• @rickdg@lemmy.world
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    1248 months ago

    Take your money and spend it somewhere else. That’s the only sound corporations can hear.

    • @Obi
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      918 months ago

      You’re taking about wow. That’s like telling a junkie not to buy their next fix.

      • @PM_ME_YOUR_ZOD_RUNES@sh.itjust.works
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        308 months ago

        Tell me about it. This was a long time ago but I remember one of my friends couldn’t even go a day without doing his dailies. He wasn’t even interested in WoW anymore, he was playing a bunch of other games. But he absolutely had to login every day just to do his dailies then log out and play the game he actually wanted to play.

        This went on for months. When we asked him why, he would just say he didn’t want to miss out and fall behind. Bro, you aren’t even interested in the game anymore…

          • @Jerkface@lemmy.world
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            218 months ago

            I just wanted to show some appreciation for sharing your experience. Speaking candidly about difficult subjects really can help people.

          • @Fungah@lemmy.world
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            58 months ago

            I don’t game much either there’s days.

            I want to though. Nothing holds my interest like it used to. When a fromsoft game or a deep crpg comes out that isn’t made by Larian I love every minute of getting sucked in but it’s all over too quick and I’d rather play checkers with the wall than pull the lever on another digital skinner box. It doesn’t appeal. It never did. Fuck off.

        • @_dev_null@lemmy.zxcvn.xyz
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          58 months ago

          This is what I’ve been doing with Eve Online for about 10 years. I login every couple months just to make sure my training queue isn’t empty. I don’t even know how to pilot any of the ships I’m trained in now.

      • @Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        258 months ago

        Hey, I finally kicked my WoW habit.

        I mean I started FFXIV right after, but it’s a start!

        • @Evotech@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Just keep it to one character. FFXIV gates your reward endgame. You can’t just farm as much as you want. So you don’t have to spend too much time keeping up.

          But if you start running multiple high level characters you have a problem.

  • @djsoren19@yiffit.net
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    738 months ago

    It’s already too late. The time for us to shut this shit down was Diablo 4. Now that Blizzard knows their fanbase of rubes will pay extra for a headstart, expect to see this as the norm for all future releases.

    • @pahlimur@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I’m at Disneyland with my family RN and we mainly came because this week was insanely cheap for hotels. My hotel basically touches the convention center and there is almost no one here for blizzcon. It’s dying.

      The conversations I’ve overheard are so sad. They all justify simping for blizzard like addicts. So much random misogyny too.

      I used to love blizzard games but just the people I’ve listened to concern me.

    • Fox
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      138 months ago

      It started long before. I remember boycotting d3 when the auction house came out and i stopped wow a decade ago because you are paying monthly for a savegame plus microtransactions.

      I can buy way better indie games for that price or keep playing guild wars 2 which has no sub.

    • @helenslunch@feddit.nl
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      8 months ago

      I mean this sort of thing in general started way before Diablo 4. Gamers have been licking the boots of publishers for a dozen years now. They tolerate DRM that kneecaps performance, they tolerate subscription fees, they tolerate microtransactions, they tolerate always-online games, they tolerate games that require 3rd-party accounts and EULAs, and they tolerate unnecessary bullshit launchers that are jam-packed full of spyware and ads. They would have tolerated the Unity bullshit too but Ricky boy boiled the frog too quickly.

      • @Odo@lemmy.world
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        58 months ago

        D4 was the first of their games to charge extra for early access by attaching it to premium editions.

  • @Yewb@lemmy.world
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    558 months ago

    I didnt fall for it with diablo 4 this time, all my friends that blasted through it in a week are no longer playing and I can buy it when its $20 if at all.

    Tired of anything from Activision blizzard at this point.

