Blizzard Talks Free-To-Play World of Warcraft

[Danpascooch]

Why would WoW do this when it has so many paying members?

I think going free-to-play is like throwing a new character into a sitcom, it's a last gasp at trying to get people interest in something that is on the verge of death.

WoW is not on the verge of death, not by a long shot.

 

[Tharwen]

I think the only reason it worked for DDO is that it is relatively unheard of and people who might have played it in the first place would have been put off by the price and completely ignored it.

WoW is well known enough that they don't need to generate new players by making it free. Plus, they have no microtransactions for revenue.

 

[garlicncow]

snip

Well firstly i am going to stick my opinion in here ,and say that S.W T.o.R is going to kill W.O.W because of two things...One; people love Bioware, and secondly, more people love Star Wars then people love W.O.W. Second of all, Blizzard is closer compared to Nintendo then anything else..because they take good established franchises and keep making more and more of then instead of making new i.p's (though they use to have a load of original games, and also Nintendo gets a freecard because it is a hell of alot more established then blizzard)And lastly...if you dont want to read the ellipses...too bad! Get over it...i'd rather have a paragraph of ellipses then a page long essay

Wow won't get killed my swtor, it just won't happen.

Blizzard has 3 franchises people demand more of Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft. They are not milking these names as people are practically begging them for these games. So it is not like Nintendo where they keep giving us games and half of the time you don't buy it till then next one is out.
Edit: You don't see them making more "The Lost Vikings" games because people don't want them so much. Also taking 11+ years between games is not milking every cent out that is considered a godsend by most.

Lastly, ellipses are the most annoying and grammatically incorrect thing to use, granted they do work rather well in some cases to build somewhat of a dramatic effect but constant use instead of hitting the enter button twice is a huge dick move on your part.

If you really want to be grammatically correct about everything,you dont go on the internet, you go to the library instead. And also Nintendo is way more established then Blizzard is at this point because Nintendo games come out quite fast, and they still have a huge sense of quality (other then some third party stuff), but on the other hand, Blizzard has 3 main franchises that are given too long of a wait for a sequel and are slowly pounded by other series. At this point Blizzard is doing the same thing that Nintendo is; its using Nostalgia to make sure gamers know that games that came out years ago are still alive.

Because people defiantly didn't pound blizzard for years on Sc2 right? RIGHT? oh wait they did, get out till you learn something it isn't nostalgia it's fan-service if anything.

 

[Zorrok the Merciless]

How could anybody think that making WoW free would be a good thing? What incentive would Blizzard have to add new patch content and fix bugs and such if they weren't being paid for it? Keep in mind that there have only been 2 expansion packs in 5 years for WoW. A TON of new features and content come from patches that you don't have to go out and buy. If we paid no monthly fee, we wouldn't have these things and it would become a 2nd rate game. Thankfully, though, I know Blizzard isn't stupid enough to consider making it free. It's not like they're hurting for subscribers. There are over 12 million people paying a fee now so there's no reason to mess with that, ha.

 

[Sephiwind]

Personally I have all ways thought that pay-to-play MMO's are a bit of a scam. I mean when you think about it first you have to pay for the game, then you have to pay in order to play the damn thing. Seriously why the hall should I have to shell out cash for the software, then sheell out more every month to use the software I just spent money on.

If you think about it free to play, with a well designed micro-transaction system, would probably make them far more money. If it could resurrect DnD online from near death, imagine what it could do to a poplar game like WoW.

 

[Brownie101]

I've never played WoW and a couple of friends have tried to get me into it. I never gave in for that one downside (Becasue it's such a huge downside.) You had to pay for it.

If it goes F2P then I'd quite gladly give it a try.

 

[garlicncow]

snip

Well firstly i am going to stick my opinion in here ,and say that S.W T.o.R is going to kill W.O.W because of two things...One; people love Bioware, and secondly, more people love Star Wars then people love W.O.W. Second of all, Blizzard is closer compared to Nintendo then anything else..because they take good established franchises and keep making more and more of then instead of making new i.p's (though they use to have a load of original games, and also Nintendo gets a freecard because it is a hell of alot more established then blizzard)And lastly...if you dont want to read the ellipses...too bad! Get over it...i'd rather have a paragraph of ellipses then a page long essay

Wow won't get killed my swtor, it just won't happen.

Blizzard has 3 franchises people demand more of Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft. They are not milking these names as people are practically begging them for these games. So it is not like Nintendo where they keep giving us games and half of the time you don't buy it till then next one is out.
Edit: You don't see them making more "The Lost Vikings" games because people don't want them so much. Also taking 11+ years between games is not milking every cent out that is considered a godsend by most.

Lastly, ellipses are the most annoying and grammatically incorrect thing to use, granted they do work rather well in some cases to build somewhat of a dramatic effect but constant use instead of hitting the enter button twice is a huge dick move on your part.

