Paid Faction Change Now in WoW

[michaelahess]

The fact that a bunch of you consider changing your character in a GAME a service speaks volumes about the deteriorating quality of our population.

 

[zachary k]

i wonder if the blizzard CEO takes baths in $100 dollar bills in a gold tub.

 

[croc]

[citation][nom]demonhorde665[/nom]are youa dumb ass ???i've played multiple mmo's as well as nwn 1 and 2 and changing factiosn has never been a "charged" service , it was always a part of teh game engine's mechanics something that costed teh developers NOTHING to implement in the engine. face it jack-o this is just an exampel of a greedy ass company cahrging ungodly ammoutns for soemthginthat should be much cheaper if not free.[/citation]


I do hope that you get some professional assistance when writing your CV...

 

[Guest]

I don't understand why blizzard feels like they should charge for such a simple thing to do, why don't they just limit the number of times each account can do it in a certain period, I can understand the want for more money (what corporation doesn't want more money), but $30 for such a simple thing is a bit over the top

 

[patrickh324]

Are you guys insane? You can change factions for _Free_.. at any time. You can have multiple characters of different factions on the same server. However, this is designed for people that have played the game for months and years on the same character and have developed an insane amount of gear that would be hard to accumulate again. This is not some insane cash cow or disservice to the paying customers. They are offering you a chance to change the race and faction of a character you've played for ages, to reinvigorate your spark in the game -- essentially. It makes perfect sense. People that are playing the game aren't really complaining. They have made an amazing game and have insane amounts of people and content, and you expect them to make every service free.. no.
It's very simple: If you want to play a different faction or change factions.. you can.. for free. At any point in time. If you want to change a character you've put tons of gear, time and effort in to. You have to pay for it. Who gives a shit if you have to pay for it? The only people that should be paying for this service are the people that truly enjoy the game, and those people won't mind it. If you're complaining about having to pay for a service a paid MMO offers you, then you have a vendetta against Blizzard probably. They've made nothing but solid games over the years, and they deserve all they have so far.

 

[patrickh324]

Are you guys insane? You can change factions for _Free_.. at any time. You can have multiple characters of different factions on the same server. However, this is designed for people that have played the game for months and years on the same character and have developed an insane amount of gear that would be hard to accumulate again. This is not some insane cash cow or disservice to the paying customers. They are offering you a chance to change the race and faction of a character you've played for ages, to reinvigorate your spark in the game -- essentially. It makes perfect sense. People that are playing the game aren't really complaining. They have made an amazing game and have insane amounts of people and content, and you expect them to make every service free.. no.
It's very simple: If you want to play a different faction or change factions.. you can.. for free. At any point in time. If you want to change a character you've put tons of gear, time and effort in to. You have to pay for it. Who gives a shit if you have to pay for it? The only people that should be paying for this service are the people that truly enjoy the game, and those people won't mind it. If you're complaining about having to pay for a service a paid MMO offers you, then you have a vendetta against Blizzard probably. They've made nothing but solid games over the years, and they deserve all they have so far.

 

[fuser]

"update character_properties set alignment_id = 2 where character_id = 2493"

$30 please!

This company prints money. Think if only 10% of their customers do this with one character each. That will net them more than $30M.

 

[kartu]

30USD for US
30Euros (42.84$) for Europe, yep, rich bastards!

Now don't tell me this is "expensive". Having in mind this is more or less the only popular MMO, we've just started to move towards "expensive".

 

[kartu]

[citation][nom]patrickh324[/nom]They are offering you a chance to change the race and faction of a character you've played for ages, to reinvigorate your spark in the game -- essentially.[/citation]
Yep. That's soooo fucking kind of them: company, that makes about a billion of income per year on that MMO alone, absolutelly has to have another 30-42 bucks of those devoted guys, who already payed them about 180 bucks annually.

 

[precariousgray]

[citation][nom]patrickh324[/nom]It makes perfect sense. People that are playing the game aren't really complaining.[/citation]

People that are addicted to heroin aren't really complaining. They just want more smack!

 

[nekatreven]

[citation][nom]Torment[/nom]It is greedy, and completely within their rights. Were I a WOW player, I'd not be happy about the ridiculously high charge after paying the monthly fees. Making a little extra money in the short term is not good business. It's *bad* business.[/citation]

I was being half sarcastic when I said it wasn't greedy...hence the stab at them about becoming EA.

Making short term money is only bad business if it is at the expense of something else. Like, oh I dunno, compromising your belief as to how your product should function solely to make said money.

I agree it will probably come back and bite them in the long run.

 

[monkeysweat]

I used to play evercrack, i ended up quitting because the game got too easy because all the n00bies would b crying about something that was too hard for their little minds to figure out,,so they started with making changes so you weren't so scared of dying,,,well if you aren't scared of dying, why the heck would you play the game?? I remember playing & thinking holy **** I better not die here, I'll have to run across norath for over an hour to get back to my friggin body,,,,
There are too many things that they changed to mention here,,,,

but the bottom line is I think games should be left well alone, if you picked a character/faction, stick with it & make it work, or start a new character. They should only change games to fix the bugs or to enhance the playing,,not make it easier for you to do something that was once difficult,, I don't like playing a game that is mind numbing dumb like how everquest became.

