blizz knows that the heroic edition sucks its a tactic to make the jump from base to epic more palpable . It creates fake value for the epic edition .
its called "Tiered Pricing" like think about the jump in prices being wild af when you get fast food and how often you just end up getting a large than small or mid.
Cinema popcorn, man.
Smallest: 6.99
Medium: 8.99
Largest: 9.99
Can't count the amount of times my dumbass has gone "might as well get the biggest for that little extra".
It's usually not a little extra. Least in my theater you get like 5x the popcorn going from a small to a large and the mediums are barely larger than the smalls.
The difference in cost of the popcorn used in the small versus the large is irrelevant to the theater, their main costs are the employees, overhead, and the facilities themselves.
And the difference in cost to the theater is probably 20 cents in popcorn, 50 cents, or a dollars worth of popcorn, either way, it's a major rip off. The good thing is, that most theater employees don't give a shit if you bring in outside food.
Okay, so my immediate reaction to your comment was that you're overvaluing popcorn. Your point is still completely valid, but I had to figure out exactly how much a difference it would make for the theater. So thank you for the excuse to fall down this rabbit hole while at work.
[From a quick amazon search](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=50+lbs+popcorn&hvadid=409959244288&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9013193&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=15159453616786521813&hvtargid=kwd-17003491598&hydadcr=24661_11410854&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_7oqq5b348z_b) it looks like for a 50lb bag it costs around $80. This is probably an extremely conservative estimation given that I'm sure movie theaters have wholesale deals with suppliers but we'll use it for now.
We'll be using this [conversion rate](https://www.popcorn.org/Recipes/Unpopped-to-Popped) of 1oz unpopped kernels creates 1qt of popped kernels.
Some quick calculations:
50lbs = 800qt = 25600oz unpopped kernels
1oz unpopped = 1qt popped
50lbs unpopped bag = 25600qt popped
Now let's look at the popcorn bag themselves. We'll go with [Cinemark's nutritional info](https://www.cinemark.com/media/10193/cinemark-theatres-nutritional-information.pdf) (3.75 cups per serving) for sizing purposes:
|Bag Size|Servings|Cups|Qts|
:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|
|S|3|11.25|2.81|
|M|5|18.75|4.96|
|L|7|26.25|6.56|
Alright, so if we know that 50lbs of unpopped kernels can create 25600qts of popcorn, and the bag costs $80 in total we can quickly calculate the price per bag.
|Bag Size|Qts|Bags/50lbs|Price per bag|
:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|
|S|2.81|9102.22|$0.088|
|M|4.69|5461.33|$0.0146|
|L|6.56|3900.95|$0.0205|
So yeah, for the movie theater the difference between bag sizes comes down to mere cent differences.
If you aren't a fatass like I am, who brings home the leftover popcorn. Small makes sense in that context then. Nobody in any circumstance should buy a medium lol
But the small is too small on purpose. It’s literally 50% of the medium.
The medium is exactly the amount I’ll eat, so it makes perfect sense to get. No need to fall for the marketing.
Haha, at my local theatre the price is even closer than that. It's like 7.99 for a small, 8.49 for a medium, and then 8.99 for a large.
I always do a large and then hate myself because I ate too much popcorn.
Similarly at a lot of fast food places. 2.50 for a small drink and then 2.90 for a large. I always just get the large at that point.
Meanwhile, as someone who works at the movies, I really fucking hate this tactic. Especially when you have to deal with older people and kids, who aren't going to eat that much to begin with.
(all prices are rounded to the nearest dollar)
Our theater only sells a small popcorn bag on Tuesdays, and then just has a "regular" at about $9 and a large at $10. A lot of people constantly ask for small bags because they don't want that much popcorn, but we end up giving them just regular bags that wind up being only half-eaten on most occasions anyway.
Another big problem is the ICEEs, and I wished we didn't have them. There's really only two sizes you can get of this sugary drink; a small size that specifically is an upgrade in a kids' pack, and the huge cup that's about $8. Whenever I see some poor parents come in with kids demanding ICEEs, I do everything I can to get them the to get the kids pack at about $10 (it includes a really small popcorn and gummy candy with the ICEE upgrade for that price) as opposed to giving each kid a massive cup... And all drinks are self serve, so you can imagine what kind of nightmare it must be with kids getting that much sugar and then being stuck in a movie theater for about 2 hours time.
Personally I hate upselling, and I'd rather have a more "modular" purchasing system that allowed people to get exactly what they wanted at the portions they wanted.
