The Funeral of WoW Gold

In most MMO’s if you want to play, you have to pay.  It’s just a part of the game.  There are the exceptions out there like Guild Wars and a few others, but the standard MMO has a monthly fee.  In this editorial I look at the following questions and answer them from my point of view.

Does paying a fee drive players to squeeze more enjoyment out of the game, or does it make players more likely to quit at the first significant hurdle?  Nobody likes the monthly fee, but what good comes of it?  Are game’s pricing models a good fit for the player base, and do they change based on the player base?  For games without a monthly fee, such as Guild Wars, do you find yourself less forgiving of other fee-based MMOs? Does the lack of a fee make players less intense about playing regularly?

All interesting questions about the monthly fees and all will be answered.  If anyone has any others, please send them in and I can add them on to the editorial at a later date.

Does paying a fee make players squeeze more out of a game? I don’t really believe it does, although I can see that a fee will make players leave a game.  If you need to pay each month to play a game and you are constantly getting stuck or frustrated with it you are FAR more likely to stop playing the game than a game you can play whenever you want for free.  In a traditional video game once you have bought it you are free to play it or not as frequently or infrequently as you choose, with no additional fee, without buying any wow gold .  With an MMO you are almost forced to play more so that you feel you are getting your moneys worth out of your monthly fee.

The argument here is that if you are paying $15 a month (a standard fee) and only play 3-4 hours a week, you are paying $1 per hour.  However if you play a lot, say 30 hours a week, you are paying roughly 13 cents per hour.  Which do you feel better paying for a game?

What good comes from a monthly fee?  This really depends on the game and the developer, but the absolute minimum that it will get you is some form of support with the game, GM’s online to resolve issues, the servers being maintained so that a world exits and patches to resolve issues.  Beyond that it is very company dependant.  What should come from monthly fees are mini free expansions, in game events, and other new content.  For the games that do provide new and updated content on a regular basis it makes a huge difference to the player base.  They “feel” that their money is going someplace and doing them some good.  The games that provide this generally have far fewer trolls complaining about fees on their forums and the increasing demand for wow gold .  Of course not everyone can be happy, and part of that has to do with our next topic.

Are the games pricing models a good fit for the player base.  This can mean two things very easily.  How does the price fit to the target demographic and how does it fit to the number of players.  The first  is probably bang on, $15 is a fair fee for a normal players game.  They are not aiming for an older crowd, but a normal gaming crowd.  This means $15 (an industry standard) is average and should fit.  If a game was marketed to older players specifically a fee can be set higher because in general older players can afford and will pay more than younger players. 

This can be compared to Collectable Card tournaments of Wargame tournaments.  By setting a higher or lower price you can “pre-select” the players that will attend.  For example a MTG (Magic the Gathering) tournament that is $5 to play in will likely draw a younger crowd as they can afford to play and it isn’t a big loss when they do not win.  A $50 MTG tournament will generally not attract the young players (other than the ultra competitive ones that have a reasonable chance of winning), but it will not scare away the older players.

The second part of how the fee fits the number of players in the player base is a whole other matter with   .  To be fair, Blizzard puts a ton of work and effort into maintaining WoW, despite the complaints to the contrary on the forums.  However for the player base that they have they do not put as much new content in as they should.  With 6 million paid subscribers they are generating roughly 90 million dollars a month in subscriber fees!!  Some of this obviously goes to pay back their initial investment in development (which is equally obviously paid off!), to support their servers and infrastructure and to create new content.  Each developer has a set number in mind when they create a game as to how many players they need to break even, and how many to make a nice profit.  Blizzard never reasonably expected to have 6 million paid subscribers, and therefore never planned on the cash inflow. And nothing even said to the wow gold  business.

Based on the inflow of cash Blizzard is receiving one of two things should happen.  The first is that more development should take place or the other option is that monthly fees should drop. Blizzard in all likely hood expected roughly 1 or 2 million players, meaning $15 to $30 million a month.  They are generating 3x the high end of that.  Come on guys, it’s a success and a cash cow, either cut us a break (say $10 a month instead of $15) or triple the amount of content that is released.  Like I said, Blizzard has been doing a good job on new content, just not $90 million dollars good.

