Buying From Blizzard is Quickest Way to Play Cataclysm

[Mandal0re]

Pay?

Aren't all of EVE Online's expansions free?

Is it new to you that WoW expansions cost money?

Evidently.

Pay?

Aren't all of EVE Online's expansions free?

Isnt EvE Online a glorifide chat room with a chance of losing items with a REAL money value?

Err... No.

Pay?

Aren't all of EVE Online's expansions free?

What the hell does EVE online have to do with World of Warcraft? If you are suggesting that Cataclysm should be free then well-thats stupid.Most expansions for most games are not free. WOW is one of the biggest games in the world and Cataclysm is a huge expansion costing Blizzard millions to produce and market. EVE online is quite literally nothing by comparison. Why would they not charge for it? Plus, players without Cataclysm will still benefit from the overhauled game mechanics and remade world/new low level questing content.

I was assuming that since the update makes massive changes to the game world that it'd probably be required; not to mention that the cost is probably easily covered in subscription fees.

Scrub the sand out of your vagina.

If you are going to make retarded posts then you have to expect some retaliation. The point you made in response to me is completely valid and rational. However, it is not what you said in your initial post. What you said in your initial post was that EVE onlines expansions are free, a point with zero relevance to this topic.

OT: I assumed it would be available at midnight but being able to actually download it before that and play right away is pretty awesome. Not that i will be playing WOW in the small hours of the morning on release day but still...

There's plenty of relevance.

EVE is a smaller MMO yet none of it's (fairly regular) expansions are charged for - so I questioned why it's paid for ("Pay?").

Blizzard are owned by Activision though so I guess it's not too hard to find an answer.

You answered your own question there, EVE is relatively small and has regular expansions (thus i presume containing far less content) so charging customers for them might put people off. No doubt if the EVE team though they could get away with charging for expansions without damaging their customer base they would.

Oh and i suppose being owned by Activision would explain it those greedy money grabbing bastards. No. Blizzard is a company. Activision is Blizzards parent company. Companies want to make money. I dont actually know who developed and who published EVE online but those guys want to make money too. WOW has a player base of 12million and Cataclysm is a huge project and no doubt the result of a massive dedication of Blizzards resources. Why would they not charge for it?

Also, if that is the point you were trying to make originally maybe you should have unpacked it a little rather than making one confusing statement.

 

[Danpascooch]

It's a smart move, cut out the retailers and suddenly you make 100% of the profits, instead of having to give a cut to the stores.

 

[Jinxd]

Pay?

Aren't all of EVE Online's expansions free?

yup shame you get what you pay for
OT: i like this idea but i wont be doing it myself i just prefer haveing a hard copy.

 

[SturmDolch]

Good for the people that want the "World First" achievements. But I'll be getting it in store. I love the manuals that come with Blizzard games. And screw that on PDF format. I made the mistake of getting the collector's edition of Mafia II on steam... Paying extra for PDF files yaaaay ...

 

[Notthatbright]

Joke's on the customers: There's no way the authentication servers are going to be able to handle the load of millions of people logging on at the same time. Unless they've seriously changed them in the last 5 years.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

I'd just like to thank you two for not replying to me like I'm some sort of moron, and for having the reading ability to understand the relevance of my point.

I'm looking at this from an outsider's point of view (although I've dabbled a little in EVE).

No problem, it was a relevant comment, and I was glad to provide some insight.

As I later appended to my post, I play both WoW and EVE and can somewhat understand the reasoning behind both their methods. It's also the case that both these MMOs are rather different from each other, which leads to differences in how the content is presented.

WoW as a whole is fairly linear, you progress through the levels as you see fit and where you see fit, but for each level range there is a limited number of locations that is appropriate for you to level up in.
This linear progression is mirrored in their expansions, in that they extend the range of your experience (more levels and associated content), but rarely change the breadth of your experience (new ways to level for instance aren't added, new classes are, but the basic mechanics stay the same).

EVE is a massive sandbox, there's very little PvE content (although the wormhole sleeper NPCs added a lot) as such, most of the stories, in-game politics and economy is generated by its players.
As a result its expansions tend to change the breadth of your experience (new ways of earning a living or a name for yourself in EVE for instance, like the fairly recent PI, wormhole and factional warfare content, along with the standard stuff (gear, ships, etc.)), but the length of the experience doesn't really vary that much in EVE, there will be always skills to train and new things to learn. Their path is up to the players themselves after all.
The power play between massive groups of players is what forms EVEs endgame, and there is no fixed route to reaching that.

CCP tends to provide frameworks for player interaction, where Blizzard adds more content to defeat.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

Joke's on the customers: There's no way the authentication servers are going to be able to handle the load of millions of people logging on at the same time. Unless they've seriously changed them in the last 5 years.