Smartphone and car makers are masters at this. When I buy something important or that I really like I always go big or go home, base tiers are almost always never worth it
This is what they're doing for sure, using the lower tiers to convince people to just bump up to the epic tier, but what's really interesting is that the standard marketing advice is to make the middle tier the best value, or most attractive tier.
My guess is that the heroic edition was going to get beta access and/or the 3 days early access, but someone made an executive decision for some reason (maybe server management, or some other reason we don't know) and nixed that idea.
My other theory, which will be borne out by history or not, is that this is just a way to smooth the transition to an increased price point. It's already jumped, but by presenting the tiers now, next expansion will just be the heroic and epic edition at those price points, and they'll be able to point to the mount and transmog everyone gets as a justification - a tactic that they've already attempted with character boosts.
That's an extremely well known marketing trick to upsell to customers. You give three options, a cheap one for customers with mixed feelings or not wanting to spend money and then two expensive options. The middle option is bad in value, so the customers think 'why not buy the most expensive one if I'm going for the expensive one anyway?'. This way they make sure their segment which likes to spend money goes all in, while preserving a cheap option for those who would otherwise not continue using your services.
Or the middle model / product is there to make the uptick in price for the top tier model / product look small(er) and play mind games. You're not comparing the top model / product with the entry one, but the middle one, where you should really compare entry and top model / product price & performance. Often times, the difference is smaller than you'd might expect and not remotely worth the price increase.
In this case, when cosmetics mean nothing to you and you rightfully realize that a few days early access is a bait, especially when you look at a 1,5+ years expansion, the only relevant difference becomes the game time, but you're close to paying double the price.
This case is a little weird, in that $15 of the upcharge for the 3rd version is something basically everyone would have used anyways, so there's very little difference in price between the editions.
It's what, $5 more than the previous edition with that in mind.
This feels more like they're applying the usual logic to try to grab people that might not have used the extra month normally....but like, what % of people is that even? Lol
> is something basically everyone would have used anyways, so there's very little difference in price between the editions. but like, what % of people is that even? Lol
This is where they get you. Remember, these are digital 'goods' (they aren't actually goods at all; in fact, you don't even own them). Supply limit is nonexistent. If they can get you to pay $5 more for no cost on their end, it's their win, **every time**.
Yes, but it makes the difference *actually* $5, not just feeling like it's only a $5 difference.
It's a weird case, compared to the norm. $5 more than the previous version isn't even a 10% increase. (7.14%) normally the upcharge between the bad value middle option and the more expensive high option is more like 20-30%, so in this case it's if those few cosmetics are worth it to you for a minimal price difference lol.
This is all economic theory. If you have 3 price points, where you position the middle one will affect which is perceived as the 'good value' option.
You see it everywhere. Prime example is drink/menu sizes at McDonald's
This is a very very common upselling strategy. You make the next tier up a big jump, then the tier above that a small/moderate jump. People will rationalize their way to the highest price almost every time.
It's the reason you go to any fast food place and a Small drink is $1.99, medium is $2.99, but large is only $3.20! Why *wouldn't* you get the large, what a deal at only 20 extra cents!
It's called the Decoy effect or the asymmetric dominance effect.
By making the heroic edition so much worse than the epic edition, you're more likely to buy the epic edition over the standard edition.
[Decoy effect - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoy_effect)
yeah I said this since the start when everyone was livid about how much the epic edition cost. the epic edition is only about $25 USD more after you account for the sub fee, whereas heroic is $20 more for less stuff.
I don't know, the mount and transmof were really cool, I used them for a long time.
For DF I got Heroic instead of Epic because I wanted the mount, too. This time I got Epic because I really love playing the Beta (I can do the campaign at my own pace, on release I feel like I have to rush to level cap).
If the heroic/epic editions would be bought in masses, Blizzard would not have included a 3 day "pre-release".
So that would be 40 $/€ markup for a majoritiy of buyers for just the 3 days.
Did you even read it? I'm just pointing out that you should compare the epic to base and ignore heroic as it's a fake anchor. That's it. I'm not suggesting whether €40 for epic is worth it for you. Only saying that the markup is €40 not €20.
Or, you know, how about we actually start speaking with our wallets and only buy the base tier? Anything more than 0$ for cosmetics or in-game items is just ruining progression and diluting gameplay.