 

[monkeysweat]

i forgot to mention, they should allow for change of server for a small price (someone does actually have to do something to help you) because sometimes you find real life ppl you'd rather play with than others you only know online, or if perhaps something bad has happened on a specific server & you'd rather restart a new "life" on a new one.

 

[jellico]

[citation][nom]fuser[/nom]"update character_properties set alignment_id = 2 where character_id = 2493"$30 please!This company prints money. Think if only 10% of their customers do this with one character each. That will net them more than $30M.[/citation]
I think it's a little more complicated than that.

That not withstanding, I fail to comprehend where people get off calling them greedy bastards, and in it just for the money, etc., etc. There's a fundamental concept of business that you people need to understand: EVERY BUSINESS EXISTS TO MAKE MONEY. That's it, right there, black and white. Like it or not, money makes things happen. It is simply not possible to have a game like World of Warcraft without the monetary component. When they consider a new service for their existing game, it involves a lot of meetings with a lot of people discussing the pros and cons of the service and trying to figure out the optimal price point. It's not about, "how much can we gank these chumps for on these few lines of code?" (and I suspect it's a non-trival bit of programming to make a faction change considering everything that goes along with it). First of all, allowing the service gives their mature player base (and by that I mean, the people who have been in the game a long time and have a lot of uber gear) something new to do and experience, thus keeping them in the game for longer (and yes, keeping them paying their monthly premium). Charging for the service discourages people from hopping their characters back and forth like rabbits, which would be extremely disruptive and destablizing. $30 is just expensive enough that you won't make the decision on a whim, but affordable enough that the vast majority of their player base would be able to avail themselves of the service if they really want to.

As for whether or not the CEO bathes in a golden tub filled with $100 bills... who knows; but that's his business and completely irrelevent to this discussion. I've said this before and I'll keep saying it, the desire to make a lot of money is not evil. It is a motivating factor that compells people to do incredible things. And whether you'll admit it or not, World of Warcraft is a pretty amazing creation.

Oh, and just so people know where I stand. Me and my kids used to play WoW. We stopped playing and cancelled our accounts a couple of months after WotLK came out. We are, however, considering reactiving when Cataclysm comes out.

 

[redraider89]

It's ridiculous these people acting like it's so way overly expensive for such an "easy" thing to do when they have absolutely no clue what it takes to do it. And I agree, it's absurd getting so hateful just because a company is making money. I know, if you hate Blizzard so much, tell us what company you work for and we will decide if it deserves to make a profit and thereby decide if you need a job. Because no profits for your company, no paycheck for you. So, tell us what company all you whiners who hate Blizzard and it's profits so much work for and let us decide.

 

[Platypus]

[citation][nom]wicko[/nom]Queue blizzard/wow fanboys defending Blizzard's money grab. Oops, looks like its already started![/citation]
[citation][nom]brett1042002[/nom]Queue witty comments that are not witty. Oops, looks like it already started! HAR HAR...[/citation]
The word is "cue" guys. I know, I know. Homonyms are difficult for idiots.

This service is a nice feature to have, but the price is a little steep. Server transfers are $25, re-customization is $15, and a faction change is $30? Doh.

 

[fargom]

[citation][nom]Platypus[/nom]The word is "cue" guys. I know, I know. Homonyms are difficult for idiots.[/citation]

No, the word was used correctly. Queue up as in to form a line, you know, to post pages of dribble like what you just typed.

Please read for yourself before you throw the idiot word around.

Queue: The verb queue means to form a line, and to wait for services. Queue is also the name of this line.

Thanks.

 

[Platypus]

[citation][nom]fargom[/nom]No, the word was used correctly. Queue up as in to form a line, you know, to post pages of dribble like what you just typed.Please read for yourself before you throw the idiot word around. Queue: The verb queue means to form a line, and to wait for services. Queue is also the name of this line.[/citation]
I expected such a post from the confused crowd here. Queue is to form a line... he didn't say "Get your comments into line." He said "Queue the blizzard fanboys. Oops. Looks like it's already started." To cue something is to give it the signal to begin.

[citation][nom]fargom[/nom]Thanks.[/citation]
You're quite welcome.

 

[hello222]

people don't play the game in order to spend money, i mean that's 4 hours work i don't see how anyone who plays a game (after all its something to pass time)pay to save time spent getting to the level you wanted to be at. it just speaks for the laughable state of the peoples intelligence paying 3 months of game time for what? the reason i played wow was to stop spending 30 a month on a new game

 

[hello222]

people don't play the game in order to spend money, i mean that's 4 hours work i don't see how anyone who plays a game (after all its something to pass time)pay to save time spent getting to the level you wanted to be at. it just speaks for the laughable state of the peoples intelligence paying 3 months of game time for what? the reason i played wow was to stop spending 30 a month on a new game

 

[hello222]

sorry i got an error message and re posted thinking it did not work