Technology isn’t getting cheaper and better. You’re being silly. The servers cost electricity to run. And now, they cost way more than they did in 2004. Power efficiency is kinda flat. On top of that, servers now operate at around 10 times the efficiency from 2004.
The team making the game is also much bigger, with many more voice actors and people putting production value into the game. Maybe that is irrelevant, but it is expensive labor.
Ultimately, you’re a consumer, not an investor. If the price of a product is not good for you, find something else. Hint - you won’t find anything cheaper than WoW. It’s one of the main reasons I’m playing it.
monopoly argument ?
why you people defend price again ?
company is making extraordinary profit you know
and yes technologies are cheaper, software developing is easier cheaper, servers are cheaper/faster
it is inflation argument that is stupid with this old game with all the progress going around
Rather than directly paying for character services, we should accrue store/service credit with each paid month we’re subscribed. 1 month = a name change, 2 months = server transfer, 3 months = realm swap, etc. This would be credited at the end of any given paid month, and doesn’t change based on the length of your billing period.
Loyal, subbed players would soon have enough credit to do plenty of character moves, if they see fit.
I don’t necessarily object to charging players who pay their sub with gold… it doesn’t feel as unreasonable as charging those who are already paying.
We’re telling you if a product is not worth it to you, simply don’t buy it.
What’s wrong with profit?
No, they aren’t. Consumer technology is now relatively cheaper to buy, but… Okay, I know you’re not too good at the whole… economy thing, so I’ll try to explain it a bit. Right now you need $147 to buy the same electricity $100 would buy in 2004. This means that if a server cost $100 to run in 2004, now, the exact same server would cost $147 to run. This is of course, just the electricity cost.
Of course, we don’t take into account that new technology is more power consuming than 2004 tech. The calculation is complex, but it seems to be around the x4 mark. PCs now consume 4 times the electricity of PCs from 2004. Combined with the ~50% increase in electricity cost, that comes at it costing ~6 times more just to run the machines. Still think technology is getting cheaper? Bruh. Someone doesn’t put too much thought into things.
The justification is that Blizz is using money as a deterrent. A good example is Black Desert Online, who used an upfront price in order to filter people out. It is essentially a f2p game, but they put a pricetag on it (can’t remember if it was 10 or 20 euros) with the sole intention of keeping people from playing the game. Using money as a balancing factor is generally alright in my book. Character services like faction/server transfer need to have a cost, because you can totally abuse them to manipulate server economies for profit (like, buying out the AH from one server and selling it on another). The cost exists to deter similar behavior.
monopoly argument here, you just dance around the bushes,
also I don’t care what you say, your arguments are nonsensical
I say “lower price” you say “stop plying” and thats it ? please elaborate on that, specifically why exactly you want price to remain as it is ?
I’m not saying WoW is the only MMO. I’m saying WoW is the cheapest MMO. You’re free to prove me wrong, but keep in mind I will bust out economic arguments the moment you bring in a f2p game. There’s a very good reason why I quit most of those and it is that they are truly much, much more expensive to play.
I can play ff for free to level 60 now, in wow only to 20
basic content in wow is very expansive
and yes you are very elitists in your core “laughably low price” 13 euros month + 30 euros addons is in MOST countries not laughably low at all
work on it because people will notice
business is managing this game wrong - in regard to game future, acquiring new players etc
business can do what they want, but customers can also demand things
this is not take or leave, why would it be
elitist mindset here detected too
it is your mindset that is broken, shallow
Yes, and all our demands are meaningless unless we can somehow force Blizzard to do it. And the only way to do this is to stop playing. Everything else is just meaningless whining.
so lower price - more consumers will play ? better some money then none yes ?
and my argument is confusing ? or activision short term business practices
you elitist bunch and your narrow mindsets…
and yes, they do listen, you just talk about things they don’t care
start talking about lowering price and they will take notice
I’m Bulgarian. We have like the lowest wages in all of Europe.
Go play FFXIV until 60. Then what? You can’t get to endgame for free, and FFXIV has a fully fledged cash shop. Where WoW has a few mounts in the cash shop that I don’t care for, FFXIV’s cash shop is worthy of being a f2p game, with cool vanity, ingame rewards put in the cash shop instead and all that. Not a good example.
Actually, the itemshop in FFXIV is the biggest turn off for me. Definitely not cheaper than WoW. Even FFXIV realizes the 12 euro monthly fee is laughable and that’s why they have the extensive cash shop on top of it.
You need to add the value of the cash shop to the game’s financial premise. FFXIV is much more expensive than WoW. Much more.
If something is not worth it to you, simply don’t buy it. It’s that simple. You sound like an addict who is too addicted to WoW to quit it during a content drought. Just cancel your sub and come back when you feel WoW’s value proposition is worth it to you. You need to take some personal responsibility.
