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Bliz isn't trying to be kind with the annual subsciption deal
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Post by
whichwitch
I'm sure it's no consolation, and I do feel for you, but I'm sure that the reason blizz isn't offering it in the countries excluded is NOT because they don't want to. It's almost certainly a red tape/government/law issue that makes it either not a good deal or just downright undoable. This deal is pretty sweet, for both the customers AND blizz, and I'm really pleasantly surprised by their genius in offering it. There's NO way they are witholding it from certain countries to "be mean" or anything...there has to be a significant reason that they can't help behind it.
I agree with Sweetscot and iala on this point. I remember way back when, someone on the Wowhead site posted the steps you had to take to be able to run a contest in Mexico when you were based in the US. It was mindboggling to read, and a lot of red tape and nonsense. I think part of it was having a representative present in the judiciary building from the time the papers were filed until permission was granted, and average wait time is 4-6 months. Food for thought.
Post by
Thror
I am not really trying to be critical of Bliz with this thread, but what the sub deal tells me is two things
1. that they are strongly concerned over the idea of longtime wow players leaving wow for D3 once it is out and felt they needed a way to entice wow players to play both.
2. that MoP most likely won't be out until late next year and they will more than make their money back by giving away free digital D3 copies compared to if these same players quit wow for D3 when it came out then came back to wow once MoP is released.
Bliz is just trying to keep people playing wow since long term it is a much bigger cash cow for them than D3 will be.
Now if you truly planned to keep playing wow anyhow and to buy D3 upon release then it is a good deal. I just don't see it as Bliz trying to be extra kind to its wow players or anything like that, its a calculated way to keep the cash flow coming in.
Well thank you captain obvious, you figured out that the annual pass with a free Diablo 3 is a marketing move. You are totally missing it in points 1 and 2 though.
1. You think Blizzard wants to bind people to WoW because... Diablo 3? What a blind assumption to make. I would say that what they are more concerned about is people resubscribing for only a few months after new content is released and then freezing their accounts once they chew through that content. Blizzard is losing out on a lot of money here, Blizzard did say that they are concerned about it in a fairly huge amount of blue posts, and they just can not release content fast enough to keep those people subscribed all year.
2. You can not say how much likely it is to come out and when.
The fact that Blizzard are offering this deal to ultimately make some money does not change the fact that my spendings towards Blizzard for the next year will not be any different than this year and the previous years, and I will suddenly get a game I really want, a mount, and a place in the beta.
Post by
870547
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Post by
Puntardlier
The cost of the annual subscription includes the price of Diablo II and a few months of WoW play until D3 releases.
Post by
836277
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Post by
206732
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Post by
Meggie
Well I know that I am buying D3 when it comes out.
This is a smart move by Blizzard actually. Ensuring some longer subs by giving away perks is very smart, imho.
If someone plays this trick with shares he will have his butt kicked and jailed for a serious economic offence.
Post by
193475
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Post by
Carukia
ok, so I can see I got most of the sort of replies I expected to get when I made this thread but let me just elaborate on a few things about it.
First, I am not trying to call Bliz tricksters or hustlers by using this promotion, I've been playing Blizzard games for over 10 yrs and generally think they treat their customers very well and give us our money's worth. I am just saying that(and be completely honest with your own reaction upon hearing about it) that long time wow players see something like 'just play wow for 12 straight monthes and you will receieve a fancy new flying mount and D3 for free!' and the standard reaction is 'omg Bliz, you are so cool, sign me up now'.
All I am or was saying is that the two things which led to this promotion actually being implemented were the two things I listed. Some of you may agree with those reasons, some may not; but Bliz is only giving away free D3 copies to protect its most important commodity, that being wow subs. It would seem the best way to do that is to give away cool looking mounts also.
Just be honest, they know their customers and know what we are generally suckers for also. If the new fiery raven lord mount were purchasable for $20 Bliz prob would have already sold close to a million of them.
