It doesn’t really make sense to pay a sub fee for a game who is not being updated anymore, server running costs can be easily maintained using the cash shop. It makes a bit sense (not really since the fee is around 12 euro/month to play the game and the updates for retail is mostly tra-not really that good…+ the cash shop sales,mounts and many more are GIANT) for retail, season of discovery and whatever old expansion they are gonna release under the name of “classic” (just making money off old content, typical for such a money hungry company)…But really ? Classic ? The game is finished, no other content is coming for it, ocasional balance patches maybe but still…
I seem to recall your sub pays for retail and you get classic free…so classic is indeed free to play
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Classic is free of charge with your sub. No additional fees is tacked on as Iggwilv posted above and the overall sub price didn’t increase despite getting all of these different versions of WoW spreading out the population over them.
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You Pay for Retail and get Classic, SOD, Cataclysm and Hardcore for Free
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Why not have a separate sub for classic iterations ? I haven’t played Retail since maybe Legion launch …? And not consistently since 2013. I will literally never buy retail again and while 9.99 for classic is fine I wouldn’t complain if it was a fiver and no retail accsss
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This or at least they add Classic to game pass pc.
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Why should have the sub price been increased? It is obvious that classic only players are financing retail development.
Those players are by definition of their name “classic ONLY” players. For those that still don’t understand: That means those players are fine if they would not get access to retail WoW, because they aren’t playing it anyway.
When I read your post it seems like you are trying to say we should be happy that we can play classic for the same price retail players can play retail…instead of getting an increased sub after the addition of classic to the offer.
A few points about the costs here:
- inflation (if we take inflation into consideration the sub fee should have been increased from 12,99 in the year 2005 to 20,46 EUR now)
But Blizzard also reduced the costs by a huge margin:
- servers running virtual (more game versions running =|= more server workload, it can be a higher workload ofc if more players are playing…but not because there are just more versions of wow)
- massive decrease of GM employees over the years (+ replacement by automatic systems)
- less physical copies (so less distribution and production costs for physical copies)
- closing of the Versailles department
- no more community managers (especially not in the other language forums). Remember back in WotLK there were 2-3 CMs just for the german forums.
Those are just the general points. When we look specifically on the different versions we could add the following points:
Retail:
- WoW Token (new monetization)
- Big Cosmetic/Pet/Mount shop (and remember the celestial steed (the wotlk spectral horse; the first shopmount) by itself made more money than SC2) (new monetization)
- Early Access behind paywall (new monetization)
Costs: Actual new AAA development + servers + support
Classic Cata:
-
server costs + support
-
WoW Token (new monetization)
-
contains things like “dark portal pass” for extra money (new monetization)
-
Ingame Shop (new monetization)
Classic SoD:
- actual development (but no graphical design)…SoD is basically: old skins with new stats and a few mobs re-named and maybe scaled in body-size + a few boss mechanics. SoD consist of 99% already developed and now re-used things.
The only real new thing was runes as a system and some class design like mage healer (which again…are just skill names, functions and numbers…thats quite a bit but not as much as a real new mechanic with new animation for it).
But I give em that: SoD might be the most cost intensive version of “classic” if you wanna call that version “classic”. On the other hand…the team that works on SoD is pretty damn small compared to retail WoW.
- server costs + support
Classic Era:
- literally just server costs + support
Classic fresh and hardcore:
- literally just server costs + support
Not offering a separate sub model only for classic versions is a business decision and nothing else.
Saying “you pay for Retail and classic is free” is a joke cause the consumer decides WHY and for WHAT he spends his money.
Ofc the actual contract might say classic is a free bonus to retail sub but that doesn’t change the reality that a lot of consumers are indeed paying the sub only under the direct intend to play classic versions and not retail because there is no separate classic sub to go for.
There literally is no option besides paying for retail to get to play classic, if you just wanna play classic.
It’s like you wanna rent a 20 year old Renault but there is only an offering where you have to rent the Ferrari (thats constantly further developed and updated) and only then get access to the Renault aswell.
Feels kinda fooled when someone comes around the corner then and says “before you only had the offering of the Ferrari…now you get the Ferrari + the Renault and it’s still the same price. You should be glad.”
No one should be glad about that. It feels like an unfair deal to classic only players because it is one. Not unfair enough to not sub tho. Which is the point why people are ofc paying and playing and Blizzard has no reason to change the model.
But for real I guess most “classic only” players would even pay the same amount for another sub that just don’t include retail WoW which on the first sight seems to be a net negative for the consumer.
For me it would be a positive to just set a statement that I don’t like retail that much that I don’t even want it for free.
Edit: To the TE…no I don’t think era should be a free to play game. Having stable servers is a service worth paying a sub.
I’m paying for classic and getting retail for free. So retail is free to play. Cool.
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