MMO players blast "disgusting" $90 early access charge for WoW: The War Within - "We must say early and loudly that this is not okay"
"Not even in the vicinity of okay"
Take your money and spend it somewhere else. That’s the only sound corporations can hear.
spends money in call of duty
I honestly don't understand people. Just don't buy the fucking game then.
You're taking about wow. That's like telling a junkie not to buy their next fix.
Tell me about it. This was a long time ago but I remember one of my friends couldn't even go a day without doing his dailies. He wasn't even interested in WoW anymore, he was playing a bunch of other games. But he absolutely had to login every day just to do his dailies then log out and play the game he actually wanted to play.
This went on for months. When we asked him why, he would just say he didn't want to miss out and fall behind. Bro, you aren't even interested in the game anymore...
We need a rehab MMO for them that gets them the same high but is easy to unhook from.
https://piped.video/watch?v=YersIyzsOpc
Idk, can’t load piped…
It's already too late. The time for us to shut this shit down was Diablo 4. Now that Blizzard knows their fanbase of rubes will pay extra for a headstart, expect to see this as the norm for all future releases.
I'm at Disneyland with my family RN and we mainly came because this week was insanely cheap for hotels. My hotel basically touches the convention center and there is almost no one here for blizzcon. It's dying.
The conversations I've overheard are so sad. They all justify simping for blizzard like addicts. So much random misogyny too.
I used to love blizzard games but just the people I've listened to concern me.
It started long before. I remember boycotting d3 when the auction house came out and i stopped wow a decade ago because you are paying monthly for a savegame plus microtransactions.
I can buy way better indie games for that price or keep playing guild wars 2 which has no sub.
Short memories. As just an observer, the time to stop was at least "Do you guys not have phones?"
D4? Why?
D4 was the first of their games to charge extra for early access by attaching it to premium editions.
I didnt fall for it with diablo 4 this time, all my friends that blasted through it in a week are no longer playing and I can buy it when its $20 if at all.
Tired of anything from Activision blizzard at this point.
do that with most games. life is bettee that way
I had such hopium for diablo 4, but they just made the game worse with every patch. It was decently fun when it launched, but they introduced more tedium into everything each patch. Plus when the new season started and you had to do everything over again, it killed my enjoyment of the game
early??? you fucks are a decade late
2 decades, this game is about 20 years old
Poor Blizzard, they must be failing on hard times, after being bought for 69 billion dollars
They're just a small indie studio, they need the funds
That's a nice amount of money right there.
That's for Activision Blizzard, not just Blizzard.
Don't forget King, the actual lion's share of the value.
69 billion? Nice.
And yet people will pay it and the cycle continues.
If they didn't stop from abusive micro transactions, half-ass launches, mocking players about mobile phones, overworked devs, a sexist frat boy culture, women leaving over sexual abuse, or a employee who committed suicide (!)... then nothing will.
Not only that, this is by design. They want their early testers to be a small group of people who are heavily invested in the game, both mentally and financially.
Sure, a lot of people are going to be mad about being "excluded", but how many of them are going to actually boycott the expansion when it releases because of it? The ones are maddest are the ones who most want to play it and are unlikely to walk away.
There was always going to be a small group of players that got to play it before the majority of the playerbase. The only difference is the $90, and that price is well worth it to a lot of the big fans.
What I don't get is what made 2023 the year of the cut brakes? Seems like every corporation has decided to just go full fucking tilt on pushing their consumers to the edge of what they're willing to put up with and they have ZERO shame about any of it.
Profits going down I guess. People save money when inflation is crazy, and if the company profits go down, their stocks go down also. If that happens, leadership may be replaced etc etc.
Ive cancelled most of my subs because they didn't even provide enough value before the price hikes.
So the people who remain and who are fine with paying YouTube or Netflix, they will have to pay more to support higher profits.
Probably in 2030, people will both pay and watch lots of ads since that gives maximum profits. Pretty much how cable TV went.
I agree with regards to other studios but, activision blizzard has had no shame for a while, not a new thing at all.
Higher interest rates put pressure on tech companies to actually not only become profitable but also compete with those returns considering the risk.