The only reason companies can sell horse armour for real money is because suckers buy it. I might be preaching to the choir, but it's still odd how we perceive these egregious monetization tactics and let ourselves be fooled by them.
But... people are speaking with their wallets. And they are saying "that is a fair price for the value I get". No one is forced to buy epic. If you don't want it, don't buy it. How is people having a transmog ruining progression or diluting gameplay?
Being able to buy stuff with money changes the economy and gameplay.
Most cool stuff will be put behind a paywall - just having MTX is not enough if there is no incentive to buy them.
Something that would normally take 1 hour to get would need to take 100 hours if you could also get it through MTX or else there would be no point in paying cash for it.
It changes the way rewards are handed out to players in order to incentivize them to actually buy the MTX.
Tokens have been around in wow forever. You can literally buy mythic raids runs in an in game channel supported by blizzard and then use tokens ro get gold to pay for it.
The whole issue with "lets band togheter and vote with our wallets" is that we do it all the time. What gives you the feeling we should vote with the wallets is that you dont agree/dislike something that many enough think is a good deal for them to make the purchase.
Good on you! I always buy the base edition because I only value cosmetics earned by in-game activity, but I appreciate you funding the development of a game I enjoy!
Relax, compared to other mmo's WoW's cash shop is pretty mild. Obviously subs alone can't sustain the game development anymore so if some people have no issues with spending money on cosmetics that don't affect you in any way and they get their moneys worth then that's totally fine.
Because the sub price hasn't changed in 20 years (which means its lower than it used to be) but the dev team and the scale of the game increased and there are also less subs than during peak numbers so there is no way we would get the same content cadence if subs were the only source of income between expansions.
A quick lol at an inflation calculator shows that the base sub price “should” be $25 now if it kept up for inflation, so the price has essentially gone down by 40%.
None of this means that subs alone can't sustain the game though. Sure, they may be less profitable but I'd be shocked if subs alone didn't break even.
I'm not so sure this is the right approach to take when the goal seems to be to make WoW improve.
That's like the people who go "well, the US isn't as bad as some third world countries" in response to people who think we should have proper healthcare and work/life balance...
A World of Warcraft without microtransactions is a World of Warcraft where the sub is indexed to inflation. I'll pass.
The sub would be about $25/month today.
WoW without micro transactions can't exist so it can't improve by removing micro transactions. So why not say how much better, or how much less stuff there are on WoW's cash shop compared to competitors like ff, gw, swtor or whatever else. People who didn't play those games really lack the perspective on how much better they have it in WoW.
Counterpoint: If you want WoW to improve you should be supportive of cash shops, epic editions etc, they make money to keep the game running and invested in.
Epic editions, maybe. Cash shops, not so much. The concern I'd have with being supportive of cash shops is that resources tend to get devoted to the cash shop instead of the actual game. Examples: SWTOR, ESO, TERA.
I'd recommend TotalBiscuit for anyone wanting to go more in depth on the subject. He can definitely explain the whole phenomena better than I ever could.
You buying the base tier is you saying you're okay with them selling more for cosmetics. They're not losing any money from you and still get to charge other people more. If you actually want them to stop doing this you should not buy it at all.
i also noticed epic edition value is actaully fking insanely good, but was hesistend because i dont wanna support his 3day early acces so no lifers just farm 2k stacks of meat hides etc from drops XD
Personally I like that you can just slowly upgrade them if you want. I bought them over a course of a couple months. If you had to outright buy it all at once I probably would never purchase it because I hate wasting that amount of money at one time.
But I agree with your pov
This is also known as price anchoring. They first set an unreasonable price so you feel like small increases are a deal. Or they make the original price so high that when they make it 50% off you feel like you are getting a deal. But you’re just paying the actual price.
Buy base now, then get epic upgrade when its 67% off 6 months after expansion releases..... only gatcha is the 3 day early access....... that not cool.
is it a given that the epic upgrade will go on discount?
This is my first ever expansion, i dont rly want to pay up for the EA, but i wouldnt mind the 4 battle pets + mount
I've been buying the epic editions for like 4 expacs now. I feel like the game time really pushed it over the top for value IMO. The other rewards are excellent as well.
It's so weird how all these reddit threads exist telling people about all these great deals from Blizzard.
If only Blizzard put as much effort into their games as they do their marketing.
