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133 Comments
- seanpackage, on 11/05/2009, -11/+76Gay as a fanny pack full of dicks
- insertAliasHere, on 11/04/2009, -5/+41Yeah, because some vanity items for cash really spell demise for the online version of heroin.
- jam3p, on 11/05/2009, -4/+33You act like Blizzard is making you purchase these pets...
- lead2thehead, on 11/05/2009, -1/+28People will pay for this. I guarantee it.
- Shawn4168, on 11/05/2009, -11/+35And Activision's greedy grip on Blizzard just got a bit tighter. Makes me glad I quit the game a few months back, it's only a matter of time before you'll be able to buy things that actually matter in-game for real money.
Argue if you wish, but keep in mind that Blizzard said in the past that they would never:
Allow PvE->PvP server transfers
Allow faction changes
Allow race changes
Allow gender changes
Allow name changes
All of these are now available...for a fee, of course. - Seren2399, on 11/05/2009, -3/+25If you don't like how they do business you do have the choice to not play.
- flyinfoofighter, on 11/05/2009, -1/+18They used to be against the use of real currency. This smells of Bobby Kotick.
- danlscarlos, on 11/05/2009, -1/+18I think that in game stuff should only be gotten through in game mechanics.
But I support this for one reason alone: "For each Pandaren Monk sale, we'll donate 50% of the $10 purchase price to the Make-A-Wish Foundation."
Make-A-Wish Foundation is full of win, and it is one of the only things that keeps me from completely losing faith in humanity. - mixxo, on 11/05/2009, -0/+15As an employee of Make-A-Wish I have to say I don't understand the negative here. If Blizzard released the pet at $10 and kept all the money (as they are doing with the other pet) would that be better?
How is it disguised as charity? They are willing to give up 50% of the money they make on it. Seems pretty straight forward to me. Most companies that run promotions like this donate 1% to charity. In this case 50% is huge.
Millions of people play WoW, if even a small percentage of them buy the pet that is a hefty donation that Make-A-Wish will receive. The average cost of a wish is $7,500 - if Blizzard is willing to help cover some of that with a donation I say more power to them.
Thanks Blizzard! - sinizuh, on 11/04/2009, -5/+19I can see Blizzard charging money for server transfer/name change/etc. It's all editing something a user has chose. But paying for something out of nothing feels bad bro. I didn't think Blizzard would have pull such a move.
- Frexxia, on 11/05/2009, -4/+17I don't see the problem with this. It's not like anyone is forcing you to buy them.
- Slicklines, on 11/05/2009, -1/+13And here we have more people loudly proclaiming the death of WoW. After five years of people whining and forecasting doom, you think maybe people would be less likely to scream it out every time Blizzard makes even the smallest move. Guess not. All I can say is, Blizz is laughing at you all the way to the bank. And this from someone who doesn't play the game.
- PanicAK, on 11/05/2009, -2/+14I'm gonna say what I've been saying for a long time. Blame Activision.
- mixxo, on 11/05/2009, -0/+11I have to disagree. As i said in an earlier comment, I work for Make-A-Wish and I think it's great. Sure you can donate directly to the organization, but, a lot of people won't. They will however buy an in-game pet for WoW and Blizzard has been kind enough to give 50% of that money to Make-A-Wish, money that we would most likely NOT be seeing otherwise.
Thanks Blizzard! - Dominoooo, on 11/05/2009, -5/+15I bought the Pandaren as soon as I had the ability to, and the thing is cute as hell. 10 dollars (with half of that going to Make a Wish) was well worth it to me. He drinks with you and kung fu fights! :D
- cobaltleo, on 11/04/2009, -17/+27And now for the official downward spiral to WoW's Death. guess they werent getting rich enough being able to print money "164,890,000". every month.
- wangalicious, on 11/05/2009, -1/+11I guess I'm the only one who thinks $10 is way too much to be classified as a "micro" transaction. Something like $1 seems like a "micro" transaction to me.
...Though I definitely would pay moolah for a frost wyrm looking mount. - jaytek13, on 11/05/2009, -2/+10Having played WoW and been active in the WoW community for... almost 5 years now (god that's depressing), I'm failing to recall an instance where Blizzard has ever used the word "never".
