How can WoW still justify a subcription model?
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What exactly do you think the word "canon" means? You have said several times in this thread that having been established in the setting for over a decade doesn't count, so there's no way you could possibly be using the dictionary definition. Although since you also seem to think "only appears in an easter egg" is the same thing as "joins the main party in an unavoidable scripted event" I'm guessing English isn't your first language.RhanathShadowhand said:
You also keep going back to what they were originally intended as. OK, in that case the night elves are not part of the alliance but are an independent faction as powerful as the horde, alliance, and scourge while Illidan is a misunderstood good guy. Well spotted.
WoW is the most successful for a reason: Between the game itself and community, its the best. People will not stop playing WoW because between they will never be able to recreate the community and fun in a new MMO. It will never be the same for the old players and a lot of the new players want to experience what made the old players love it so much.
Because blizzard supply an exceptionally good service to all their players. Things are fixed as soon as its discovered their broken, patches come along to keep expansions fresh, the interface continues to improve, new ways to spend your time get added. Plus as mentioned plus have invest years of their lives into a load of different characters and want to see their progress continue.
Personally i think its full justifiable too, 9 quid a month, so substantially less than a new AAA game, and chances are you'll easily sink more time into wow then the AAA title.
Personally i think its full justifiable too, 9 quid a month, so substantially less than a new AAA game, and chances are you'll easily sink more time into wow then the AAA title.
I'd rather pay money on a monthly basis and have access to the full game and not have half of it locked by a bullshit F2P model.
As long as people are willing to pay, there will be a subscription model. There is no real reason why it needs one at all.
With regards to nostalgia. I partly agree. But also nostalgia can be negative as well as positive. You may remember happy times which you know you will never have again (friends who have gone their separate ways). Or you remember the bad times and they stay with you as emotional baggage as you visit old areas.
I personally can never return to World of Warcraft. It's a shame the players who do play it tend to be isolated from other communities on the interwebs. To communicate with existing friends who play Blizzard products I have to play another Blizzard product to log onto Battlenet. Otherwise I have to settle with broken interview-style-small talk conversation on social networks.
Problem with a subscription model it ads a divide in the player-base. If a player loses interest in WoW, he will cut his subscription and not play at all in till he is enticed backed. The subscription fee is a 'pledge' that you will play more a majority of a month. If you're doubtful about being able to dedicate yourself, you don't pay and you can't play at all. With a F2P model you play as often as you like. It feels casual, but you are also able to play hardcore.
Also, with a ticking subscription fee you feel pressurised to play often and intensely you get your money's worth. You will rush to progress as efficiently as possible, forsaking enjoyment. There are human being that oddly enjoy being efficient at doing things, but this comes across as work. You're playing a game. Enjoy yourself. If you keep working you'll work yourself to ill health. Dedication is a good trait, but like all things, do it in moderation.
Subscription model is more likely to incur burn-out than a F2P model. But it does depend how a F2P model works. If you forbid your player base from significant content (not aesthetics) because you decide to maintain some subscription fee, then that is not fair. Buying content DLC is fine as long as it's price appropriately.
With regards to nostalgia. I partly agree. But also nostalgia can be negative as well as positive. You may remember happy times which you know you will never have again (friends who have gone their separate ways). Or you remember the bad times and they stay with you as emotional baggage as you visit old areas.
I personally can never return to World of Warcraft. It's a shame the players who do play it tend to be isolated from other communities on the interwebs. To communicate with existing friends who play Blizzard products I have to play another Blizzard product to log onto Battlenet. Otherwise I have to settle with broken interview-style-small talk conversation on social networks.
Problem with a subscription model it ads a divide in the player-base. If a player loses interest in WoW, he will cut his subscription and not play at all in till he is enticed backed. The subscription fee is a 'pledge' that you will play more a majority of a month. If you're doubtful about being able to dedicate yourself, you don't pay and you can't play at all. With a F2P model you play as often as you like. It feels casual, but you are also able to play hardcore.
Also, with a ticking subscription fee you feel pressurised to play often and intensely you get your money's worth. You will rush to progress as efficiently as possible, forsaking enjoyment. There are human being that oddly enjoy being efficient at doing things, but this comes across as work. You're playing a game. Enjoy yourself. If you keep working you'll work yourself to ill health. Dedication is a good trait, but like all things, do it in moderation.
Subscription model is more likely to incur burn-out than a F2P model. But it does depend how a F2P model works. If you forbid your player base from significant content (not aesthetics) because you decide to maintain some subscription fee, then that is not fair. Buying content DLC is fine as long as it's price appropriately.
Despite not playing the game any more I will always say it is still the best MMO out there. It is so damn refined when compared to its competition. So much has been streamlined, it has simple mechanics but surprising depth.
I would keep playing it myself if I had the time to invest.
I would keep playing it myself if I had the time to invest.
That's wrong.RhanathShadowhand said:
This is also wrong. Never mind the sense it doesn't make, F2P MMOs don't sell in game weapons.
"Merging older expansions"? You mean that battle chest thing that gives you the base game, Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King? That's not merging expansions, that's good business. They realized that potential new subscribers wouldn't want to have to pay for the base game plus all the expansions so they bundled the older expansions together for a cheap price, although you still have to buy Cataclysm and Mists on their own.
That's....also wrong. I mean yeah they let you be any race from the start now but barring one or two little things, your choice of race is totally cosmetic, it doesn't affect the game at all. It may not be "useful" but it's not detrimental either.
