i got a question about WOW

[gong1989]

:confused: i was just wondering iF i go online in WOW will i have to pay money
and if so i think it is a bad idea

[spastic-ninJa]

Hi,

There have been many many discussions about the monthly payment. World of Warcraft is an online-only game, hence the Massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG).

I'll give you the laydown of why a monthly payment is neccesary. First of all, you probably think why do I pay for this game, and not other games, such as Warcraft 3 and Diablo 2, which are also online-capable games? The reason is this: MMORPGs require an online staff team to ensure that the game and the servers run smoothly, as well as initiating in-game features, such as holding weddings (you may think this is a joke -- it's not. In Everquest, another popular MMORPG, weddings were conducted by Devs (personal members of the gaming staff).).

One of their most prominent functions is to remove bugs in the game or to stop people from exploiting these until the matter can be dealt with.

So these people require wages for the maintenance of the online game, which comes directly from the funds received from the community playing the game.

Additionally, updates/patches come out frequently, and the developement of these is also paid for by community.

There have been several other methods of funding raised in other discussions, but box-sales cannot account for a game that will last online for several or more years. The only practical method of funding is online pay.

But don't worry, the price is relatively cheap for a very fun experience, and you can gain discounts by paying for individual months in bulk (ie: pay for a year and get a decent chunk of money off).

To quote someone else from another thread: "MMORPGs are like air-conditioners. You pay to run them, and get a very decent service from them. For air-conditioners, you get cool, clean air. For World of Warcraft, you can get years of solid entertainment."

I hope my post has helped you to realise why paying-to-play is important for Blizzard as a company.

[TranquilNightElf]

Yup that pretty much sums it up.
Wow Should be an awesome game when it comes out..(....it's awesome already to many here who are on the beta :P )

Also you should try out for GuildWars if you want a MMORPG type game without an online fee.
Note that it is an MMORPG type game.
It's developed by former Blizzards game designers and looks to be promising as well.
Seems to me most people will go for both games as they provide two different yet entertaining and engaging gameplay experiences without too much cost.

[killer-penguin]

There are a lot of reasons why you have to pay for WOW, most of which were posted by Spastic
but the question you have to ask is not do you have to pay (making mmorpg's free poses a LOT of problems and therefore they are basically nonexistant) but are you willing to pay? You have to remember that this is blizzard's first crack at a MMORPG and while they have things like Everquest to look at and draw from, they are still going into this relatively blind. However, everyone I know who was lucky enough to get the Beta has given WOW a fairly decent or in many cases excellent review so that I am convinced that it is a MMORPG worth getting. But the only reason I plan to get WOW is because I am online for a significant ammount of time each day and the cost/time ratio to me is decent enough to warrant paying (if i play for more than 30 hours a month thats less than a dollar an hour...im probably online for 100 or so hours a month so...)
but if you are like so many people in the world without an unlimited connection...or stuck with dial-up...WOW doesn't pose any benefits to you. Why would you buy a game then pay 20-30 bucks a month to play it when you only play for 5-10 hours?

But as for your question
IF you buy the game AND want to play it YOU HAVE TO PAY, because this will be an online only game.

[TranquilNightElf]

well 20 to 30 bucks a month seems very steep and I'm sure that it will be much lower than that.
Also Blizzard should also take into accont the non-power gamers and provide payment options to the like.

[spastic-ninJa]

I'm fairly certain that the monthly payments will be around $10 -15 US (bad for me due to exchange rate, but it is still cheap) per month, and Blizzard will probably implement a yearly paying system for a much cheaper price, where the overall cost would be deducted by at least 10% and possibly even 25% (or higher :P ).

Also, if you go through a time with limited computer access (say you go on holiday or need to study for exams), you can simply terminate your subscription, and go back to playing (on the same account) at a later time.

[gunshift]

Your avatar is from VICE CITY :smirk: .Its Tomy with sword.Is int it ;) ?