Q: Why did you decide to make the Guardian Cub tradable?
Since the introduction of the Pet Store, many players have been asking for ways to get the companions we offer there without having to spend real-world cash. By making the Guardian Cub tradable (much like the BoE mounts from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game), players interested in the new pet will have fun, alternative in-game ways to get one. In addition to trading the pet, players can give the Guardian Cub as a gift to another character for a special occasion; guild leaders can use them to reward members for a job well done; and so on. We also hope this change will help reduce the number of incidents of scamming via trading for invalid pet codes.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
The Dishonesty
More than anything else, it is the dishonesty that makes me cringe (link).
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they just added a "legal" way for people to buy gold with real money..and this is only the start...who knows what is coming next? beautiful armor and weapon skins that can be sold in order to use it for Transmogrification?
ReplyDeleteAs you said they should be honest and instead of pets just sell fold for real money
I don't see anything dishonest about the answer. Please elaborate.
ReplyDeleteAnd to Giannis: this was already fully possible with the TCG card mounts/pets. If you want gold for dollars, you're still at the mercy of the ingame market. This is no gold selling because no gold is generated by Blizzard. In gameplay terms it's even a gold sink because of the auction house fees!
Srosh:
ReplyDeleteSince the introduction of the Pet Store, many players have been asking for ways to get the companions we offer there without having to spend real-world cash. By making the Guardian Cub tradable (much like the BoE mounts from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game), players interested in the new pet will have fun, alternative in-game ways to get one.
Do you assume that in the past Blizzard didn't want to satisfy the needs of these customers? Or do you assume that they suddenly had this great idea to do it this way?
Do you assume that in the past Blizzard didn't want to satisfy the needs of these customers? Or do you assume that they suddenly had this great idea to do it this way?
ReplyDeleteBlizzard implements everything at a glacial pace. I wouldn't immediately suspect conspiracy over typical human tardiness.
That's one kind of explanation, Ephemeron. The other is that there are forces inside Blizzard. Some people in charge like microtransactions, some don't. Slowly the ones in favor win, of course, because MT make more money.
ReplyDeleteAnd making more money is the goal here. And in contrast to satisfying customer needs, that the point.
If they wanted to offer pets for players not wanting to pay for them with real money, they could in the traditional way. Offering questlines would also be a lot more fun than grinding in-game gold to buy pets.
In addition to trading the pet, players can give the Guardian Cub as a gift to another character for a special occasion; guild leaders can use them to reward members for a job well done; and so on.
ReplyDeleteI mean, honestly, guild leaders could always have given out money or BoE items if they desperately wanted to 'reward' players. Blizzard obviously had some trouble coming up with another reason.
I would assume that Blizzard is very well aware that they have to turn WoW into F2P soon. I don't think they can keep the old WoW up as a subscription game much longer. (And besides its age it got heavily damaged by the B team.)
ReplyDelete- Games like SW:TOR or Titan could very well suck up existing subscribers. (Who's going to pay for 2 games if you play only one?)
- Games like D3 or GW2 could reduce your time in WoW to the point where you don't want to pay 13 Euro per month anymore. (Why pay for WoW if you play D3 all the time?)
- The new focus on former player might also show that it's easier to get them back if WoW is F2P.
The problem might be that they've discovered that they don't deliver for the 13 Euro they charge per month. Sure, 13 Euro is not much but what they deliver is ever less.
What did you get since the launch of Cataclysm if you're not interested in raiding, like the majority of the active player base and probably all of the former player base (who want's to get back into raiding after quitting it? Seriously?).
The two troll dungeons and a daily quest hub. For 130 euro (10 month * 13 euro).
So yes, it's a long way to be able to grab 130 euro for nothing with a item shop. They better start the transition NOW!
And that might also be the reason why they delay D3. Because WoW is not ready. :)
Really, this is typical PR/marketing speech. Maybe I'm misunderstanding you and you wanted to express your misgivings expressed by this development. However, this Q/A isn't which is troubling you. Or would you feel better if they wrote sth along the line of:
ReplyDeleteAnd making more money is the goal here.
Of course it is. Every company wants to make money with every product they put out. It's a given. It's never mentioned in any press release of any company but of course that's why a company puts out a product.
If you want that, you have to look for fincancial callings and such.
However, this Q/A isn't which is troubling you. Or would you feel better if they wrote sth along the line of:
ReplyDeleteAnd making more money is the goal here.
Usually making money is achieved indirectly by satisfying customer needs. That's not the case here, as the problems they have to come up with reasons why customers would (suddenly) want this, shows.