As entire guilds pay up and see it as a matter of clout.
Can't wait for them do do it anyways and all the fans cave in because 'muh social escapism' gamers have some of the weakest spines, the most important point of boycotting g isn't being loud and whiney its to NOT BUY THE PRODUCT FOR FUCKS SAKE.
I’m not defending it, or blizzard, and reading the title sounded yucky
But my quick understanding:
Expansion costs $50
Next level is $70 which comes with digital stuff, mounts, etc
Top tier expansion is $90, which comes with even more stuff
So a $40 difference from base or $20 from mid tier
It also comes with 30 days of game time, so that’s $15
Now we’re looking at $25 difference between base game. Or $5 difference between mid and top tier.
So it’s really like $5 for more digital stuff and early access, right?
It would have been better to just make two tiers. Charge $75 for everything including early access and don’t include game time. Cause subscribers are going to pay for that anyway. I guess because a month of access is hardly worth $15 operationally, it’s a nice way to up charge
I haven’t bought anything wow related in like 8 years. So I don’t have a horse in this fight. The title is just a little click bait (I don’t think anyone thought it’s $90 for only early access, and assume it’s part of a $90 game cost)
It's not early access. It's late access if you don't pony up the extra.
Release date is whatever. It’s irrelevant what the date is. It’s set by the company.
If you can play on X date and everyone else on y. Then you’re playing earlier than the rest
Arguing otherwise is pointless
Essentially it’s $5 for early access over the mid tier. Or $15 more over the base tier. Plus a ton of other stuff included with that up charge.
I 100% understand the need to charge for these services, but how much profit this IP has generated should have secured all funding for future expansions and more economical pricing.
Subs should drop to $5mo with expansions starting off at $20ea. Hell make the "Classic" servers F2P.
I'm gonna make my own mmo, with a TCG and Furries.
I'm almost disgusted by the people insisting 'it's expensive, they need the money.'
They've made ten bucks a month, per player, for twenty straight years. Plus the price of a whole new game for every incremental expansion. How much more money does another expansion need?
It's not about reinvesting into the quality of future games, it's about getting a good financial quarter to please the shareholders. Welcome to infinite growth.
Who pre purchases this early? The release date is “on or before December 31, 2024. Lol
That's right around the corner compared to Star Citizen.
People love to be scammed.
Tools. Tools pre-order this early. Also, tools play Blizzard games, in general.
Why do mmo's always have the best trailers but the shittiest graphics?
So it's more accessible. You don't need to upgrade your PC regularly to play an MMO.
Beyond that, WoW is very stylized, and it's far from ugly. No, it's not realistic looking, but it is nice looking.
You know what age is beautiful stylized and can run on anything? The greatest game every made Deus Ex
I'm not sure if you have checked out WoW lately, but it's actually a pretty beautiful game. I think generally they want the tech specs to be a low barrier to entry for a game where they want millions of players playing concurrently. It also cannot be super heavy or things like raids and battlegrounds would chug.
One thing that Blizzard has always been good about it making games that can run on a potato. It'll look like crap and your view distance will be obnoxiously short, but you can run WoW on a potato of a laptop and still participate in the core gameplay. Obviously, there's lots of options to crank up the graphics to 11/10 if you have a powerful computer, but I really appreciate that they lower the hardware barrier to entry where they can.
EvE Online used to win Best Graphics of the year frequently. I dunno if they still do. They're also the only MMO that I know of to use in game footage for their trailers. It would be nice if the gameplay was decent.
For hype, obviously. WoW has literally done that since day 1, blizzard has done it for decades now.
So they can run on toasters AND spend the least on making the game?
"It's win-win" -shareholders
World of Warcraft: The War Within was announced alongside two other expansions as part of the Worldsoul Saga at BlizzCon 2023, and first impressions from players seem to be pretty positive, with one notable exception: nobody's happy about the idea of paying $90 for three days of early access to the new content.
