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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsForum Post of the Day: WoW is ruined (again!)
by Michael Sacco 
Nov 9th 2009 at 9:00AM
Anyway, of course the forums are mad about it, or at least the incredibly vocal minority on the forums is. And they've made post after post about how the Pet Store has completely ruined WoW. Well, official forums MVP Palehoof has a rebuttal, and it's the largest green wall this side of Fenway Park.
If you want a rundown of just how many times WoW has been "ruined" by an addition, deletion, or alteration to the game, you can read Palehoof's post on the official forums.
Filed under: Forum Post of the Day
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
snarkygoldfish Nov 9th 2009 10:50AM
Yes, because automatically accusing *anyone* that raises a bit of concern / hesitation over this recent turn of events is OBVIOUSLY a nonstop QQer.
Eeesh, guys. I hate this sort of mentality on the internet when a site/company does something you aren't quite sure about, and to constructively try and dissect what impact it may have on things is automatically lumped in with the insufferable ones.
Constructive Criticism and Critique is a good thing. Endless fanboyism / jockeying / blindly standing behind a company because you're afraid of losing your forum standing and green text....not so much. (I've seen this on other sites, and it's always a bit disheartening.)
Deadly. Off. Topic. Nov 9th 2009 10:48AM
Buying both pets is enough for at least one subscription and of course, if you're not American you're also paying the exchange rate on top of the 10 bucks per pet.
I ended up getting the pets through a friend, but I still don't believe it was money well spent. I know I shouldn't have bought them because 10 bucks is NOT a deal for one pixelated item, but... I had a stupid moment. If they were 5 bucks or even 2.50 that would have been better and more acceptable to me, but 10 bucks PER pet was just a rip off.
Sad thing is, this is probably a test to see the gullible players, like me, get suckered out of our money. I for-see there will be more pets in the future... I just hope this isn't going to become a habit as well as I really hope they don't decide to start selling armor and equipment. Stuff like that I'd probably quit over because then it no longer becomes time and skill invested, but who has the bigger wallet and I'm not rich enough to compete with other players - nor would I want to.
lilrabbit129 Nov 9th 2009 1:00PM
Wait wait wait.... /pizza ???? I need to try that out tonight.
relmatos Nov 9th 2009 11:51AM
I think it's the opposite. one third agrees.
Also, it's safe to assume that the people who commented make up an even percentage of those who play. So, it's safe to use this as an example of the average number of players who agree and disagree.
As for the comments being greyed out doesnt mean that it's qq. it just means that people took the time to vote on those they disagree with. a waste of time in my opinion. So, yes. a coincidence. or we can get some conspiracy theories and say that blizzard is paying wow.com to grey out comments that are against this to look as if their opinion doesnt matter. Is that what you're trying to get at?
Colin Nov 9th 2009 12:07PM
Trust me, the reply button makes it easier to discuss things. :)
It is still a minority complaining. Being generous, lets say 10% of 12 million subscribers are regular commenters on wow.com. Again being generous, let's say one third of those are negative comments on microtransations, and then say that a third of those are actual negative comments about the pets specifically. That's approximately 1% of Blizzard's sub base. That's a minority.
All I mean by the greying comments is that clearly the qq comments would not be grey if the majority of people agreed with them.
And I don't see many complaining about the actual pets, just complaining about the fact that this could lead to more and more items being offered. A valid point, and I respect that opinion, I just disagree. Blizz is a solid company and would keep the integrity of the game together (otherwise we would just abandon it).
Thanks for attempting to make a look like a tinfoil hat nutjob though. Obviously Blizz does not pay off the staff of WoW.com, that would be dumb beyond all reasoning. "The Man" isn't trying to silence you.
Grahf Nov 9th 2009 12:41PM
I adore WOW.com. However, the more I read, the more the site seems to be a mouthpiece for Blizzard. I don't believe you get the domain name and preferential treatment without something in return. That having been said, at every step, WOW.com has left subjects open to debate in comments. But its writers have rarely broken with the Blizzard line.
An observation, take from it what you will.
dawnseven Nov 9th 2009 2:28PM
Not for nothing, but the domain name was registered by and has been owned by Compuserv/AOL (as it currently is) since it was registered in January of 1996. It isn't related to Activision or Blizzard in any way.
Samantha Smith Nov 9th 2009 12:07PM
i love ppl complaining about pointing out a post that is cleverly using sarcasim to complain about ppl complaining.
I think we just crossed over into the 4th demension.
Moonkinmaniac Nov 9th 2009 12:12PM
Ok let me get my card board box and tinfoil hat out here...then get the big sign and stand up and declare the end is near.
But to me, why do we play? ...for fun. To get vanity items, mounts, our chars to their highest lvl!
You wanna pay someone to make your fun instant and do it for you? WHY THE HELL DO YOU PLAY AT ALL?
relmatos Nov 9th 2009 12:20PM
1/3 of the people, agree. 10% of 12 million subscribers are regular commenters on wow.com, that means 1% of blizzards sub base agree. That's a minority. See. If you throw random numbers into the air, you get the math you want to see.
But I remember a poll done not so long ago about micro transactions. when I looked at it a few days ago, it was divided in 3 parts. 1 part aproved of it, 1/3 disaproved of it and the other 1/3 said that it was the begining of something worse.
Like I said before, the only thing that greying comments indicate is that people took the time to do it. If 10 people took the time of voting down and only 1 took the time of voting up, then they get greyed out. However it doesnt mean that everyone agrees.
I'm talking about the pets to show that it's already affecting the game in a small way. As for blizz being a solid company, I'd agree with you before they added the not so micro transactions.
As for the tinfoil hat nutjob, you're the one who brought it up sweety.
