(Some of) Your Prayers May Be Answered!

[Graeme]

In earlier discussions surrounding payment plans for World of Warcraft a few ideas were thrown around about the easiest method to pay. The problem, it seemed, with most of our members was that World of Warcraft was a pay-per-month game and would therefore require a credit card. Well, as anyone knows, you have to be a legal adult to attain a credit card (18 years of age for the most part). So a few people mentioned the idea of 'GameCards', which would allow you to play for x number of days via a pre-payed card you can buy at any game-store.

Well, it seems that Blizz has released the details on these gamecards, and more importantly, of the estimated pay-per-month price:
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?cookie%5Ftest=1&product%5Fid=645985

As you can see, 60 days is the equivalent of 30 dollars of gametime. Meaning a month is about 15 dollars (assuming that gamecards don't cost more than paying by credit cards, and assuming the source is trustworthy). So I think we can pretty much settle on the fact that in order to pay WoW we'll be paying approx 15 dollars a month. On an upnote though, you will be able to buy the pre-paid gamecards, so any lament over not being able to play because of a lack of a CC can be defenestrated ^_^.

[Markpyro]

YAY!!!!! Now i can just buy my own card for WOW insead of having to beg my parents to let me use their CC... meh :/ idk ...

[Sunstrider]

actually thats pretty cool. i like the idea of that, its like gamefrog. (a place we have down here in durham where you buy a card witha certain amount of hours on it and you get to play any game on any system for that amount of time. It rules! but they took away warcraft II, so im bummed)

anyway, i hope it will cost less on CC though, cuz my dad lets me use his CC for these things if i pay him back. good news

[Maegtelluma]

I saw that up about a week ago, I figured that it was that but I was really hoping we might get a better rate than that for buying time in bulk. If it's much more than $15 a month I'm not sure if I can afford it until I get a job in the second semester.

[BSTRhino]

That certainly seems expensive from my point of view, but it does solve the problem about credit cards. The larger proportion of the WoW market will most probably be under 18, so this is a good move.

It's still expensive to me though, but that's probably because of my situation. That's about $25 New Zealand dollars per month.

I doubt it would cost less on credit card. First of all, with credit cards, you pay a 'hidden levy' of about 3% to the credit card company. So Blizzard receives less from credit card sales. Also, with the prepaid idea, you're paying in advance, and people who pay in advance usually get discounts because it helps free up cash flow and gives the company extra time to invest the money. If anything, prepaid should be cheaper.

I love the word defenestration! I learnt it off a nice girl in class over two years ago.



Another bit of related info I found: The collector's edition of World of WarCraft comes with a free 10-day 'guest pass' which allows a friend of yours to play the game for 10 days.

[Sheep_Have_Wool]

So I think we can pretty much settle on the fact that in order to pay WoW we'll be paying approx 15 dollars a month.
I doubt it. Retailers have to make their money on the cards, too, so they're being purchased from Blizzard for cheaper. Also, game cards historically tend to cost more per month than a longer term subscription. If I had to guess, we'll see 12.95 a month or something similar.