Odds Of Vanilla being free to play?

[Dawnspirit-wyrmrest-accord]

So because someone can’t afford a game, we should just make the game free, right?

You should go back and read the entire thread to find out what my actual opinion is. kthxbai.

[Araethe-dalaran]

Camel should of been drinking more milk

[Ogimirak-medivh]

We gave him plenty of soy milk so I don’t understand why he just lays around now.

[Williams-akama (Williams)]

I do agree that the project is costing them money and I am happy to pay for it since this could bring a whole new era of gaming not only for blizzard but for other companies. The point is not everyone that have wanted to play it will, because of the $15

There are 2 solutions to this problem…

Get a job, 15 dollars a month is not terribly difficult to dredge up now days. Additionally if you’re having a problem getting 15 bucks to play a video game every month then you have far more important issues in life you should be addressing so that you can actually afford to live.

Second option if you’re in some really bad country where there just is no work yet some how as if by flipping magic you can afford to live and have a computer and internet connection… (mind boggles)

Play also BFA and make gold in that game, then BUY subscription time with that gold so that you can play Classic WoW. Consider that your job.

Although you really should be getting a job if 15 dollars is a pile of money…

[Ogimirak-medivh]

How about the scenario, of low wages, and no extra jobs to be had? I mean, I’m from europe, and some of the eastern european countries simply don’t have the economy. They might want to take an extra job, but there are no extra jobs, because most people are in the same situation.

How is playing a video game online going to solve that?

[Attics-tichondrius]

I like those saying if one can’t find 15 dollar in the budget, they should be doing something else.

How about the scenario, of low wages, and no extra jobs to be had? I mean, I’m from europe, and some of the eastern european countries simply don’t have the economy. They might want to take an extra job, but there are no extra jobs, because most people are in the same situation. Then what? Median income for a land like Belarus is around 135 Euro’s, that’s ~$155 to cover all your expenses, including if you have kids. Ukraine far no better with a median income of ~140 euro, Albania ~200 euro’s, Bulgaria ~220 euro’s, and the list goes on.

Easy to say, do something else, when not in a situation where you are mired. You can’t afford to move, you can’t afford luxury, can’t find extra jobs, can’t afford education and you still need to survive.

We aren’t saying these situations don’t exist. Not at all. What we are saying is that, if you are in a situation where you can afford a computer, and an internet bill, but $15 extra will break you, then you have bigger problems than not getting to play wow. If $15 a month is too much, and you can’t get any other work for whatever reason, and you are borderline going flat broke… you should be trying to fix that, not playing a video game.

[Swani-arathor (Swani)]

That’s not what I am addressing. I am saying, that people who says that if one can’t afford $15 they should be doing something else. While that may be true if you have options, having no options it just rings hollow.

I am not saying the game should be free, not at all.

We aren’t saying these situations don’t exist. Not at all. What we are saying is that, if you are in a situation where you can afford a computer, and an internet bill, but $15 extra will break you, then you have bigger problems than not getting to play wow. If $15 a month is too much, and you can’t get any other work for whatever reason, and you are borderline going flat broke… you should be trying to fix that, not playing a video game.

And I agree on that. But see above.

I am merely stating, that some don’t have those options. One of the reasons why, private servers won’t magically disappear because Classic gets launched, as some people seems to think. Those who can’t afford it, will take the free option.

[Gorecrush-doomhammer]

“#NoChanges but it better be free”

Funnily enough, the subscription fee is one of the few things that is core to the gameplay that has NOT changed since Vanilla.

So, its not that its hard to find people. Its hard to find someone that isn’t useless in the work place.

I work in a restaurant, and we’re getting ready to hire more people. My boss had probably four interviews yesterday, and even the newly promoted shift managers had to handle an interview or two. One person was being interviewed for a chef position, and they brought up that they were fired from their past two jobs.

Why? Well, they were expected to learn how to cook an omelette at the all-day-breakfast restaurant. Also, something about punctuality? Like, what are they even supposed to puncture?

[Eloraell-moon-guard]

I do have the money and am not complaining but I think Classic should be free.

Why?

Private servers have been actively stealing Blizzard IP for years. Literally, they have been abusing the IP and taking money to pay for the same things Blizzard will have to. Blizzard has to maintain servers, high volume data connections, employees working as GMs, developers, etc. That isn’t free.

The real question is: Why do you think you deserve it for free, after helping steal money from Blizzard for years?

Additionally, Blizzard hasn’t raised the monthly cost IN FIFTEEN YEARS. Think about that.

We paid $14.99 in 2004 for an awesome game. Using 15 years of inflation, that price should be $20 now, but Blizzard has not raised it. That alone makes it worth not arguing for a free model.

[Skjaldbjorn-lightbringer (Skjaldbjorn)]

I’ll happily pay a sub just to get rid of the problems created by F2P and B2P. B2P isn’t as bad, but F2P games tend to be heaping piles of garbage.

Classic will be bad enough as a handout to retail players. It honestly needs to go a step beyond needing a sub and also require a purchase.