Lastly for all the games that do not have a monthly fee and extra things u really desire, like wow gold , do you find yourself less forgiving of other fee-based MMOs? Does the lack of a fee make players less intense about playing regularly?  Obviously it does, at least to me.   Guild Wars provides an amazing environment and tons of support, and they do this without charging a monthly fee.   Players that are really into GW are very resilient to playing a game that does require a fee, simply because they have an example of how good one can be without forcing you to pay. 

The lack of a fee also does bring the casual player into it easier than a fee based game.  This can be good or bad depending on your expectations and desires in a game.  If you’re a teen or a student its awesome as it allows you to play  If you’re an old timer and want tight community then its probably bad as you are bombarded by newbie and kiddies.  It’s all in personal preference.

Hopefully this editorial has explained a bit more about the monthly fees and given you some additional things to think about when shelling out your hard earned cash each month. 

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold

The wait is nearly over for the 10 million+ World of Warcraft players around the world. Come the end of the year Blizzard has confirmed the latest expansion for their number one MMO will be released.

A federal judge has sided with the maker of World of Warcraft in its attempt to shut down a third-party application that allows players to advance more quickly in the game than they normally could.

Blizzard Entertainment won a partial victory on Monday when a court granted its request for summary judgment on copyright infringement grounds. Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly of MDY Industries, which sells the WoWGlider (or MMO Glider) utility for $25 and has sold some 100,000 copies.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell ruled that because using the Glider ‘bot is prohibited by Blizzard’s World of Warcraft license, “Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright.”

He did, however, reject part of Blizzard’s attempts to invoke the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s controversial anti-circumvention sections against Donnelly. (The DMCA follows a parallel track to traditional copyright law, meaning it’s possible to infringe a copyright without violating the DMCA too.)

The lawsuit represents Blizzard’s attempts to continue by legal means what it has been trying to do for years through technical methods.

Because World of Warcraft is so sprawling and popular–with something like 10 million active players and $1.5 billion in annual revenue–players have a strong incentive to find ways to cheat, “farm” wow gold , or advance in character levels more rapidly than the game’s designers intended. Blizzard responded with a utility called Warden, which tries to detect illicit third-party programs.

The case is relatively unusual in that it attracted an amicus brief filed by Public Knowledge, a group that advocates scaling back copyright law. It said that Blizzard’s copyright theory was overly broad and dangerous.

In his opinion, Judge Campbell in Arizona wrote: “Although the Court appreciates these policy arguments and has benefitted from their excellent presentation, the Court is not a policy-making body. The Court’s obligation is to apply the law, particularly the law of the Ninth Circuit… No matter how persuasive arguments might be for positions contrary to Ninth Circuit law, this Court is not free to depart from that law.”

In October 2006, Blizzard representatives visited Donnelly and asked him to stop distributing his software. He replied later that day with a lawsuit asking the judge to rule that Glider was perfectly legal; Blizzard then filed a countersuit alleging copyright, trademark, and DMCA infringement.

Neither side prevailed entirely in this round. Blizzard won summary judgment in its copyright claims; Donnelly won summary judgment on part of the DMCA claim. The rest will be resolved later, meaning the case continues until there’s a settlement–or a trial and eventual verdict.

Read on for some excerpts from the court opinion:

The Court reaches the following conclusions on the basis of undisputed facts, construction of the EULA and TOU, and controlling Ninth Circuit law: Blizzard owns a valid copyright in the game client software, Blizzard has granted a limited license for WoW players to use the software, they have to pay with “wow gold ”, use of the software with Glider falls outside the scope of the license established in section 4 of the TOU, use of Glider includes copying to RAM within the meaning of section 106 of the Copyright Act, users of WoW and Glider are not entitled to a section 117 defense, and Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright. MDY does not dispute that the other requirements for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement are met, nor has MDY established a misuse defense. The Court accordingly will grant summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to liability on the contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims in Counts II and III.

