Hell no to any Microtransactions. All it leads to is getting less bang for your buck. Since all they are going to do is make you pay extra for this and extra for that and then a year later it all adds up to a lot of cash.
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On Strike and supporting Fallout 4 Mod Makers
Some fallout 4 mod makers have had their mods stolen and uploaded and downloaded on Bethesda's site for the Xbox One.
Look at the numbers, I've paid just 100 dollars for over 600 hours of entertainment over 2 years
That's 17 cents an hour. If I had kept my WoW subscription the entire two years I've played Diablo it would've costed me 311 dollars and that's without counting the cost of the expansion.
A netflix subscription would've likely been over 200 dollars over 2 years, the same would apply to other streaming services and premium cable channels.
I'm more than willing to pay extra cash for quality entertainment regardless of its genre, if Blizzard delivered on quicker content and quality of life improvements I'd be super happy to shell out extra cash. If another company decided to provide the same better and cheaper I'd likely make the switch.
Saying no outright to microtransactions just because you paid for the game is being super close minded, it has worked wonders for WoW and whenever they decide to introduce it to Diablo is it likely to be just good long term.
It works/worked wonders for WoW because it let people get items such as mounts or other stupid things they could sell to turn a profit for in game currency or it allowed people to have the nostalgia factor for getting cool/unique mounts/pets. WoW is a terrible example of Micro transactions because most of them were used for the sole purpose of turning a profit in game.
Are you not familiar with server transfers, race changes, and the many more things you can pay for on WoW?
I'd like to see your sources when you say that most of the sales are done to turn a profit in game. The last time I played most mounts and pets were bound to account, a big fuss was made when they started selling the tradeable Guardian Cub.
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Diablo Player and theorycrafter, also editor at BlizzPro.com
I wouldn't pay zilch. I'm amazed people still put up with this crap, considering we payed 40$/40e (cause EU is special like that) to fix the vanilla D3 letdown.
Are you not familiar with server transfers, race changes, and the many more things you can pay for on WoW?
Those things actually make sense as microtransactions, although the "micro" part of that is misleading since they're all $10+ services you pay for.
That being said, the WoW community has bitched for years over the pricing of such things. No one really likes the $25 server change fee and most people have come to realize that particular service has actually financially dis-incentivized Blizzard from doing anything (up until the last major content patch) to fix the massive server population imbalances. Why should they spend time developing a fix when they have an option that generates revenue for them?
But people realize that there IS a value to transferring your WoW toon from one server to another instead of starting over. The player gets something of intangible, but significant, value in return for his cash. That is nowhere near the same as them charging you $2 for a stash tab. In fact, charging for things like stash tab only makes sense if the BASELINE stuff is given to you for free.
Also, when you buy WoW, and when you subscribe to WoW, there is no reasonable expectation of free server transfers anyway. Whereas when you buy D3 there IS a reasonable expectation that you have sufficient storage at no further cost.
Are you not familiar with server transfers, race changes, and the many more things you can pay for on WoW?
Those things actually make sense as microtransactions, although the "micro" part of that is misleading since they're all $10+ services you pay for.
That being said, the WoW community has bitched for years over the pricing of such things. No one really likes the $25 server change fee and most people have come to realize that particular service has actually financially dis-incentivized Blizzard from doing anything (up until the last major content patch) to fix the massive server population imbalances. Why should they spend time developing a fix when they have an option that generates revenue for them?
But people realize that there IS a value to transferring your WoW toon from one server to another instead of starting over. The player gets something of intangible, but significant, value in return for his cash. That is nowhere near the same as them charging you $2 for a stash tab. In fact, charging for things like stash tab only makes sense if the BASELINE stuff is given to you for free.
Also, when you buy WoW, and when you subscribe to WoW, there is no reasonable expectation of free server transfers anyway. Whereas when you buy D3 there IS a reasonable expectation that you have sufficient storage at no further cost.
That is faulty logic. Imagine the game had costed 30 dollars instead, then you could spend 30 more upgrading your account outfitting it with things that the casual players don't really need but are a big help for those of us who play a few hours every day.
That model would make a whole lot of sense from the players perspective. I know a lot of people that 60 dollars is just too much money for a casual player who will likely give d3 only a few playthroughs and won't bother grinding for optimal gear.
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Diablo Player and theorycrafter, also editor at BlizzPro.com
I agree that a lower box price would work BETTER with microtransactions....
But D3 doesn't have that lower box price. So you can imagine what would happen if D3 "costed" $30 instead of $60, but that will never become a reality.
Most of us have already spent at least $100 on D3. So we have to be treated as if we have that investment in the game. You can't just talk about D3 as if we haven't already spent $100+ on this shit. That's fantasy world, not reality.
I believe the question should be divided into two separate sections
Micro transactions for cosmetics (no effect on gameplay)
Micro transactions for in-game benefits (will affect gameplay)
Number 1: sure go for it, if someone want to waste money on pets, voice packs, dyes etc. go ahead.
Number 2: I'm against this. It's leaning towards pay2win. Although there's no competition aspect in this game (yet), I still don't like the idea of something that could only be acquired through paying. The RMAH didn't offer anything I couldn't, theoretically, find myself so I was OK with that.
People that support micro-transactions are the worst. Seriously, you are the reason why this industry has declined in quality over the years. Thanks for that.
I played STALKER recently with some mods and it was outstanding, checked online for the new STALKER. Cancelled for a F2P COD clone version.
KOTOR, awesome game, new game turns into awful lifeless F2P game after failing with subscription.
Plants Vs Zombies 2, entertaining until you hit the paywall and then gets grindy and annoying.
