Though I have absolutely nothing against vanity items/transmog gear or the mounts the price of a helm being £10 is pretty much ludicrous. Yes it looks snazzy and all that, but the prices MUST be dropped by 3-4 pounds/dollars etc. To expect people to pay for something which will be rarish at first, but not after a few days when a vast majority potentially could buy them is a kick in the man-vegetables imo. Of course if people are well off it won't really matter, but not everyone is lucky enough to be in well paid job, or have rich parents or whatever. Drop the price a bit then I think opinion will change.
When it comes to stat based gear-completely against it full stop. I won't stop playing the game as I love it, but the day that people can pretty much pay to give themselves a major advantage over other players will be the sounding of the death horn of the game. I hope they do not go down the route, but as we know other MMORPG's have done so. However, I still err towards the facts that if they did make these stat based gear items available in-store, it would make LFR etc a waste of time due to the quality of the drops you can get in there (especially if you're an AFKer in LFR), which is why I don't think they will go down the route of stat based gear being purchasable. And as has already been mentioned, people do forget what makes the gear special. people want the rarity of these items-they don't want to see others get them simply by punching in debit card details. I would rather earn my right to have them, not buy them in all honesty.
So I shan't be spending a penny on them in all honesty. If I don't get to look completely snazzy-so be it.
Edited, Jul 18th 2013 9:30pm by Threnden
World of Micro-Transactions
Blizzard Experiment with Micro-Transactions in World of Warcraft
With the recent statement from Blizzard announcing its intent to experiment with a wider range of micro-transactions in World of Warcraft, player base opinion seems to vary dramatically.
I put up a video showcasing the new transmog helms and other vanity items that are coming to the Blizzard store and asked people what they thought. More importantly, I put this question to the viewers: What if stat gear were to become available for real world currency? The resulting comments were incredibly diverse.
Some people admitted they would probably buy stat gear if it wasn’t too expensive, stating they didn’t have as much time to play as others, while at the opposite end of the spectrum, people threatened to quit Warcraft altogether should such gear be made available. Some even declared that the transmog helms should be in-game drops considering just how lacklustre the Tier 16 armor sets are.
I think people are forgetting what makes gear ‘cool’. It’s the rarity. We can already buy mounts and pets for real money, but gear is an achievement. A badge of merit. It’s what drives players to invest so much time and effort into the game. That and epic raids.
Killing bosses is what keeps me subscribed to World of Warcraft. How about you?
Penny for your thoughts.
Check out Wowhead's preview of the new items, here.