- bigbluemachine, on 11/05/2009, -1/+9Half of the proceeds for that pet go to charity don't they?
Don't get me wrong, I won't be buying it but not because I think they have doomed WoW or think pay per perks are bad I just don't find the need to.
Still. A 5dollar pet and a 5dollar donation to MakeaWish sounds perfectly reasonable.
Maybe in the future they could even adopt a "choose your own charity" for the other 5dollars. - Fartbandit, on 11/05/2009, -0/+8One of the pets you can purchase is a Pandaren Monk as seen in this Youtube video... The Bruce Lee style vocals you hear in the video are the ones you hear in game....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpn9sxtbY-g
Awesome pet but still not sure its worth the dosh... - sghod1212, on 11/05/2009, -0/+7These are all extraneous features... You don't have to buy any of them. I've been playing WoW for 3 years and I haven't paid for anything except the game itself and the monthly fee.
- MWeather, on 11/05/2009, -0/+6I don't play WoW, but I had a guy knock on my door because he saw my DTV dish from the street. He didn't have DTV, so he paid me $40 to get Blizzcon and send him the pet code.
When you're knocking on strangers' doors to get them to order PPV for you so you can get a pet for a video game, it's time to take a long hard look at your life.
Not that I turned him down, I wanted to see Starcraft and Diablo. - Bloodwine, on 11/05/2009, -0/+6Nothing has come along to topple WoW. Every once and awhile someone proclaims the next WoW killer is upon us, but they have all failed.
- inactive, on 11/05/2009, -1/+7I loved the intentionally late announcement to the UD racial nerf.
That really made my day. The forums were gold. Blizzard made a small fortune with the amount of noobs who switched over for WoTF - anthropodeus, on 11/05/2009, -0/+6"But paying for something out of nothing feels bad bro. I didn't think Blizzard would have pull such a move."
i agree. it would be absurd for them to have people pay 15$ a month for nothing tangible in return. - arbysrocks, on 11/05/2009, -2/+7They are probably doing stuff like this because they lost half of their subscribers. They no longer have their chinese community so they're probably down to 5 million players.
- TwwIX, on 11/05/2009, -1/+6You can thank Activision and Robert Kotick for this. The same ***** that hijacked the Call of Duty series.
- ModeSeven, on 11/05/2009, -2/+7I don't play the game either, but I do play other games and this micro-payment ***** has got to stop. All you people saying this is no big deal really need to start thinking about the industry wide implications of these kind of systems. It is fundamentally bad for gaming when any kind of competitive edge can bought with real money, this is the whole reason things like buying gold from gold-farmers is a violation of the terms of service.
Now I know buying pets hardly gives anyone any kind of advantage over anyone else but it's still a bad precedent to set, and just because Blizzard hasn't stepped over the line yet, it doesn't mean other publishers won't look at this and wonder what kind of in-game merchandise they could be charging for. I'm not particularly looking forward to the day when I get blown away by some noob using souped-up "special edition" weaponry bought and paid for by his ***** mom. - Bloodwine, on 11/05/2009, -1/+6This is no different than the trading cards loot, except this is a sure thing and not just a chance to get a vanity item.
As long as Blizzard only sells vanity items and services I really don't see the problem. It has no effect on other players in the game, and provides no unfair advantage over other players. - sghod1212, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4WoW is still growing and will not die for a long time. If you didn't know, EQ is still running as well as MMOs even before that. It could be 2020 and WoW may only have 1 server up, but if Blizzard continues to make a profit off of it, there's no reason to end it.
- FOR3MAN, on 11/05/2009, -2/+6I already bought one.
- Egg333, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4Am I going to like the way I look?
- OMGscience, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4/Old Republic......Hopefully.
- Fartbandit, on 11/05/2009, -2/+6I highly doubt the potential loss of the whole of china had anything to do with their introduction. The purchasable pets have been in the game files for almost a couple of months now.
The real reason for their introduction was probably more to do with Activisions greed than anything.... - Novalight, on 11/05/2009, -1/+5I wouldn't. They'll be full of lead and other toxins.
- jts10, on 11/05/2009, -1/+5or $10 is nothing, where as it might be 2 hours pay for you. = )
- danlscarlos, on 11/05/2009, -0/+4I am not saying I will buy it.
