Why hasn’t wow adapted to be a free to play game with micro transactions? It seems like the game is trying too hard to add new features and is risking losing their current player base, when they should be focused on getting more people to play, for as long as possible. (THE single most important thing for an MMORPG).
I cant say I’m all for micro transactions, but given that it’s 2022 and literally every successful game, with the exception of a few console titles, have them included, it seems a bit strange to barely have an in game shop for an mmo, from a business perspective.
All I want is the best for the game and I hope that in the future many players new and old can experience Azeroth in its best form.
Below are a few of my ideas that i think would help the game grow. Let me know what you think. *Please keep the discussion civil. This post was meant for idea exchange, not for internet edgelord fights.
Let all races play all classes (exception being the new dragon class and demon hunters).
Allow full customization on an actual MMORPG level at character creation, at barbershops.
Create all sorts of new cosmetics, mounts, toys, etc., through the in game shop for purchase.
Make the game free to play. If you must keep a subscription based game, still keep the game free but have an option to allow those who want to, to pay a monthly fee to have certain benefits in addition to the free game. (can be in the form of allowing leveling alts to be easier, having benefits towards professions, etc.)
They have people to pay, servers to keep up, so relying heavily on micro transactions, plus an influx of anyone and everyone would really destabilize whatever a game with sub has.
Think of it as a chat during someones live stream; when it’s free for all, the chat goes wild. When it is in subscriber mode, it really remains coherent and rather laxed.
I feel like majority who want this game to go f2p don’t want to pay for gametime.
And letting it go f2p would really just amp up MTX and degrade the game as a whole.
That will be implemented over time and that idea has been verbally expressed by the Devs in the past.
I like this idea.
I like this idea, however I hope they don’t turn it into what ESO did with loot crates. A friend of mine got addicted to it . He has a gambling issue, and ended up spending a months worth of money trying to get specific items from randomized loot.
Because of the former point, and my experience with ESO, they might adapt a system where you gain special privileges from subscribing. I think i’d rather just farm gold and pay gold tbh with you.
The reason those other MMORPGs went FTP with microtransactions is because they couldn’t hang as a sub based game. Sorry to be so gruff, but that is the truth.
You and I have a very different idea about what is smart business. If your game is successful enough to have a sub fee then you keep the sub fee because that makes you far more money than players who aren’t giving you anything. SWTOR and STO are games that you can play the main story and not have to pay anything. Why would you? It’s free. I pop in and out of STO whenever they have new content and never pay a dime. I pop in and out of SWTOR and pay about 5 bucks, the bare minimum, to see the new story content. Then I log out of both never to return unless new story content hits. Meanwhile, WOW is getting $15 a month from me for most of the year. I take breaks every now and then, but I’m playing the game at the very least 6-8 months out of the year. If you do the math, which one is making more money?
Alienate your existing player base for even worse predatory features worse than the triple dipping that they have now, with zero guarantee that anyone else will play and use the cash shop.
You’re not entirely wrong but some games do it for other reasons. ESO included microtransactions to “save” time for players who work frequently and because microtransactions are profitable.
Secondly, ESO for example, kept subscriptions but it allowed you to have a bottomless bag for materials which was extremely profitable in game as armor sets were craftable and necessary. “talents” like in wow are tied to the types of weapons and armor you wear, rather than being independent. So the economy by default was tied indirectly to microtransactions and what you had available. When Player housing was allowed, it opened the door to a lot of micro transactions and creating crafting stations in said in game homes to mass produce items.
ESO added microtransactions to save a game that could not support itself on subscription fees alone - they were not added for any other reason.
And they have sure milked the heck out of their microtransaction what with loads of cosmetics locked inside loot boxes and $100 ‘act now before it’s gone’ housing.
At the end of the day, the driving motive is profit. Did WoW add micro-transactions because it can’t sustain itself? Is that why they’ve been passed around multiple times over the years?
