I hate to say it, but Blizzard has become "The Man"

[Megatomic]

So, can anyone here tell me how WoW is majorly different from Lineage II and MxO? I mean, I hear a lot about how one has to experience an MMORPG to understand, and I have experienced 2 of them. I played those two games (closed beta tester) enough to know that I didn't want to pay a monthly fee to continue with them after they went gold. But obviously I missed something...

I really am open minded and I do love to play games. What does WoW have that I missed in those two games that has captured your interest so strongly? Or any other MMORPG (like SWG or EQ2) for that matter.

 

[RichieZ]

don't play then, you have a choice. I bought a copy and used the 10 day guest pass, but day 5 i was a level 17 mage and then I stopped playing. It wasn't very fun IMO so I sold it to my friend who is crazy about the game.

I'm in college and live in a 6 bdrm townhouse, and 4/6 ppl play it. So certianly its worth it to them, sometimes they stay up till 9am playing it, its crazy. But to me it wasn't worth it even if it was free every month after I paid for the game

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: Megatomic
So, can anyone here tell me how WoW is majorly different from Lineage II and MxO? I mean, I hear a lot about how one has to experience an MMORPG to understand, and I have experienced 2 of them. I played those two games (closed beta tester) enough to know that I didn't want to pay a monthly fee to continue with them after they went gold. But obviously I missed something...

I really am open minded and I do love to play games. What does WoW have that I missed in those two games that has captured your interest so strongly? Or any other MMORPG (like SWG or EQ2) for that matter.

I have no idea, I can say though that the thing that puts it aside from the ones I have tried, namely Anarchy Online and Realm, is PvP, PvP is great fun even for someone like me who doesn't play all that much and doesnt have 5 lvl 60 chars to choose between.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
I get to play games for a few hours per week (literally 3-4, and that's taking away time from more important things ). I don't see how anyone has time to play those games.

Maybe these are rare cases, but one dude in my guild admitted to being on welfare and that he'd rather sit on his ass and play WoW than get a Job. A friend of mine dropped out of school/doesn't have a job or car, and obviously has tons of time to play WoW.

 

[LethalWolfe]

The thread took a turn, but back on OT.

You have to look at the big picture. Blizzard isn't so compartmentalized that revenue from WoW will only be spent on WoW and that after costs are covered the rest of the money just goes straight into peoples' pockets. Revenue from WoW will help fund future projects, company growth/expansion, and be a safety net incase Blizzard's next title doesn't sell so hot. Many companies fold because they think the good times will just keep rollin'. That's not realistic. Every company goes thru lean years and those that survive didn't squander their earning from previous success.

Aiming to only cover operating costs and generate very little profit is not a very good business model (and that's what you want Blizzard to do). Sense you think the monthly fee should be less because there are so many subscribers do you also think they should raise fees as when the costumer base starts to leave? That doesn't make sense.


Lethal

 

[DannyBoy]

To the OP, why don't you try writing an MMORPG as large as WoW, or Lineage 2, or Neocron, then tell me you're happy charging $3 a month for it.

 

[BenSkywalker]

I thought this thread was going to be griping about all the horrible things Blizzard was actually doing, not the money issue.

they need to be using that 18m to fix the freakin servers. having bloodhoof crash nightly has caused me to cancel my account.

This is a major issue in for a very large portion of players. Blizzards response to those with severe mental retardation is- "We didn't expect this level of demand"- you shipped that many copies of a MMORPG and your servers couldn't handle it- that is extremely dishonest business tactics. I honestly could care less if they charged $100 a month to their customers if they had a product that was worth it- WoW would be quickly deleted off of my HD as freeware. The money isn't an issue for me, I don't have time to screw around with imbociles who can't do their job.

You add all this together and you get $20.45 million dollars on the initial year. Yearly cost of $7.95 million it will take them about a year at the current possible profit to make their initial investment back. Which is always good and how they probably planned it to work out.

Where are they giving away WoW? In my neck of the woods it is running $50- they should clear enough money off the initial software sales to cover two years of continuing operations without charging anyone a dime(that just includes their cut, not retail/distribution/publisher).

In the three weeks I've been playing on Icecrown, there's only been one instance where I couldn't log on.