    • @ramblinguy@sh.itjust.works
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      58 months ago

      I had such hopium for diablo 4, but they just made the game worse with every patch. It was decently fun when it launched, but they introduced more tedium into everything each patch. Plus when the new season started and you had to do everything over again, it killed my enjoyment of the game

  • Metal Zealot
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    408 months ago

    Poor Blizzard, they must be failing on hard times, after being bought for 69 billion dollars

    • @Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      188 months ago

      If they didn’t stop from abusive micro transactions, half-ass launches, mocking players about mobile phones, overworked devs, a sexist frat boy culture, women leaving over sexual abuse, or a employee who committed suicide (!)… then nothing will.

      • @Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world
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        88 months ago

        The average player doesnt know about any of this. The average player doesnt think about these things. The average player is not you or me.

        • I Cast Fist
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          38 months ago

          WoW has micro transactions, including: level boost, several exclusive cosmetics (mounts, armors, weapons), exclusive pets.

          You can also buy game time with cash and resell it for gold, so an indirect and limited cash for power, too. I know these have been around at least since BfA, dunno if Legion already had them

    • William
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      58 months ago

      Not only that, this is by design. They want their early testers to be a small group of people who are heavily invested in the game, both mentally and financially.

      Sure, a lot of people are going to be mad about being “excluded”, but how many of them are going to actually boycott the expansion when it releases because of it? The ones are maddest are the ones who most want to play it and are unlikely to walk away.

      There was always going to be a small group of players that got to play it before the majority of the playerbase. The only difference is the $90, and that price is well worth it to a lot of the big fans.

  • JokeDeity
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    318 months ago

    What I don’t get is what made 2023 the year of the cut brakes? Seems like every corporation has decided to just go full fucking tilt on pushing their consumers to the edge of what they’re willing to put up with and they have ZERO shame about any of it.

    • @kandoh@reddthat.com
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      148 months ago

      High consumer spending keeping the economy afloat against the predicted recession that never materialized. Companies figured they could start charging more and get away with it.

            • @Paradachshund@lemmy.today
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              28 months ago

              The company will, but from what I’ve seen the decision makers find ways to ensure they still get paid just as much or nearly as much, usually by laying people off and screwing over customers even more.

              These companies are purely short term focused. They don’t look to the long term and they don’t care about the company’s stability far into the future. It’s all about hitting the next financial target no matter what.

              • im sorry i broke the code
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                18 months ago

                Yeah but if you enter a recession, your earnings will be much less. Even if you fire most of your staff, you won’t earn shit anyway.

                So causing a recession seems like a very dumb idea

                • @Paradachshund@lemmy.today
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                  18 months ago

                  I agree with you, but from what I’ve seen large corporations don’t. That’s all I can say, and this is all just anecdotal.

    • @1984@lemmy.today
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      8 months ago

      Profits going down I guess. People save money when inflation is crazy, and if the company profits go down, their stocks go down also. If that happens, leadership may be replaced etc etc.

      Ive cancelled most of my subs because they didn’t even provide enough value before the price hikes.

      So the people who remain and who are fine with paying YouTube or Netflix, they will have to pay more to support higher profits.

      Probably in 2030, people will both pay and watch lots of ads since that gives maximum profits. Pretty much how cable TV went.

    • @Kurros@sh.itjust.works
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      78 months ago

      I agree with regards to other studios but, activision blizzard has had no shame for a while, not a new thing at all.

    • @lorty@lemmy.ml
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      18 months ago

      Higher interest rates put pressure on tech companies to actually not only become profitable but also compete with those returns considering the risk.

  • @Smokeydope@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Can’t wait for them do do it anyways and all the fans cave in because ‘muh social escapism’ gamers have some of the weakest spines, the most important point of boycotting g isn’t being loud and whiney its to NOT BUY THE PRODUCT FOR FUCKS SAKE.

  • @eoddc5@lemmy.world
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    228 months ago

    I’m not defending it, or blizzard, and reading the title sounded yucky

    But my quick understanding:

    Expansion costs $50

    Next level is $70 which comes with digital stuff, mounts, etc

    Top tier expansion is $90, which comes with even more stuff

    So a $40 difference from base or $20 from mid tier

    It also comes with 30 days of game time, so that’s $15

    Now we’re looking at $25 difference between base game. Or $5 difference between mid and top tier.