We aren't all suckers, some of us just recognize a good deal when we see one. I play WoW on and off, I have since the release of the game. I've probably been subscribed an average of 6-8 months per year, every year. So let's do some really simple math.
I typically subscribe one month at a time since, like I said I play off and on. So for me, one month has always cost $14.99. That comes out to $89.94 to $119.92 per year. With the annual pass, I have no reason not to pay in 6-month installments since I'm committed to paying for a full year anyway. That means I will be spending only $12.99 for a month which comes out to a total of $155.88 for the entire year. Now keep in mind that I would have purchased Diablo 3 were it not for this deal. I likely would have ended up paying $59.99 for it. So let's just subtract that $59.99 from the $155.88. We get $95.89. I'm paying about $96 for an entire year of WoW.
Now for some theoretical scenarios. Let's say I would only have ended up subscribing for 6 of the next 12 months. I would only have ended up paying $89.94 meaning this deal would have cost me $6 more than I would have otherwise paid. And that's the worst case scenario. But let's also keep in mind that for $6 extra, I will be able to play the occasional BG or queue up in the LFD once in a while during those other 6 months I would not have been subscribed.
We should also be honest about why WoW is trying to retain subscribers for a full year: SWToR. Is it any surprise they are trying to lock in as many people as possible now, before the game comes out? From what I've played of the beta, I think it's massively over-hyped at this point, but the simple fact that it's Star Wars counts for something. It's the most popular IP yet for a WoW-clone. EA is throwing a lot of money at this game, so you know it will be polished and obviously follow the WoW formula closely. It won't be a huge success, but it will be a thorn in WoW's side. Blizz will lose subs to it.
At any rate, nothing in this world is free. Of course Blizz will get something out of this deal, a guaranteed year's subscription. Do you think AT&T just gives away free cell phones with no benefit to themselves? No! They get a guaranteed 24 months of selling you their overpriced service or they get a termination fee which makes up for the amount they subsidized on the phone they sold you in the first place. It's win-win for them.
And since I'm on the subject, let me just mention that idiot in the commercial that finds out the POS smartphone only costs $30 and decides he can afford one. Forget the fact he will be paying $85 a month for the next two years. That's $1020 over two years and he can't pay an extra $170 to be able to properly use the insanely expensive internet access he is required to have? Well that phone has a much larger profit margin for AT&T than the $200 phone (they get the same monthly fee without subsidizing as much of the phone's initial cost) so all he did was handicap himself and benefit AT&T. Idiot.
Post by
Interest
The cost of the annual subscription includes the price of Diablo II and a few months of WoW play until D3 releases.
I didn't see D2 being a part of it (not like it matters, I own the game already D:)
Post by
Rystrave
Though to be absolutely honest........I mainly got the year sub for Tyreal's Mount; the rest of the stuff is just frosting on top.
Same. Mehehe.
Post by
331902
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Post by
870547
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Post by
Eccentrica
THIS JUST IN ......... Corporations seek growth in revenue to satisfy shareholders. Details at 6.
Post by
yukonjack
I think what the annual pass is really saying is here take this as our apology for giving you nothing more to do then kill Deathwing from December 2011 to December 2012.
Post by
Azrile
Blizz is a business. Of course they're not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. They get more subscription guaranteed revenue, and we get goodies for signing up.
Cheers.
I think they will get a lot of people to play D3 (and later buy the expansions) that never would have otherwise. My only wish is that they had given us a choice of D3 or SC2, I would have preferred SC2
Post by
306612
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Post by
331902
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Post by
Monday
Sarcasm, that's original...
Seriously though. Obviously they're using a business technique. The thing is, it's right on par with the rest of MoP, Blizzard is scrambling to save their ass because they know the seriously screwed the pooch.
Someone using sarcasm to reflect sarcasm. That's original.
And I love how your opinion on the game has become the objective reality.
Hah, oh wait. It hasn't.
Even on Wowhead more people like MoP than dislike it. Your argument has just been defeated. Have a nice day.
Post by
870547
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