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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23226563



This pisses me off, and I am not one who's been unhappy about the sale of pets and mounts from the online store, so I can only imagine how the people who felt that was going too far are going to see this. Selling XP? And in-game cash shop? These are perfectly acceptable things in a game that has no sub fee. It's not okay for WoW to do it.

Indeed. The clam stacking is definitely where WoW jumped the shark.

I have no problem whatsoever with a cash shop. In a FTP game. I've spent money there glady in GW2 to support it. But are there any subscription based games that do this? It's so grasping and evil.

It won't stop me playing. I just won't buy anything from it. But it still pisses me off.

While I'm totally against P2W I don't think this is that bad. For several reasons.

1) Zarhyms quote, at least to me, hints at this potion being only available on Asian servers. They have a totally different payment model over there, a model this potion would work together pretty good (afaik). That possibility is only strengthened by the massive discussions this datamined item has spurred in the forums in the past days. Blizzard knows that many people would be unhappy if this came to all regions.

2) As mentioned above, it is datamined. If some people would not have pulled this out of the PTR code we wouldn't know about it. There has not been an official statement (apart from Zarhyms thing, which was only in reaction to a thread). So I don't think it is sure they want to implement it.

3) Even if points 1&2 are moot and this will come to EU and US servers, I still don't see the big deal. RAF has been around for a long time and is basically giving an experience boost for money too.

As soon as they sell maxlevel Equipment or something along those lines I'll be the first to bring pitchforks and a few ropes. But I see this more as a way to buy your character an hour of rested exp even if said character is not rested.

[quote]First, we’ll be testing the in-game store with some new kinds of items we’re looking into introducing (in Asian regions, at the outset) based on player feedback: specifically, an experience buff to assist with the leveling process, as well as an alternate way to acquire Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. We’ve had a lot of requests from players in different regions for convenience-oriented items such as these, and as with other new ideas we’ve introduced as WoW has evolved—including Pet Store pets, mounts, and more—your feedback plays a hugely important part in determining what we add to the game.[/quote] (emphasis added, quote from Bashiok as shown on MMO-C)

Face/mianzi is often expressed here by slinging cash around. That's one of the differences in play style. WOW is probably taking a hit in Asia by not offering any form of cash shop; it looks like this is an effort to address that problem. Many players here expect to be able to show off by buying stuff for themselves and their friends. As it is, the only way they can do that is by purchasing gold and buying stuff that way. If I have to choose one, I'd rather see Blizz cut out the middle man.

Looks like they're trying to have their cake and eat it, too.

I'm surprised they haven't jumped the F2P bandwagon yet. I'm all for a cash shop in F2P games, but in WoW you pay monthly and now they're reserving features for subscribers who throw extra cash at them?

Meh, haven't played in a long time, so it doesn't affect me, but it's seems like things are headed in a dark direction.

As you say, I don't see it being a big deal either potentially. You out-level most zones before you finish them anyway, so now that just happens more? No huge loss.

On the other hand it could be trade-able, with people putting them on the auction house for 500g a pop. Which I suspect would lead to no shortage of complaining as the market went through some upheaval and the game dealt with the influx of cash. WoW is such a competitive MMO you wonder how something like that would play out. Unlike something like that companion pet which has limited appeal, there would be a huge market for XP boosts.

Honestly this too. The one thing I do like about cash shops is it seems to keep the gold-sellers in check. If I have to deal with people "buying gold" I'd rather they did it from someone who wasn't trying to hack my system and steal my stuff.

Edited, Jul 9th 2013 8:52am by someproteinguy

Add gold more in a sense of returning it to circulation. There's nothing like a hot item to get people to dump that 100k they're sitting on. Definitely more transactions is good, more gold moving around is good.

Short-term it causes price fluctuations. If you can easily cash -> gold, then prices can jump, which would certainly spook people (though really, I suppose, what change doesn't cause endless whining?). Long term you end up with a more lax economy. It's easier to make gold, even for those not into the cash shop thing. There's less people competitively playing the AH, and more content just to "purchase the gold" when they need it. Trickle down economics?

It would be really interesting to watch that transition though. Wonder where you'd see people withdrawing from the economy. What tasks get given up if there's a way to get ample gold.

I can totally relate. My first (and thus far only) WoW-ragequit was caused by their announcement of the coming faction change, sometime during Wrath I think. I see things a bit less strict now.

How so? I haven't been reading the o-boards, so I'm kinda curious how the argument about end-game effects goes. Gold related?

XP boosts are one of the more common cash-shop items in other games, alongside things like teleport scrolls and skimpy female costumes. It's like a staple or something.


Edited, Jul 9th 2013 11:01am by someproteinguy

The conversion on Lesser Charms is such that I've read complaints about people who have hundreds and can't do anything with them. If they do go through with this, it means that players in regions which bill by the minute played will have a chance to skip some of the dailies. Nothing more. It isn't really that big a deal.

Selling XP is not P2W, even if it did happen on NA/EU servers.

You can easily get that same XP without money.

Now if they started selling Heroic Raid Drops for $$$$ then yeah, that's when we should get upset.

But they've said time and time again that they have absolutely no plans of selling functional in-game items for $$$. It entirely goes against what WoW is meant to be. Pets and Mounts are OK because frankly, they're just there for aesthetics, and in the case of Pet Battles, there are plenty of non-pet shop pets that are perfectly good that you can use instead.

There's nothing wrong with an XP potion buy-able with $$$.

Though, it makes me wonder.... "Why 85+ and not <85?"

Shouldn't they be focusing on allowing players to reach Pandaria faster, rather than helping people chew through Pandaria so fast that they don't know where anything is? As it is, with no special potions, you can easily get to Lv90 without seeing half of Pandaria's zones and quest content.

If I were to ever be tempted to use such a potion, I'd rather do it on some lowbie character I want to get past the boring crap ASAP. Especially Outland.

I suppose so; still that's a bit of a grey area I would have thought they could have avoided for the moment. Because cosmetic items?

Not that I'd ever wish for anything that nuts to appear in WoW...

You should see the armor they usually wear...