Thursday, June 9, 2011

FInally back and the subject of Micro-Transactions.

This post is mostly an update for real life with a little of WoW. Well, I'm finally back in action. After a few weeks of packing up an entire household and moving from Arizona to Louisiana we finally have a new home. Still a lot to do for unpacking but it's getting there. We picked up our Internet yesterday and it's much better than the old one we had in Arizona.

I decided to make my first micro transaction with Blizzard and bought the flying lion mount. I gotta say it looks terrific and definitely fits for any toon I wish. It was a little pricey at 25$ but I just had to have it. best of all unless I want them, I don't need to buy another mount, just the training upgrades for speed. The look is really a nice touch and Grimnhak, my Orc hunter looks outstanding on it. I'm not normally a huge collector but I really like this particular mount. It has a fierceness about it added in with leonine nobility. Anyways folks, I am back and should post a lot more.

Since it was a micro transaction, I thought I'd speak on the matter. I think the hybrid that WoW is currently using is just right. I would be disappointed if they went to complete F2P with micros. But having the majority of the content available with non edge giving things you can buy is not bad at all. It's mostly cosmetic for the investment but enjoyable. It doesn't denigrate from game play nor does it give anyone a particular huge advantage. If Blizzard keeps with this model, they will continue to keep their revenues up.

I do believe this is a marketing ploy seeing as how they lost significant numbers recently the last fiscal reporting quarter. Does this mean the game is going downhill? Some will say yes, but over all the content hasn't really degraded in my opinion. These sort of perks you can buy keep older games still on the map and for those who are enthusiasts it will keep long time customers. In all the strategy is worth the effort in my opinion.

Is this the sole reason I play the game still? NO! I have a good many friends I still socialize long distance and there is still plenty to do. For some of the faults that Blizz allowed, micro transactions aren't a bad deal. Now, if they would just put the LFG tool to server only instead of world wide I think I would be pretty happy. Yes the wait times would be longer, but then, gear obtained would have real value again like it did pre Wrath. Just my personal thoughts.