The "Outrage" Over Placing Trading Tendies on the Cash Shop

[Murdercarpet-zuljin]

@anon59086671

I can see this. However, at the same time, I’m not sure if it’s really much different than locking x item behind a super-low drop rate. In both situations, you’ll probably be spending more time going after something than you’d reasonably want to.

In Diablo Immortal, originally free players were told they could earn anything in the game, though it would take longer. Actually, it would have taken years to earn what would have cost $250k in the shop tomorrow. Later we heard 10 years. Then they made it impossible for a free player to earn those things without paying real money. These were incremental changes, probably planned to normalize spending massive amounts of real money to be competitive.

Did it cross a line, in your opinion? At what point?

@anon59086671

I could be misunderstanding, but this point seems to imply that purchasing WoW tokens, for lack of a better term, “creates gold out of thin air.” I just want to confirm that you understand tokens do not create gold or introduce them into the economy. Players have to buy the tokens off the AH using gold, in order for those who purchased a cash token to receive the gold. Perhaps I misunderstood the point you were trying to make with this one?

Have you seen an accounting of this? I know we were told this was how it was going to work back in wod when it was introduced, but if they changed the wow token system to directly sell gold to players, how would anyone know?

@anon59086671

As far as gear is concerned, there is nothing on the shop that directly introduces player power. Trading tenders also do not (currently) act as a currency for player power. Now, someone could argue that the existing characters services may affect player power, such as racial changes and level boosts, although those services have been around for a very long time and are generally well-received.

Are you actually saying that being able to acquire millions of gold for cash transactions and spending that gold on carries does not result in an increase in player power?

[Nillah-ravencrest]

@Nikolo-proudmoore

If…this turns out to be what they are doing, it will likely include an increase in trading post prices to encourage people to buy the currency.

the only way i’d be completely ok with it is if nothing about the trading post changed from how it is currently. same prices, same type of items, same amount of options, etc. i don’t care if people have the option of buying extra so they can get every single item every month if they want. but i just dont think that will happen, i think more expensive items will start showing up, or prices will rise, or they’ll increase the # of items available so you need more currency to buy more, etc.

[Nikolo-proudmoore]

@Flesha-tichondrius

Why would someone even care for tendies being sold ?

You’re looking at the question wrong.

Instead, you should ask, “Why would someone care that Blizzard changed an activity introduced as free bonus content to one that encourages you to spend real money?”

Again, assuming that this is the route that they take.

@Nillah-ravencrest

i don’t care if people have the option of buying extra so they can get every single item every month if they want. but i just dont think that will happen, i think more expensive items will start showing up, or prices will rise, or they’ll increase the # of items available so you need more currency to buy more, etc.

Agreed. Once they start down this path I doubt that they will stop at just letting people buy extra tenders.

[Varlth-mankrik]

If Blizzard ever does make tendies available for cash, and I honestly bet they do someday, get ready to be able to buy them in weird packages where it’s either not enough to buy what you want, or way more than you need.

These kinds of microtransactions where you convert cash into in-game currency are intentionally designed to blur the line on how much you’re spending and it benefits no one but the company selling them to you.

This would also be another example of WoW building another light P2W systems within the game. I realize that cosmetics are not power related, but the design is modeled around buying back your time to free yourself up to do other activities, and that’s exactly what P2W systems promote.

Edit: also have others have said, but to reiterate. It won’t stop there. These systems encourage companies to monetize them further. Item prices increase, quality increases to encourage players to buy, possibly putting many items outside the purchasing power unless they spend money, etc. There’s really no benefit for the average player. The player with more disposable income than they know what to do with will benefit, but that’s it.

It won’t just stop at “Now you can buy things with real money” because once you’ve unlocked the aspect of being able to inject cash into the system they’re going to refine it.

[Tovi-moon-guard (Tovi)]

ROFL

I’m not outraged, I’m amused as hell. I knew they were going to get us good and frustrated at not having enough tenders to purchase every thing in a month then they were going to offer this as a response to the “outrage.”

The “outrage” they created.

I rate this troll a 10/10, Blizzard.

[Noose-bladefist]

@Nikolo-proudmoore

It’s the predatory systems they use to get people to spend money.

It’s the only thing they have left. Fun game design takes too much talent and work.

[Daarrk-stormrage-415498]

@Nilann-aegwynn

One day equipment upgrades in the shop will be announced and I bet there will still be players saying “But you don’t have to buy it, so it’s fiiine.”.

Players have been saying this for over 10 years. It still has not happened. But feel free to rage about what ifs.

[Grumbles-hellscream (Grumbles)]

Give the base US sub price hasn’t increased ever… which is worse? The in-game shop or having them increase the price to match inflation?