What I am saying is that sharing the profit with charity means that at least something good will come out of it. And it makes Blizzard seem a little less greedy. - chieflbm, on 11/05/2009, -4/+7Never heard that before, but it is my new favorite phrase.
- TheCollective00, on 11/05/2009, -1/+4Heh, you're pretty dumb. I played wow for about 3 years (quit about a year and a half ago), and you wouldn't believe how much money you can save when your entire entertainment bill becomes 15 bucks a month.
- Mayja, on 11/04/2009, -3/+6This will be a lot less expensive then paying $40 for Direct TV, not to mention having to wait months for delivery of the pet. Or, paying $150 plus travel expenses for a trip to BlizzCon just to get a pet.
- klank, on 11/05/2009, -0/+3Directv screwed me out of mine.
- Frost9999, on 11/05/2009, -0/+3Blizzard is a business, they are supposed to make money. It's just supply and demand, and there are plenty of people will to spend their money on this game.
- BuckCynnie, on 11/05/2009, -1/+4Sell me a cool mount and I'll borrow my kid's credit card and buy me one of those.
- milkmage, on 11/05/2009, -1/+4i long for the Blizzard of old.
if they really wanted to be charitable, they should tie it into the children's week events in game. a series of chained quests, get the pet at the end, and along the way you farm tokens or badges that translate to real dollars for a charity when you turn them in.
Blizzard did an incredibly awesome thing a while back for a kid with terminal cancer. they need to do more things like this:
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/business/arti ...
"Blizzard pulled the daylong funfest together in days. On Friday, father and son arrived at Blizzard's Irvine headquarters in a black limo to tour one of the world's most successful game companies.
Chatterton was whisked immediately to Kaplan's office to create weapons and characters for the game. Later he would head to the recording studio to do a voice for the new character and meet with an artist to get the character's look just right. Throughout the day, he got to design a new weapon, add his dog Kyle to the game, create a quest and record his voice for the new character, Ahab Wheathoof, the Old Rancher."
"Then, last fall, Micah Chatterton's house burned down, taking away all his son's toys. He used some insurance money for a computer and Internet access. The father-and-son team entered the world of Warcraft. By Friday, they had made it to level 63. Blizzard bumped ePhoenix up to level 70, the highest level, and stocked the character with gold, weapons and new armor."
sadly, Ezra Chatterton died a little over a year ago. - starjots, on 11/05/2009, -1/+4People play for different reasons and Blizz continues to adapt (and profit) from this. The charity angle is nice and the price isn't that steep compared to the hours it takes to grind some of the the in-game pets. Some players will be happy to spend the money - players are happy, Blizzard makes money and a good charity is supported.
So why the hate? Do you want people judging how you spend your time and money? - Jeremyz0r, on 11/05/2009, -2/+5It's to the point that I might not buy Diablo III either. ***** Activision.
- Somnolentone, on 11/05/2009, -0/+3Ah, King Kotick, how we love your incessant money-grubbing.
- korvan504521, on 11/06/2009, -0/+3Does anyone else think MMORPGs are just electronic action figures and dolls? I really think they've taken the place of GI-Joes and Barbis in our collective psyches.
- 2Bnor2B, on 11/06/2009, -0/+3These new trends have me really concerned with StarCraft II and Diablo III
Blizzard is like that nice uncle that everyone loved which developed a drinking habit and become abusive.
You desperately want them to see what they have become and change back to their former selves.
But they just go on, hurting the ones that loved and supported them.
Damn you Activision ! - groberts1980, on 11/05/2009, -0/+2sdemat: Just quit while you're ahead. TheCollective00 is right when he says that the dedicated player base only spends $15/month on entertainment. I don't play WoW (anymore), and you know what I spend a month on entertainment? Around $600. Between eating out and boozing, yeah it gets up there.
That being said, back in the day I did play for about 2 years. I probably played the game 40 hours a week. I was also a full time student, went to class every day, did all my homework and projects, and spent time with family. It just so happened that I played WoW instead of watching TV or going out boozing. Regardless of your bias, it is possible to play a *****-ton of WoW and have a productive life. -
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