Seeing how WoD takes us back to somewhat of the first EP of WoW, and having this year being the 10th anniversary of WoW, I felt there’s a few things to discuss;
1. WoD endgame content mounts purchasable back in Patch 5.4’s release.
2. Costs of mount training dropping per EP/major content patch.
Just to note: I’m not a casual. I’m just a player that’s only on for new content. I don’t have a job, or a family. I do..somewhat have a life(things to do IRL, other games). But it still doesn’t make me a casual.
A casual, is a person who comes on because they have nothing better to do, yet has a lot of things to do IRL, and often has a job and a fulltime family to care for.
Let’s go over the first. I got this from a video of someone who’s(a lucky SOB) in the WoD Beta. Back in 5.4, there was a special by Blizzard, that you can help charity by buying a Farie Dragon that can change color. … Apparently, this same mount is in WoD… it was supposed to be endgame content(as in, a rep mount). Yet Blizzard decided to give people a “get out of rep grinding free card” and just buy the mount. Do mind you, WoD(at the time of this blog post) is still being worked on(mostly bug fixes).
To have mounts, that were supposed to be endgame content for an upcoming expansion, be in the Blizzard Store? … That’s not right.
Yet you can look at me and say “But Benie! You complained so much about getting Netherwing Rep in the past!! Would you not mind it if you could had gotten it before the expansion was even announced that introduced them?”, and my answer would be…I wouldn’t be able to give you one.
First off, I would had never known..the first dragon flying mount in WoW, was going to be in TBC, yet they have it on the Blizzard Store for something like… $10 or so. But with me, being the way I was soooo obsessed of dragons back then, yes, I would had bought that damn thing and not even thought about it!
But this, is different. Why? Dragon mounts are too common now. Almost everyone has one, mostly due to the fucking awesome thing Blizzard did in Cata of allowing all your chars have access to your mounts(no more god damn Netherwing rep for me!).
But I’m missing my point here. The point is, if Blizzard makes this the new way EP endgame mount content is handled, that this’ll have dire consequences. Such as, it’s bringing P2W(Pay To Win) into WoW, and that’s really not a smart idea.
Why would people, who go out and work for days…weeks to get rep with a certain faction, just to get their mount.. and if they saw the Blizzard Store and said “Ohh, Blizzard had this exact mount in their store?! WHAT THE HELL?!”, there would be a lot of hatemail and death threats against Blizzard.
The only… only way they can fix this, is offer different, better mounts that you have to get rep for. But the chance of this happening(as of what I’ve seen from videos) seems slim.
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Time for the other discussion. This is about a well known “problem” for elitists and veterans. And that’s the declining price of getting mount training. This has also plagued me in the past(mainly back in TBC and WoTLK), of not having the money for it.
For example, 5,000g for 280% speed(and unlocking) flight training. Back in TBC, this separated the rich from the desperate to be rich(myself), and the poor.
Now, this price has dropped down to 1,000g. Are they tailoring to casuals? Not in my eyes. They’re tailoring to new people who don’t have to deal with what was in the past. They’re also tailoring to alts.
And this is fine, in my book. Which is why, this discussion isn’t something I knew I would have a long time on.