"market conditions" = lots of people with enough money to fork it over month after month to play this game.

but what can i say, blizz makes quality games.

willyolio

@Kenninator:

you paying 60 for a game right now, for the same 60 dollars, you can buy 4 months of time on WOW.

WOW by far is one of the cheapest Good MMO game to play if you have time to spend.

idrisz

Either way, there is too much wasted time running around from point A to point B. *shakes fist*

SpearXXI

@Herodito:

LOL!

For some reason this had me laughing!

EnigmaNemesis

That might have gotten me to play it. I can't see the value in paying that much money for a game, sorry.

Kenninator

if it wasnt subscription based I would still probably play it, so THANK GOD it had the subscription. otherwise its free drugs and no1 wants that :/

Lets-game

@DutchOtaku: actually i could totally deal with ads like that if it meant i didnt pay, or paid little. provided they dont pop up in a window and require action to stop. might even make me buy some cillit bang instead of some other cleaning product when i was shopping.

red

End boss of MC was supposed to be the Pillsbury dough boy

TheNocturnalSun

"I wonder if they will ever convert to an advertising supported system? I'm sure the door would be flooded with potential customers."

No.
Blizzard is too greedy for that.

Just like Valve! But that's another story no one will ever agree with.

otimus

I wonder if they will ever convert to an advertising supported system? I'm sure the door would be flooded with potential customers.

GodzillaVsJapan

I'm glad this isn't true, or else I would have never been able to quit WoW >.<

mfwahwah

@Jeff Paine:

Nahhh, idiots are everywhere. There would be just more people on it...

ok, I see your point.

Herodito

Meh, it was only a decision that involves earning of 10 digits. No big deal.

PsycheE

turns out they were right.

sh0tgunn0strils

$marketConditions="Sure, merely selling the game puts money in the bank, but we want enough to do somersaults in.";

jacksinn

Oh Jesus. It would've been like a better RuneScape.

Aethyr

If they did went for a free to play method, there would be a chance they would actually have had a larger user base.

DranzerKire

If it were free-to-play there would be even more idiots playing.

Jeff Paine

Market conditions. Indeed.

wild homes and gardens

''Bloodstains on your epic tunic? No problem for Cillit....''
Oh boy am i glad it didnt get so far.

DutchOtaku

I've never understood the people that think $15 a month for an online game is too much money. What else can you do for $15? While I loathe WoW, and have vowed not to go back again, I will say that it was $15 well spent. Even if I only played a hand full of hours a week, the cost to entertainment ratio was next to nothing compared to going to see a movie or spending $60 a month on a game I'll probably beat in two hours.

I constantly hear my alliance members in Guild Wars berate the cost of WoW, but yet most of the people that complained had never even played the game. They never saw the updates, added content, and polish that most MMOs just don't have the backing to do. While Arena.net made a top-notch game with Guild Wars, I can't help but imagine how much better it would have been with some monthly sub.

MantisDragon

@Jeff Paine: Runescape says other wiese.

Flawless101

Ad Supported? How?

Were they gonna add billboards in Lakeshire or something?

Hmm...that reminds me of something...

+ Watch video

Yeah...I guess that's how it could be done.

Coquiton

Those of you laughing at this should really sit down and think what targeted advertising to 10 million plus players (likely more than that if it was free) would be worth. The answer is a whole hell of a lot of money. They could have pulled it off, and had the subscription available for those that didn't want the ads. Double money.

Catalyst

@Kupaka: however, if they were to go ad-supported right now, that would probably entice more users to play than if it had launched f2p.

Kupaka

@Catalyst: probably wouldn't have happened. the problem faced with f2p mmos is how to get people to spend money, if the end result of a subscripton is "cosmetic", then that is less incentive for the player to subscribe than, say, offering a more powerful weapon, or extra armor. that is the problem that plagues some mmos, in that paid suscribers are the only ones truly enjoying the game, while free players are constantly being overpowered by subsbribers. thus, instead of a 10,000,000+ player base, you would have mabye a 10,000+ dedicated base with tons of people logging in once or twice and then going to play EverQuest II

Kupaka

I refuse to play WoW because I have to pay to play. I don't mind an OPTION for pay to play, but I want an option to be able to pay free if it means something else happens, like ads.

Amazon_Chris

@Amazon_Chris: Yeah, God forbid we ever have to shell out money, particularly something outrageous like 60 USD/Euros for per game. Oh wait ...

... sarcasm aside, I still don't get people who think like that. I feel as if people fail to realize the amount of game time you get out of it. It's not like the game lasts a week and then you drop it. From 1-70, there's a constant dynamic and even at 70 there's a ton of things to do, no matter if you're a casual player or someone who's willing to spend hours on end in the game.