[Hailiaxx-stormrage]

My opinion? Yes, I absolutely think it should be free. A 15 year old game with no real “new” content updates? Hell yes - it should absolutely be free-to-play.

That said, to recreate official Vanilla servers requires a lot of time and resources. Add to that, Blizz is in desperate need of a new game plan if they would like to retain subs. This is a part of that game plan. Folks that don’t like the current state of retail may just stay subbed to try out Classic, and with private servers like Nostalrius, Elysium, Light’s Hope (to name a few) there is clearly a demand.

Should Classic be free-to-play? Absolutely. Am I willing to resub for Classic as a thank you to Blizzard for releasing official Vanilla servers? Absolutely.

Why the hell would they do this for free?

O_o they are providing a service… and it isn’t entirely out of the goodness of their heart lol.

It “should” not be free to play, because people deserves money for their services O_o

At classic being 15$ a month is significantly cheaper than what classic was back in the day.

with inflation, the price of vanilla wow was 20$ a month.

You have receive a 25% discount for wow classic… and even more if you pay more upfront.

[Tracerr-stormrage]

Hell no.

Anyone who has played private servers as much as I have knows that Free to play comes with some serious drawbacks. I’m not an elitist, but man oh man does a subscription fee filter out a WHOLE LOT of annoying folks I would rather not play with. Seriously. Theres no repercussions for being a **** because you just roll up a new account and log back in.

No thank you. If they want to stay on the emptying Private Servers while the community moves to Classic, so be it. I honestly welcome it, and don’t feel bad at all. These days there’s countless F2P games, so its not like they don’t have any options.

[Jordynn-stormrage]

It is free, you are paying for BFA and get classic for free on the side. It shouldn’t be free on its own but I think a reduced price if you only want to sub for classic would be a good option.

[Swayzelives-proudmoore]

I would say that anyone that thinks this will be free has very little understanding of what it takes to make these games and the development that goes into them. I 100% will pay for this and hope they continue to have a charge and push development towards it.

If your friends says he doesn’t want to play because he doesn’t want to pay $15 then that is his choice, but if he is an adult I would encourage him to look at how he spends his money if $15 is too much for him for an unlimited amount of game time online.

[Jomjom-bloodscalp (Jomjom)]

I won’t be paying for BfA. BfA is a side effect to my subscription.

[Jordynn-stormrage]

I would encourage him to look at how he spends his money if $15 is too much for him for an unlimited amount of game time online.

It’s not unlimited its only 1 month, $180 per year and since they are staggering the content a lot of people will be paying hundreds of dollars to play a 15 year old game. And it’s not so much that people can’t afford it but they could buy new games with the same amount or less. Wow is pretty cheap though if you play it a ton.

[Primalmatter-stormrage (Primalmatter)]

I can’t see it ever being free to play. That said it would be nice if they made a cheaper sub for just access to classic rather then tying bfa to it.

[Maldonix-aerie-peak (Maldonix)]

Considering that $15 will get you both Classic AND Retail (LOL,i know), its a very worth while investment in the entertainment budget.

I haven’t been subbed to Retail in nearly two years(?) now, and I keep forgetting that subbing to Classic will mean full access to Retail again. I guess that will be a nice perk if I ever want to revisit my old characters on Retail.

[Kahldea-proudmoore]

I mean, I basically already addressed all of this in my original post for anyone reading between the lines, but, ok, I’ll bite.

Do I expect Blizzard to release something that requires a dedicated development team to get up and running as a free-to-play game simply out of the goodness of their hearts? Of course not, and I stated nothing that should imply the contrary.

Do I believe that once Classic is live, bug-free, and all content patches have been released Blizzard should continue charging $15 a month to play a game that will then forever be existing in maintenance mode? Absolutely not.

Could you make a case for that money going towards the cost of upkeep for their Classic servers? I mean, sure, but why would you? Once the Classic dev team has moved on, the cost associated with simply maintaining the infrastructure will be so minuscule that attempting to make that case may come off as silly.

Could you make the argument that a player paying a monthly fee for a “pass” granting them access Blizzard’s Classic theme park is no different than paying for a monthly pass to Disneyland? I mean, again, sure, you COULD make that argument, but why the hell would you? May I assume that I do not need to elaborate on why attempting to make that comparison would be asinine?

The take away? Should players be expected to continue throwing money at Blizzard for the privilege of playing Classic when development is finalized and Blizzard is no longer required to throw money at Classic themselves?

Absolutely not.

Will I pay to play Classic WoW? Hell yes. I will pay to play a long as I am having fun - that was never the question.

[Hailiaxx-stormrage]

I am not sure what world you’re living in, but businesses do things for a profit. Without the money, classic would not exist.

And that is how things should be… you want something, expect to pay for it.

So yes, you are expected to throw money at it, because you are not entitled to classic wow… Blizzard the company has created it with the hard earned money and time to provide the service, the company deserves to be payed whatever the hell the price they want to sell it.
It is up to you to decide whether the price is worth it to you or not…

It is to me… I honestly would probably pay 30$ a month for it , if they so chose. I find it to be undervalued honestly.
So I am perfectly happy with a mere 15$ a month… for it is actually more valuable than that to me.