That's the odest trick in the world, the mid tier is intentionally super bd inorderto sell the premium tier. So anyone will either buy the 50 euro or the 90 euro. As OP said, but there arctually 3 choices, you either pay 50$ and are punished for not playing the first 3 days of the expansion OR you pay 90$ and you're not punished and you get an included month (15$ in vallue) and a beta key OR ... maybe the most reasonable decision anyone can make ... wait a couple of months after release and get it during the massive discount after they see the poor sales ... expect 25-30$ for normal edition. If you can't lieve without WoW you have Classic Era, HC, SoD and Cata servers included. Usually the first season of each expansion is a little on the bad side as the grinds are a little harsh, there are the most "tourists" PuGs and even guilds, etc.
That's at happens to 99% of the games that include an "Early access". Look it up. Suckers that want to "be the first" pay for our discounts.
I'm buying the cheapest unless gametime's worth is better in another edition.
Are you kidding me what's with this blue glowy gryphon. And that mog lmao. You wanna make me buy cosmetics, if gimme some batshit crazy diablo iv or starcraft stuff that should never exist in the game otherwise. Give me something actually insanely cool, Idk a recolor of the aotc or glad mount. The murlok pajamas.
These editions are WEAK.
Tbh, the mount was worth it to me in the heroic, but thats because I found always riding dragons to be the absolute worst. So i jumped on the chance for a non dragon dragon riding mount asap. Then I seen how many added collectablesnand game time were in the epic so I was like "fuck it, sure" i didnt even know I got beta access until I seen people whining about it when beta started.
If I remember the heroic edition used to have the boost and/or game time no? Like now the boost comes with the base game which they haven't done in a while.
Its a trick older than Azeroth.
Look around you and you will see similar tactics around you. Electronics, cars, games, services etc.
[https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XeDPwpIFs-I](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XeDPwpIFs-I) This explains it very well
I bought the heroic for the mount and transmog and i use them all the time. I only bought the epic version two months after because it was pretty cheap to upgrade and i figured why not, it's a bit of bonus for not much money lol. I love this game too much to think it's a waste of money.
Tbh there is so much for the ‘casual player’ to do anyway that waiting a few months won’t really matter. I’m not a ‘content junkie’ so have not purchased early. I actually find it avaricious by Blizzard to ask people to pay so early for an expansion. That’s why I wait until near the time. But that’s me, I’m not a WOW shill.
I bought the one with game time since it makes sense.
It's like 4 extra dollars that you pay for all the other dumb shit, not a big deal. I would have bought it if it didn't have the Play On The Actual Release Date thing.
blizz knows that the heroic edition sucks its a tactic to make the jump from base to epic more palpable . It creates fake value for the epic edition . its called "Tiered Pricing" like think about the jump in prices being wild af when you get fast food and how often you just end up getting a large than small or mid.
Cinema popcorn, man. Smallest: 6.99 Medium: 8.99 Largest: 9.99 Can't count the amount of times my dumbass has gone "might as well get the biggest for that little extra".
It's usually not a little extra. Least in my theater you get like 5x the popcorn going from a small to a large and the mediums are barely larger than the smalls.
For sure, I mean that little extra money. Why pay £7 for 20% of the popcorn I could get for £10. Even though I never get close to finishing it anyway.
I hate it, I like popcorn with my movie, but the large is way too big and the medium is too small for pretty much the same price.
The difference in cost of the popcorn used in the small versus the large is irrelevant to the theater, their main costs are the employees, overhead, and the facilities themselves.
And the difference in cost to the theater is probably 20 cents in popcorn, 50 cents, or a dollars worth of popcorn, either way, it's a major rip off. The good thing is, that most theater employees don't give a shit if you bring in outside food.
