There are certain people here that will defend Blizzard / Activision regardless of how predatory their practices become.
Unfortunately their zealotry is partly responsible for things like the ONE UNIQUE BACKBACK in entire game being locked behind a paywall. instead of it being a reward for an achievement or quest.
I’ll never understand it.
Way to ignore the 2 mounts that come with the promotion.
Dude, seriously, if you can buy it with money then yes it is a store item.
Again, it is 2 mounts, a unique backpack, etc. It is just another example of a larger pattern of monetization that has gone full-force in BFA.
I think you need to look up the definition of logic. You were arguing that this isn’t a “store item” despite being bound to a purchasable promition, factually incorrect (2 mounts … not 1 or 0 as your first sentence would indicate, etc.).
But you are right, we won’t see eye to eye on this - so we’re just wasting our time.
Lol, no it’s not.
It’s behind a “go talk to some humans outside the game and convince them to try WoW for a bit” wall.
You are not being forced to go against the spirit of the RAF system and shell out your own money for this. Blizzard is not responsible for you feeling like a system intended to provide incentive for bringing people into the game is instead a compulsion for you to open your own wallet.
So no, I don’t quickly dismiss your gripe because “lol rp” or “its just virtual”. I dismiss your gripe because this stuff is only “behind a paywall” because you are choosing to go against the point of RAF and want it to be Blizzard’s fault not yours.
Blizzard already acknowledged back during the removal of the “300% xp buff” time, that a large number of RaF were folks recruiting themselves for bonuses and rewards.
So let’s not pretend like they don’t know what they are doing.
I know right… 440 gear is locked behind a myth raid or 175g for a myth run buy… why cant max lvl gear just be available in the store for cash only… not lazy gold
It is pretty annoying the first actual back pack is locked behind a hefty price tag.
It also seems like they took the scrapped Classic Relic idea from Warlords and put it to work with these transmogs. Really unfortunate.
Hopefully one day they’ll add visible Bags, Quivers, Librams and so on.
I’m pretty sure Blizzard knows most people are just gonna make a second account and drop a year sub on it to get this transmog.
If they really cared about mass RAF player influx, they would have done this BEFORE Classic came out.
I’ll repeat what I said to another post: what incentive is there to spend $$ if the cosmetics were NOT unique and just recolors of existing, in-game skins?
Blizzard wants to make money. They’re not going to invest resources into things that don’t sell.
Irrelevant.
You. are. not. being. forced. to. buy. this.
Let’s not pretend like you have no choice but to shell out $150 to get this.
You can guess Blizzard’s intentions all you want, but the reality is no one is compelling people to shell out all this money except themselves. Go recruit some friends to play the game for a bit or be sad you don’t get a backpack… or accept the fact that you’ve decided you need to spend $150 to get this stuff.
This point makes no sense. Blizzard doesn’t care about “RAF player influx”, they care about subs. Classic already gave them an influx of subs. Why would they launch a new RAF program before Classic? Now that the sub influx from Classic is done, it makes plenty of sense to boost the incentives for the RAF program because it can help get them more subs.
(puts out a lovely little tray of cookies for a delightful thread about… um… something something… I don’t really know to be honest but at least they didn’t use the phrase “elite RP” this time)
Which is a horrible comparison. What you want is cosmetic. What your using here is a game design.
Please.stop.hiding.behind.this.argument.
By that same token, you aren’t being forced to play this game. Why bother since you know the servers will close eventually? You can go down that “why do anything” rabbit hole as much was you want, but let’s argue what this is on it’s own merit.
This is a set of in-game rewards that cannot be obtained in-game. Full stop.
You are sort of making our point here. You are very aware that this is all marketing and systems designed to get players to spend more money (one way or another).
This isn’t “for the betterment of the game” or to “enhance our play experience” or “interesting or compelling content”.
So let’s call a spade a spade.
We won’t see eye to eye on this.
Fundamentally - you are ok with unique mogs/cosmetics/mounts being locked behind a paywall in the form of the store, whether it be your money or not (tokens/raf) - still a financial transaction at the end of the day requiring exchange of real money.
Whereas the rest of us are arguing that no - this needs to stop - especially for a game that has a sub-fee.
Hiding behind “use gold for tokens” or “its optional” - doesn’t change the fundamental problem.
This whole issue is being exacerbated by the fact that there has been a larger emphasis on the store this xpac than ever before.
