Dear Blog,

I hope you don’t mind listening, but I feel I need to unload and you have always been a good shoulder for me to cry on.

But the last couple of weeks have been exceptional.  I know I told you I was playing World of Warcraft again. I have been really enjoying my time back, doing dailies, leveling up an alt, and last week I even raided.  Ya, I know I am back into the game.

Of course being back also means trying to keep up with WoW news, and rumors.  To do so I have turned to podcasts and blogs, since these people normally do a great job of collecting and analyzing things for me.  Podcasts are particularly useful for those long drives to and from the office.  I have a lot of respect for those that take time each week to record conversations about a game / industry they love.

But, and I have pretty thick skin, sometimes people make me nuts.  Most of the time when this happens I will simply sigh, roll my eyes, or chuckle, but sometimes when normally rational people, say things I disagree with, or say things that are simply wrong, I *cough* get worked up.   Over the last couple of weeks two discussions, set me off.

First was Blizzard’s selling of the Celestial Steed.

Wow, did that ever cause a tizzy with people.  I have heard and read so many people going on and on in a very self important way about this business decision and I find myself a bit shocked.   When I hear people talk about a studio Should or Should Not Do, about how additional charges + a subscription is wrong, or about how other games/studios are doing something  I normally don’t care.

But when I see a large cross section of the MMO twitter/blog community collectively saying it as if Blizzard (or any company) owes them something, I want to puke.

The facts are:

• World of Warcraft has a Large audience, one which already proved a desire and willingness to pay real money for the license to use a virtual good.
• Blizzard is not making games as a non-profit organization; profit is a goal of theirs. (It better be or shareholders wont be happy)
• They CAN charge whatever they want for these virtual goods, and ideally they charge exactly what the market will pay.
• To take things one step further; they, and any other company, can charge whatever they want to play the game.  Again, ideally this amount is exactly what the market is willing to bare.

If we as consumers don’t like it then we have to vote with our dollars.  Sell your stock, cancel your sub, and definitely don’t buy what they are selling.    No really if you think the Sparkle Pony is a bad idea, or costs too much, or anything, DON”T BUY IT.

Personally I think the celestial steed is Awesome.  A scalable mount for all the characters on your account for twenty-five dollars sounds great to me.

Would I like it better if it was $20, or $15, or $10?

From a consumer POV? Sure. 
From a business POV? Only if that lower cost drives more sales and in turn higher profit.   Heck from a business POV, I think they may have been able to charge more.

Did I buy one?  Not yet. But I sure do want one.

The Second bit of news was about the idea of 10 and 25-man Cataclysm raids sharing loot tables and lock-out timers.

I think this is great news, but oh my have the 25 man raiding wow bloggers / podcasters gone crazy over this news.

Blog I’m sure by now that you know how I feel.  I enjoy the more intimate setting of the 10 man raids, and knowing that 10man raiding will no longer be second fiddle to 25mans makes me very happy.   People like me that run mostly 10mans will have access to the same gear as their 25man brothers.

Yes, there is a down side to this change.  It will change how people raid. People with extra time will now have to chose 25 or 10, they wont get to keep one as their “real” raid and have the other as a throw away. I suspect this will slow down progression, or at least some gearing up. I also think it might draw people together a bit more. (complete speculation on my part).

There are a whole lot of people crying about the death of 25mans, I feel your pain, but I don’t think its as bad as you think it is.

Yes I do predict there will be some guild / raid reorganization.    People who love 25man raids will need to band together and form new groups, but it is not the end of the world you are making it out to be.  Blizzard has stated that 25man raids will provide a higher quantity of loot which I  suspect will be enough to keep some people doing 25man runs.

Example:

• 6 boss raid wing, in 10man each boss drops 2 items that is 1.2 items per person.
• If in 25 man each boss dropped 6 items that would make the average 1.44 per person.

That difference will probably be enough for 25man lovers to keep doing 25man runs.

QQ OFF

Thanks for listening blog.  I feel much better simply talking to you.  I almost wonder what got me so upset in the first place.   I understand that change is scary.  People don’t like change, especially when it looks to be taking something away from you.   I should not allow other people’s emotions and outbursts, to  lead to my own.  Bye blog, until next time.