So much rage over such an inconsequential little thing. You can now buy vanity pets for real cash. Big whoop.
Ok, seriously, what the hell people. What so many of these complainers seem to forget is that microtransactions in WoW isn’t even a new concept. Don’t you guys remember paid race change? Paid faction change? Paid character recustomization? Paid SERVER TRANSFER?
Paying real cash for something in-game is not new. If you’re comparing WoW, with the whole pets thing, to all those microtransaction style “korean” MMOs, you are years too late.
What about the card game and the “loot cards”?
Here, lemme go to ebay and search for “spectral tiger mount”.
BOOM. A thousand fucking dollars.
Ten bucks is nothing for a very high quality vanity pet. I mean, Lil’ K.T. will laugh at players you kill in PvP. These two are among the very best pets in the game. But eh. Cost is beside the point.
You get all worked up about them directly selling pets for cash. A vanity item. A vanity item that, by it’s very definition, doesn’t change game play at all. A vanity item that isn’t even new or unique, but instead follows a very long string of other vanity items and services that have been part of WoW for years.
What is wrong with you?!
How many people bought the Blizzard feed for the pet alone? I know of at least 3 in my 10-man guild. How many people get the collector’s editions for the pet only?
But I get it. I do. You think Blizzard crossed a very serious line here, and nightmares of “slippery slope” dance in your head (please note the part where the concept of slippery slope is a logical fallacy). Selling pets directly is a little bit different from selling them indirectly, you say. You’re just wrong, is all.
Blizzard will never sell actual, game altering items for real cash. You will never be able to buy your tier sets for twenty bucks, you will never be able to buy fifty badges of I-already-did-this-content-goddamnit for a one time credit card payment. It’s just never going to happen.
The pet shop is only the beginning. I expect there will be many more pets added, and more than likely mounts and tabards and the like. I can almost guarantee that there will soon be a huge Hummer mount available that costs fifty bucks to get and awards you the title “Isn’t Compensating”.
But to think this is just the first step towards buying gold or gear? You’re wrong.
Wait… What? Lil’ KT laughs at people I kill in PvP?
I am buying one!
You just don’t see that the so-called “vanity” pets are actually game-breaking.
That’s right, I ordered mine and have now won the WHOLE FREAKING GAME.
Because, ya know, the pets matter. In combat. They gives buffs and stuff. Seriously. For reals. They completely change the way I play.
I am ready to solo ICC when it hits with my pandaren and Lil’ KT by my side. On 25. Heroic. Without defeating Arthas on normal. That’s how powerful these pets are.
>.>
I don’t get how/why people are making the connection between these pets (which are the same as the TCG pets/items without the lottery system and with Blizz getting more of the cash) and suddenly Tier Gear on Sale!
It’s.
A.
Freaking.
VANITY.
Pet.
People who call upon the slippery slope should get shoved down one.
Couldn’t agree more. In our 10 man we have…6(?) Gruntys, and none of us actually went to Blizzcon. Our priest plants flags of ownership on everyone he and I kill while I’m running the flag in WSG. Did I buy the Panda? No. But not for a lack of trying. Damn store wasn’t working by the time I got home to get him.
Will I get KT and the Panda ASAP? Heck yeah.
Oh yeah – and KT kills critters too.
I completely agree with you in general, the pet store is neither new, nor surprising, nor a problem. (As long as it’s adequately protected from children spending money from their parent’s credit card that pays for the game or something. I still shudder when I see ringtones sold somewhere. I doubt this is an issue though.)
I can’t help but wonder where all this QQ happens – I’ve read several bloggers of your opinion now but none that ranted against it. Are we just talking official forums QQ here? Maybe I just read the wrong (or right?
) blogs.
Either way, I won’t sign your “Blizzard will never” claim, have been burned before on that account. But this is not the step toward it, this just saves you the trouble of buying TCG cards on eBay. (And takes out the middle man. I doubt Blizzard would sell a mount for $1k.)
There is a rather huge amount of QQ about it, both in blogger form and forum form. No, I ain’t namin’ names.
Fully agreed on the middle man count. Rather than playing the card game lottery or nabbing stuff from ebay, this just allows people to buy precisely what they want directly.
My stock in Vivendi is increasing with all these “virtual” charges. No complaints on my end!
And you are completely right, Euripedes! The day I read about the availability at work, I came home to log in to find several guildies already had both pets. Blizzard, like any other business, will cater to its customers and since people were ASKING for this, they did it. It works.
(What kills me is that in my own guild, people will pay several times for race, faction, name changes, and the like but to spring for a new computer that keeps d/c-ing them in game? Too expensive. I realize it’s a much bigger expense, but still, they could save for it if they wanted to.)
I so want a lil’ KT now..
Also, I believe a substantial amount of the profits are being contributed to a charity ~_^
Now I REALLY want one!
50% of the funds from the panda are being contributed to charity and its only till the end of the year, so obviously a sales gimmick.
Yah, I am one of the haters, I have never done, nor will I ever pay for transfer, name change, faction change, sex change or anything else. And I was bitchin when the faction and sex change were introduced too.
