What does Redeemed think of Blizzard's store?

Buying in game items is....

  • Silly

    Votes: 4 25.0%

  • Fine as long as it doesn't change the game

    Votes: 7 43.8%

  • Fine and should be unlimited

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • ....option 4?

    Votes: 5 31.3%
  • Total voters
    16
BBQSox

BBQSox

New Member
With the announcement (unofficially) that the celestial steed will be available through the Blizzard store (making it the first mount for sale), I'm curious about what the overall consensus about this marketing tactic is.

Assuming that the mount is account wide, I'm buying it. It looks really cool, scales to training and counts as a land mount where you can't fly. Did I mention that it's the coolest looking mount in the game next to the Ashes mount? (picture to follow)

So what are your feelings on paying real life money for in game items? So far, we're limited to buying things that have no impact on gameplay at all. Pets and mounts don't change the game for anybody. Other MMOs have allowed players to purchase currency and rare items such as armor and weapons. I can't see Blizzard allowing anything that affects the actual gameplay in any way.

Do you think buying pets is silly? What about mounts? Personally, I've always thought that paying $15-30 for a pet was silly. I don't care about in game pets and I certainly don't care if I get a stuffed animal version of it to toss in a drawer somewhere. However, the celestial steed, as I've already mentioned, looks amazing. It's a beautiful mount, possibly my favorite that they've ever made. If I can have it on all of my characters, I'll pay $35-40 for it. If it's limited to one character, I'll pay $20 so my death knight can ride in style. Those are my maximums. I WILL NOT pay any more in either situation.

What do you think, Redeemed?

Video of the mount:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KvDDFi0Fuo

Picture of the mount for those who don't want to watch it in action:
http://valaar.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/celestialsteed.jpg
 
BBQSox said:
So far, we're limited to buying things that have no impact on gameplay at all. Pets and mounts don't change the game for anybody.
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I strongly disagree on this. The items currently for sale don't impact combat or raiding, but they do affect gameplay. WoW gameplay is not confined to raiding, combat, or pvp any more than it is confined to achievements, collecting or moneymaking.

I'm very much against buying in-game items with real world money. The only reason I have the core hound pup is because it came with the authenticator.

Think about someone who has the Mountain o' Mounts achievement. They might have spent weeks farming their 98th, 99th, and 100th mounts. But once mounts are obtainable by using real life money, it cheapens their hard work. Same goes for the pet collector's achievements.

Blizzard has put goals in the game for us to work towards - whether they be raid bosses, achievements, levels, whatever. The sad fact is, people can now accomplish some of those goals either with pure effort, or with less effort + money, and that just doesn't sit well with me.

So I'm voting Option 4, which means "I very much dislike this".
 
To an extent, I agree. They could always remove the purchased ones from the counter for the achievement. But if you want to pay $25 (final price for the mount) for that one extra mount, more power to you. It's not a mandatory part of the game. It doesn't effect pve or pvp.

On a side note, I just bought it. It's $25 and it's to all characters.
 
BBQSox said:
To an extent, I agree. They could always remove the purchased ones from the counter for the achievement. But if you want to pay $25 (final price for the mount) for that one extra mount, more power to you. It's not a mandatory part of the game. It doesn't effect pve or pvp.

On a side note, I just bought it. It's $25 and it's to all characters.
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I see what you're saying - but who is to say what is a mandatory part of the game and what is not? The beauty of an MMORPG is that players can choose what is important to them, and how they play. There is nothing players HAVE to do. Most people play to raid, others play to make money, others play for achievements.

If the reason I played the game was to make money, I could argue that players being able to purchase soulbound ilvl 277 gear with real life money doesn't affect game play because it has no bearing on how much game money that player can make.

Sure, these purchasable items have no bearing on raiding/pvp, therefore raiders and pvpers make the argument that these items don't affect gameplay. The people that play for achievements feel otherwise though.
 
