Blog Archives
Where the Real Money Is
Walk with me while I take you on a journey.
First stop is HERE, where we learn that Upper Deck has lost the license to World of Warcraft – Trading Card Game. Blue Poster Zarhym had this to say about it on the World of Warcraft Forums:
As some of you may already be aware, we will not be renewing the World of Warcraft: The Trading Card Game license with Upper Deck. We want to assure you that we are committed to supporting the TCG, and players can look forward to new content and strong organized play support in the near future. We will share additional details about the game’s transition to a new partner as soon as possible. For those awaiting tournament prizes, we will ensure you receive them.
So Blizzard is leaving Upper Deck. Which is funny, because to hear them tell it Upper Deck dropped Blizzard due to poor sales.
The card game seems popular enough. Listen to anyone who talks about it and they seem to know a guy who knows a guy who plays. A few people will come out and tell you that they have personally tried the game but just didn’t get into it. Sounds like Upper Deck’s poor sales claim might have some footing after all. Locally I’ve tried to find packages of cards but they’re incredibly hard to come by. I’ve even looked on eBay and found cards online. Since I don’t play, I don’t know if the value placed on these pieces of colored cardboard is worth it. But the loot cards that come with the game, well that’s another kettle of fish.
Now let’s stroll over HERE, where Blizzard gives the Make-a-Wish Foundation a 1.1 Million Dollar donation, raised by the sales of the Pandaren Monk pet found in Blizzard’s own Pet Store. For two months, half the money from the sales of the Monk went to the charity. Needless to say, alot of people bought that Kung Fu Panda.
See where I’m going with this? No? Okay, let’s make one more stop. Here we are at the Blizzard Pet Store itself. Don’t mind the smell, Game Developers tend to kick up almost as much funk as gamers at Blizzcon. Now if you look to your right, you’ll see the Blizzard Pet Store FAQ. Scroll all the way down to the bottom where the question is asked about people being able to buy weapons and such.
“As with the pets, mounts, and other items players can obtain through Loot cards from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, Pet Store pets are purely cosmetic and just for fun.”
Back to my story about eBay. Look up the TCG cards and see how much they sell for. Now look up TCG Loot cards and see what those sell for. You do the math and figure out where the money can be made with the TCG itself.
I suspect that the TCG will go on, and I suspect that it will be Blizzard itself that will release the game. I also suspect that there won’t be any loot cards to be found in any of those packets. All loot codes will go on sale in the Pet Store (or Loot Store), and any money lost on the TCG itself will be reimbursed by the Loot sales.
That’s right: within the next year, you too might be able to ride off into the sunset with your very own Spectral Tiger Mount… if the price is right.
Don’t Hate The Game, Hate The Player
Two posts in one day? Don’t blame me, blame Blizzard.
Actually, blame the player-base who seems to be losing their minds over nothing. Again.
According to blogs and forums across the World of Warcraft landscape, Blizzard has gone and done the unthinkable. They’ve opened the Pet Store, which allows players to spend Real Life Money for In-Game Items!
I fire back with a resounding yawn. They did the same sort of thing with the Race Change service, and I think the Orc racial affects the gameplay a little more than watching Kung Fu Panda bust a move.
What about the Faction Change service? For lifetime Horde players, it gives them the chance to play an entire half of the game that they’d never seen before. Ditto for Alliance to Horde transfers. That affects your gameplay more than Lil’ K.T. zapping critters while you fish, or whatever you people do when you have your vanity pets out.
In those particular cases, you don’t GET an item for your money – the CHARACTER is the item. More importantly, those purchases will have an affect on how you play the game. It might not be on a large scale, but it certainly has a direct bearing on the game. A vanity pet, no matter how gosh darn cute you find them, will not. Ever. They’re about as game-breaking as changing your Blood Elf’s hairstyle.
The masses saw what the scheming Blizzard was trying to do and cried out in true Nerd Rage fashion. This is a slippery slope for Blizzard! How long until you can buy epics or gold! HOW LONG?!
According to the Pet Store FAQ:
Does this mean you’ll be introducing more services like this in the future? Will you be introducing the ability to buy epic weapons/etc. in the future, for example?
As with the pets, mounts, and other items players can obtain through Loot cards from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, Pet Store pets are purely cosmetic and just for fun. Like other paid services we offer, such as Paid Name Changes, Race Changes, and Character Re-Customizations, the Pet Store service is entirely optional and intended to provide players another means to enjoy World of Warcraft in a way that isn’t detrimental to the game and that doesn’t detract from the gameplay experience for players who choose not to use the service.
Hey there, overly dramatic WoW-Player Base, choke on that. M’kay?
But… but Blizz said there’d never be Faction Changes either! Or PVE to PVP transfers! What about that? Blizzard can’t be trusted!
Paranoia is fun. Don’t look now, but the Black Helicopters are circling your domicile.
What? They are?
There was a market for every one of the services Blizzard offers today. That means there was a public demand for it. Public. So many Players requested/demanded/begged for these things, Blizzard decided to offer them at a price. If they were going to waste development time on these non-essential services, be it Faction Changes or Vanity Pets, there had to be a great number of people who wanted it.
Remember that when you want to blame Blizzard. The Player Base put things in motion. Blizzard simply greased the wheels. Good on them for making a buck off of people who “need” these non-essential services.
However, Blizzard also showed they money does not make them completely stupid. They realised that introducing those services would not affect the gameplay experience. Players might have lost their minds when “carebears” could level up on PVE servers and then come to where the “real” game was, but the game itself was essentially intact.
Raiding is hard! Instances are hard! The public demands epics! I wanna buy my epics!
Allowing the ability to buy epics would undermine gameplay in that it would take away any motivation for players to play the game at all. At max level, getting decked out in purples is (apparently) what it’s all about. If you could just buy yourself a suit of epics, there would be no motivation to do the raids…
… or run the instances
… or get to max level
… or play World of Warcraft.
In answer to the Great Stupid Question – Blizzard will not let players buy epic gear or weapons. Ever.
However, there WILL be more micro-transactions coming, and I suspect they’ll be alot more interesting than vanity pets.
Well, most vanity pets. Now where did I put my wallet?
Rokk Talk 