I’m not hiding behind anything. I’d argue if anyone is hiding, it’s you because you apparently think paying for the base subscription for the game and paying for cosmetic rewards for that game are the same thing. And that’s before we even factor in that you can get these rewards without spending a penny of your own money.
You’ve made no argument here; you’ve just latched onto something else that costs money and think “see, this cost money too, so you’re argument is invalid” is actually a salient point.
There’s no comparison here. There’s no rabbit hole here. The only thing you got right is that you can’t obtain these rewards any other way than through RAF. Okay… so recruit some damn friends, be sad you can’t get them, or realize that you are personally willing to shell out $150 to get them through an unintended but allowable way.
Take some responsibility for your own decisions.
Um. Yeah.
How does that relate to whining that you “must” spend $150 of your own money to get these things? I mean, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you dislike the game shop overall. Do you complain about every item that gets added to the shop? I hope so or you’re being wildly inconsistent.
I’d also point out that the RAF rewards are arguably better than the items in the shop because you can get them by spending ZERO of your own money if you, stay with me here because I’m about to say something crazy, recruit some friends.
See this is a goalpost move.
The OP is complaining about spending $150 out of their own pocket for RAF rewards. I’ve been responding specifically to this complaint.
What I have not done is say “hey I’m cool with the game shop”.
I’d love to see the game shop go away. I also agree that for a sub game this is pretty crummy. But what I don’t agree with is complaining that you are “forced” to spend $150 to get RAF rewards. It’s nonsensical and just a crappy attempt to absolve one’s self of personal responsibility.
And since they have now developed “a” backpack you are convinced they will never make another one? Now that they’ve made one, I expect you’ll see a different one available in the game to unlock or the store to buy in the not too distant future. This one is tied to this promotion.
That’s quite an observation. I’ve witnessed what lengths a squirrel will go thru to get into a bird feeder. They just don’t give up.
I won’t argue with that.
Neither have you. All you have said is that “it’s optional”. That isn’t a justification with what is happening in the in-game store. It is just a fact. Just as - they have doubled their efforts on monetization is a fact. Whether we agree or disagree here is irrelevant.
Rofl, what? I haven’t said I’m making the purchase or not - but at least we are in agreement. This is a pay-walled cosmetic. Whether it is worth the $150investment to you (or finding someone to shell it out on your behalf) is up to you.
Fact remains - this is what it is - a $150 cosmetic that you can either purchase yourself or find someone else to do so for you. Full stop. Sounds like we are in agreement here.
Again - no whine. I’m pointing out what it is. A $150 dollar purchase. I will not be making it.
I am very much of the opinion that the game shop overall is bad for the game and yes I do bring it up every time. Especially in an xpac like BFA where it seems we get more shop items than actual content. So definitely consistent.
I disagree. By that same argument - you can just use in-game gold to buy tokens pay for it all.
I think you and I are saying the same thing. No one is forcing you to do anything.
All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t be so dismissive over people’s complaints when more and more of the “cool stuff” is locked behind a paywall. It is a slippery slope. One that Blizzard seems completely fine with sliding down to the detriment of the overall game.
Regardless, I mean, the first impression we get from the backpack is tied to… RAF, which let us be honest, the vast majority of us don’t have friends with the slightest interest in WoW, much less one that would put more than one month considering the current state of the game.
Sure, they could add later, but the damage is already done.
No, we’re not quite saying the same thing. The issue is I am calling out the absurdity of complaining that anyone “has to” pay $150 for this RAF stuff, while you’re making this thread an argument about microtransactions in a sub game.
We have been talking about two completely different things.
And as much as I dislike microtransactions in the game, I disagree with you pretty strongly in two ways:
Lumping the RAF stuff into the same argument as the game shop is absurd. RAF has always carried a cosmetic reward since it’s initial inception. I don’t recall people spazzing over the mounts back in the day (thought maybe I missed it). The reason people are upset over the new RAF rewards is either because, a) they want this stuff more than the mounts, b) they’ve gotten other RAF goodies by exploiting the system with multiple subs but doing the same for these goodies would be much more expensive or, c) both of the above.
The game shop isn’t bringing the rest of the game down. No matter how much you like or dislike BfA, the notion that some cosmetic items in the game store is negatively impacting the game is baseless and absurd.
Idk, i haven’t seen a request for backpacks till blizz said “here’s a backpack mog”, I think the ultimate goal of RAF is to “recruit friends” and they pay for it.
Like promotional rewards are tied to the promotions. There will be backpacks in the future. Probably 9.0.