Colin Nov 9th 2009 1:17PM
Seriously, the reply button is your friend. You can't tell me it's failing every time. I can't continue our splendid debate if I can't find your reply. :)
The options (i believe) were "I'm buying it." "It's the apocalypse." and "I'm not buying it." For the third one I mentioned, it doesn't mean they disapprove, they just are not interested in the OPTIONAL service. I was one of that third.
Meanwhile, you just proved my point. If 1/3 of the people took the time to answer the poll agreed, and 1/3 said it was a bad thing, then it doesn't mean everyone answered the poll. Why is voting up or down inaccurate, but the informal poll run on a fan site is scientific fact? You can argue that the evidence from both is equally shifty.
You say they're affecting the game in a small way, I say in an insignificant way. What benefit do the pets give you besides looking cool? Are people worried that Lil' KT is going to freeze the last critter they need to /love?
But it's a fact: The readership of wow.com is a minority. It's very popular, I love this site and wish more wow players read it. Maybe I wouldn't see stupid questions in trade all the time. I see "Is arathass out naow?" far too often. But most players just don't visit the wow blogsphere. We can argue about it all day but the wow.com readership is a terrible representation of the player base as a whole. We analyse and examine what these pets mean to the game, but the average player will just look at the new splash screen on the launcher and either go "Cool" or "Meh" and proceed to play.
And when I said tinfoil hat, I mean that you tried to make me look like an idiot by insinuating that I had a bunch of conspiracy theories about wow paying off independent sources. That's just stupid. Anyone who thinks Blizzard is paying wow fansites to support them is just seven shades of stupid.
Tbah Nov 9th 2009 1:17PM
So your math tells that 1,2 million players / commenters (10% of WoW playerbase) actually took part in the query? I have to find that poll....
Tbah Nov 9th 2009 1:33PM
As I thought... 16858 people took the time (by the time of writing this) to push a button to vote in a poll. Some people draw infinite conclusions on what 0,14% of WoW playerbase thought. That percentage is so small it doesn't work as a sample. You just cannot assume that the rest 99,86% agree with them on the same ratio.
Please, learn your math before shoving it on peoples' faces.
Colin Nov 9th 2009 1:39PM
Hmm.. thanks for finding that poll. I was guessing much higher.
Still, I suppose that just makes my case that it's a very vocal minority even stronger.
Sakinah Nov 9th 2009 12:21PM
On a side note...
This made me giggle, because I'm lucky enough to work next to Fenway and just passed the Green Monster this morning.
Touche, WoW.com.
/salute
Shadow Nov 9th 2009 12:35PM
For a time I worked with PWI (Perfect World International, a chinese MMO company) and I can remember when they first started offering the purchasable content. At the time, PWI hadn't offered anything of the sort for their games, but they were presented with a problem. Gold selling had gotten to be a serious problem in their game, and the "inflation" rates in game had skyrocketed. A venomancer (type of character) wand that may only be worth one or two gold, was routinely selling for one hundred times that value. Players were getting frustrated, not being able to purchase the gear they felt they needed, and the gold sellers were causing trouble all around. So, PWI started this "gold" program where for a low price the player could buy gold directly from the company. I think the original program was something like 5 dollars got you 1000 gold, or something in that range. Within days of this, PWI saw the rampant inflation die, and gold sellers just vanished from the games entirely.
With the creation of Jade Dynasty, the company took it a step further. You could by special coins, which could only be used at a special store. These coins would allow you to purchase gear, or xp boosts, which were soulbound to your character. The gear was rarely something good, more on the level of WoW heirloom gear or something cosmetic that didn't actually add to your character. You could also purchase mounts through this system, but interestingly enough the mounts weren't permanent. (Some were, most weren't.) Having no level restriction meant that a lvl 1 character could use one of these mounts for as much as three months, before the mount object expired and the player would need to purchase one again. Lastly, they started a "gold trading" system, where you could actually sell the marks you had bought, for in game money. It wasn't uncommon to see people pay 20.00 dollars US for 5000 coins, only to turn around and sell those 1000 coins (again only usuable in certain stores) for 10,000 in game gold. Sometimes more, depending on if special pets or items were in the stores.
Personally, going from my own experience, I can't help but think Blizzard is doing a test run, with something similar to what I've just described being on the horizon for players.
dawnseven Nov 9th 2009 12:42PM
"Achievement points have no real value".
"If this were true, then no-one would buy companion pets just to help get the achievement, but some people inevitably will. Of course they have value, everything that takes TIME has VALUE."
I'm still going to disagree Wither. Not to nitpik but I said "real value". Of course there's some vanity or sentimental value to me. Does getting a haircut have value? No... except to the person that was possibly running around with a bad hair choice on the day they rolled their toon. If I personally had to look at neon colored hair day after day, every day, for the last few years I might have found a haircut to be priceless. Does my choice to get a haircut in any way whatsoever reflect your player abilities, or how well your toon does in a raid? Getting a haircut IS an achievement, so I got achievement points. Do you really care? No, my haircut and following hair cut achievement have no real value whatsoever. It doesn't get me some in-game benefit that you don't get until YOU get a haircut. I can't spend my achievement points on an awesome weapon that puts yours to shame. This is all beside the point. People weren't up in arms when I got my haircut achievement claiming my toon didn't NEED a hair cut, so why should anyone care if I hit the pet store and buy a pet? It doesn't affect them in any way whatsoever. That was the point, not the semantics.
MightyBurebista Nov 9th 2009 12:50PM
If anything ruined WoW, it's motorcycles.
KILL THE IRON HORSE!!
Shrike Nov 9th 2009 12:56PM
I have to laugh at all the comments in this thread that just continue to prove the green poster's point.
"Yeah, that was funny, but what REALLY ruined WoW is..."
Hoggersbud Nov 9th 2009 1:15PM
Palehoof is the winner.