Wow classic cost?

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
601

I get both sides of this issue. It’s a little contentious. The blue post stating that “Blizzard can see your metrics,” isn’t really enough for many players, since we are still paying the same sub. Where does the money for WoW Classic subs go? It doesn’t matter that Blizzard is aware we are playing WoW Classic if our subscriptions are supporting retail development while they leave Classic to stagnate over time.

It becomes a question of - what do we want out of the future of WoW Classic? Do we want Classic forever? Until everyone is level 60 with Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of The Windseeker and there’s 2 people on each server? Do we want a natural progression of Classic -> TBC -> WoTLK through timed content? Do we want Blizzard to put money into developing content true to a Classic framework?

I understand why they’re doing it - I have no problem paying for it. But it’s like paying taxes. I don’t know what they’re doing with that money and what we get out of the deal. We had to pay for the game in vanilla - because that money supported development of the game we were playing. Aside from nominal costs going into GMs/support staff, and server blades, I don’t see where the rest of that money will be going. Paying for WoW Classic now isn’t the same as it was when classic was retail.

Granted this whole thread is wild speculation. We don’t know how much money WoW Classic will bring in, how many people will subscribe only for it, how much traffic will go to and from retail, etc.

602

Not everyone should play Classic.

If you don’t want it like it was originally…you are probably better off looking for a different game. You will be disappointed and should just find a game that better meets what you want.

If the cost (which is the cost of the original game) upsets you so much…you are probably better off looking for a different game. You will be unhappy every time you have to pay your sub and should just find a game that better meets what you want.

People who have been asking Blizzard for classic for years are the players this game is aimed at. It would be great if a lot of people decide that this is a game that they want to play, but there are thousands of players who have been waiting for Blizzard to finally make this game available, in it’s original state, for a very long time.

They won’t mind paying the same thing they paid to play it when it first came out. If not, then they are not the target audience and certainly not the players who have been saying they would gladly pay what they paid when Classic WAS WOW.

If this is not the case for you…then you really should just pick one of the many F2P games that are out there and not have to worry about a sub.

Blizzard is not going to change the rules for you. They have made it clear that the game is going to have a sub. It will be Current WOW with Classic for Free, or Classic WOW with current WOW available if you want to play it.

They are spending a lot of R&D time to make Classic WOW a reality. When it comes online, they will spend money every day that it runs online in equipment, internet cost, maintenance and all of the other things that are required to run an mmo.

They are not going to charge a one time box fee and then absorb all of the other costs for the life of the game.

If this game is going to be legit Classic, there will not be the in game sales available that we have grown so accustom to in current WOW. This is the life’s blood of F2P games. Without lots of in-game transactions, F2P games would not be around for very long.

Subs will help to pay the costs of Classic and hopefully enough people will sub to actually make it profitable. I expect the company is pretty much required to make a profit off of this investment if they expect to keep their stockholders happy. A profitable game is likely to stay around longer.

So, you can keep repeating that you do not want to pay a sub for Classic, but just like the wolf howling at the moon, your complaints about sub fees are only taking up space on these forums and not actually changing a thing.

But, hey, keep howling, dude. Whatever floats your boat and makes you feel better about the world is alright by me.

I will be one of those Current WOW with access to Classic subscribers. Who knows…some of us may even flip that if we find we enjoy Classic enough. Either way, you might as well accept that, one way or the other, Classic WOW is going to require a sub.

What you do with that information is up to you.

JMO

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603

If you don’t play retail, then you’ll be able to subscribe to classic and enjoy your authentic classic experience, up to and including the same $15 a month cost.

Plus, as an added bonus, you’ll also get access to retail wow for free.

Side note: The people who are running the leading vanilla private server have already released a statement that regardless of how authentic Blizzards version of classic is, they are done and throwing in the towel, so your authentic options are extremely limited going forward.

604

Because it’s a terrible business decision. It serves Blizzard nothing to split their playerbase like that and cannibalize one sub for another, or in your perfect world, for no sub at all.

What other answer do you feel like you need? What is it that you want? Free wow forever? Classic wow with MTX to support the servers/GM crew? You already bought the base game, all a sub does is give your account access to the servers. If you didn’t already buy the base game, congrats, you’re getting it for free. People have this notion that subs are to finance development and new features and blah blah blah, no, sub fees are for access to the servers and can be spent on whatever the company that is receiving them feels like spending those fees on. The only thing that subs fees do as far as us players are concerned is give our accounts full access to the servers. Anything beyond that is entirely Blizzards decision.

Here’s a question for you: Do you believe Blizzard, a publicly traded company, is running a charity?

You already own the base game, so why would they charge you for it twice? The sub fee is for access to the servers, nothing more, nothing less. Classic wow isn’t going to be F2P, deal with it or don’t your choice. Go play on Lights Hope. Oh wait, nevermind, its shutting down.

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605

It wouldn’t be F2P if they offered a box cost, it would then be B2P like any reasonable game.

606

WoW has never once been buy to play like you are describing. You buy the base game, (or don’t in this case because you already own it), then pay the sub fee for access to the servers. Classic wow has no monetization features to support free online access. Deal with it or don’t.

