WoW Gets Real Money Trading, End Times Ensue

[dragongit]

Holy Jesus people keep throwing this story out of perportions. Blizzard thinks " well now people can get these pets in game through trading" and everyone thinks "ZOMG blizzard is selling GOLDZ!" They are not, they are planning on making a profit, but they are not introducing money to the game, only an item which can be traded for gold. It's not quite the same as those gold farmers who take your cash for gold and introduce up to 100K gold into the economy out of thin air.

It's regular players buying and selling things as they always have. Even if these are abundant on the market, its 10 dollars a pop, so buying more then just a few can be daunting on one's wallet. And secondly if they are abundant, then who's to say they are valuable? Even harder to get items right now arnt' exactly that expensive, these might sell for 500g or something. I'm just saying, people like to take stories, find the minor flaw in the plan, and BLOW IT OUT OF PERPORTION!

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Uh-Oh. I think Blizzard just decided they want a SECOND thirty story pile of hundred dollar bills......

 

[Davih]

Could be worse. Also since quite a few people are gonna be selling them, they will be pretty cheap goldwise so not economically efficient unless you are rolling in the money.

 

[BrotherRool]

Since the Diablo 3 announcement it's clear that Blizzard have realised they can make money not only off selling the game but by creating a virtual economy where they are actually licensed to print digital money and make a cut off even the transactions a player makes in their game.

I mean gold-farming is worth money. Blizzard have already created an entire sub-economy, they're just deciding to cash in on it

 

[LJJ1991]

Wait a second, why are people freaking out about this? So some people will use this method to get some in-game gold, big whoop! It's a freakin' pet! They don't do anything except eat your food and crap! It's unlimited and not difficult to acquire. The price for such a thing isn't going to be very high, at least in the long run and people aren't going to be flying off the shelves of the Auction House.

Besides, this is just another piece of evidence that micro transactions are taking over and WoW will someday (but not for a long time) be F2P. Blizzard is already doing a real-money auction house, for Diablo 3, so this shouldn't be that big of a surprise.

Not to mention...

That is... just lame. I bet soon they'll be selling legendary items for cash too.

This will NEVER happen. This breaks the most basic rule of micro transaction (don't sell power) and Blizzard would NEVER EVER do that. Not to mention, they make it freakin' hard enough to acquire these legendary items, so they're not going to spoil that by selling them.

In all the posts of all the forums i've read. Not once have I seen anyone explain to me why this is worse than PLEX in Eve. Eve being a game that is said to have a great and vibrant economy.

This is my point exactly. PLEX in Eve are an extremely important part of the economy and they're done via MICRO TRANSACTIONS. In fact, PLEX are considered one of the best aspects of Eve. Blizzard is just expanding their horizons and I don't blame them for the use of micro transactions. All of the things you can buy, with real money, are aesthetically valuable only. No player gets an advantage with these pets/ mounts.

 

[babinro]

I don't understand why people would be upset about this. I also don't understand why Blizzard doesn't just offer the option to buy gold and legendary items directly from a store rather than farming for them.

This seems to be a touchy topic for people...but being able to buy power where it could otherwise be obtained for free over time doesn't break a game.

 

[Uber Waddles]

FOR SHAME ON THE WRITER OF THIS ARTICLE.

The Escapist has clearly lost most of its integrity over the last year. And I find it horrible. They are not allowing for Real Life Trading - they're allowing you to buy a mount with real life money. If you want to sell it for gold, you can. But there is no guarentee your $10 investment will fetch any substantial ammount of gold. Saying this opens the door to them allowing you to sell things in the future for real life profit is obsurd because, frankly, you have zero proof. Yeah, people CAN make profit off of it. But chances are, if people see this as a reliable source, price will PLUMMIT on the Auction House. Also take into account that for $10, you won't get a large chunk of gold...

I'm sorry, but there is no integrity in this story. Its appauling - you're not even TRYING to be balanced. This is blatent sensationalism for nerdbaiting to get traffic and views. Something the Escapist seems to be keen on lately. For. Shame.

 

[Chesterfield Snapdragon McFisticuffs]

That is... just lame. I bet soon they'll be selling legendary items for cash too.

How much do you want to bet on that? I'll empty my piggy bank. I get that you're obviously exaggerating, because there is no fucking way that Blizzard would dare ruin the entire point of their game for a scrap of gold. Do you think they are so stupid that they wouldn't realise that the act of pay-to-win would destroy their player base (i.e. their monetary source)?
Don't overreact to the statement, it makes you sound like an Anti-Blizzard fanboy.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Hmmm...who monitors this?

I mean, does Blizzard have to keep careful records of everything gamers do?

Otherwise...well, are we going to see an orc named NSA_Agent giving lots of gifts to undead mage Republican_Guard14, while being hunted by night elf AssangeFan?

 

[Lucyfer86]

That is... just lame. I bet soon they'll be selling legendary items for cash too.

How much do you want to bet on that? I'll empty my piggy bank. I get that you're obviously exaggerating, because there is no fucking way that Blizzard would dare ruin the entire point of their game for a scrap of gold. Do you think they are so stupid that they wouldn't realise that the act of pay-to-win would destroy their player base (i.e. their monetary source)?
Don't overreact to the statement, it makes you sound like an Anti-Blizzard fanboy.

I was just being sarcastic (at least the legendary item part). No doubt that Blizzard knows better than doing dick move with transactions.

 

[Xanthious]

I know it's been a long held policy in our guild that buying ANY in game items for real world currency is grounds for immediately being kicked from the guild regardless if it's from Blizz or from some random person in a sweatshop in China. We had to replace two very solid raiders that had been with us since Burning Crusade over sparkle ponies.

The point is real money transactions have no place in a game like WoW. It doesn't matter if they are only cosmetic or if they are being done in the name of charity or if they are able to be sold in game or not. They simply have no place.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Counting down the clock until WoW goes completely f2p, being supported entirely off of microtransaction crap like this.

Getting closer...

*shrug* At least they're selling pure cosmetic items. Never had a problem with that, to be honest. Once they start selling power, that'll be a death sentence.

 

[DTWolfwood]

Lets see how the gold/cub exchange rate fair in this unstable economy!

the guardian cub will be the new SOJ! XD

 

[mattaui]

It could be worse. There could be a card game that had loot cards that sold for $500 on eBay that had rare BoE mounts that went for 100-200k gold.

Oh wait.

This doesn't do anything but move gold around. The massive payouts from daily quests are a much bigger concern, as price inflation over the last two expansions has shown.