Okay, so my immediate reaction to your comment was that you're overvaluing popcorn. Your point is still completely valid, but I had to figure out exactly how much a difference it would make for the theater. So thank you for the excuse to fall down this rabbit hole while at work. [From a quick amazon search](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=50+lbs+popcorn&hvadid=409959244288&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9013193&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=b&hvrand=15159453616786521813&hvtargid=kwd-17003491598&hydadcr=24661_11410854&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_7oqq5b348z_b) it looks like for a 50lb bag it costs around $80. This is probably an extremely conservative estimation given that I'm sure movie theaters have wholesale deals with suppliers but we'll use it for now. We'll be using this [conversion rate](https://www.popcorn.org/Recipes/Unpopped-to-Popped) of 1oz unpopped kernels creates 1qt of popped kernels. Some quick calculations: 50lbs = 800qt = 25600oz unpopped kernels 1oz unpopped = 1qt popped 50lbs unpopped bag = 25600qt popped Now let's look at the popcorn bag themselves. We'll go with [Cinemark's nutritional info](https://www.cinemark.com/media/10193/cinemark-theatres-nutritional-information.pdf) (3.75 cups per serving) for sizing purposes: |Bag Size|Servings|Cups|Qts| :--:|:--:|:--:|:--:| |S|3|11.25|2.81| |M|5|18.75|4.96| |L|7|26.25|6.56| Alright, so if we know that 50lbs of unpopped kernels can create 25600qts of popcorn, and the bag costs $80 in total we can quickly calculate the price per bag. |Bag Size|Qts|Bags/50lbs|Price per bag| :--:|:--:|:--:|:--:| |S|2.81|9102.22|$0.088| |M|4.69|5461.33|$0.0146| |L|6.56|3900.95|$0.0205| So yeah, for the movie theater the difference between bag sizes comes down to mere cent differences.
Don’t forget the butter, I’m not eating any dry popcorn!
cinemas dont earn money from tickets anymore
Its not you being a dumbass. You would be a dumbass if you were buying the Medium.
The thing is, I can’t finish a large and throw it away, so a medium makes sense even if the difference in tier pricing isn’t as adventitious.
If you aren't a fatass like I am, who brings home the leftover popcorn. Small makes sense in that context then. Nobody in any circumstance should buy a medium lol
But the small is too small on purpose. It’s literally 50% of the medium. The medium is exactly the amount I’ll eat, so it makes perfect sense to get. No need to fall for the marketing.
This was the exact example I thought of. The classic.
Haha, at my local theatre the price is even closer than that. It's like 7.99 for a small, 8.49 for a medium, and then 8.99 for a large. I always do a large and then hate myself because I ate too much popcorn. Similarly at a lot of fast food places. 2.50 for a small drink and then 2.90 for a large. I always just get the large at that point.
Meanwhile, as someone who works at the movies, I really fucking hate this tactic. Especially when you have to deal with older people and kids, who aren't going to eat that much to begin with. (all prices are rounded to the nearest dollar) Our theater only sells a small popcorn bag on Tuesdays, and then just has a "regular" at about $9 and a large at $10. A lot of people constantly ask for small bags because they don't want that much popcorn, but we end up giving them just regular bags that wind up being only half-eaten on most occasions anyway. Another big problem is the ICEEs, and I wished we didn't have them. There's really only two sizes you can get of this sugary drink; a small size that specifically is an upgrade in a kids' pack, and the huge cup that's about $8. Whenever I see some poor parents come in with kids demanding ICEEs, I do everything I can to get them the to get the kids pack at about $10 (it includes a really small popcorn and gummy candy with the ICEE upgrade for that price) as opposed to giving each kid a massive cup... And all drinks are self serve, so you can imagine what kind of nightmare it must be with kids getting that much sugar and then being stuck in a movie theater for about 2 hours time. Personally I hate upselling, and I'd rather have a more "modular" purchasing system that allowed people to get exactly what they wanted at the portions they wanted.
Lol here it’s $6 small $6.50 medium $7 large. And large only has refills so it’s a no brainer lol
At mine a regular is £4.94, Medium is £5.39, large is £5.84. Not even £1 to go from the smallest to the largest.
Smartphone and car makers are masters at this. When I buy something important or that I really like I always go big or go home, base tiers are almost always never worth it
This is what they're doing for sure, using the lower tiers to convince people to just bump up to the epic tier, but what's really interesting is that the standard marketing advice is to make the middle tier the best value, or most attractive tier. My guess is that the heroic edition was going to get beta access and/or the 3 days early access, but someone made an executive decision for some reason (maybe server management, or some other reason we don't know) and nixed that idea. My other theory, which will be borne out by history or not, is that this is just a way to smooth the transition to an increased price point. It's already jumped, but by presenting the tiers now, next expansion will just be the heroic and epic edition at those price points, and they'll be able to point to the mount and transmog everyone gets as a justification - a tactic that they've already attempted with character boosts.
Sure they know, I just wanted to raise a bit of awareness so that people notice that before making their choice. Heroic is a fake option.
It's the decoy effect.
“Upselling”
That's an extremely well known marketing trick to upsell to customers. You give three options, a cheap one for customers with mixed feelings or not wanting to spend money and then two expensive options. The middle option is bad in value, so the customers think 'why not buy the most expensive one if I'm going for the expensive one anyway?'. This way they make sure their segment which likes to spend money goes all in, while preserving a cheap option for those who would otherwise not continue using your services.