Look, I get that you want free wow, but it’s not happening. If its not worth $15/mo to you, then move on and find something else. Maybe a successor to LH will pop up, but good luck with that.

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607

But i don’t want free wow, I want wow with out a subscription there is a big difference there. Also don’t want anything to do with private servers and again its not 15$ per month for me and hasn’t been for over a decade.

608

Again, you are just wasting your time. WoW works by buying access to the content, whether it be the base game or a new expansion, then paying a sub for access to the servers. Its been this way since 2004.

We aren’t paying for the base game this time around because we already own the base game. We will still be required to pay a monthly sub for access to the servers, the same exact way it has been since 2004.

Why did you believe this was going to change?

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609

Anything can change if enough people get behind a movement.

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610

While I whole heartedly believe this statement to be true the alt brigading for this particular topic is not “enough people” behind it for one thing.
The other is sub games have been ran with the same basic language and concepts used in the TOS/EULA since before before wow.
You literally can not play the game without their servers. Unless you setup a local pserver.
Then theres the whole issue of no one to play with.
I mean giving yourself gm powers and God mode is fun for 5 mins. LOL

611

The $15 a month you paid when Vanilla was retail didn’t just support WoW’s development. Part of it went to make Diablo 3/ROS. Another part paid for the Starcraft 2 games. I haven’t played a second of Overwatch (even though I actually own the damn thing), Hearthstone or Heroes of the Storm…but my money went into making them. Point is no one saw where the money was going back then and everyone was just fine with it. Now we need to audit Blizzard’s budgets to see that our sub money goes only where we want it to go? That’s not even a tiny bit realistic.

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612

As an individual consumer once you hand your money over to a for-profit entity it’s really none of your business where exactly that money goes within a company. With several obvious exceptions.

Your only decision point is if they are delivering the product and support that you want to pay for.

When I buy a car I don’t get to dictate what % of that amount goes to developing a new prototype, increasing worker pay, materials research for a new braking system, advertising etc etc.

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613

Every other B2P MMO keeps microtransactions on hand to keep the servers and income going, along with expansions. Final Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, ESO, etc. etc. etc. And I guarantee there isn’t anyone who is looking for that in Classic.

You mean like Classic itself? You demanded a return to Legacy servers, they did it, expecting for people to pay a sub - and then people like you want it for a lower cost?

It’s this attitude that fails and falls flat on its face. No business will ever spend money and not expect to make more money back, especially when there are people who are willing to shell out MORE money.

“I want this, but now I want it for a lower cost or I won’t buy from you.” At some point, Blizzard or any business will say “Well, then, see ya! Good luck in your future endeavors!”

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614

Having a sub is no guarantee of “no microtransactions”.
Retail has both a sub and a store as well as wow tokens.
I can easily see pets/mounts being offered for sale in wow classic.

615

So could I, but only if Classic were to have a separate sub or had a separate business model. As a combined sub, Classic players still have microtransactions… but only if they play Retail, as well. The moment that Classic has microtransactions on its own, then we’ve completely fallen off that path.

Remember that Retail is still Blizzard’s bread and butter. Blizzard WANTS more people to play Retail, and hooking Classic to a single sub with Retail is another avenue for players to get hooked into that.

616

looks at the calls over the years to ditch CRZ

Not always.

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617

Microtransactions is Activision’s bread and butter…over 60% of their revenue is from microtransactions from their various games.

618

“Don’t you have a phone?”

Yes, we know mtx are what Activision are into. It’s why they bought King Digital.

But Classic is not a mobile app, nor is it a “modern” MMO. If it ever does have something new like microtransactions, then it’s no longer “Legacy” like we’d consider Starcraft.

Retail WoW is mdoernized, it has the microtransactions. In fact, if people want to play Classic for free, they have to buy a token in Retail to pay for the sub.

619

Well sure but maybe Blizzard isn’t looking at it from your viewpoint of being a “legacy” game brought back to life.
It’s a new revenue stream.

620

That is an extremely convoluted way to describe the access you expected to get, and of course it is unequivocally wrong.

I’m staring at my original World of Warcraft box right now. It states on the front cover “First Month of Play Included, Internet Connection Required, Additional Online Fees Apply”. Notice it does not state “60 days” of game play with the box purchase as you claim. In fact, it doesn’t state game play in terms of days at all. Instead it references “month”, probably so as not to be interpreted (legally or otherwise) as being able to be consumed incrementally the way you are trying to portray it as.

Going a step further, the game manual has a small but important section on billing which states “When you purchase World of Warcraft, you also get a free trial period during which you can play the game free of charge. At the end of this trial, you will have to assume the monthly subscription fee in order to continue playing World of Warcraft.”

Again, it does not reference the trial period in terms of days, and certainly not in terms of playable minutes either. What we all came to know is that this trial period was a 30-day window of time (a “month”, as referenced throughout the game packaging) in which access was granted without the additional need of a subscription.

Having said that, the understanding that both internet access fees as well as subscription fees would be required in order to play World of Warcraft was conveniently placed on every single piece of the boxed product, even the individual disc sleeves themselves. The only way to not know this in advance of your actual purchase and/or account setup was to not read. So while you may not agree with the idea of subscription fees or their reasons for existing, you simply cannot claim that access to the game was presented to you in any other fashion.

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