I don’t really get this line of thinking…

Your $14.99 gets you access to the game and all the content in it. Why is there any need for Blizzard to provide this crazy extra stuff also?

No matter how you slice it, something has to pay for the development and maintenance of these niche things. They could either make everyone pay for it by increasing the monthly price or by decreasing the resources dedicated to free content. They can also (as they have chosen to do) make only the people who see the value in such features foot the bill.

I think we’re much better off with the latter.

Just makes me a little uneasy ... my subscription payment is fine and dandy, but I'm also seeing macrotransactions* available for extra non-game-impacting benefit. I'm a little unsatisfied with where the business model is heading. And yes, I know none of the extras are "required" to keep playing the game. By no means am I calling down doom and gloom because of this, but it does worry me that they continue to provide extra features as macrotransactions instead of as perks to the general populace. I don't mind if they charge for stuff, but it almost seems that they are just looking for new things to charge us for (and yes, I know mobile gchat is free with the $2.99/mo mobile AH upgrade). No slippery slope, no chicken little, just a mild concern with where we may be in 2 years.

Well, not me. I'll be in The Old Republic, but you get my drift.

*macrotransactions instead of microtransactions because $3/mo and $25 for the game store mount are not what I would consider micro