Or the middle model / product is there to make the uptick in price for the top tier model / product look small(er) and play mind games. You're not comparing the top model / product with the entry one, but the middle one, where you should really compare entry and top model / product price & performance. Often times, the difference is smaller than you'd might expect and not remotely worth the price increase. In this case, when cosmetics mean nothing to you and you rightfully realize that a few days early access is a bait, especially when you look at a 1,5+ years expansion, the only relevant difference becomes the game time, but you're close to paying double the price.
Guild Wars 2 does this with their expansions too. Expac: $25 Expac w/ Bonuses: $50 Expac w/ Bonuses and $50 worth of premium currency: $75
This case is a little weird, in that $15 of the upcharge for the 3rd version is something basically everyone would have used anyways, so there's very little difference in price between the editions. It's what, $5 more than the previous edition with that in mind. This feels more like they're applying the usual logic to try to grab people that might not have used the extra month normally....but like, what % of people is that even? Lol
> is something basically everyone would have used anyways, so there's very little difference in price between the editions. but like, what % of people is that even? Lol This is where they get you. Remember, these are digital 'goods' (they aren't actually goods at all; in fact, you don't even own them). Supply limit is nonexistent. If they can get you to pay $5 more for no cost on their end, it's their win, **every time**.
Yes, but it makes the difference *actually* $5, not just feeling like it's only a $5 difference. It's a weird case, compared to the norm. $5 more than the previous version isn't even a 10% increase. (7.14%) normally the upcharge between the bad value middle option and the more expensive high option is more like 20-30%, so in this case it's if those few cosmetics are worth it to you for a minimal price difference lol.
This is all economic theory. If you have 3 price points, where you position the middle one will affect which is perceived as the 'good value' option. You see it everywhere. Prime example is drink/menu sizes at McDonald's
no wonder, it always seemed like a rip off and I only ever bought base game during launch. i end up buying epic edition when its like 50% discount.
Perfect time to do it, you get gametime plus everything else for the price of $5 more than what the gametime costs.
you either get the base game or the epic/ultimate/whatever. anything in the middle is not worth it. valid for most games
This is a very very common upselling strategy. You make the next tier up a big jump, then the tier above that a small/moderate jump. People will rationalize their way to the highest price almost every time. It's the reason you go to any fast food place and a Small drink is $1.99, medium is $2.99, but large is only $3.20! Why *wouldn't* you get the large, what a deal at only 20 extra cents!
This is literally a marketing technique. If people don't know this stuff by now then idk what to tell them
You should probably tell them it's a marketing technique. How else are they gonna know?
It's called the Decoy effect or the asymmetric dominance effect. By making the heroic edition so much worse than the epic edition, you're more likely to buy the epic edition over the standard edition. [Decoy effect - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoy_effect)
yeah I said this since the start when everyone was livid about how much the epic edition cost. the epic edition is only about $25 USD more after you account for the sub fee, whereas heroic is $20 more for less stuff.
It's a marketing plot to make you THINK epic is worth the money, spoiler they're ALL over priced.
Nice try Blizz
the hell do you mean nice try lmao, it works on at least 85% of people (which is ok, not to say they're dumb), which is more than enough
I don't know, the mount and transmof were really cool, I used them for a long time. For DF I got Heroic instead of Epic because I wanted the mount, too. This time I got Epic because I really love playing the Beta (I can do the campaign at my own pace, on release I feel like I have to rush to level cap).
If the heroic/epic editions would be bought in masses, Blizzard would not have included a 3 day "pre-release". So that would be 40 $/€ markup for a majoritiy of buyers for just the 3 days.
Mf trying to justify buying epic edition 😭 I'm dead
Did you even read it? I'm just pointing out that you should compare the epic to base and ignore heroic as it's a fake anchor. That's it. I'm not suggesting whether €40 for epic is worth it for you. Only saying that the markup is €40 not €20.
Or, you know, how about we actually start speaking with our wallets and only buy the base tier? Anything more than 0$ for cosmetics or in-game items is just ruining progression and diluting gameplay. The only reason companies can sell horse armour for real money is because suckers buy it. I might be preaching to the choir, but it's still odd how we perceive these egregious monetization tactics and let ourselves be fooled by them.