Judging from how the Lich King launch was handled, I'd say they're pretty well prepared these days. During the launch period they tend to heavily reinforce the authentication servers so that they can handle far heavier loads than normal. This state only needs to be maintained for a few days after launch until the number of registrations per hour drops off and the conventional set up can take the strain again.

If I recall correctly the European authentication servers never failed during the launch of the Lich King, and lag was fairly low unless you were in a player hotspot (The Deathknight starting area and the Borean Tundra on my server for instance), but the Howling Fjord was fairly quiet and mostly lag free.

 

[Exort]

I think this is a stupid mistake. They should start up the servers at noon on the day or some reasonable time. Not 3am. Some of us wanted to play for an hour or two that night before getting some sleep and work the next day.

Well all game launch is alike that. Yea, I don't understand why it must midnight.

 

[Vhite]

Pay?

Aren't all of EVE Online's expansions free?

I think those are called patches in WoW.

 

[Charli]

Unless you're me and work in a game store. But regrettably will have to spend all of dec 7th handing them out to people without crying.

 

[VanityGirl]

This is a moot point.

Expansions are virtually unplayable for the first few weeks. So you might as well wait.

They've already been fixing the bugs to the WoW Cata update. Since they redid everything (including a very nice graphic update), they have had and have been fixing the problems to the game.

 

[MetallicaRulez0]

I really want to order the digital copy, but my big hang-up is the "activation" time for me. I'm on the East Coast, so if I can't play until 3AM my time (midnight PST), then I'm definitely going to go to Wal-Mart and purchase it instead. I'm really hoping it unlocks at midnight for every time zone, depending on where your Battle.net account is setup.

 

[Tehlanna TPX]

I want the collector's edition and have already pre-ordered that copy. However, this would be a great idea if I wasn't interested in CE content. Not everyone wants to stand for hours in line for their xpac . As fun as it can be! But not in michigan weather kkthx.

 

[samsonguy920]

Where was this when I actually played the damn game?

Depends when you played the game. I don't think digital download was available with Burning Crusade though you could register your copy which stayed in their database. You could download it later at no extra charge if you lost your physical copy. In fact you can download the expansion for free. You just have to pony up the cash to get it activated. Weird, huh?
I know digital download was available day one with Wrath of the Lich King but they really didn't advertise it off the bat. It pays to visit the website periodically, as a lot gets posted there that isn't shared in the startup window.

I really want to order the digital copy, but my big hang-up is the "activation" time for me. I'm on the East Coast, so if I can't play until 3AM my time (midnight PST), then I'm definitely going to go to Wal-Mart and purchase it instead. I'm really hoping it unlocks at midnight for every time zone, depending on where your Battle.net account is setup.

It may pay to wait anyway, and just let the basic content activate to explore through. It isn't just the lands that are changing but about 90% of the quests you have grown to loathe or love over the years are being replaced to adapt to the new environment(Especially with a more hostile Orc faction under Garrosh). With more awareness that you can get it digital from Blizz, downloads are gonna be on the slow side for a couple days. Not to mention the fact everyone that does get the expansion is going to want to play a goblin or worgen. I went through that nightmare with Burning Crusade trying to play a Dranny. Ye Gods what a circus. I can only imagine what the Death Knight circus was like.

Blizzard is owned by Activision though so I guess it's not too hard to find an answer.

Yes Blizzard is basically under Activision (But both fall under the tutelage of Vivendi)but everything I have seen so far has suggested ol' Bobby has kept his hands out of Blizz's pie. Instead he capitalizes on the results, like his idea to sell game movies as an example. Blizzard has been this capitalist since they started producing Warcraft III, which was before Activision merged with them. So nothing's really changed just because Bobby's in charge now. In Blizzard's eyes it is the same as selling an expansion to the RTS's of Warcraft or Starcraft.

 

[Plinglebob]

It's not yet clear if Cataclysm's digital pre-orders will go live at midnight in each time zone they're purchased, or only at 12am PDT. For World of Warcraft players on the east coast that want to begin their paths to Deathwing [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104461-WoW-Cataclysm-Cinematic-Intro-Blows-Everything-Up-Forever] as quickly as possible, those few hours could make a huge difference. Specific details should come out when Cataclysm goes up on the Blizzard Store in the near future.

Who cares about those on the east coast. Restricting it to 12am PDT would screw over their entire player base (except those lucky Hawaiians). My guess is it would either unlock based on your server (if so, you poor poor New Yorkers) or unlock depending on the country on your Battle.net/WoW account. Probably the latter.

 

[Delusibeta]

I've seen enough Steam launches that don't go well to guess that this one will probably not go well either. Nice to see that they're using the exact same argument as Steam uses for preordering from them.

 

[Irridium]

Pay?

Aren't all of EVE Online's expansions free?

Well some of it is provided for free, which is the newly destroyed world and altered quests.