Fact is D3 is a non sub game. Blizzard will eventually stop updating the game as there is no steady revenue flow. if you want D3 be constantly update for a long time, micro transactions would have to happen.
You don't need to update a game forever if it get's to the point where it's good. Look at D2, Blizzard updated it for a really long time in game terms and it did just fine without micro-transactions.
As less people play a game the less need there is for updating as it becomes less viable for many reasons, obviously the same applies for micro-transactions. Eventually the revenue flow will decrease so you wouldn't get updates from that that perspective either. Micro-transactions are not a stable income long-term which is why companies always have new games in the pipeline.
People that support micro-transactions are the worst. Seriously, you are the reason why this industry has declined in quality over the years. Thanks for that.
I played STALKER recently with some mods and it was outstanding, checked online for the new STALKER. Cancelled for a F2P COD clone version.
KOTOR, awesome game, new game turns into awful lifeless F2P game after failing with subscription.
Plants Vs Zombies 2, entertaining until you hit the paywall and then gets grindy and annoying.
The list is very long and depressing.
Couldn't say better myself. Implement buying stuff for real money into the game and ruin it completely. I've played SWTOR myself and was leading one of the top guilds. The game was brilliant, but as EA>BioWare cared only for money, they didn't release/update anything for half a year and introduced freaking pay to win to somehow keep players who paid for sub in game and suck some more $. RIP SWTOR.
The balance should ONLY and ALWAYS be based on your in-game skill and time investment. The game world is not connected to reality somehow. You start anew and achieve everything from scratch. If you can just use your RL earnings, what's the point?
I like how you've become so enveloped with you WoW Analogy. Yes I'm familiar with server transfers, race changes, etc etc etc, but I wouldn't consider those micro transactions, so I did not reference them.
What do you think the loot cards and other bullshit they created were for? People bought the cards to get loot cards to either keep or sell the items in game to turn a profit, the same with anything that wasn't Account bound (BOP). So yes as someone who played WoW that's exactly what peoples intentions were if it was possible.
Either way, I could give a rats ass about microtransactions in the sense of comestic stuff but the moment I'm expected to pay to get lets say a character slot or more stash space, thats gone too far...but again, why the hell are we even debating and discussing this when Blizzard themsleves has not even remotely hinted at introducing anything money related back into D3, I mean for fucks sake they got rid of the king of microtransactions...the auction house.
Thanks to everyone for your opinions: Sorry if I pushed anyone's buttons, it was all part of my research.
I compiled the general ideas I've gotten from the community into one neat article. Special thanks go to Bagstone for his good will and super quotable opinions.
I'd like to see your sources when you say that most of the sales are done to turn a profit in game. The last time I played most mounts and pets were bound to account, a big fuss was made when they started selling the tradeable Guardian Cub.
That being said, the WoW community has bitched for years over the pricing of such things. No one really likes the $25 server change fee and most people have come to realize that particular service has actually financially dis-incentivized Blizzard from doing anything (up until the last major content patch) to fix the massive server population imbalances. Why should they spend time developing a fix when they have an option that generates revenue for them?
But people realize that there IS a value to transferring your WoW toon from one server to another instead of starting over. The player gets something of intangible, but significant, value in return for his cash. That is nowhere near the same as them charging you $2 for a stash tab. In fact, charging for things like stash tab only makes sense if the BASELINE stuff is given to you for free.
Also, when you buy WoW, and when you subscribe to WoW, there is no reasonable expectation of free server transfers anyway. Whereas when you buy D3 there IS a reasonable expectation that you have sufficient storage at no further cost.
That model would make a whole lot of sense from the players perspective. I know a lot of people that 60 dollars is just too much money for a casual player who will likely give d3 only a few playthroughs and won't bother grinding for optimal gear.
But D3 doesn't have that lower box price. So you can imagine what would happen if D3 "costed" $30 instead of $60, but that will never become a reality.
Most of us have already spent at least $100 on D3. So we have to be treated as if we have that investment in the game. You can't just talk about D3 as if we haven't already spent $100+ on this shit. That's fantasy world, not reality.
I played STALKER recently with some mods and it was outstanding, checked online for the new STALKER. Cancelled for a F2P COD clone version.
KOTOR, awesome game, new game turns into awful lifeless F2P game after failing with subscription.
Plants Vs Zombies 2, entertaining until you hit the paywall and then gets grindy and annoying.
The list is very long and depressing.
if you want D3 be constantly update for a long time, micro transactions would have to happen.
As less people play a game the less need there is for updating as it becomes less viable for many reasons, obviously the same applies for micro-transactions. Eventually the revenue flow will decrease so you wouldn't get updates from that that perspective either. Micro-transactions are not a stable income long-term which is why companies always have new games in the pipeline.
The balance should ONLY and ALWAYS be based on your in-game skill and time investment. The game world is not connected to reality somehow. You start anew and achieve everything from scratch. If you can just use your RL earnings, what's the point?
What do you think the loot cards and other bullshit they created were for? People bought the cards to get loot cards to either keep or sell the items in game to turn a profit, the same with anything that wasn't Account bound (BOP). So yes as someone who played WoW that's exactly what peoples intentions were if it was possible.
Either way, I could give a rats ass about microtransactions in the sense of comestic stuff but the moment I'm expected to pay to get lets say a character slot or more stash space, thats gone too far...but again, why the hell are we even debating and discussing this when Blizzard themsleves has not even remotely hinted at introducing anything money related back into D3, I mean for fucks sake they got rid of the king of microtransactions...the auction house.
I compiled the general ideas I've gotten from the community into one neat article. Special thanks go to Bagstone for his good will and super quotable opinions.
http://diablo.blizzpro.com/2014/06/05/reaper-souls-microtransactions/