    So it’s really like $5 for more digital stuff and early access, right?

    It would have been better to just make two tiers. Charge $75 for everything including early access and don’t include game time. Cause subscribers are going to pay for that anyway. I guess because a month of access is hardly worth $15 operationally, it’s a nice way to up charge

    I haven’t bought anything wow related in like 8 years. So I don’t have a horse in this fight. The title is just a little click bait (I don’t think anyone thought it’s $90 for only early access, and assume it’s part of a $90 game cost)

      • @eoddc5@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Release date is whatever. It’s irrelevant what the date is. It’s set by the company.

        If you can play on X date and everyone else on y. Then you’re playing earlier than the rest

        Arguing otherwise is pointless

        Essentially it’s $5 for early access over the mid tier. Or $15 more over the base tier. Plus a ton of other stuff included with that up charge.

        • @Junesong@lemmy.world
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          68 months ago

          I think the point they are making is a game like wow, if you start days later then everyone else then you are behind them. It’s not like a single player game, if you’re friends are doing end game and your stuck leveling, it sucks. Therefore everyone feels foreced to get early access.

  • @Bricked@lemdro.id
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    218 months ago

    Who pre purchases this early? The release date is “on or before December 31, 2024. Lol

  • @qwertyWarlord@lemmy.world
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    208 months ago

    Oh who cares anymore. Blizzard is going to do it, the players are going to lap it up with a smile. Just let it be and move on if it’s not for you

  • @VintageTech@sh.itjust.works
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    208 months ago

    I 100% understand the need to charge for these services, but how much profit this IP has generated should have secured all funding for future expansions and more economical pricing.

    Subs should drop to $5mo with expansions starting off at $20ea. Hell make the “Classic” servers F2P.

    I’m gonna make my own mmo, with a TCG and Furries.

    • @mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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      138 months ago

      I’m almost disgusted by the people insisting ‘it’s expensive, they need the money.’

      They’ve made ten bucks a month, per player, for twenty straight years. Plus the price of a whole new game for every incremental expansion. How much more money does another expansion need?

      • Karyoplasma
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        8 months ago

        It’s not about reinvesting into the quality of future games, it’s about getting a good financial quarter to please the shareholders. Welcome to infinite growth.

    • @Squirrel@thelemmy.club
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      178 months ago

      So it’s more accessible. You don’t need to upgrade your PC regularly to play an MMO.

      Beyond that, WoW is very stylized, and it’s far from ugly. No, it’s not realistic looking, but it is nice looking.

      • @jcdenton@lemy.lol
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        18 months ago

        You know what age is beautiful stylized and can run on anything? The greatest game every made Deus Ex

    • @tilgare@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      128 months ago

      I’m not sure if you have checked out WoW lately, but it’s actually a pretty beautiful game. I think generally they want the tech specs to be a low barrier to entry for a game where they want millions of players playing concurrently. It also cannot be super heavy or things like raids and battlegrounds would chug.

      • @medgremlin@lemmy.sdf.org
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        108 months ago

        One thing that Blizzard has always been good about it making games that can run on a potato. It’ll look like crap and your view distance will be obnoxiously short, but you can run WoW on a potato of a laptop and still participate in the core gameplay. Obviously, there’s lots of options to crank up the graphics to 11/10 if you have a powerful computer, but I really appreciate that they lower the hardware barrier to entry where they can.

    • @AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      48 months ago

      EvE Online used to win Best Graphics of the year frequently. I dunno if they still do. They’re also the only MMO that I know of to use in game footage for their trailers. It would be nice if the gameplay was decent.

    • @warmaster@lemmy.world
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      -18 months ago

      So they can run on toasters AND spend the least on making the game?

      “It’s win-win” -shareholders