No microtransaction should be in the game at all, when I pay $15 a month. If I wanted a micro-transaction game, I would play RoM.
“Isn’t compensating”.. *snigger snigger*
Yes yes, agree with you. I just got stuck on the Hummer and “Isn’t compensating”
It’s … a … PANDA …
They could cost $50 and my soul, with none of it going to charity, and apply a debuff that randomly fears me, and I would STILL buy it.
My greatest regret was joining too late to nab the vanilla collector’s edition for the panda cub pet.
Still, this sets a bit of a precedent. I’m not sure I like the idea of vanity items for cash. It sort of … destroys a bit of the specialness. Whether you got lucky with a drop or grinded for hours, they were something to show off. Making them available to anyone for a few dollars … I just hope these offers are a bit sparse.
Would not, then, the hard-to-get vanity pets that can’t be bought simply become more special then?
I see your point if, say, every pet in game is purchasable.
But if, say, the Disgusting Oozeling stays as a rare drop in game with no other way to get it, how does some other completely different pet available for cash impact that at all?
It’s more the idea, I guess. Since pets and mounts don’t give any in-game bonuses (beyond the speed boost for mounts, which is standardized), pursuit and use of a particular one was more about individual expression—you might try to land a phoenix hatchling because they’re adorable, or buy a big ugly mammoth to visibly demonstrate just how much spare gold you have, or break out a whelpling as a show of your good fortune.
Mounts and pets are an extension of the character. My Druid’s work with the Kurenai and my Draenei’s rep grind with Stormwind were for the talbuk and horse respectively because I preferred the looks of these to a He-Man battlecat or an autistic elephant. My efforts say something—about accomplishment, perseverance, and taste—and are visibly reflected every time I mount up.
But what does a store-bought pet say? If anyone can buy it, how does it add individuality? If there’s no real work to achieve it, what does it comment on?
Sure, they don’t remove these factors from extant pets … but they damage the … pet paradigm? It’s almost as if you earned a title for hitting level 10 … it’s just not right!
I don’t have a huge problem with Blizz selling pets (after all, the panda is irresistible) but I’d prefer that these pets not eclipse the ones already in game—and certainly that vanity pets and unique mounts continue to be earned-not-bought drops and grinds into the next expansion.
I still don’t see an issue.
Take your mammoth example. A big ass three person mammoth says “I have sooo much more gold than you lololol.”
But then, isn’t that kinda what a store-bought pet does?
I could be utterly failing to look at it properly, but the way I see it, wouldn’t a store bought pet have, well, the connotations associated with it that it’s store bought?
Let’s theorise. What if our host is wrong and next year Blizzard (Activision Blizzard, let me remind you) decides it’s a good idea to sell some iLvl 320 epics for real money?
And I’m thinking: so what?
I’m a mixed player, a casual-hardcore raider. I call myself a hardcore raider because I’m on a raiding guild, we raid 5 nights a week and we’re doing quite alright, beginning to think we’re ready for Heroic mode. Trust me, on our server that’s hardcore.
But at the same time I’m an independent adult, who has to work, buy and prepare food, socialize and other “chores” who (thankfully) allow me to invest less time on WoW than other type of players. So yes, for certain achievements, rewards, mounts or whatever I’m a casual and I could never get them or I could get them only thru a lengthier and tiresomer process than other players.
Example: the other day I saw a guy on my server riding Ashes of A’lar, the first one to got it. I asked him and turns out that he attends no less than THREE raids a day with his guild: the normal advance raid (Onyxia, ToC and so on), a raid for alts and a raid for achievements or old content. It was decided they would try to get the mount and achieve a server first for their guild, and some three months later they got it. Same goes for people with the Zullian tiger, people with the horses from Stratholme or Karazan. They have the time and they use it for getting rewards. Or farming, or playing the AH or whatever. Most of the days I only have the time to raid, and on more than one ocasion I’ve had to ask for gold for repairs cause I spend way more than I earn, having no time to farm or do anything remotely profitable.
And don’t tell me about ability or skill: it’s just a matter of time. We needed some six months to get our “Hand of A’dal” title and it’s the one I display on my main character, to this day. Some people could have got it on 3 months, or 3 weeks, or some other would have needed a year, but anyone could finally defeat Vashj, Kael’thas and Illidan given enough time. Which some of us don’t have.
I think this is unfair for the casuals, and you hear no one complaining about this. But if real money comes into the equation, a horde of players start crying havoc and declaring unfairness. I think I know what camp are those players on.
Paying for equipment would be a pretty damn efficient equalizer, at least for me, so I say bring it on.
Cash for vanity? I have no issue with that.
Cash for gear? Now that… that I have an issue with.
The whole Activision Blizzard thing is thrown around a lot, which somewhat confuses me. Blizzard has stuck very firmly behind their “Soon, TM” policy, and Activision has been unable to change that.
Or did everyone suddenly miss the fact that Starcraft 2 has been playable for over two years now without being released?
