With EVE Online getting the MTX “China Syndrome” it’s clear that no game as a service is now safe from the unstable meltdown of pay to win gaming.
No game is safe from the shareholders anymore. Quick returns to make quarterly profits while scrapping the corporation for parts. No wonder EA wants to go private.
There are some gamers who choose to whale and any shame they feel about it is eclipsed by their compulsion for gambling or winning at all costs.
But what about players, like the classic community? Does whaling exist? Botting, boosting, and GDKP raids incentivising gold buying has at least somewhat incorporated pay to win into classic.
Where can principled (competitive but principled) gamers (the “sharks”) who won’t pay a dime to gain an unfair advantage at any game, find a home?
Hell, even pirate servers are corrupted by greedy devs.
And while there is more money in whaling, there is a metric f*kton of money to be had by catering to the sea of sharks who just want to play a real game. Just look at the success of Elden ring.
Blizzard can play both sides of the market by keeping their whaling games and shark games as separated as possible.
Fix the classic botting, boosting and GDKP raids, and you will get the sharks in droves. The exiles from all these other markets who only play fair games competitively and will pay for a sub if you provide the content.
It can be a win win if Blizzard just steps up and markets classic for the experience that it is. The last non-p2w MMO.