There are three ways to purchase The War Within. You can get the $50 base edition, or you can upgrade to the $70 heroic edition if you want access to a bonus mount and transmog set. Or, if you want even more digital goodies, you can grab the $90 epic edition, which includes some other tchotchkes, plus 30 days of game time, guaranteed access to the beta, and three days worth of early access to the expansion itself.
It's three days early, and the $90 includes a bunch of other stuff.
If you don't want to pay it, don't.
The only downside in the article is other people might get it. The less people who buy it the less it matters
So just have guilds boycott it
Three days headstart if you're playing competitively is huge. Is this preaccess going to allow people to start leveling? If so literally all hardcore guilds will require it from their raiders.
MMOs hurt my brain sometimes.
If they do things like they have for the last few expansions, neither raids, neither ranked pvp, neither mythic+ will be available in the first 2 weeks or more.
Realistically you will have more than enough time to level a character to max, maybe even two.
It still doesn't make it right, or acceptable, but it's more than enough to bash Blizzard for being greedy.
Yup. Headline is a bit misleading. But I guess saying $40 extra which includes a $10 game time voucher and guaranteed beta access doesn't grab attention the same way.
Also includes 30 days of game time , which is $15
Blizz is making increasingly more shitty games, and without shame also increases the price in tandem with the shittyfication. People should have understood it by now, but for those who haven't, it's time to abandon ship.
Only legislation will fix this.
You were never going to shop your way out of it.
I'm all for legislation to fix scummy practices in areas where something is essential, i.e. transport, connectivity, food, etc. Or to counter predatory practices like gambling or lootboxes that prey on addicts or children. But in this case I feel like it'd be a bit too much. Nobody needs WoW, nor is it really (in my opinion) preying on addicts in the same way as gambling or lootboxes. If enough people are willing to pay such a ridiculous amount of money, then apparently this is really the value.
'Exploiting people over nothing important is better, actually' is a weird take.
'If it sells it can't be wrong' is just fucking awful.
holy shit legislating video game prices?
Business model. Legislating the fucking business model.
Jesus fuck, what is it about this industry that makes people flip out about any sort of consumer protection? You know this is fucked up. You know "just don't buy it!" will never help. What other possible solution do you imagine, besides telling companies to just sell a product, without any exorbitant double-dipping?
Try this on for size. Split them up, make them worker owned, or strip their IP and open source it. Send a message that anti consumer behavior is dangerous - that your investments could go to zero.
Blizzard and Activision stood up there at the ftc and promised their merger would lead to better products at better prices for customers. Their customers overwhelmingly disagree. Microsoft and Activision/Blizzard said the same. It's all worse and more expensive.
Companies exist for people, not the other way around. They don't have rights, they don't have feelings, and if we do nothing everything we love will turn to shit.
We're in the endgame. Companies are cannibalizing themselves and each other to desperately extend their profit growth for one more quarter. Not to mention, they do that by squeezing their customers just a little harder from all sides
We need rules and boundaries to the game, or this becomes the only workable playstyle for the board of every publicly traded corporation. We're going to crash - we've colonized the whole world (or at least every place with resources highly profitable to extract). The rate of growth can't increase - new markets and technologies will open up areas for growth now and then, but certainly not quarterly. Cannibalizing existing industries is going pretty damn fast, and either we stop it now or we stop it once everything is terrible and our technology sucks.
Either way, we're going to have to tackle climate change and inequality...
If you have been playing WoW since release and have all the current expansions, $90 is barely anything! /s
I mean, yeah...?
If wow is the only game you play, and you have spent decades on it, it really is no money at all.
It still doesn't make it right to lock the release behind a 90€ purchase.
Did they lift that subtitle from Warframe?
I did immediately think "wait what are Digital Extremes up to...?", before seeing WoW.
It's very shitty. Starfield did this, but it's not the same to do it for a singleplayer game than to do it for the competitive multiplayer part of the fanbase who will try to rush the expansion.
It divides the player base and ensures that ingame achievements like world-first DLC dungeon completion or boss kills are invalidated or at least muddied within the community.
Just look at Diablo 4, it had a similar system and all it did was kill the hype. Not that I think D4 would have been a staple without that crap, but it certainly felt like it was damaging the reception even further.