Blizzard alleges that MDY has violated the DMCA. Specifically, Blizzard claims that MDY traffics in technological products, services, devices, or components designed to circumvent technological measures Blizzard has put in place to control access to its copyrighted work and to protect its rights as the copyright owner of WoW. Blizzard moves for summary judgment on all of its DMCA claims. MDY moves for summary judgment on Blizzard’s claim under 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2). The Court will grant MDY’s motion insofar as it applies to Blizzard’s game client software code, but deny the motions in all other respects.

1. The parties’ motions for summary judgment (Dkt. ##39, 45) are granted in part and denied in part. The Court grants summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to MDY’s liability for tortious interference (Count I) and contributory and vicarious copyright infringement (Counts II-III); grants summary judgment in favor of MDY on the portion of the DMCA claim (Count IV) that is based on 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2) and applies to Blizzard’s game client software code; grants summary judgment in favor of MDY on the unfair competition claim (Count VI); and denies summary judgment on the unjust enrichment claim (Count VII).

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold

A federal judge has sided with the maker of World of Warcraft in its attempt to shut down a third-party application that allows players to advance more quickly in the game than they normally could.

Blizzard Entertainment won a partial victory on Monday when a court granted its request for summary judgment on copyright infringement grounds. Blizzard is suing Michael Donnelly of MDY Industries, which sells the WoWGlider (or MMO Glider) utility for $25 and has sold some 100,000 copies.

U.S. District Judge David Campbell ruled that because using the Glider ‘bot is prohibited by Blizzard’s World of Warcraft license, “Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright.”

He did, however, reject part of Blizzard’s attempts to invoke the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s controversial anti-circumvention sections against Donnelly. (The DMCA follows a parallel track to traditional copyright law, meaning it’s possible to infringe a copyright without violating the DMCA too.)

The lawsuit represents Blizzard’s attempts to continue by legal means what it has been trying to do for years through technical methods.

Because World of Warcraft is so sprawling and popular–with something like 10 million active players and $1.5 billion in annual revenue–players have a strong incentive to find ways to cheat, “farm” wow gold , or advance in character levels more rapidly than the game’s designers intended. Blizzard responded with a utility called Warden, which tries to detect illicit third-party programs.

The case is relatively unusual in that it attracted an amicus brief filed by Public Knowledge, a group that advocates scaling back copyright law. It said that Blizzard’s copyright theory was overly broad and dangerous.

In his opinion, Judge Campbell in Arizona wrote: “Although the Court appreciates these policy arguments and has benefitted from their excellent presentation, the Court is not a policy-making body. The Court’s obligation is to apply the law, particularly the law of the Ninth Circuit… No matter how persuasive arguments might be for positions contrary to Ninth Circuit law, this Court is not free to depart from that law.”

In October 2006, Blizzard representatives visited Donnelly and asked him to stop distributing his software. He replied later that day with a lawsuit asking the judge to rule that Glider was perfectly legal; Blizzard then filed a countersuit alleging copyright, trademark, and DMCA infringement.

Neither side prevailed entirely in this round. Blizzard won summary judgment in its copyright claims; Donnelly won summary judgment on part of the DMCA claim. The rest will be resolved later, meaning the case continues until there’s a settlement–or a trial and eventual verdict.

Read on for some excerpts from the court opinion:

The Court reaches the following conclusions on the basis of undisputed facts, construction of the EULA and TOU, and controlling Ninth Circuit law: Blizzard owns a valid copyright in the game client software, Blizzard has granted a limited license for WoW players to use the software, they have to pay with “wow gold ”, use of the software with Glider falls outside the scope of the license established in section 4 of the TOU, use of Glider includes copying to RAM within the meaning of section 106 of the Copyright Act, users of WoW and Glider are not entitled to a section 117 defense, and Glider users therefore infringe Blizzard’s copyright. MDY does not dispute that the other requirements for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement are met, nor has MDY established a misuse defense. The Court accordingly will grant summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to liability on the contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims in Counts II and III.

