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Agreed, micro-transaction pets use the same tactics as the loot cards, only now they don't have to go through the middle-man. Nothing game-shattering is going to occur with this newest addition. | |
Oh my, people do like to overreact. But I agree this isn't anything new, just more obvious. | |
No ones gonna buy them anyway, so the outrage is kinda pointless. Besides, none of them are better than Mr. Chilly the Penguin! I wuv my Mistur chilee... | |
Speak for yourself, man. Do I want a pet that murders all nearby Critters and cackles maniacally when I dominate someone in PvP? You bet your ass I do. :P | |
As long as microtransactions have no affect on game balance or game progression, I see no issue. The pets are little more than a vanity item - actually, they're not more than a vanity item. That's all they are. If people wanna pay $10 for a little Lich or a Pandaren monk (which does sound tempting), no qualms here. But | |
As long as it never comes to letting the players buy gear and/or gold or other items, I don't think it's a bad thing. I am quite enjoying my Pandaren Monk. It's always amusing to hear the little "HYA! HWA! WHOPOW!" in the middle of a raid. | |
Oh, dear you do not know the length some obsessed WoW players will go. I don't play but I have a friend that dose, so I know a few things. He said that people will pay 400$ for a Trading card that lets you unlock some kind of ghost panther mount. 400$! If they're willing to do that then 10$ for a pet is nothing. | |
My warlock would love that one. If I could afford even such a paltry microtransaction. And if I still played WoW. I'm on the patch, you see. | |
Obviously Blizzard is just out for cash! Soon they will close their servers and force players to use P2P to play WoW. the game is ruined now! everyone must petition to not let this happen! as for the rest of us, does Lil' K.T. actually do damage to his zapable targets? or is it just some sort of emoticon that he does? the only drawback I see to him laughing is hitting stealth after backstabbing someone and his friends hear his little giggles, now if there is a command to make him laugh before you kill a player, that would be awesome. | |
well, comon, the shadowsaber is COOL! :P | |
Aw crap. Ive just realised. My Druid's humiliating defeats in PvP are about to get 50 times more humiliating at the hands of people like you. ...Fuck. | |
People seem to get upset over everything. It's just microtransaction, no big deal. | |
Make-A-Wish is so frickin' cool. I am really thinking of grabbing the monk. Not to mention that it's adorable factor is, like, 10! | |
I luv the lil K.T :D Still, if people want to buy a minipet, its their decision. Guildwars uses the same method already for quite some time. Didn't hear people complain back then. | |
I've found and killed quite a few rogues that forgot to put their pet away. Any pet is a dumb pet for a stealthed rogue. ;) | |
The big difference between this and the collectors editions and Blizzcon and the WWI, are that with those things, you get more than just an in game pet. Collectors edition, you got art books, audio CD's, mouse pads, ect. Blizzcon and the WWI, you got a LOT more. So yeah, sure, some people may have bought them for just the pets, but that extra 30 bucks also went to a lot of collectors style stuff. This is a lot different in the sense that all you get is a vanity pet... Now granted, I'm glad that it's simply a cosmetic item and nothing that gives an in game advantage. However, I can understand peoples concerns. It does seem like a step in the direction of most free to play but pay to get epic MMO games. Hopefully, should that day ever arrive, it'll come with servers dedicated to such things. | |
Umm...I thought they've -had- micro-transactions for well, quite a while now. A quick look at any WoW account page reveals, paid character transfers/server changes, paid gender/faction changes and the like. I mean, though I'd still prefer that you got pets by, you know, playing the game, it's still a far cry from being able to buy characters or levels. | |
Isn't the Wolpertinger invisible to all but drunk players? Perfect rogue pet! | |
It just attacks random critters, like rats and spiders. Now, if it would attack other people's companion pets, then we'd have something to talk about. But all this is doing is making it so Blizzard is making the money off the out-of-game sold pets. It's not that big a deal, and it's not going to lead to blizzard selling lvl 80s or gold, not when they're tirelessly working against that. | |
'Cept if it's a Wolpertinger, and that's only unless your opponent isn't drunk. ^^' | |
Note to self: If I ever get back into WoW, get Lil KT at any cost. It's evilly adorable! :D | |
Holy murloc shit. If I'm reading this right then WoW, A pay-2-play MMO, now has an item shop? Ugh. Way to double dip, Blizzard. Excuse me, Actiblizzard. What's next, you'll trade me your "Sword of a Thousand Truths" for my "Wallet of a Thousand Greenbacks"? And no, donating to charity does not absolve you of this unforgivable crime. | |
If they started selling gold, at least that would kill the gold selling market and those corpse commercials in the cities. | |
which is why we need a ninja pet ASAP, make him jump around in combat or something. however, I have seen a rouge/hunter team put the hunter pet in standby, run off, hide, wait for an unsuspecting player to wander near it thinking its a regular mob. and fun times were had by all. actually, why not have class specific microtrans. pets? Shamans could get a Boomkin, or a tree for instance. | |
This was what I was going to type if someone hadn't beaten me to the punch. That said...i'm probably going to be buying mini KT. | |
