Whoa??!

I saw this a couple of says ago over at Gamebunny. I didn't mention it before on this site because: a) the story they point to is about some drunk driver in Germany and b) I can't confirm it anywhere else. For now, until I get confirmation of this, it is in the "high rumor" category. It's been up on the Gamebunny site now for about 3-4 days now with no comments to the story.

This would be major news if Blizzard took this kind of pay model, and I don't think it would be a good sign of things to come. I really am not convinced that a player should pay real money for in game equipment which intrinsically have no value to begin with. Well, ok, they do have value if you look at the cost to develop that armor or sword, but I really don't think it comes close to the cost of running a server for a month.

With this model, a person can completely outfit their toon for around $80-100. Now thats fine for those people who have $80 to spend...but those who don't will be stuck with greens, according to that brief snippet from Gamebunny. Remember, everyone paid the same for the game in the first place. This brings up another interesting point. It is currently argued that those who have more time currently succeed at WoW, especially at the end-game. If this is true, this would shift the balance of power away from the typical "hard-core"gamer. If you believe the stereotypes, they have no money and live in mom's basement...they will not be happy.

Anyway...as soon as I find out that this is indeed true, I'll let you know.

D out.