And it is all sold out where you live? Perhaps there are regulations concerning being grossly inept in terms of charging a fee for a service that you have no intention of providing on a reliable basis? In the US you can almost walk in to any convenience store and buy WoW right now, even though they can't handle the server load as it is.

I recently got Fable, and hope it's more of the same.

Taking my time doing pretty much every side quest I could find in the game it took me about seven hours to go through Fable(no joke). It is more of a demo then an actual game. It isn't anything remotely close to KoTOR- it is more of a Zelda wannabe that fell a staggering amount short. They spent a significant amount of time adding in features like 'renown' that have no impact on gameplay, and even if you ignore them you will still be legendary simply by going through all of the quests. There are numerous examples, but in typical fashion for Pete he worried far too much about all of the 'interesting' things in Fable and forgot to make a decent game to go with it. If the game had been about thirty hours I would likely be saying it was one of the best this generation, but right where you feel like you are warming up it is over. The title also seems like the type that would be perfect to allow you to play after you have beaten it, but that isn't an option either. Really it is quite linear and incredibly short.

 

[mhillary]

Originally posted by: chowmein
try playing on the deathwing realm for a few days and tell me that blizzard is "the man"

What??

 

[Gurck]

In the three weeks I've been playing on Icecrown, there's only been one instance where I couldn't log on.

Yeah, but how did you enjoy the constant lagspikes? Clicking on a mailbox when you have mail and waiting 5 minutes for it to show up, another 5 minutes to loot a corpse, etc...

Originally posted by: Megatomic
So, can anyone here tell me how WoW is majorly different from Lineage II and MxO? I mean, I hear a lot about how one has to experience an MMORPG to understand, and I have experienced 2 of them. I played those two games (closed beta tester) enough to know that I didn't want to pay a monthly fee to continue with them after they went gold. But obviously I missed something...

Haven't played L2 or MxO (what's MxO?), but the appeal for me with the original EQ was the fusion of RPG (character development being a big part of this) with 'MMO'. I've always been into RPGs, back to FF1 & Dragon Warrior on the 8-bit NES, but the persistent world with other players & the opportunities it offered in gameplay was what made it so immersive for me. I'lll admit that the pull isn't nearly as strong with WoW, and that's simply because it's aimed at the casual player while EQ was not, at least back then.

I'm not saying & never did say that you must enjoy mmorpgs, only that they offer a unique experience that you can't understand without having tried one. I have said that they're not for everyone, and stand by that.

I really am open minded and I do love to play games. What does WoW have that I missed in those two games that has captured your interest so strongly? Or any other MMORPG (like SWG or EQ2) for that matter.

If you were openminded you'd realize that running a mmorpg isn't cheap by a long shot and that to many people it's more than worth it at $13 a month...

 

[PingSpike]

OP's rant has no fuel because "if you don't like the price...don't pay it!"

If Blizzard was charging to much, then no one would play there game. And the people who really wanted to play MMORPGs would play EQII instead or something. They're charging to much for you (and me frankly) but they've got every right to pick the price point that maximizes profits. OP blasts them for "maximizing profits", sorry, thats what any smart business that wants to survive is going to do. That price point is to high for me, but so be it. They know they'll make more money from others than they'll make from the few individuals like myself who won't pay that much.

I can't blame them one bit, I'd be doing the same thing.

And its hard to beat up on blizzard, they put out consistently good games and foster their community well. They aren't EA.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: Gurck

I really am open minded and I do love to play games. What does WoW have that I missed in those two games that has captured your interest so strongly? Or any other MMORPG (like SWG or EQ2) for that matter.

If you were openminded you'd realize that running a mmorpg isn't cheap by a long shot and that to many people it's more than worth it at $13 a month...

That is no arguement against me being open minded. You simply don't like the fact that I think I'd be wasting my money on subscription fees. You just can't get past that...

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Megatomic

Originally posted by: Gurck

I really am open minded and I do love to play games. What does WoW have that I missed in those two games that has captured your interest so strongly? Or any other MMORPG (like SWG or EQ2) for that matter.

If you were openminded you'd realize that running a mmorpg isn't cheap by a long shot and that to many people it's more than worth it at $13 a month...