Blizzard alleges that MDY has violated the DMCA. Specifically, Blizzard claims that MDY traffics in technological products, services, devices, or components designed to circumvent technological measures Blizzard has put in place to control access to its copyrighted work and to protect its rights as the copyright owner of WoW. Blizzard moves for summary judgment on all of its DMCA claims. MDY moves for summary judgment on Blizzard’s claim under 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2). The Court will grant MDY’s motion insofar as it applies to Blizzard’s game client software code, but deny the motions in all other respects.

1. The parties’ motions for summary judgment (Dkt. ##39, 45) are granted in part and denied in part. The Court grants summary judgment in favor of Blizzard with respect to MDY’s liability for tortious interference (Count I) and contributory and vicarious copyright infringement (Counts II-III); grants summary judgment in favor of MDY on the portion of the DMCA claim (Count IV) that is based on 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2) and applies to Blizzard’s game client software code; grants summary judgment in favor of MDY on the unfair competition claim (Count VI); and denies summary judgment on the unjust enrichment claim (Count VII).

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold

It’s the stuff of legend
In this day and age it’s nice to know that RPGs have finally shaken off that geek image of being for mid-pubescent boys with more acne and glasses than a skincare and opticians orgy. This is due in no small part to the evolution of such games on the PC. Whereas before you’d have to have at least two rule books, a whole ream of graph paper with carefully mapped dungeons and at least two sets of multi-sided dice, now all you need is a PC and, with a few exceptions, a credit card and you’re all sorted.

But this article isn’t about how wonderful it is to go online and transform yourself from plain old beige loving Derek in accounts into Azeroth Skulleater, Destroyer of the Horde, a level 65 mage. No this article is about those great moments in the online RPG worlds that have now entered that hallowed hall of fame… You never know, you might even have been there for one of them!

Michael Morhaime, president and CEO of Blizzard Entertainment, has said there is still scope for its MMO World of Warcraft to grow beyond 10.9 million players.

Morhaime said he believed the constant development of new content, especially in the form of major expansion packs, represents a draw to consumers, while the cost-barriers to compete with Blizzard makes significant competition unlikely.

“I would also like to address other reasons why we believe World of Warcraft will continue to grow, despite increased competition,” he said

“There are significant barriers to entry for this genre. It costs hundreds of millions of dollars to not only develop a game as robust as World of Warcraft and its bringing up business, the trade of wow gold , but also to create the infrastructure needed in order to support the operation of the game.”

“We have a team of over 100 developers who are continually expanding the game. Any massively multiplayer online game that launches today is not just competing with the… content that we launched with back in 2004; they are also competing with a product and a service that has been continuously enhanced, expanded, and refined for almost four years now, as well as our years of experience in running the game,” he added.

Commenting on Funcom’s Age of Conan MMO, Morhaime assured those listening that it would not represent a barrier to World of Warcraft’s growth.

“Age of Conan released with some initial success a couple of months ago, and we did see some of our players leave to try the game. However, we have already seen about 40 per cent of those players return to World of Warcraft and we expect even more to come back when Wrath of the Lich King launches later this year,” he explained.

During the call, Morhaime also confirmed Blizzard’s ongoing development of another MMO.

“Blizzard has begun staffing on another unannounced massively multiplayer online project but for competitive reasons, we are not able to share any additional information on that project at this time.”

Wrath of the Lich King is slated for release at some time between October and December, according to the call, which sets it against Mythic’s EA-published MMO effort Warhammer: Age of Reckoning.

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold

One of the subtle yet big changes made in “World of Warcraft” gameplay in recent patches was the increase in items that improve haste rating for characters, both melee and casters.

Basically, higher haste ratings give you a faster rate of attack — with weapons for melee characters and with spells for casters.

I never really paid much attention to it, because it was hard enough finding gear for my balance druid, who is a caster, let alone gear that also had spell haste built into it. But now there is much greater access to epic gems, one of which can be cut to add plus-10 to haste rating.

One of my guild mates, who plays a holy paladin, has been stacking haste gear for some time. He’s been able to reduce his casting time rather significantly. Faster healing is always good, so I started thinking about being able to cast faster.