"All about profit"? You mean like every company ever? Anyway, they won't go F2P because they don't need to.
You actually used the word "casualize"....cute.
They were the first of their kind, and they managed to transcend the usual MMORPG demographic and became so huge that they ate up the entire market. In fact, I'd say it's the other way around. All those other MMOs would deserve a subscription, it's just that next to the insanely huge playerbase of WoW, there's no way they can begin to stay competitive when they ask money from people to play their games. Because ultimately, no matter how great MMORPG of the hour is, all your friends are still playing WoW, so that's what people return to, over and over again.
Captcha: foul play
Yeah, Blizzard is playing dirty by not letting WoW just die. I totally agree, captcha.
Captcha: foul play
Yeah, Blizzard is playing dirty by not letting WoW just die. I totally agree, captcha.
It's not really about the content of the game anymore TBH, it's just because back when it was still new, it was seen as something quite legendary back in those days.
Anybody remember WoW VS. Runescape? People were always fighting over which was better. The pros of WoW were that it was fully 3D and had better graphics than Runescape did (and i think the world was bigger too). The pros of runescape were that it was easier to get into, and free to play, with membership only an optional thing for if you REALLY liked the game.
People just gradually started talking about it more and more until it became known even by non-gamers because it had so many players. I remember that back then, if people thought you were a nerd, they would've said that you played either runescape or WoW.
However, while this was going on, Jagex (devs behind Runescape) started making wrong decisions and they managed to quickly make their game worse, and so people just quit Runescape and moved onto WoW.
If Jagex hadn't done such silly decisions as these:
- Almost complete removal of PvP
- "Improvement" of graphics which didn't really work out because the game uses java, and because it was optimized poorly
- The focus being on changing the way the game played rather than just adding new content such as new places and quests etc.
- Monetising the game to the point where it was pretty much just pay2win
And so on,
Then i think that runescape would've had just as much of a presence today in the gaming industry as WoW does, because it was a serious contender back in 2006, and i think at one point it almost had more players than WoW.
So yeah, the reason that people still pay for it is just because it's popular and still has a strong community, it won over the competition and it was clear from the start that it would be going strong.
Anybody remember WoW VS. Runescape? People were always fighting over which was better. The pros of WoW were that it was fully 3D and had better graphics than Runescape did (and i think the world was bigger too). The pros of runescape were that it was easier to get into, and free to play, with membership only an optional thing for if you REALLY liked the game.
People just gradually started talking about it more and more until it became known even by non-gamers because it had so many players. I remember that back then, if people thought you were a nerd, they would've said that you played either runescape or WoW.
However, while this was going on, Jagex (devs behind Runescape) started making wrong decisions and they managed to quickly make their game worse, and so people just quit Runescape and moved onto WoW.
If Jagex hadn't done such silly decisions as these:
- Almost complete removal of PvP
- "Improvement" of graphics which didn't really work out because the game uses java, and because it was optimized poorly
- The focus being on changing the way the game played rather than just adding new content such as new places and quests etc.
- Monetising the game to the point where it was pretty much just pay2win
And so on,
Then i think that runescape would've had just as much of a presence today in the gaming industry as WoW does, because it was a serious contender back in 2006, and i think at one point it almost had more players than WoW.
So yeah, the reason that people still pay for it is just because it's popular and still has a strong community, it won over the competition and it was clear from the start that it would be going strong.
As a WoW player for... god know how many years... There's one reason that WoW is so successful;
Sheer. Damn. Volume of content.
All the way from starting a toon, completing every zone on the way, would take you forever. It's all still there, it's getting bigger with every update, and there's at least one more big expansion in it. If you're looking for value for money, WoW is where it's at.
Also; minor point about "easier" raids. The raids have in fact become both more complex mechanically and more difficult damage wise (overall). And there are Heroic versions which are even more mechanically complex. If it's easy, you're not trying hard enough.
Sheer. Damn. Volume of content.
All the way from starting a toon, completing every zone on the way, would take you forever. It's all still there, it's getting bigger with every update, and there's at least one more big expansion in it. If you're looking for value for money, WoW is where it's at.
Also; minor point about "easier" raids. The raids have in fact become both more complex mechanically and more difficult damage wise (overall). And there are Heroic versions which are even more mechanically complex. If it's easy, you're not trying hard enough.
I once asked a mate what he thought about paying the monthly fee. The way he explained it was that WoW was the main game he played, and that he felt he spent less on other games (he still bought them, but not as frequently) and that he was happy to pay a monthly fee that ended up being about the same as he would have spent throughout the year on games if he wasn't playing it.
More content and more technical support and a larger active community then any other MMO. All of these by far. Basicly it just offers more.
Though I do think that they need to either cut the cost of buying the game, or start doing the whole GW2/TSW model, where you buy once and then pay for content update.
The thing is wow is known for it's content updates more then any other MMO, and that they are substantial in size.
Also this
Though I do think that they need to either cut the cost of buying the game, or start doing the whole GW2/TSW model, where you buy once and then pay for content update.
The thing is wow is known for it's content updates more then any other MMO, and that they are substantial in size.
Also this
LordJedi86 said:
For the same reason big oil can charge what they do for gasoline; because people will pay no matter how much they ***** about it. As much as Activision/Blizzard is making on this cash cow it makes too much sense to charge people. Seriously, they've made a fortune on this game, and dedicated players aren't going anywhere anytime soon.