That is no arguement against me being open minded. You simply don't like the fact that I think I'd be wasting my money on subscription fees. You just can't get past that...

Yet here you are in every mmorpg thread alterting us to the fact that we're 'wasting' our money...

 

[Megatomic]

I'm in "every" MMORPG thread doing this? Are you sure you about that? I can remember two, one here and one in ATOT. If you are going to level accusations at me, at least try to be accurate.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

why do you "hate to say it", or is it just a figure of speech?

 

[Brazen]

Originally posted by: EpsiIon
1.5 Million WoW subscribers * minimum fee of $12/month = at least $18 million of revenue per month.

Way to go Blizzard, you DA MAN!

..... you meant "da" man, right?

I don't think I would have ever bought my own computer if it hadn't been for WarCraft2.

 

[EpsiIon]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
why do you "hate to say it", or is it just a figure of speech?

It's more of a figure of speech. It means that I regret the current state of affairs.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: EpsiIon

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
why do you "hate to say it", or is it just a figure of speech?

It's more of a figure of speech. It means that I regret the current state of affairs.

why do you regret blizzards success?

 

[EpsiIon]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot

Originally posted by: EpsiIon

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
why do you "hate to say it", or is it just a figure of speech?

It's more of a figure of speech. It means that I regret the current state of affairs.

why do you regret blizzards success?

Umm... did you read the OP and the discussion following? It's not their success I regret, but the (apparent) milking of consumers. I've always thought of Blizzard as a "gamer's company" more than cash cow.

I could be drastically underestimating the costs of running an MMORPG, but it's hard for me to see the need for $18 million+ per month. It just seems to me like they could charge less and get more long-term subscribers. Of course, given their apparent load issues, they may not actually want more subscribers.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

yes, that was a retarded question

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: EpsiIon

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot

Originally posted by: EpsiIon

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
why do you "hate to say it", or is it just a figure of speech?

It's more of a figure of speech. It means that I regret the current state of affairs.

why do you regret blizzards success?

Umm... did you read the OP and the discussion following? It's not their success I regret, but the (apparent) milking of consumers. I've always thought of Blizzard as a "gamer's company" more than cash cow.

I could be drastically underestimating the costs of running an MMORPG, but it's hard for me to see the need for $18 million+ per month. It just seems to me like they could charge less and get more long-term subscribers. Of course, given their apparent load issues, they may not actually want more subscribers.

They may well lower the price, once demand cools. But as you have pointed out, they can't even service the customers they have right now, much less any new ones. It wouldn't make sense from a business or service standpoint to lower the price now...it would flood the already insufficent servers with even more subscribers. They're victims of their own success. In fact, the prudent thing to do at this point would be to raise prices to cool demand and catch up. But I don't think Blizzard feels that is a good idea because it would hurt their image.

Blizzard is a gamers company. They are perfectly willing to scrap partially developed games if they don't live up to their standard. (Warcraft Adventures) Which is a mark of a company that cares a lot about the quality of their products and reputation, IMO. Most gaming companies seem to take games that aren't working and just push them out the door anyway to recoup some lost costs.

So blizzard ran a simple game matching service for free on battle.net. Big deal. Throwing up an IRC chat room and matching up some games on a peer to peer system isn't exactly a costly endeavor. Its pretty cheap bandwidth wise I suspect, the system has most of its kinks worked out...and its not really critical that it function perfectly as its more of an addon than a integral part of the game. Running a MMORPG is a totally different animal. They are costly to create and costly to maintain. Its no surprise really that they're costly to play.

I think the MMORPG model is what it is...its to expensive for my tastes, but other people clearly find it a fair deal. And if that other thread about raising the monthly price is any indication....gamers would actually be willing to pay more than it currently costs.

 

[Muscles]

The fact that so many people are willing to shell out 12/month for WoW just tells me that there are a lot of people that are either:
1. A loser who has at least 4+ hours a day to spend to get anywhere in an MMO
2. Just stupid for throwing away money. There are so many better alternatives.
3. A person who lacks any kind of skill to play other online games which mostly include competitive play(IE Quake, UT, StarCraft, etc.). MMO's are designed so a 8 year old can play. The only limiting factor to make progess in an mmo is how much time you can deligate.
4. All of the above.