Theoretically, the more spell haste you have, the more damage you do, even if you lose some of your overall bonus spell damage and wow gold  — the minor drop in bonus damage is made up in the greater number of casts you can make.

According to a few articles on the issue that I’ve seen online, I’ll need to get a spell haste rating of about 109 to see the next significant jump in additional damage from the increased quickness.

At the moment, my haste rating — with a couple of pieces that boost haste and just three of the haste-adding epic gems — is in the low 70s. That means there’s no significant increase in casting speed, but there is a bit of it. I haven’t raided with the increased haste yet, so it remains to be seen how much it will affect my overall damage, but I think I will be purchasing some more of the spell haste gems and replace some of my other gems.

That means I will have to get at least four more gems — or find some other pieces of equipment that have spell haste built in — and see what the overall effect of my damage is.

The last raid I participated in — trying to take down Kael in Tempest Keep — I think I wound up as sixth or seventh on the damage meter, which isn’t bad for a 40-man raid. I had made some tweaks to boost my damage and they seem to have paid off. Now I’m hoping the spell haste will help even further.

I’ll keep you posted with my grand — and sure to be expensive — experiment.

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold

WoW: Wrath of the Lich King will open the forbidding wasteland of Northrend to exploration by the hardiest adventurers. New levels of power, challenging new dungeons and encounters, an exciting new character profession, and the game’s first hero class are just some of the new features awaiting players in Wrath of the Lich King.

Players last visited Northrend in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, when Arthas Menethil fused with the spirit of Nerhul to become the Lich King, one of the most powerful beings in the Warcraft universe. He now broods atop the Frozen Throne deep in Icecrown Citadel, clutching the rune blade Frostmourne and marshaling the undead armies of the Scourge. In Wrath of the Lich King, the forces of the Alliance and the Horde will venture into battle against the Scourge amid Northrend howling winds and fields of jagged ice.

With the opening of the Dark Portal, and the renewed war to stop the Burning Crusad destruction of worlds, the heroes of Azeroth have given little thought to the frozen wastes of Northrend , wow gold  - and the terrible, ancient powers that wait there. Yet the brooding evils of the fallen Nerubian empire and their malevolent sovereign have not forgotten Azeroth?

The former death knight and now Lich King Arthas has set in motion events that could lead to the extinction of all life in Azeroth, as his undead armies and the necromantic power of the plague threaten to sweep across the land. Only the mightiest heroes can survive the frozen northlands with any hope of disrupting the plans of Arthas - and perhaps even challenge the Lich King himself and end his reign of terror for all time.

New features include:

Death Knight Hero Class: Create a high-level Death Knight character - the game’s first hero class - once certain challenges have been met.

Increased Level Cap: Advance to level 80 and gain potent new talents and abilities along the way.

Northrend: Explore the harsh new continent of Northrend, packed with new zones, quests, dungeons, monsters, and items - and do battle with the undead armies of the Lich King.

nscription? Profession: Learn this exciting new profession and gain unique ways to permanently enhance spells and abilities in the game.

Siege Weapons and Destructible Buildings : Take the battle to another level with new player-vs.-player game mechanics and new battlefields to wage war on.

New Character Customization: Change how characters look and express themselves, with different hairstyles and dance animations.

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold

What is “Recruit-A-Friend”?

Our new friend referral system allows you to recruit some of your friends to join you in World of Warcraft by sending them an invitation email containing a trial activation key. With this key, your friends will be able to set up their own trial accounts.

To start this process log on to the Account Management section and click the Recruit-A-Friend button. This will take you to the actual friend referral page, where you can enter a friend’s email address and name one at a time. If you want, you can also enter a message that will be included in the invitation email.

How can I earn the exclusive in-game mount?

For each person you refer who upgrades to a retail version of World of Warcraft and purchases two months of game time and wow gold , you will be able to give a character on the account you sent the invitation from an exclusive in-game zhevra mount. This unique mount can be claimed through the website, is only available to Recruit-A-Friend participants, and can only be applied to a single character.

