Free trial in wow should let you play at maximum level normal bgs and dungeons. You bought the game, and still can’t play it. Make the subscription for Mythic+, Mythic Raid and all ranked PVP but people should be able to play the game they paid for.
I would like to play just for mount collection time to time, but you have to pay a subscription on top of the already paid for the full game?
Trading post can stay for those who subscribed to the game, but at least for collectors let them use the AH or mail or more than 1000g. I don’t mind to force a subscription time to time for those who farm gold to not pay real money but for those who just want a casual experience of the full game, that they PAID FOR, let them play.
Make it a free trial of lvl 1 not 20 if you’re that greedy. It doesn’t make difference
Maybe Sebdd means that you bought the expansion, or a previous expansion, but don’t currently have game time? That’s sorta Free Trial, but while it’s free, it’s not really a trial.
But Level 20 takes you a WHOLE lot further in the modern game than it used to, since you have all but the current expansion unlocked through Chromie Time. Plenty of faming available.
My complaint was why is it only until lvl 20? Let me give an example, maybe I can explain better. I’m buying the TWW game and subscribing for 3 months. Why can I not play any of my characters after I unsubscribed? I should be able to play at least not competitively. I would love to play maybe 1 night a week just to farm for mounts and toys, or play unranked bgs or skirmishes. It’s a stupid blizzard design where you still need a subscription on top of the game. It’s 20 years old now.
They aren’t going to let you play for free, nobody would pay a sub if we didn’t have to. The closest thing to F2P is grinding the gold in game and buying a token.
OK, so the answer is basically that enough people will pay for subscriptions to make this not worth Blizzard’s time doing.
I believe Blizzard, through NetEase, used to sell game time in blocs of hours in China. Like, you could buy 10 hours of time, with no calendar limit on when it needed to be used by. But it was the Chinese company NetEase who managed that, performed the transactions, tracked the time, and processed the payments.
I know Blizzard have resumed relations with NetEase in the past few weeks. I don’t know whether that payment scheme will still apply.
But I used to manage an e-comm platform - nothing like the size of Blizzard - and the sheer annoyance and admin hassle and incremental cost of frequent small transactions and queries and disputes kept us out of that business. I’m sure Blizzard already faces a mountain of admin costs with disputes and chargebacks, and they probably don’t believe that doing this would add any net revenue - and they’re probably right!
Droughts.
The game has droughts. It’s inevitable, given the way the players approach the incentive structure.
At the start of the patch, lots of people subscribe and go hard for a couple or three months. Then, progressively, people have chewed through the content, and start to lapse. Many stop subbing till the next patch. That’s not good for Blizzard. They want to keep people subbed, for obvious reasons. If everyone could unsub, but then just keep farming old content and collectables, many more would unsub.
It is. And yet most people still stay subbed! And as long as they do, I don’t expect Blizzard’s payment model to change.
Yea, you got a point but I can tell from my experience. After 3 months I stop and maybe come back after 6 months or so, but if I would be able to play just unraked for example, after a few months, it could give me the itch to push ranked again and sub for that, but if I’m away completely from the game, I have no interest to sub. But if I would be able to do some casual content now and then, I think that could be for some people an itch to sub. I feel like you should be able to do something more than lvl 20 after you’ve paid 50-70 dollars. I might be wrong, but anyway, thx for the reply
I understand what you’re saying, but I guess it’s a calculated judgement. Will they get more subs this way or that way … or by inserting a middle tier of some kind, with all the associated hassles and costs.
I fear the influence of Microsoft on the game, assuming it makes it past the current trilogy, but maybe they will impose some alternate access method for their own reasons. It’s the only scenario for change that sounds plausible to me.
it’s not the money problem, but if I sub I feel like I have to play ranked and I’m too competitive and too serious. If I could just hop on for just 1 hour of casual bg, I would. But if I’m subbed, I feel like I need to get serious and stay 6-10 hours if I can, if that makes sense.
It kinda makes sense.
Im just currently enjoying Island of Dorn; it’s two years of content and I can do it all.
Given that I work full time and do quite a bit in transportation, I can understand that a game like WoW requires a few hours to be worth it.
the argument here is live service game cost but it’s completely irrelevant for people that just log once or twice a week and do the most casual content, many can not imagine but those people exist as seen here.
Those people have close to 0 incentive to pay a sub or stay up2date but rather just quit entirely over paying yet another sub they barely use.
people like this do not need anything of the " muh live service game " agenda, they want to buy a game and play, … idk, 2 times a weeks 2-3h tops in an evening.
This concept seems so disconnect from blizzard and most active players/active forum bros that they don’t get the point even if it’s perfectly described in the original post.
Yet sadly this Idea of " bought game let me play once or twice a week " will never be reality because blizzard would rather say goodbye to those potential players that sub for 3 or 6 months to play live service content - or as very nicely described ’ ranked mode ’ - than trying something new and potentially gaining a completely new revenue stream of costumers.
The only ray of hope is literally microsoft cleaning house so far that this game becomes more friendly towards new players and stuff like this is a thing of the past.
e: and yes, there is the argument of " then people will just not sub anymore and still play "
well looks like it’s up to blizzard to figure out how much to gate the sub content… it’s their job after all
Then and this is not meant in a mean way, WoW is not the game for them. WoW has upheld the subscription model for 20 years, the numbers of subscribers around the world are at an incredible high.
I truly get what the OP is saying and I personally would love this to happen as I am much in the same boat at this point in time but it won’t happen and I accept that.
If I want good pvp without a sub I enjoy gw2’s pvp and wvw much more than WoW’s. That game solves all my problems as you can play the entire core game for free, only pay for expansions that are half the cost of WoW’s and there is no sub.
What I am saying is; there are alternatives. WoW is not going to change on this front, so it’s worth it to shop around for another mmorpg to play instead of trying to change this one with zero chance of success.
and it might be the death of it.
no innovation, just standing still and catering to the ever shrinking player base of elitists, minmaxers while going for maximum player log in active metrics (upcoming timewalking change) will even bring turn the biggest fans, who have enjoyed the casual content (what delves were meant to be), towards the unsubscribe button and move on.
If wow is not the game for them: then who is wow for? the people already giving blizzard money, that are… not going to multiply out of thin air? Idk. rough sell.
yes, 100% with you there. It’s not going to change and I find it hard to justify a subscription ontop of a full game price. Alternatives win I guess.
And as long as they do, I don’t expect Blizzard’s payment model to change.