If you really want to be grammatically correct about everything,you dont go on the internet, you go to the library instead. And also Nintendo is way more established then Blizzard is at this point because Nintendo games come out quite fast, and they still have a huge sense of quality (other then some third party stuff), but on the other hand, Blizzard has 3 main franchises that are given too long of a wait for a sequel and are slowly pounded by other series. At this point Blizzard is doing the same thing that Nintendo is; its using Nostalgia to make sure gamers know that games that came out years ago are still alive.

Because people defiantly didn't pound blizzard for years on Sc2 right? RIGHT? oh wait they did, get out till you learn something it isn't nostalgia it's fan-service if anything.

I dont think you get what im saying. I am saying that the longer time that it takes Blizzard to do something, the easier it is for their series to be withered away by other, better, games...So if you want someone to go somewhere, why dont you go to the library and learn to READ...also i dont think you know what the word nostalgia means

I can't even respond to your level of stupidity with out raging.

 

[GamerPhate]

LOL if you read what he said there, they are saying that:

Oh yeah, if another game came out and was good and took some of our subscribers away, we would go to free to play as well. And we don't expect that to happen in the near future.

It makes me wish I was a millionaire or had investors and could make THE game to beat WoW and make it free to play thus forcing wow to do the same. I wouldn't care if the game made money, just want to take WoW down a peg if possible. But a man can dream.

 

[Roboto]

To all naysayers:

When you have big uncle Bioware staring you down across the room, things can get quite unsettling.

 

[Jewrean]

Anything for free is good... kind of.

 

[Jeronus]

If WoW became free, the whole world will end. The only two thing keeping most people from playing was the financial drain it put on one's life. Without that, the game will become a blob engulfing everything it comes into contact with until the world becomes Warcraft.

 

[BboyTeddyBear]

i might play it if enough of my friends join in. Mmo are only good when you have a bunch of friends.

You don't know how to mmo,I joined wow and then just met people, all you need to do is be friendly to the people on your server or be a massive troll that everyone still loves. Playing an mmo with friend limits you to playing with them most of the time.
"What the hell you out leveled me!"
"You weren't on."
"But we are friends we should be leveling together, now wait for me to catch up!!"
Then you impatiently wait 2 hours for their scrub ass to catch up to you.

most of my friends dont play nearly enough to be competitive especially in mmos. We used to play mmos back a decade. Leveling for us was never that far apart. It's quick to make friends off the net (I made plenty of friends off TF2 and a music forum) but playing so casually I could be on for one week then the next be bogged down with university stuff so meh. Depends on the people you meet and how much you play. Besides it's more fun talking about it with friends out of game at least in my opinion

 

[Captain Pancake]

Quick! People! Stop playing wow for a week, and save poor suckers like me the trouble of sub fees!

Why do people assume that Free-to-Play system is somehow better?

When you have F2P, all you get for free is shit. Look at DDO - some of the best quests have to be bought. Extra races and classes have to be unlocked or bought - and without any bought content, it's going to be forever until you unlock them.

Why would you want to avoid paying some change every month when it means you'll have to pay a withered husk of the game?

Because "a little change" for me is almost all of my available money, and for all I enjoy WoW I really don't have the money to support it. Mull that over before jumping down my throat next time.

That's called having a job, buddy.

I'm in full time education, buddy.

 

[darkonnis]

Well i myself have a magewhich is semi ulduar geared (when i stopped playing), a paladin(tank, damage and heal gear) and a warrior (which at the time ) were ready to start doing 10/25man raids. Still a few more classes would have been fun, even if for example they were only usable in PvP, like taking control of a goblin shredder or something, anything just to spruce it up a bit.

 

[Audioave10]

Only when WOW seriously starts to die out might it be free. They like the money. I guess you can't blame them.

 

[Reveras]

Well that would be amazing. But to those imagining that SW:TOR will even make a dent in WoW shares ....think again, there have been a wide number of great mmo's that didn't even get close to scratching the surface. I seriously think SW:TOR will end up like all the others, having their own little fanbase and/or a few wow players that went there to test the water and afterwards came back to WoW.

P.S. - somewhere deep in the back of your mind you know I'm right.

 

[Marmooset]

If they made World of Warcraft free, I would gladly renew my subscription. That was the only thing that I didn't like about playing WoW, was that I had to continuously pay for it.

Seriously, they need to do this. I want to play the game again, but I do not wish to pay that subscription fee.

So when they stop charging, they can have your loyal $0.00 sapping of bandwidth?
What a bargain!!!

but not until another game manages to make a serious play for WoW's crown.

So, WoW will be free to play in Spring 2011? After all, thats when SW: TOR comes out.

Yup. Just like when LOTR came out.
And Warhammer.
And Age of Conan.
And D & D online.

 

[Marmooset]

I'm in full time education, buddy.

You have no time for MMOs, then.
Get back to the books, bub.