Basically, you shell out an extra 40 euros for an expansion every two years. That's still under 200 USD/Euros a year and I sure as hell know people who spend a hell of a lot more per year on video games.

I just don't get it. If Warcraft somehow becomes boring, any subscriber can just drop it and cease payments. I just don't get people nagging about the 'pay to play' when you get a far superior support in general in comparision to one-time payment games, constant updates and you can get far more game time for your buck. I can count on one hand the number of full-price games that've kept me entertained over four months (the time it takes to more or less have paid 60 USD/euros in monthly payments) and those I can specifically remember would be:

- X-Com 1/2 (yes, I liked TFTD :D)
- Counter-Strike
- Battlefield 2

Sneakiest

I hate to say it, but having a f2p WOW would have been horrible.

Server issues, harassment.. how do you discipline someone with nothing to lose?

Sure, it'd have been free, but the monthly fee wasn't the worst thing about the game.

Imagine the gold farmers and spammers if the game only required an email address.. ugh.

Scuba Steve

... or not, guess my browser is acting up. Sorry for the (almost) triple post.

Sneakiest

@Amazon_Chris: Sigh, somebody just deleted my fairly long post so I'm just going to point you in this direction:

@idrisz: This.

Sneakiest

@Coquiton: That commercial always makes me lawl.

@MantisDragon: QFT.

When you involved in a good mmo (especially with good friends/guild), you're involved in it deep. You don't buy other games. You'll rarely play other games. So in effect, the $15 a month is saving you from spending $60+ on a new game or two every month.

Unless of course you're one of those gamers that buys maybe three games a year... then yeah. They're totally taking advantage of you. Those greedy sonsofbishes.

belo

As a person who played wow from day one I have to say it was worth every dollar I spent on it.I was entertained for years and it only cost me $15 a month. No other game could have done that. Yes I still brought other games but that would only last for as long as it took me to beat it. After that it would end up in the stack of games that I would never touch again unless I was going to trade them in for something new. So for those who want to wine bout it why don't you go buy it and give it a try? I bet a good portion of you will stick with it.

Retorrent

Imagine if a ad for say, personal lubricant just showed up when you were fighting a boss or something.. and it was an audio add..

( Soft, but playful female voice) " I see that your group is farming for epics again. After the battle, why not surprise your lover with our special 'Gnome Green' version of our KY Warming gel? After all, you can trust the Gnomes to make great loot!!" Then from the sky green lube starts to fall as rain for 15 seconds.

Vanguarde

@Sneakiest: I'm not saying scrap the system. I'm saying make it flexible if you won;t offer a dumbed down, free to play alternative.

Amazon_Chris

@Scuba Steve: You may think it would have been horrible, but it would have been great. This is Blizzard we're talking about here, they know their shit.

Server issues? Have a queue(and a ton of servers, of course). While players are wating, serve them up a video ad.

Speaking of the ads, I'm sure there wouldn't have been horrible in-world ads. Blizzard knows well enough not to ruin the game experience like that. We probably would have had loading screen ads, character select screen ads and basically ads anywhere that aren't actually part of the world (of warcraft).

And players would have plenty to lose if they acted up. You would still have to buy a copy of the game (think D2,SC) and in the case of a F2P WoW your account would probably be tied to your copy of the game.

I Think Blizz made the wrong choice going for Pay2play, considering their freeplay roots with Battle.net. Maybe diablo 3 will be a free to play Guild Wars Style game.

brieeyeball

@brieeyeball: they made the most successful MMO ever and making enough money to wipe their butt with it. I think it's fair to say their decision turned out quite well. I seriously can't see a f2p MMO producing the same amount of money (and therefore, continued in-game support and developement) the paid WoW does.

exeprime

@exeprime: Either way they would be rolling in the cash by now. Catalyst pointed out the boatloads of cash they would receive *just* from ad revenue, then there's that fact that a lot more people would pick up a copy of WoW(+Expansions) if it were free to play it.
Sure, their choice turned out fine, great even, but Blizzard alienated quite a few people who will never pay for online gaming when they could have had them as customers.

brieeyeball

Free-to-play would've got me playing WoW. The monthly fee was the only thing that kept me from being interested. Last thing I need is another monthly bill. Already have plenty of those, thanks.

So I went with Guild Wars instead and have been happily playing since the E3 beta, one year before release. And if I decide not to play for a month or simply don't have time? Yeah, I'm not out $15.

eugaet

I think it would be great if they could offer an ad supported version and see how it stacks up revenue-wise compared to the monthly fee. They already have a different model in Asia where they pay roughly $0.06 an hour to play...

oberonix