Rested state, hearthstones, auction houses, leper gnomes Zeppelins/boats, hunter class, level 60 xp cap Winter Veil, Maraudon, fishing in Stranglethorn Shadowflame, Zul'Gurub, global chat, L2P n00b We didn't start the crying Naxxaramus, shard bags, weather effects, server lag Shamans overpowered, linked auction houses Arena teams, voice chat, rogues stabbing in the back Quel'Thalas, Azuremyst, Tseric logs out really pissed We didn't start the crying Trade your epic gear for greens, blood elves dominate the scene Warlock nerfs, server locusts, Coilfang, set focus +Healing/Spell, Halaa, retcons, Akama Welfare gear, arena's quear, Metzen the Reindeer We didn't start the crying Gemcuitting, Inscription, engineering's just for fun Dalaran and back again, no class trainers in Northrend Gear score, get on vent, grind rep with argent tournament South Park, Ulduar, Garrosh and the Chin We didn't start the crying http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=20677636066&sid=1 | |
oh, thats going to piss off a few warriors who use charge on those to build up alpha rage. all the more enjoyable. also, yes, if they had a pet arena, we might get a few angry letters from peta, but could you imagine having your panda monk killed by a bombay kitten? | |
Brilliant. | |
Blizzard has been doing this since long before the Activision-Vivendi merger. TCG loot cards, collector's edition pets, BlizzCon pets. Did you have a problem with those too? It's been happening from the beginning, and we're no closer to getting actual in-game equipment from them than we've ever been. I honestly don't see the issue in giving players the option to get something that has literally no effect on gameplay if they want to plunk the money down. No one's forcing anyone to buy it, y'know :P | |
Speaking of the card game, it's actually pretty damn good, expensive yeah, compared to say Magic the Gathering, but fun. | |
No, no. Patch day isn't for a while still. | |
Meter was a bit off in some spots, but good effort :) | |
This isn't that bad in my opinion. Initially I thought "Well, I can't say I'm suprised." but the charity aspect of the Panderan Monk is awesome. I just got done discussing something like this in a class. Methinks that if Blizzard kept up partnering with non-profits and sending proceeds earned from stuff like this to charities, it would be great not only for the organizations and the people who benefit from them but is EXCELLENT P.R. for Blizzard. Not that it needs it, but still. | |
how do they make the connection from in-game pets to bassicaly you can buy the level 80 epic equipment charecter from the get-go? | |
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World of Warcraft Gets Microtransaction Pets, Players Freak Out
The announcement that Blizzard would be opening an online store for special WoW in-game pets has some members of the community bouncing off the walls.
Yesterday evening, Blizzard announced the opening of the World of Warcraft Pet Store, a place where players could acquire special in-game pets if they were willing to shell out their cash. At the moment, there are only two pets for sale in the store: Lil' K.T., the Littlest Lich (who will zap nearby Critters and laugh maniacally when you kill a player in PvP) and the Pandaren Monk.
Both pets were priced at $10, though half the proceeds of every Pandaren Monk sold through the end of the year would be donated to the Make-a-Wish Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps grant wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses and conditions. This wouldn't be the first time that the popular PC developer had worked with the charity organization, either - back in May 2007, 10-year-old Ezra Chatterton used his wish to visit the Blizzard offices, meet the developers and design his very own quest.
Predictably, the announcement was greeted by some members of the WoW community with proclamations that this was the beginning of the end, like every other change the company has made to Warcraft since the game launched in November of 2004. A quick look at the first page of the WoW General Discussion Forum - not that you should ever read the WoW forums, but in case you were really, really curious - reveals dozens of topics discussing the Pet Store, and how these two microtransaction-only pets are an indicator that within six months Blizzard will be letting you buy a level 80 character with full epic gear right from the get-go.
In case you couldn't tell, I think that the outrage is a bit silly. I'm okay with the idea of microtransactions in general, but the real kicker here is that this isn't anything Blizzard hasn't done before - it's just being more transparent about it now.
WoW and both of its expansions all had collectors' editions which were more expensive than the "vanilla" versions, and which came with special in-game pets. Even the Warcraft Trading Card Game has been doing something exactly like this with its rare loot cards that get you exclusive in-game items if you're lucky enough to find one (or have the cash to burn on eBay). People who spend the money to go to BlizzCon - or who ordered the Pay-Per-View stream - got exclusive pets there, too. Blizzard has been offering vanity pets for cash since the game came out, and we're no closer to "buy your epics with real money" now than we ever were.
All this is doing is really just eliminating the middleman and cutting away the extraneous stuff surrounding the acquisition of those aforementioned pets. At least with the Pet Store, you won't have to waste time and money buying godforsaken TCG booster pack after booster pack hoping luck will be on your side this time.
Besides, that Lil' K.T. is just adorable. How could you say no to that lovable, horrifying undead visage?
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