D3 was also a dumpster fire at release, and yet Kripp and Krippi's co-op run for world first Inferno Diablo HC is legendary. One of the very few positive talking points about that game.
I had a friend who paid $100 apiece for 2 "Collectors" versions of the Warhammer MMO 15 years ago. We were both in the beta. I knew it sucked. He had delusions of being a guild leader.
I think one of the great things about the WAR collectors edition was that you got some excellent merch with it. You got a metal figure (worth around £40 these days), a really good art book, a mousepad (I used mine for many years) and a graphic novel. Sure the MMO was a failure largely in part because EA acquired Mythic and forced the game out the door, but the collectors edition was well worth its price for people that love Warhammer.
The cost Blizzard are charging for a game with digital assets that cost nothing to duplicate is genuinely awful.
Fair enough.
Okay, I gotta ask, since it's been bugging me for years. I don't really understand the Warhammer franchise.
I never ran into products in the franchise in the 1980s and 1990s in the US. Dungeons & Dragons yes, Warhammer no.
But I kept crashing into people who talk about it online, and tons of products in the franchise. However, it seems to be a large number of not-that-wildly-successful products.
I can think of products that have had lots of derived products in the franchise, like Star Wars. But there there was one very successful initial trilogy of movies, and those spawned follow-on products.
Or Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Like Warhammer, that's a UK-originating franchise, but like Star Wars, there was an enormously successful initial product.
Those drew people into the franchise, made the fanbase what it is.
But I'm not really aware of an equivalent for Warhammer. There are some that are pretty good within their niche, like the Total War games. But those didn't start the franchise.
Is the scene driven by Brits who fell in love with the physical board game? Or what was it that gets people enthusiastic about the series? Like, what is it that is getting people into it?
I don't hate it, but most of the games I've seen don't really blow me away (even in genres that I'd normally tend to like, like the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada games).
Absolutely absurd profit ratios on the figures, and that's before they start selling you rule books and paints. The novels are cheap to produce as well.
Warhammer is a tabletop wargame franchise. Everything else is an ad for the toys war game miniatures.
Let me put it like this:
A popular console game might cost $70 now, take hundreds of thousands of man-hours to make, and still might flop and be terrible.
They sell boxes of Imperial Guard squads, little plastic army men, for $40. You need like, ten of them for the screening units of a low-point army.
I think the computer games are what really helped get the franchise going internationally. I remember my first contact with the franchise was the first Dawn of War, which I really enjoyed, but I think it was only around the time of Dark Crusade that I got to know more about the actual tabletop/miniature game. Being a filthy south american, the official miniatures were and still are completely out of my monetary reach.
I put a lot of emphasis on that aspect of the computer games driving interest because Warhammer Fantasy never had anything as successful as Dawn of War or Space Marine, at least not before the Total War games (which arrived after Fantasy was ditched). Also, for a number of years, 40k grognards will tell you all about the shitty rules of Xth edition (6, 7, 8, 9, whichever), times during which some competitors started showing up. Two notorious competitors to 40k proper, in being sci-fi, are Infinity and Warpath. Within the niche of board/wargames and miniature skirmishes, they're known, but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone outside that niche to have ever heard of either. Neither has a videogame which "normies" can play and get to know about the respective universes.
1D4chan has a lot of info on GW, including early history
Take that back
Man I loved WAR so so much!
Sorry bro, can't do it.
This is stupid, but that's an awful title. It's not $90 for early access.
Base edition ($50.00USD):
-the expansions
-a level 70 character
-500 "trader's tender"
Epic edition ($90.00 USD):
-the expansions
-a level 70 character
-1000 "trader's tender"
-a flying mount
-a transmorg/cosmetic set
-beta for the war within (does not save progress on the real servers)
-3 days early access to release of War within
-30 days of game time
-an in-game pet
-an in-game toy
-a hearthstone effect.
So it does cost $40 more for the bundle that contains those three days, but it also includes $15.00 worth of subscription-time, and a lot of other micro-transactions. Those microtransactions could be considered either completely worthless, or they could be considered to be worth more than $25.00 USD
Wait, maybe I'm ootl, but you buy the game and you get a L70 character? So you not start at L1 anymore?
