and this game and it's upcoming expansion, isn't even worth a pile of poop on the ground. But you just know where there's poop, theres a developer snickering and wanting to make a real world quest to dig your hands into it to find treasure.

Blizzard might be considered an mmo giant, but I suspect their subscription numbers will have a major drop when the next quarter reports comes out next year. Blizzard dug their grave, and now their only option is to try to bribe customers into returning. Not happening here. I am a Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn supporter now.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I am glad I got bored of this, as to me they are still missing the point.

Raiding a great idea, but kinda poorly executed. The sheer mountain of grid to get gear to start participating in raids is so stupidly high, it is bigger Kanye Wests's ego. I had a level 85 Draenei Shaman that I would have loved to take on raids to heal, but I could never get the minimum gear to get into the damn things, and since mop had the 'genius' idea of making you have to grind rep to get into dungeons I gave up. Stopped playing completely. I honestly don't get the hype about Blizzard anymore.

Starcraft 2 is their magnum opus in regards to internet culture. But this is the company that crapped out Diablo 3, a game that would've won EA's Game of the Year with its always online restrictions and moronic auction house idea. This game could not have been more consolified if they tried. But I understood that though. You didn't need that many buttons to play Diablo 2, just two mouse buttons and a couple of other buttons for potions. Their skill system crippled skill testing for anyone who enjoyed dabbling in skills, the loot system was pathetic to the point they had to patch in a better loot system. And their biggest sin is forcing single-players to deal with any internet lag problems.

Let me put it this way, I have enjoyed my Diablo 3 T-shirt more than their "PC" version of the game. I am kinda looking forward to the console version to play what originally was a PC game, just so I can play the damn thing and enjoy it!

Getting to the end of the story-line, my first though shouldn't be "Thank God that is over!"

 

[jackpipsam]

I will differently get the new expansion.

While WoW has its moments where I get a tad bored of it, it still feels better to play than most other MMOs on the market.

I in theory don't object to an instant 90 option, as many people enjoy playing end game content and there isn't enough options during leveling a character that making lots of 90s can't help but feel a grind.

 

[EbonBehelit]

If Vanilla WoW wouldn't survive in todays market, then the crash NEEDS to happen.

The 1-100 grind is what the game IS. The fact that Activision made the fucking retarded idea to cater to the dumbshits that wanted the game played for them, and focus EVERYTHING at the end of their game just proves WoW needs to die. Games are about the journey.

-snip-

So, by that logic, Fallout shouldn't sell today right? Playing the whole game is daunting, what if I just want to wander around endgame maxed out? Let's just sell that for Fallout 4. Fallout 4: We'll play the game for you!

No, because Bethesda, unlike fucking Activision, has some god damn dignity and class, and still gives a shit about the games they make.

Star Wars: The Old Republic has an 'excellent' (comparatively speaking) leveling experience, complete with voiced dialogue and a decent storyline for each class. The game also tanked hardcore.
Why?
Bioware spent so much time on shaping a compelling 'journey' to cap that they left the endgame severely lacking - and while some players were happy to ignore endgame and start over with a new character, many players simply got bored and moved on because even with all that attention, SWTOR's leveling is STILL a grind after the first playthrough.
Hell, even as another class, 95% of the quests you need to do are the same, and they're for the most part not even remotely enjoyable.

You need to take into consideration that it's not the 'journey' that MMO players are missing out on when they elect to skip the leveling experience on their second and subsequent characters - it's the grind. It's not a journey when you know not only exactly what's going to happen at the destination, but almost everything that's going to happen on the way as well.

I also think your Fallout analogy is bit flawed.
For one, the Fallout games are single-player experiences - and single-player games have a bit more freedom with things like gameplay mechanics.
That's the problem with MMO's in a nutshell: they all try to replicate WoW's hotkey-based combat when it's an antiquated system that prevents gameplay from reaching anything even resembling fun. The leveling experience in MMOs is boring because the gameplay is boring.

 

[anthony87]

I could dig a "boost to 90" from the store. Frankly I've got a pain in my tits with leveling at this stage.

 

[synobal]

I think the idea of leveling in MMOs is flawed, Eve Online has an interesting concept as well and it's a bit flawed as well. I'm not certain how it can be fixed.

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

You know, as bad as Perfect World may be with their constant pushing out of MMOs and money grubbing...

I had fun. Playing an MMO.

I mean, hell, it was the first in a long time. I played WoW AGES ago, and the main thing that drew me in was the world and exploration. The combat and such was pretty shite. Like, I understand hot-key combat and why it's a thing, and I can happily play it, but when you ask me to play with hot-key press 1 2 3 4 5 then wait and do it again for hours and hours, I don't want to play. Combat that makes me move and play and shoot and react... It's fun.

I had 3 mates over the past few days, and we stayed up all night playing Neverwinter, the MMO. Note: Playing, not leveling. That was one key difference. But we formed up a party and we were all shouting orders, calling for my mate playing the wizard to freeze the fucking Deathpledged who was charging me, Matt accidentally pulls a mimic and Scott has to rush in there and tank the damage with the shield, meanwhile I'm playing chicken with a pack of skeletons who keep charging me and I'm trying to set up the perfect multi-shot to take them out. Then we all eventually pull through on almost no HP, and I look back. It was FUN.

See, Neverwinter gives you 2 "daily"s that when you reach 100% action points, you can use. Then there's your 2 class abilities/buffs, that give you small bonus like giving you bonous health if you block in time. Then you have your tab which does very different things and is awesome. For the Ranger, it switches from bow to knives. For the Mage, it throws the enemies flying to Kingdom Come. For the Rogue, it makes him invisible. And so on. Then you have your 3 encounter powers with are you regular "Leaping Dash" and "Flying Kick" and lastly your 2 at will, which are basically left click and right click, for things like shoot bow normally or shoot multiple arrows at once. Of course, you have shift, which for most means a dodge, but for Guard Fighters means a block.

Now, that may seem like a lot of skills, but you can only use those, so playstyles end up very different and fun. The thing is, it's all League style. You get a circle when you use Hail of Arrows, and in that circle is where the arrows land. If you are an enemy, you can then use your shift to dodge out of the way. You slash with your sword, and the enemy can dodge. You can dodge their blows. And so forth. The combat is very movement and attack heavy, you never really sit there hitting QER QER QER unless you are a Guardian Fighter stuck in a blocking duel XD.

I think WoW did so well back then simply because it was BIG. Like, I can't really think of any MASSIVE game before WoW came around. Was Morrowind out before WoW? I can't remember. Anyway, now I can get the massive world AND good combat, so the main reason people still stick around are nostalgia and the others who are still there.

Anyway, just my 2million cents.