Using $15 a month sub and $60 price per expansion. Youd have saved around $500 doing the 6th month subscription, though i dont know when that actually started.
For 15 years of value, thats a hell of a steal, gotta say. Most people will spend that in a year on a single hobby.
The scary part is how much I spent on additional services over the years.
Had you invested $480 (cost of expansions) + $15 per month since WoW launch with an annual rate of return of 8% (average rate for the S&P500), youd be sitting on $6,619.34.
Were those 15 years of entertainment worth missing out on $3169? Id say yes.
'twas burning a hole in my wallet anyways. Money well spent!
Yeah it’s probably better I don’t know how much I’ve spent on realm and faction changes along with all the tokens I bought…it’s bad, really bad.
If you count tokens that number is significantly higher for me.
Well sure, but i was just going off only the bear minimum you need to play the game. Tokens and services and mounts etc. are all “extra”.
Thinking of this combined with my steam account value I probably could have spent the money in better ways.
… Nah
I saved some money during BFA.
Thanks Blizzard!
I’d have missed out on it anyways since I’d have just bought more games 
-IRS didn’t like that-
I feel you though.
World of Warcraft 15$ month
Faction change to play with friends 35$
Cool mounts from the blizzard store 25$ each
The memories forged? Priceless
There are some things money can’t buy for everything else there’s MasterCard 
yea id agree, watching stocks is significantly less entertaining than a video game.
I know it’s a kind of a meme but it’s not just entertainment. All the relationships, amazing people, in and out of the game, more than worth it IMO
…I feel like the math on that is missing here. 
I don’t know, $3450 is a lot, even if it’s splayed over 15 years. I’ve been playing games so far and a lot of single-player games/and other multiplayers or subless MMO’s only costed me their initial price and their DLC at most for over the years i’ve been playing them and their usually under $100, while WoW the expensive one in comparison. (Nearly $900 over the coarse of 9 years).
Do i think you still get WoW based on my own subjective value to the objective costs? Well that’s up to you to decide where the value is. 
I really hate to be that guy, but personally i don’t consider something like that a reason you should buy the game. I get meeting nice people and making friends is great and all and the social aspect should be encouraged, but it doesn’t have anything to do with the game aside just being a place where you meet them because you two have a common interest in and doesn’t really have to do with the game, that being gameplay, content and etc. If anything, that reason has more to do with online gaming in general considering how easily applied this can be to any game, or really anything online, like social media or forums even.
Not trying to sound snarky or what have you, it’s just my personal opinion on this sort of thing i keep on seeing popping up, and i just don’t see social aspect as part of the game in the same vein as something like Dungeons, or Raids or PVP when it’s a general online thing.
You just unironically said “it’s the friends we made along the way” and I actually respect that!
My steam account is over inflated.
Allegedly it’s over $2000. But given the number of games I bought at like $2 on a steam sale, it’s much less than that.
Yeah i’ve pumped money into Steam too. 1/2 of it is spent on TF2 hats. 
But i was able to grab some wonderful fantastic games on sale. That place in my opinion has fantastic value for the low costs thanks to the sales. 
You neglected to mention the PC rig expense, but fair enough.
I wouldn’t mind the money so much if it wasn’t the YEARS, and for what?
Day 1 veteran, though I’ve unsubbed several times – I wonder how many of us there are still here from Nov '04 (I remember not qualifying for that crazy Blizz statue YEARS ago b/c I think I unsubbed for a few months back during MOP or something… GAH I was so mad, now I just realize Blizz stopped caring along time before that - anywho)
People have gotten married, met because of this game. How many people get married because of Call of Duty? Plus another thing is timing, this thread specifically talks about since launch, WOW was a gaming powerhouse and social phenomenon that was actually studied. Not all games are created equal, but you believe whatever you want.