actually it is not to high, because people will pay it, which means it isn't "too" anything.

cheapo

I think Rhett in post 3 beat you to that.

Drat!

Everything people in this thread have been bitching about, the faction change fee, the server change fee, hell the internet feed for BlizzCon, have been things that players have been clamoring for.

Not everyone has been clamoring for faction changes .... or at least in the way it's been implemented anyway. Personally I would have preferred to see the ability to maintain your race and still change sides.

But regardless of the change, there has been a steady shift by Blizzard to make what was a fun game with enjoyable challenges into one giant mall where money (and in game tokens) get you what you want in the game. The game has lost its vision and its way. And with every new expansion, they re-invent the classes, the attribute system, the combat and any number of things that they could just leave well enough alone and work within the "tried and true" framework that they have. Frankly I'm sick of rebuilding my character every time someone in "WOW Game Mechanics HQ" decides that they don't have enough work to do and I need to relearn how to play the same character all over again.

Finally, it really does appear to me like the game is in a holding pattern until Blizz's new MMO drops, which in all likelihood will be gobbled up with glee by the punters. In the mean time, I'll likely get Cataclysm, play it to max level and check out the new content, quests and whatnot ... but that will be about it. I'll give it a couple of months and then look for something else.

Blizz are great a producing a nice, shiny and polished product. Generally they are some of the more fun games on the market. But WoW has been polished so much, there's no paint left and the metal is showing severe wear.

Really? Most of the comments were negative until I posted "It's $30 to keep the price reasonable for those that really want to use the service at the same time prevent players from constantly abusing it." I thought my comment was intelligent and succinct.

I think Rhett in post 3 beat you to that.

Reitsuki is the only person here that has posted an intelligent comment to this.

Really? Most of the comments were negative until I posted "It's $30 to keep the price reasonable for those that really want to use the service at the same time prevent players from constantly abusing it." I thought my comment was intelligent and succinct.

Reitsuki is the only person here that has posted an intelligent comment to this.

No, the guy that said he quit the game was the most intelligent person I saw

Charging for it ensures people at least think about it and that not too many players are doing it.

Reitsuki is the only person here that has posted an intelligent comment to this.

Pay 30 $ or spend 7-10 days of my life grinding from 1-80 doing content that I've done 3-4 times already? No thank you, I've had enough of that shit.

Anyhow, do the math.

30 $ is cheap for your time.

This comment was edited on Sep 3, 2009, 09:44.

ActiBlizz is soon going to start charging for just about everything.

They.
Are.
A.
Business.

They are not your friend, your servant, or a bunch of idealistic open source coders working for nothing.

Everything people in this thread have been bitching about, the faction change fee, the server change fee, hell the internet feed for BlizzCon, have been things that players have been clamoring for. Things that Blizzard was in no way obligated to provide - most MMOs don't provide these things at all. That they charge a fee, more power too them, it's their right to do so. Yes, I'm sure the 30 dollar fee is a carefully chosen one to be just low enough to not discourage too many people. Fine. That's what market research is for. Don't like it, don't pay it - you've gotten along for years without that feature, right? It's not like it actually alters the gameplay in any way. It's just a time saver.

And for those that say, "well, for two months worth of fees, I could grind up just as good a character"... Well bully for you and your two-month old character you would be replacing, but some of us who have characters that date back years, in many cases to the game's beginning, it's not quite so easily to create an equivalent character, to replace years of ultra-rare drops and achievements* and such, not to mention things that just plain can't be replaced anymore.

Not to mention that after so long, and so many characters, some of us just don't feel like grinding ANOTHER character to level 80. Particularly not another one of the same class.

I know I'm going to get called a corporate shill or something equivalent, but I'm a little tired of people acting offended at a business acting like a business. Like the Blizcon pay per view thing. "A process they could easily accomidate[sic] for free"? Well I'm sure they could have provided it for free... With the ungodly amounts of money Blizzard makes, sure, they could have just sucked up the costs and provided it for "free", but it wouldn't have been "free", not by a long shot. For something completely irrelevant to the game, purely of interest to the hardcore fans, and probably requiring a fair bit of expense to set up and arrange, why *should* they?

Hell, most people I know who bought the DirectTV or internet stream didn't even watch the damn thing, they just did it to get the Murky Marine pet.

*Yes, I'm well aware achievements aren't that old, but the point still stands that its easily possible to have a *ton* of work invested in achievements.

This comment was edited on Sep 3, 2009, 08:06.

I'm a WoW hater myself but Cutter don't you think it's possible some people genuinely regret their choices in the game and actually wanted the service? Giving it away for free would let anyone do it and reduce the impact that choices have in the game. Charging for it ensures people at least think about it and that not too many players are doing it.

They literally don't want you to spend your money changing sides.

Of course they do. Their market research tells them this is what they can squeeze most suckers, er players for. It was like the pay per view thing for Blizcon. This is a process they could easily accomidate for free, but choose to charge for. ActiBlizz is soon going to start charging for just about everything.

Imho the price tag's only purpose is profit.

Of course the price is ridiculously high. They're trying to deincentivize it. They literally don't want you to spend your money changing sides. Can you not see that?

In response to the three posts that suggested the cost served the purpose of discouraging frequent use of that function, the FAQ states the following:

How often can I change a character's faction?

You may change a character's faction every 60 days.

Imho the price tag's only purpose is profit.

I'd love to work for Blizzard.. I bet they use shredded $100 dollar bills for toilet paper.

In response to the three posts that suggested the cost served the purpose of discouraging frequent use of that function, the FAQ states the following:

How often can I change a character's faction?

You may change a character's faction every 60 days.

Imho the price tag's only purpose is profit.

Theres also the people that burned bridges with raiding guilds (we had 3 of these) and now either get by without raiding or move to horde (though even that isn't a sure thing, rep follows you wherever you go).

$30 dollars is just a shade more than a Blue-ray movie. Cheaper than it is to fill my gas tank. About the price of a good meal, and a few beers. No issue with the price in my book. Worth the price to play a character with my RL friends.

This comment was edited on Sep 2, 2009, 23:18.

I can hardly wait for the paid "Character power level to 80 service" and the paid "Uber gear service"!!!

Yup. The more changes like this, the more I'm glad I ditched World of Mallcraft.

$30 seems a bit much. I expected it to be $20 or at least $25 (same as Realm transfer). But nevertheless, I had already transfered my Undead Warlock to a friends server in anticipation of this server. I'll pay the $30 at some point and move him to Alliance.

Blizz are also implementing cross server instance grouping. While this will be brutal for PUGs, it will be nice to be able to play with friends on other server (same faction) without having to transfer characters to another server or level another character up.