If they increased the price by 2% per year (not much) the base game price would be over 22 dollars a month. So I dunno which is worse.

[Aiyako-moon-guard]

@Sasarai-blades-edge

I resist microtransactions on most fronts. It never stops. It becomes norm. Devs get lazy. I see it. I see it all the time

The Bishop here is correct.

And generally I am not outraged, just disappointed and not surprised.

As others say there is also a problem where this could become the norm, making people feel like they need to use real money to save on trading tenders.

[Sendryn-sentinels]

@anon59086671

I wonder if people are forgetting that these things can also be purchased with in-game gold.

So I should be okay if they lower the amount I get or raise how much things cost to shove us towards spending all of our gold or real money on something that’s been free and was a great design in its original form?

[Nightlîghts-sargeras]

@Grumbles-hellscream

Give the base US sub price hasn’t increased ever… which is worse? The in-game shop or having them increase the price to match inflation?

This. I am happy that my sub costs have remained constant through ALOT of years, and although I know its annoying to have these micro-systems appear each year to try and milk us for more money… we are in control of what we spend. The temptation is there, but I am the decider of where I spend my money, so I can resist buying in-game knowing that there are alot of others who wont, and because of that, my sub price stays at $15 (or whatever they charge my cc in $CAD).

[Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms]

There is literally no justifiable reason for outrage over any of this. It’s completely cosmetic and entirely optional content. Blizzard is a business that is in this to make money. So of course they’re going to come up with new and inventive ways to make money and we all should understand that fact.

If they start providing raid tier mythic Plus gear then yeah I think that’s going to be a problem if we can buy that for cash straight from the company. I might actually consider that enough of an offense to question whether I want to play the game anymore or not and I don’t even raid or do mythic Plus

[Sendryn-sentinels]

@Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms

There is literally no justifiable reason for outrage over any of this. It’s completely cosmetic and entirely optional content.

But right now it’s free and has nothing to do with the shop. If they change how much we get or how much things cost to push us towards the shop, how is that good? Why should people accept that? A nerf to their entirely in game, no micro transaction event should just be okay?

@Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms

If they start providing raid tier mythic Plus gear

Cosmetics are more important to some. They last forever.

[Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms]

@Daarrk-stormrage-415498

Players have been saying this for over 10 years. It still has not happened. But feel free to rage about what ifs.

I don’t think Blizzard’s going to cross that line. We can’t even get them to give us good gear on NPCs to purchase in game with all those tokens we have to work our rumps off for. Lol. It’s always just barely good enough gear to play solo content.
They want us playing the game endlessly too badly to give us high-end gear for dollars

[Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms]

I am literally in this game to hunt transmog. So you’re talking to somebody who’s entire game revolves around transmog and collecting them. If I don’t have a problem with this trading Post irrelevance then it really probably isn’t as big a deal as some people are making it.
I don’t raid I don’t do m+ I barely do any kind of group content anymore. I don’t pet battle. I don’t do Island expeditions and all that stuff. I literally just play the game to run the quests and farm old content for transmogs. That’s about 99.9% of my game. And I’m not bothered by this trading Post cosmetic thing at all

[Sendryn-sentinels]

@Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms

If I don’t have a problem with this trading Post irrelevance then it really probably isn’t as big a deal as some people are making it.

You aren’t everyone. Your feelings aren’t everyone’s.

@Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms

I don’t raid I don’t do m+ I barely do any kind of group content anymore. I don’t pet battle. I don’t do Island expeditions and all that stuff. I literally just play the game to run the quests and farm old content for transmogs.

I’m the same. Though IEs have transmog, so I run those.

@Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms

And I’m not bothered by this trading Post cosmetic thing at all

That’s nice. You answered none of my questions and just dismissed my feelings because apparently even though we have similar play styles, I should just conform to how you feel.

[Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms]

I’m not here to answer your questions guy. I’m stating points. The first and most important point is that this is entirely optional content that you can walk away from and never look at again. And that is the final and most important point. It’s not worth getting upset about or losing any sleep at night over

[Nillah-ravencrest]

@Anhanrundek-altar-of-storms

It’s not worth getting upset about

this is absolutely not your call to make for other people, guy

people come here every day with complaints about things that don’t mean a single thing to me, just because i don’t care doesnt make their complaints invalid

[Flesha-tichondrius]

@Nikolo-proudmoore

to one that encourages you to spend real money?

Believe me there has been NOTHING encouraging to spend a cent on the trading post

[Pinar-stormrage (Pinar)]

whether they are going to be selling tendies for real money or not i don’t really mind. If all these things are for is cosmetics, i don’t really see the issue. If they started adding things like relevant gear to the shop then i’d get huffy but its been what? 13 yrs and they’ve shown no signs of doing anything other than the occasional transmog or mount.