Stolen Pixels #187: Operators Are Standing By
- Thread starter Shamus Young
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At 3.2, at least:Chipperz said:The mount only takes out the "mount" part. One of each rank comes to... 261 gold before Reputation discounts. You still have to buy the training, which ammounts to 5260 gold before rep. There really isn't much that's been removed from the game...
Also, it can't carry passengers, and doesn't have vendors. They'll set you back another 8k minimum (I'm shooting for the 12k. It's roughly the middle). Still loads to do
EDIT - 5260 gold is actually wrong. There's another 1000 gold if you want to use that sparkly flying mount in Northrend, and that doesn't suffer from the indignities of "discounts".
Total mounts: 161g
Total training (including cold weather): 6304g
Total training (including cold weather)(exalted): 5243g20s
http://www.wowwiki.com/Mount
Soo... $25 for a mount even if you have 50 characters, that's 8050g saved. Not even two exalted training's worth.
You can make the gold for the mounts easy, so it is really just as much a vanity thing as the pets that they've been selling for a few months now... but apparently mounts are worth making a stink about?
I can see some people's point if the $25 paid for training as well.
Anyway, doesn't hurt me if other people buy it.
The mount-bought-for-money question has been poked at a lot. Really? It's absurd.
- The slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy.
- All the "free to play" MMO games out there do this in spades, and actually give real game-mechanics advantages to people with purchased options. This gives something which could be achieved in game, with a different skin on it.
- Once you buy the celestial steed, you can still go get any other mount, so for people who like lots of different mounts (or to seek out pretty/interesting ones), it's just one more option.
- You still have to buy the riding skill training (which is the expensive part of buying faster riding).
I could probably do quite a few more point-by-point arguments either in favor of the business practice or against the derision thrown at this announcement, but instead I'll present just one gameplay point in favor of it: buying the celestial steed gives you the option to control the kind of play you want. It's a step towards removing grinding time (experiencing those parts of the game you don't enjoy) to skip right to the "play" (the parts you do enjoy). So, cheap laughs at Blizzard's expense (it's okay, they can afford them) aside, I never saw this as anything but a good move.
Yeah, they charge a little extra for the convenience - just like they do if you realize you want to change your character's name, realm of residence, faction, race, skin color, or if you want to pay for the game one month at a time instead of six. They are a for-profit corporation, and this is their bread and butter.
- The slippery slope argument is a logical fallacy.
- All the "free to play" MMO games out there do this in spades, and actually give real game-mechanics advantages to people with purchased options. This gives something which could be achieved in game, with a different skin on it.
- Once you buy the celestial steed, you can still go get any other mount, so for people who like lots of different mounts (or to seek out pretty/interesting ones), it's just one more option.
- You still have to buy the riding skill training (which is the expensive part of buying faster riding).
I could probably do quite a few more point-by-point arguments either in favor of the business practice or against the derision thrown at this announcement, but instead I'll present just one gameplay point in favor of it: buying the celestial steed gives you the option to control the kind of play you want. It's a step towards removing grinding time (experiencing those parts of the game you don't enjoy) to skip right to the "play" (the parts you do enjoy). So, cheap laughs at Blizzard's expense (it's okay, they can afford them) aside, I never saw this as anything but a good move.
Yeah, they charge a little extra for the convenience - just like they do if you realize you want to change your character's name, realm of residence, faction, race, skin color, or if you want to pay for the game one month at a time instead of six. They are a for-profit corporation, and this is their bread and butter.
Mount cost consists of two components, training and the actual mount. It used to be that training was cheap and mounts were expensive, but a while ago they changed it so that training is expensive and mounts are cheap, so the money sink hasn't gone anywhere.
I never really thought about their money situation. You'd think with a bank role like that, they'd be able to push out a game a year. Hell, they could even make Starcraft 2 one game. Even if you assume their only (half the number of subscribers paying) getting $50 million a month they are still raking in over $600 million a year. That's pretty damn good all things considered. No wonder they keep popping out "world changing" expansions.
ahem, aren`t little girls suppossed to grow out of sparkle ponies before a certain age...
Okay, I still have my beloved sparkle ponies sitting on my desk and sparkle ponies are awesome, but for 800 bucks you could probably by an old second hand pony and then cover it in glitter glue
Or pay for some horse riding lessons.
The whole thing is a combination of cutthroat greedy capitalism and innocent childhold nostalgia. So brilliantly evil.
Okay, I still have my beloved sparkle ponies sitting on my desk and sparkle ponies are awesome, but for 800 bucks you could probably by an old second hand pony and then cover it in glitter glue
Or pay for some horse riding lessons.
The whole thing is a combination of cutthroat greedy capitalism and innocent childhold nostalgia. So brilliantly evil.
I didn't even finish all of the races. I was on the second to last one and I'd inevitably get hit by a lag spike and get knocked off my mount. I'll have to give it another go when I go for the Outland Loremaster achievement.Alar said:Funny, I like to do the same thing to. Even though I got my Netherwing at level 80 (I started it at level 70 and then forgot about it), it still feels like an accomplishment. Especially the race. Damn, that race was annoying!Spectere said:I've been seeing a lot of these in my realm lately. I just shrug and bust out my Netherwing drake. I think mine looks better anyway.
Well, getting all of the heroic WotLK dungeon achievements is always an option. Ugh.Chipperz said:Which is still on my to-do list
See, that's another problem. My main is a big, hulking Tauren Death Knight (Shanoe, US Stormrage). It's bad enough that one of his professions is herbalism, the last thing I need is for him to have a glittery mount.Chipperz said:I'm still considering getting this beauty. It'd suit my Paladin really well
Oh god, Shamus, what have you unleashed on these forums?!
Anyways, you're settling for too little. A level 80 character with good equipment can easily go for a thousand dollars, so you could easily get away with $1500 is you're going to include all the achievements.
Awesome comic.
Anyways, you're settling for too little. A level 80 character with good equipment can easily go for a thousand dollars, so you could easily get away with $1500 is you're going to include all the achievements.
Awesome comic.
Eh. It's $25. I spend that on food at McD's for a family of 5.Otterpoet said:Considering that Anshe Chung made $1 million selling imaginary real estate in Second Life, I suspect Blizzard will soon utilize Shamus' idea and buy a /real/ country with the profits
I mean seriously... it's imaginary crap. WTF?!
Yeah, true... I spend that much on Starbucks every other day. At least you'd have something to show for your money afterwards. Still seems a little weird though buying imaginary stuff... * gets shifty-eyed and hides his Black Pufu mount for NeoSteam * ;-)Lorechaser said:Eh. It's $25. I spend that on food at McD's for a family of 5.Otterpoet said:Considering that Anshe Chung made $1 million selling imaginary real estate in Second Life, I suspect Blizzard will soon utilize Shamus' idea and buy a /real/ country with the profits
I mean seriously... it's imaginary crap. WTF?!
But you /know/ that someone out there would pay $799 for Shamus' WoW deal. I mean, people are buying gold, armor, and weapons on Ebay.
$799 and the rest of your life back - Guaranteed!
Absolutely brilliant! Everyone in my office looked at me funny for loling!
Absolutely brilliant! Everyone in my office looked at me funny for loling!