Some of the people I play with feel like WoW has too many ‘chores’. Some others feel like they are forced to play and penalized if they don’t. Am I the only one that thinks the root problem is the monthly subscription to play? Some pay the monthly subscription but are barely able to play. What are they getting in return? Some might say they’re getting content updates and patches. Still, none of that matters if you don’t have the time to play. It leaves you feeling cheated or robbed for that month. I think Blizzard should change how subscriptions work. Subscriptions should be for content in the game, not to play game. For instance, add a transmog subscription with a transmog store. You just rent transmogs. I think it would work as long as there isn’t any exclusive content in the store. If anything, exclusive content should only be attained by playing. You could do the same thing with mounts, character services, character customization (name/race changes, boosts). Blizzard would still have a decent subscription revenue stream and players wouldn’t feel like they have to play. Overall, I think people are starting to realize the subscription isn’t worth it. And because there is a subscription, players feel like Blizzard owes them something, and the majority of them aren’t getting what they believe they’re owed. So everybody is upset about what they’re not getting for their subscription money.
I dove into the wall of text to pull out this sentence, kicking and screaming, so that I could provide the simple and factual answer: you are paying for access to the servers. That’s it.
MMOs typically have a subscription model because of the ongoing costs of server hosting and bandwidth and the like.
The “base price” of the subscription has been $15/month since 2004. It hasn’t kept pace with inflation, so $15/month today is equivalent to $10.33 back then.
It’s actually getting cheaper over time, in real money.
There is already a free method of playing OP. Earn gold, buy tokens. Know tons of people who haven’t paid a sub in years.
Don’t give them anymore ideas to gouge their playerbase for more money!
Didn’t read your wall of text so only going off your title but NOPE. $15 a month with never going up ever for the amount of content we get is very cheap. Can’t afford it or don’t like it then plenty of f2p mmos for you and your friends. Don’t bring that trash f2p models or “different sub models” to my game here.
so change the pricing structure of the game from $14.99/month for full and complete access, to paying $5.99 for mog, $5.99 for dungeon pack 1, $6.99 for dungeon pack 2, $8.99 for a raid, $3.99 for mounts, $.99 per flight path, $3.99 to talk in trade, etc…
not only is this a bad idea, but it’s a stupendously awful one.
this.
$15 is cheap for the amount of entertainment one can get from wow. it’s even cheap if you only play a few hours here and there.
OP your sub bundles is a bad idea
$15 is cheap to access servers
Buying a 6 month sub is even cheaper as it pays itself
I was going to point this out. Glad someone else beat me to it. 
I’m not sure if you’re saying it’s justified or if you’re saying it’s ridiculous.
I’m saying neither, I’m simply answering your question.
The essence of the argument is to change the subscription to accommodate varying player schedules. For instance, you wouldn’t expect to pay the same price for using a cloud server service for 5 minutes as someone who uses the same service for 100 hours.
get off my lawn.
Not sure read the entire post. Not everyone has the time to play enough to earn the amount of gold needed to buy tokens.
I’m not sure anyone has. Try paragraphs next time.
My point exactly. The idea is to have elective subscriptions, not required.
i think it’s just how the systems are ontop of the community tbh.
community likes to penalize people who don’t keep up with systems due to power gains you see this a lot when pugging such as say requiring aotc just to get into a heroic group then when you clear it half the group doesn’t even have aotc to begin with thus them just wanting carries. i’ve pugged many heroics a lot of them are like this. or requiring insanely high ilvl just to get into normals. only solution community seems to give us is “form your own group” which doesn’t always work if you ever pugged you’d know why. people constantly quitting just after 1 wipe excluding being on last few bosses so people can join and save the lockout especially on last 3 bosses.
too much systems = too much chores to do. game feels like a damn job. who the hell wants to wait for catch up mechanics to be put into place just to have a chance at doing content they want to do?
i am not implying you make the game/systems easier im just saying it is overwhelming for people who work or got other stuff more important irl they need to tend to. i work pretty much 5 12 hour shifts have 2 days off and on 1 day off i am busy doing errands practically all day so i don’t have much time to play the other day off if im lucky i can relax and play but then have to catchup from all the bs i didn’t do throughout the week. this is the reason why i often quit. i feel so far behind and punished just cause i don’t play as often and i do have to pug a lot of my content due to my work schedule, time zone, etc…
The subscriptions would be elective. The same content provided with the subscriptions could be earned in game. You’ve taken a simple idea and shaped it to your narrative, and doesn’t represent my idea.
if i’m understanding you correctly, your idea’s beed tried before- different pay subs for various amounts of time. the result? people went with the unlimited access because it was overall the best bang for their buck, which is why you see most companies use this option as their go-to.
if you’re complaining you want a $5 sub because that’s the amount of time you can only play, go find something else to play.
Thanks for your contribution. How much does it cost to host servers for WoW?