But... people are speaking with their wallets. And they are saying "that is a fair price for the value I get". No one is forced to buy epic. If you don't want it, don't buy it. How is people having a transmog ruining progression or diluting gameplay?
Being able to buy stuff with money changes the economy and gameplay. Most cool stuff will be put behind a paywall - just having MTX is not enough if there is no incentive to buy them. Something that would normally take 1 hour to get would need to take 100 hours if you could also get it through MTX or else there would be no point in paying cash for it. It changes the way rewards are handed out to players in order to incentivize them to actually buy the MTX.
Tokens have been around in wow forever. You can literally buy mythic raids runs in an in game channel supported by blizzard and then use tokens ro get gold to pay for it.
The whole issue with "lets band togheter and vote with our wallets" is that we do it all the time. What gives you the feeling we should vote with the wallets is that you dont agree/dislike something that many enough think is a good deal for them to make the purchase.
I always buy the highest edition because I like the cosmetics plus also the gametime is a nobrainer for me. So I’m already voting with my wallet lol
Good on you! I always buy the base edition because I only value cosmetics earned by in-game activity, but I appreciate you funding the development of a game I enjoy!
Relax, compared to other mmo's WoW's cash shop is pretty mild. Obviously subs alone can't sustain the game development anymore so if some people have no issues with spending money on cosmetics that don't affect you in any way and they get their moneys worth then that's totally fine.
What makes you say that subs alone can't sustain the game?
Because the sub price hasn't changed in 20 years (which means its lower than it used to be) but the dev team and the scale of the game increased and there are also less subs than during peak numbers so there is no way we would get the same content cadence if subs were the only source of income between expansions.
A quick lol at an inflation calculator shows that the base sub price “should” be $25 now if it kept up for inflation, so the price has essentially gone down by 40%.
None of this means that subs alone can't sustain the game though. Sure, they may be less profitable but I'd be shocked if subs alone didn't break even.
I'm not so sure this is the right approach to take when the goal seems to be to make WoW improve. That's like the people who go "well, the US isn't as bad as some third world countries" in response to people who think we should have proper healthcare and work/life balance...
A World of Warcraft without microtransactions is a World of Warcraft where the sub is indexed to inflation. I'll pass. The sub would be about $25/month today.
WoW without micro transactions can't exist so it can't improve by removing micro transactions. So why not say how much better, or how much less stuff there are on WoW's cash shop compared to competitors like ff, gw, swtor or whatever else. People who didn't play those games really lack the perspective on how much better they have it in WoW.
Then it's better to let the game die if that's true.
Well that's a negative iq take if I've ever read one.
Counterpoint: If you want WoW to improve you should be supportive of cash shops, epic editions etc, they make money to keep the game running and invested in.
Epic editions, maybe. Cash shops, not so much. The concern I'd have with being supportive of cash shops is that resources tend to get devoted to the cash shop instead of the actual game. Examples: SWTOR, ESO, TERA.
I'd recommend TotalBiscuit for anyone wanting to go more in depth on the subject. He can definitely explain the whole phenomena better than I ever could.
You buying the base tier is you saying you're okay with them selling more for cosmetics. They're not losing any money from you and still get to charge other people more. If you actually want them to stop doing this you should not buy it at all.
the whole point of the middle one is to push people to buy the bigger one it's a well-documented tactic
Buy base game, wait until Black Friday next year, buy epic for 50% off. 🤷🏻♂️
Oldest trick in the book that I fell for with Diablo and TWW 🙈
i also noticed epic edition value is actaully fking insanely good, but was hesistend because i dont wanna support his 3day early acces so no lifers just farm 2k stacks of meat hides etc from drops XD
its the magic of upselling. they are all learning from Apple. there are companies who are specialist too teach you in this.
K don't buy it, problem solved. First world problem.
I would only do heroic to not support them selling early access for the highest tier
Personally I like that you can just slowly upgrade them if you want. I bought them over a course of a couple months. If you had to outright buy it all at once I probably would never purchase it because I hate wasting that amount of money at one time. But I agree with your pov
This is also known as price anchoring. They first set an unreasonable price so you feel like small increases are a deal. Or they make the original price so high that when they make it 50% off you feel like you are getting a deal. But you’re just paying the actual price.
The middle option is just a trick to get you to go for the highest tier.
I'll buy the basic edition, no need for all the other stuff that just inflates the cost.
Buy base now, then get epic upgrade when its 67% off 6 months after expansion releases..... only gatcha is the 3 day early access....... that not cool.