What in-game benefits do we get while the accounts we play are linked?

1. Characters on both accounts can summon each other once per hour.
2. While adventuring with your linked friend/family member, you will each gain triple experience.
3. For every two levels the new player earns, the new player can grant one free level-up to a lower-level character played by the veteran player.

How long will I be linked to my recruit?

The link between the accounts will last for 90 days from the date that your recruit creates an account. Remember that for the link to work properly, your recruit must create a new World of Warcraft account using the 10-day trial key in your invitation email.

When my friend/family member upgrades from a trial account to a full version of the game, will that break the link between the accounts?

Nope! Your friend/family member will have to upgrade to continue playing past the 10-day trial, and the accounts you play will stay linked until the full 90 days have passed.

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold

Earlier today, Blizzard Entertainment announced World of Warcraft’s expansion pack — called Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) — to be a Q4 2008 release. We should thus expect the game between October and December of this year! IF Blizzard doesn’t decide to delay it; and knowing Blizzard, well, that is quite likely…

For those not in the know, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is the expansion to the phenomenally popular World of Warcraft (WoW) and is expected to be packed with epic content, complete with an improved graphics engine. The story is set in a completely new area of Northend, home to the Lich King Arthas. The expansion pack was released for beta testing on July 17th, 2008.

We had a word with a few WoW gamers here in Mumbai — eager to hear their thoughts and gauge their opinions on the expansion. Were they were anticipating it, or had they already moved on from WoW?

Deepak Sharma a self-confessed MMORPG-addict and WoW-nerd could only gush over WotLK: “Blizzard has done a splendid job and doubled-up the content in the game. Picking the best moves, tactics and features and even “wow gold ” from all existing and popular MMORPGs, and fantasy-based games such as Lord of the Rings, the expansion looks polished! Revamped game play and several character-customization options already make it a hot property.”

While Deepak plays for fun, Imran has turned WoW into a business. Anyone without the means to play an MMORPG at home, can always visit a cybercafe that runs WoW sessions. And that is exactly what Imran Ladiwala does. As a cybercafe owner, WoW is not just business to Imran, he also sells wow gold , and what’s more, he is also a passionate player of the game . As only a true fan would, Imran hasn’t seen any spoilers, previews or screenshots of the expansion yet, but says that he as heard enough on it from both his gamer buddies as well as from his customers. “Almost 75 percent of WoW gamers glue themselves to the terminals of my cafe every evening. The latest buzz around WoW is about its upcoming expansion pack’s Beta keys being sold on eBay. I haven’t checked the authenticity of these claims but I eagerly wait for the retail release for purchase.”

“Reading about Wrath of Lich King online, I am on toes already”, Rahul Mitra, another one bitten by the WoW bug, is excitement personified: “The WoW expansion pack has new features like entirely new factions, new classes, Player-vs-Player options, items, quests, dungeons, creatures, spells and weapons” — he rattles off like a Wikipedia entry on WotLK. “The most interesting features that I really look forward to are the siege weapons and the destructible buildings for Player-vs-players combat. I’ll certainly get my hands on the expansion pack.” Well Rahul, if you were playing Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, you would not have to wait until WotLK to experience PvP siege warfare.

Reading about Wrath of Lich King online, I am on toes already”, Rahul Mitra, another one bitten by the WoW bug, is excitement personified: “The WoW expansion pack has new features like entirely new factions, new classes, Player-vs-Player options, items, quests, dungeons, creatures, spells, “wow gold ” and weapons” — he rattles off like a Wikipedia entry on WotLK. “The most interesting features that I really look forward to are the siege weapons and the destructible buildings for Player-vs-players combat. I’ll certainly get my hands on the expansion pack.” Well Rahul, if you were playing Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, you would not have to wait until WotLK to experience PvP siege warfare.

You can read more on WotLK at the WoWwiki. You should also check out a string of posts on WotLK, cataloging ever aspect of the game here.

And what about you? Are you a WoW player? Do you prefer AoC or Ragnarok instead? What are your thoughts on WotLK? Let us know!

Tags: wow gold  , World of warcraft gold