There’s an oft-quoted press release, where the dude in charge of Activision said they weren’t going to bother with any games that weren’t “exploitable”, as in something they could release every year (see: what EA does).
Bob Kotick explicitly stated several game franchises as getting the axe, 50 cent and Brutal Legend being two.
Never mind the fact those games were released, despite the CEO saying it wasn’t going to happen.
Never mind the fact those games were awful and should never have been released.
The company is still Blizzard. It’s Activision Blizzard, not just Activision.
Throw down as many capitalist conspiracy theories as you want, it’s still Blizzard.
Race changes is more game breaking then vanity pet, now that I think of it. for 25 dollars you can get a racial ability that gives you a tiny bit of an edge. its a little bit, but its actually an edge (for instance, a guildie switched from tauren to orc hunter and only part of it was due to orcs being better looking).
Faction swithc is more game breaking since now you don’t have to level a character and gear them up from scratch anymore. you want to apply to a guild that happens to be of an oposite faction? not a problem.
I really don’t get why vanity pets are causing such an uproar. they are an equivalent of mr chilly that just cost a bit more, not even unique.
my one gripe? it took about 5 minutes of chasing a squirrel before my little KT deigned to freeze it in its tracks. I think he inherited my carebear tendencies >_>
Perhaps that is simply Lil’ K.T.’s way of telling you that you can’t order him around, PUNY MORTAL.
Blizzard selling faction changes? Who cares
Blizzard selling vanity pets? Who cares
Blizzard selling gear? Who cares
It’s when Blizzard starts selling immunity to fires that people stand in that the game will be over.
Also, Lil’ KT should be banned from raiding for killing critters. Prot Warriros need that rage. A SLAP IN THE FACE!
I equate it to buying t-shirts or models or whatever. Just because you’re buying it for something in game instead of “for reals”, it’s the same thing: You’re buying something for vanity, virtual or not.
Girlfriend bought the Pandaren for me yesterday. I love it. Especially when he gets all kung-fu while taking out the Black Knight in HToC.
Even clicking on the little guy is hilarious.
HWA! HOO! YAH! WAAH! *gooooooooooong*
Lil’ KT is the greatest thing in the entire world. Not even kidding. Worth the $10 on so many different levels I don’t even know where to start.
<33333333
Even most of the free-to-play games take considerable pains to not sell game-changing items for cash.
Fret not.
I think a lot of people’s problem with the pet store and Blizzard’s money is the subscription model. Ever since the game started, every time a nerf or buff goes through, someone tortures some logic enough to see a Blizzard money-making conspiracy behind it all.
I think a lot of people don’t realize just how much work goes into a game like this – they’re used to the one-time pay. Then they do the math on how much money Blizzard makes – however, since the amount of Blizzard employees we see on a daily basis – one if we send in a ticket, or perhaps read one of GC’s posts – is low, it’s easy for players to think Blizzard incurs hardly any costs for running this game.
Add that all in, and a pet store just feeds the conspiracy theories.
A lot of people like to do the “12 million x $15 a month = $$$” equation.
Only europe and north america actually have the roughly $15 a month subscription. All of Asia, for instance, pays hourly, not monthly.
The support staff for a company this big, spreading across multiple continents, has got to be huge. WoW obviously pulls down at least a few hundred million a year, so it’s definitely profitable.
I just highly doubt people like Ghostcrawler go home to a mountain of gold.
^_^ I am in Asia.
When I played WoW, the subscription was US$15 a month.
…all of Asia is a very, very big place.
“All of Asia, for instance, pays hourly, not monthly.”
Erm, how exactly do you picture Asia ? A giant internet café ?
Real cash for in-game stuff. Isn’t that just a gaming business model?
I’m in favor of anything Blizzard wants to do since they are a private company trying to gain customers. Once they cross a line that provides me with a strong enough reason to stop playing their game I can just move on.
Who cares if they offer ilvl323 gear for $20? Who cares if you can pay $150 a month and “lease” the best-in-slot items on a 3 month basis?
The gear other people have doesn’t hurt me and it won’t inhibit my game play. Who cares if someone wants to waste their entire paycheck on mounts, pets and gear? I sure don’t.
I’m going to speculate that the reason for 99.99% of the bitching, worldwide, is because people just inherently like to bitch. I’d like to speculate further that 100% of the WoW bitching that occurs is due to the same inherent trait.
QQ – I’m spoiled and want things my way – QQ
I bought the kung fu panda/tuskar and it’s cute. I am not surprised Blizzard is capitalizing further on their empire. I don’t agree with it, but I am a sucker for vanity pets and will be for mounts when they come. Just as I don’t agree with achievement points, but I am currently questing in south barrens ice lancing mobs.
The fact that the panda is taller than me and talks more trash cracks me up. I love it. For $10 what the hell it’s good for a laugh.
[...] boy suffering from cancer. Euripedes hit the nail on the head with his lovely rant against the new micro-transaction pets. Icee finished up her art contest — see her winners and ponder the wonders of a druid as a [...]