Correct. if I'm not mistaken (and i could be) its just an incentive to re-roll your class for the xpac without having to do monotonous work. so for awhile now xpacs come with a character boost. it's also a way to get your friend into it by them being able to play with your main if you didn't want to level a brand new character.
Don't worry... The YouTube content creators you watch and support will do it for you.
Yep, leading to even more fomo
Don’t pay for early access/pre-release.
AAA Studios treating game development like kickstarters.
Oh who cares anymore. Blizzard is going to do it, the players are going to lap it up with a smile. Just let it be and move on if it's not for you
I just can't help feeling that this is a tad overblown..
I'm going to buy the expansion and sure it would be nice to be able to play it as soon as possible but I don't see myself paying extra for that
I dont have a problem with people wanting to though.
You don't see the problem with people getting into a new expansion early?
Sure, it would've been better if they didn't add a three days head start but I still don't really think it's quite the catastrophy everyone makes it out to be.
It just won't affect me in any way. I don't rush to max level, don't care for world's first and so on.
So, meh, it just doesn't feel like it's THAT big a deal.
But look, guys, you asked for this by saying you want us to pay staff better. We will, but first we need to increase some prices heavily because I only took this CEO job because of the juicy bonus and I'm definitely not giving that up. Would you? And don't forget the board we're so lucky to have who need their stipends and stock grants etc, lest they find other companies willing to bow to their demands. We wouldn't be who we are if we didn't keep paying the top dogs top dollar.
You had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
Microsoft needs to get back the acquisition money somehow.
Welp, that's going to be the new way that games raise prices. Game upfront costs have never been keeping pace with inflation, while game development costs constantly rise, so they're always inventing new ways to raise the price. Going forwards, every game will use this strategy of "oh look, our game is still under $90US, but if you want to get into the "pre-release beta" you have to pay for the $120 PreRelease Deluxe Premium Launch" which effectively will mean "game launch date is a lie, launch date is really just price-cut-to-old-price date".
Blast my ass
If you don't want it, don't buy it. I hate this idea but in also too competitive to not buy it.
If you don't like wow, then don't play it. Spending minutes of your life to tell everyone about how much you hate something is just sad.
When something you desire, or that you are invested in, is thrown around like hot garbage, you can and should complain. One should always call out shitty company practices what they are: shitty practices looking for a quick buck. It might not change anything in the end, but at least it can't be said that "nobody cared"
these people deserve the shit they are getting, a bunch of addicts for a shitty mmo that killed one of my most favorite rts franchises (and for that ill never not be salty about it), which got brought back like a rotting carcass by arthas only to be killed off again
World of Warcraft is good.
Terrible that Blizzard decided not to continue Warcraft the RTS along with it.
It's a big loss, and I understand you. But WoW fans formed a culture that is no inferior to that of Warcraft fans. If anything, we should celebrate the history of the Warcraft world still rolling, and calling for Warcraft IV. There's a lot to update.
after what they did with reforged, id rather they kill, i dont need a third case of advance wars reboot camp all over again
Gonna play a bit of devil's advocate, think of a popular MMO like an amusement park, selling a service that several people are using at once, a service that has a certain capacity, and that the quality of that service tends to degrade the more full that capacity is. Long wait times in lines, crowded, noisy, messy. MMO's have the same problems, and emphatically more at expansion launch.
Both services are also focused on immersion, and experiences are much improved when it's not crowded. An early access pass for an amusement park has to be prohibitively expensive or limited to achieve a good experience.
Blizzard's shit, but if FF14 did something like this I'd probably go for it.
Amusement parks can't just spin up extra servers to handle load at peak times. Video games can. Also there is not a complex economy and ranking system that pits guests against each other at an amusement park.
The comparison is not even remotely reasonable.
They also need bandwidth infrastructure. Like theres reasons ff14 stopped sales of its new expansion instead of just "spinning up extra servers". Theyre not installing a direct line from your house to their server, data from around the world is converging on data centers through utility data lines.
Your points doesn't make his points invalid. And the other way arround.