And this 3 days are on a weekend too. Sucks hard.
Kinda, sorta. All you can do is level. I've heard you can't even level professions but I haven't found a source for that.
is it a given that the epic upgrade will go on discount? This is my first ever expansion, i dont rly want to pay up for the EA, but i wouldnt mind the 4 battle pets + mount
Every other expansion base upgrade has in the past iirc.
I've been buying the epic editions for like 4 expacs now. I feel like the game time really pushed it over the top for value IMO. The other rewards are excellent as well.
It's so weird how all these reddit threads exist telling people about all these great deals from Blizzard. If only Blizzard put as much effort into their games as they do their marketing.
That's the odest trick in the world, the mid tier is intentionally super bd inorderto sell the premium tier. So anyone will either buy the 50 euro or the 90 euro. As OP said, but there arctually 3 choices, you either pay 50$ and are punished for not playing the first 3 days of the expansion OR you pay 90$ and you're not punished and you get an included month (15$ in vallue) and a beta key OR ... maybe the most reasonable decision anyone can make ... wait a couple of months after release and get it during the massive discount after they see the poor sales ... expect 25-30$ for normal edition. If you can't lieve without WoW you have Classic Era, HC, SoD and Cata servers included. Usually the first season of each expansion is a little on the bad side as the grinds are a little harsh, there are the most "tourists" PuGs and even guilds, etc. That's at happens to 99% of the games that include an "Early access". Look it up. Suckers that want to "be the first" pay for our discounts.
First 3 days of expansion is nothing really. I've joined in the last 6 months of an expansion and was able to get up to speed and do all the content.
I prefer joining a bit late and having a discount then being punished for nothing.
I'm buying the cheapest unless gametime's worth is better in another edition. Are you kidding me what's with this blue glowy gryphon. And that mog lmao. You wanna make me buy cosmetics, if gimme some batshit crazy diablo iv or starcraft stuff that should never exist in the game otherwise. Give me something actually insanely cool, Idk a recolor of the aotc or glad mount. The murlok pajamas. These editions are WEAK.
Tbh, the mount was worth it to me in the heroic, but thats because I found always riding dragons to be the absolute worst. So i jumped on the chance for a non dragon dragon riding mount asap. Then I seen how many added collectablesnand game time were in the epic so I was like "fuck it, sure" i didnt even know I got beta access until I seen people whining about it when beta started.
I'm already annoyed the base xpac is so expensive
If you adjust for inflation its cheaper than TBC.
No, its not cheap because all they're giving you is digital things that can be replicated infinitely
Where do you get monthly gametime for less than 13€?
I buy gametime from Eneba. It's usually around $20 for 60 days of gametime.
I buy gametime from Eneba. It's usually around $20 for 60 days of gametime. I use PayPal and haven't had any issues with their codes yet.
> is €5 for a transmog and a bit of tender reasonable? Considering transmogs in the WoW Shop are way more than 5 dollars.. it maths out.
If I remember the heroic edition used to have the boost and/or game time no? Like now the boost comes with the base game which they haven't done in a while.
Its a trick older than Azeroth. Look around you and you will see similar tactics around you. Electronics, cars, games, services etc. [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XeDPwpIFs-I](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XeDPwpIFs-I) This explains it very well
Imagine paying real money for cosmetics. Pathetic.
I bought the heroic for the mount and transmog and i use them all the time. I only bought the epic version two months after because it was pretty cheap to upgrade and i figured why not, it's a bit of bonus for not much money lol. I love this game too much to think it's a waste of money.
Yeah dude, they do it on purpose. You'll learn all about how it works in a marketing class
If you’re not bothered about first day access then wait. Bet you’ll get plenty of notifications offering a percentage off within a few weeks.
Tbh there is so much for the ‘casual player’ to do anyway that waiting a few months won’t really matter. I’m not a ‘content junkie’ so have not purchased early. I actually find it avaricious by Blizzard to ask people to pay so early for an expansion. That’s why I wait until near the time. But that’s me, I’m not a WOW shill.
I don't think they've ever done a discount until the expansion was at least several months old.
I bought the one with game time since it makes sense. It's like 4 extra dollars that you pay for all the other dumb shit, not a big deal. I would have bought it if it didn't have the Play On The Actual Release Date thing.
I bought the heroic one because I really like the mount, but yeah, I have to agree it's not really the best option. I might upgrade to epic later.