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I think it's silly. The headless horsemen's mount is cool, and you can ride it on the ground or fly. Talbuks are even cooler but you can't fly with them, proto drakes are awesome but you can only use them in the Outlands or Northrend...

There are plenty of options, why pay $20+ for one more?
 
Flamethrøwer said:
I don't think he knows about Camm options.
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I think you're right and I require an explanation.

Also, if you're playing for achievements, I would argue that other players being able to purchase one mount for $25 is no more cheapening to your efforts than classes getting specific mounts that only they can use. I'm a death knight. I have two mounts that no other class can use. I also have a warlock and a paladin. Both have mounts that only they can use. Doesn't that seem unfair to another class, say a mage, who is trying for the achievement? At least with the steed you have the option to buy a mount. At the very least, the option is there even if it would cost you real money.
 
PUUUUURTY O.O wonder if i can get cit to shell out for it.

meh, i'm a capitalist and blizzard is in business. its just another product they are selling. whether i do a long quest chain to get it which i think would be more fun, or purchase it i don't see it as a biggie as it is just a one time item. if they start selling everything, or gear upgrades for cash, now that would ruin the game. flame, your just an INSANE game grinder.
 
Goodwone said:
PUUUUURTY O.O wonder if i can get cit to shell out for it.

meh, i'm a capitalist and blizzard is in business. its just another product they are selling. whether i do a long quest chain to get it which i think would be more fun, or purchase it i don't see it as a biggie as it is just a one time item. if they start selling everything, or gear upgrades for cash, now that would ruin the game. flame, your just an INSANE game grinder.
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My thoughts exactly. Think of the steed as a sports car. It's gorgeous. It's fast. It's expensive. How expensive? It costs 1.5 months of subscription time. That puts it in perspective a bit.

Do you want it? If so, how badly? It doesn't give you an unfair advantage over anyone in pve or pvp. It's just a beautiful mount to ride/fly around on.

Any chance we can go down Algalon so that I can get a starcaller title to go with my new mount? O=)
 
Goodwone said:
flame, your just an INSANE game grinder.
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LOL - i c wut u did thar. Right now I think I only qualify as mentally disturbed. Two honored -> exalted reps to go until I'm officially insane :p

I'm not arguing that it isn't good for the company, cause it's a fantastic idea from a fiscal standpoint. I'm just arguing that it's ruining the game. Part of what makes games like these appeal to me is that it doesn't matter who you are outside of Azeroth, everyone has an equal chance at things when they log in the game. This is slowly being taken away :(

Let me just say right now - you won't ever see me with anything in the game that I had to pay extra money for outside of the game.
 
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lol $25 for a mount. lamesauce.

the only redeeming value of this move is that it could be funding their next fps/mmo game.
 
Saw the price on Kotaku. That's probably the most expensive DLC in gaming evar. :p
 
Dont's listen to Flame :p He's insane after all.

I'm jk Flame, I <3 you.

But in all seriousness....you, in the end, have a choice to buy it or not. It's not like they have the white drake for sale...you can still only get that through getting all the mounts and doing the hardwork, so I don't see it as stepping on people's toes. I find enjoyment in this area and think it's a neat idea as long as it doesn't affect how people can perform in game. Like...I don't want Godmode to be available for $1,000.
 
Sheckle said:
...you can still only get that through getting all the mounts and doing the hardwork, so I don't see it as stepping on people's toes.
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True, you can still get things done with in-game work only. My problem is that I believe that in-game work should be the ONLY way to accomplish things. Keeping with my Mountain o' Mounts example, there are now two ways to do it - the player that grinds 100 mounts, and the player that only had to grind 99 mounts because he could afford to spend the $25 on the 100th without having to grind it.

Someone has to agree with me lol...
 
I've been trying to get a new mount to replace my death charger and chicken o' doom for a while now. Rivendare's death charger refuses to drop and I've gone through 3495873405897345 oracle eggs and still no drake.

$25 for something that I think is super pretty? I'll be happy with my purchase.
 
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