There Is No Fundamental Difference Between Selling a Cosmetic On the Shop Or An In-Game Vendor

[Ronalio-stormreaver]

[Dieliania-dentarg]

Yeah I’m not exactly sure how the OP has maintained posting privileges to be honest.

[Tovi-moon-guard (Tovi)]

I like Humanbeak so I’m going to continue to reply to them.

[Humanbeak-drenden]

@Tovi-moon-guard

I like Humanbeak so I’m going to continue to reply to them

Was wondering who my other personality was.

[Zarii-aerie-peak]

Sure there is blizz makes more money when tokens are involved.

[Vincent-nathrezim]

Well IMO the difference is this.

If I buy a thing from a vendor, it costs gold.
If I buy a thing from the store, it costs dollars.

Now some people are very much for spending dollars for imaginary things. I am not one of those people.

But to address OP’s argument, if there is a dollar to gold conversion rate, then if I buy make-believe money with my gold and use that to buy an item from the cash shop the mount is still costing real dollars, it’s just that by throwing aside my principles against RMT and doing it this way it is costing someone else real dollars as well as a 5 dollar service fee per 15 dollars converted… so they can take that gold and pay-to-win something else.

The WoW token is pay to win, with an extra step.

Usually people come back with some weird argument or definition where it’s not winning to get what you want, or that paying and winning is not pay to win. Well Blathering Blatherskite Gizmoduck, if you have to depend on alternate definitions and semantics then that’s not much of an argument at all!

Beyond that I have a second and more fundamental argument against cash shop items: If it’s in the shop, then it’s not earnable in the game. And if it’s not earnable in the game then that’s content that you never got. If there’s a new dragon mount in the cash shop, that means the big questline they could have put in to unlock it isn’t there. If there’s a new transmog you have to pay real money for, or someone elses real money so they can pay to win at something else, then that’s a transmog that isn’t dropping from bosses.

All in all, it’s a sad thing when something that started with a bunch of gamers forming an indie software design company turns into corporate cashgrabs. I grew up in an era where you bought games, lent them to your friends, resold them, but once you owned it, you owned the whole game. There weren’t DLC’s or special costumes to buy… you just owned the whole game.

Now times may have changed, and a game is more or less a platform to vendor you ‘value added’ services… and I hate that. It’s the equivalent of paying your Dungeon Master to let you start out a level higher, or use some supplement book, or play as a dark elf. That’s not playing the game, it’s purchasing something. It’s like driving to walmart and buying a cake for your girlfriend’s birthday: yeah, she’s got a cake now, but it would have probably meant more if you made it yourself. Cash shops are the equivalent of taking away that option to make it yourself by denying you content that would otherwise exist while you pay for the privilege of not accessing it.

But, it is what it is. Everything in the game is purchasable now for RMT. Not much of a game then.

[Kaercha-area-52]

In a way, you’re correct, however gold is money. As long as there is an exchange, they are just equivalent currencies. The difference being that gold is not controlled like a currency. It can be created and destroyed, so inflation is a very rampant problem. This makes long term speculation impossible. Short term, however, it’s an obvious 1:1 exchange.

[Airc-shattered-hand (Airc)]

1. If it’s on the shop, someone has to spend extra money on top of the subscription cost to get it. It may not be you, but it does have to be someone.

2. The price of a token fluctuates, whereas if an item is in game, the price is a set amount of gold and doesn’t go up and down based on a separate supply and demand system.

For example, that shop item that could theoretically have cost 18,000 gold at one point is now 208,000 gold. A theoretical item in game that would sell for 18,000 gold 10 years ago, still sells for 18,000 gold now. Sure, gold might be easier to come by and the relative price for a token compared to the relative ease to gain gold might be the same, but in game items don’t inflate in cost, generally.

[Shyaelle-wyrmrest-accord (Shyaelle)]

@Tovi-moon-guard

I really don’t want WoW to turn into SWTOR or FF14* where all the good stuff comes from the store.

I play FFXIV, and I definitely don’t want WoW’s shop to turn into what FFXIV has in terms of size.

[Riphyon-azgalor]

If only I had a place to put all that glamour gear.

[Evolseed-dawnbringer (Evolseed)]

As long as WoW is NOT a Micro Transaction Pay2Win store… then I say sell outfits, mounts, pets and transmogs galore! Especially racial transmogs… (Hint!)