To the original poster: Blizzard is making an incredible profit and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. But should they lower prices? Put yourself in their shoes, no way. Why not take advantage of all the fools out there? God knows there are more stupid people than smart people in the world.

 

[jtusa]

Originally posted by: Muscles
The fact that so many people are willing to shell out 12/month for WoW just tells me that there are a lot of people that are either:
1. A loser who has at least 4+ hours a day to spend to get anywhere in an MMO
2. Just stupid for throwing away money. There are so many better alternatives.
3. A person who lacks any kind of skill to play other online games which mostly include competitive play(IE Quake, UT, StarCraft, etc.). MMO's are designed so a 8 year old can play. The only limiting factor to make progess in an mmo is how much time you can deligate.
4. All of the above.

To the original poster: Blizzard is making an incredible profit and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. But should they lower prices? Put yourself in their shoes, no way. Why not take advantage of all the fools out there? God knows there are more stupid people than smart people in the world.

Feeling better about yourself yet? Do continue making fun of people that enjoy different things than you if you need to boost your self-esteem some more.

 

[Muscles]

Originally posted by: jtusa4

Originally posted by: Muscles
The fact that so many people are willing to shell out 12/month for WoW just tells me that there are a lot of people that are either:
1. A loser who has at least 4+ hours a day to spend to get anywhere in an MMO
2. Just stupid for throwing away money. There are so many better alternatives.
3. A person who lacks any kind of skill to play other online games which mostly include competitive play(IE Quake, UT, StarCraft, etc.). MMO's are designed so a 8 year old can play. The only limiting factor to make progess in an mmo is how much time you can deligate.
4. All of the above.

To the original poster: Blizzard is making an incredible profit and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. But should they lower prices? Put yourself in their shoes, no way. Why not take advantage of all the fools out there? God knows there are more stupid people than smart people in the world.

Feeling better about yourself yet? Do continue making fun of people that enjoy different things than you if you need to boost your self-esteem some more.

Errr why did you just waste time posting? How can my self esteem possibly be elevated from making an anonymous post on a thread of a website? I replied to the thread in the first place to post my views. If you're one of the people I described I'm so sorry I hurt your feelings :/

 

[Wingznut]

Originally posted by: Muscles

Originally posted by: jtusa4

Originally posted by: Muscles
The fact that so many people are willing to shell out 12/month for WoW just tells me that there are a lot of people that are either:
1. A loser who has at least 4+ hours a day to spend to get anywhere in an MMO
2. Just stupid for throwing away money. There are so many better alternatives.
3. A person who lacks any kind of skill to play other online games which mostly include competitive play(IE Quake, UT, StarCraft, etc.). MMO's are designed so a 8 year old can play. The only limiting factor to make progess in an mmo is how much time you can deligate.
4. All of the above.

To the original poster: Blizzard is making an incredible profit and anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. But should they lower prices? Put yourself in their shoes, no way. Why not take advantage of all the fools out there? God knows there are more stupid people than smart people in the world.

Feeling better about yourself yet? Do continue making fun of people that enjoy different things than you if you need to boost your self-esteem some more.

Errr why did you just waste time posting? How can my self esteem possibly be elevated from making an anonymous post on a thread of a website? I replied to the thread in the first place to post my views. If you're one of the people I described I'm so sorry I hurt your feelings :/

Seems to me that I don't fit any of your criterea...

1. I play a total of probably 12 hours per week. This is due to the fact that I have a wife, two kids, and a career. So, that probably rules out the "loser" tag, as well.
2. If I am entertained, why is it stupid. (Please be mature and keep in mind that entertainment is completely subjective. What you and I find as good way to spend our spare time can be totally different. Yet, neither is necessarily "better" than the other.)
3. I actually used to play FPS' with a clan in worldwide tournaments. (Best showing was second place. ) At any rate, sometimes I like to play FPS', sometimes I like to play RPG's, sometimes sports games, etc. I play whatever I find enjoyable.

What jtusa4 was referring to is the basic human reasoning as to why someone puts another person (or persons) down... It's because it makes them feel superior.

And that was the tone of your entire post... That you are better than those of us who play WoW.

 

[Gurck]

Don't feed the trolls...