Yeah, lousy blizzard! Only giving many of us a fancy mount and Diablo 3 for committing to stick around. They never do anything for us!

Oh wai

@Armill3: Believe me, if it wasn't for their financial benefit in the longrun, it wouldn't happen.

@Callace: And this... isn't for their financial benefit?

@Imnick: That was the point I was making. They are relying on gimmicks to keep subscribers rather than develop the content necessary to keep them. They are concentrating on staying afloat when they should concentrate on succeeding at what they do...making games.

@Callace...If it wasn't in their financial benefit in the long run, none of it would happen. They would end Cata and scrap MoP tomorrow if it started costing them money.

They expect that the new incentive to return program to pay off in the long run, too. They are definitely not doing it just to be good guys.

Blizz, like every business, is in business to make money. Some companies do it by making cars, or chairs, or toothbrushes, or whatever. Blizz does it by making video games, but what they actually make is money. That is as it should be.

@Armill3. i dont want to play diablo dude. i want to play wow.

maybe you disagree, but my feeling is that boosting a lvl1 to lvl 80 is worth a heckuvalot more to me than a free mount.

@Khirsah: I wasn't questioning their ability to make money, or their ability to make games, but rather, their ability to make money without making games. They're stringing their WoW subs along on hot air at this point. No new content within sight on the horizon.

I'm afraid I'm also seeing this as bribery for those who left. Me, I've been leveling alts in the game. Since Cata dropped, I leveled my main to cap, my primary alt to cap, geared both for DS, and then:

leveled 2 PVP toons from 1 to 85 (one of whom I geared as a backup raider)
brought an 80 out of mothballs, leveled to 85, now geared for DS
leveling a mage for the first time, currently in her 70's in Northrend
toying with doing an Ironman toon

I stuck around in WoW. I didn't run off to Aion, Rift, SWTOR. So I won't get to boost a toon to 80 and get free gear. I won't get any mounts, won't get free transfers... won't get anything. Gee, I feel very valued right now.

Damn Blizzard, enticing my friends to come back and play with me! Those jerks! /shakefist

@Callace: "They are relying on gimmicks to keep subscribers rather than develop the content necessary to keep them." False. They are using promotions ("gimmicks" if you prefer that term, sure) AND developing new content. Successful companies do both at the same time. Pretending there's some false dilemma at work here does not make for a valid argument.

You're not the only one. I've been playing nonstop since BC and I only suspended my scrip for about a month when I was homeless (sort of), so I'd like some recognition there darnit.

That said, I'm already thinking "OK who do I know who hasn't played for a while..." and calling dibs XD

Yeah I am not sure why you think this is what they are doing instead of developing content when there's less than two weeks until their big Mists of Pandaria media reveal

Or is a new expansion not enough content for you?

@Artificial: You are correct.

Blizzard has always used tactics like this, but there is a reason they are going overboard with them this expansion cycle. I wonder why that is?

I'd gladly give them back their winged horse and beta entry for a free server/faction transfer. Hell, or a free re-customization.

@Imnick: They promised earlier expansions for a reason. The same reason they are still losing subscribers. Are you content to run the same raid and three dungeons every day for the next six months? Of course it isn't enough content.

Which would you prefer, more raids and dungeons or a sooner release of the new expansion?
You can't have both.

@Imnick: I'm not worried about getting both.

I'm worried about getting neither.

that's a bit of a silly thing to worry about to be honest