The monetization of World of Warcraft has evolved significantly since I played during Burning Crusade over 10 years ago. Back then, the model was straightforward - you bought the expansion and paid a subscription fee. That was all you needed to access 100% of the game’s content.
Today, I’m noticing through my friends’ Discord group that the purchasing model has become much more complex. Beyond the base expansion packs and subscriptions, there are now early access passes, limited-time mounts (like a $90 dinosaur mount), and promotional tie-ins with products like Mountain Dew and Doritos that offer exclusive cosmetic items. Some players are even buying these promotional codes in bulk to resell online.
Example above, someone paid over $200 just to get some of the mountain dew codes… This shift in monetization strategy raises interesting questions about the direction of the game and MMOs in general. While additional cosmetic options can add variety and personal expression to the game, I wonder about the impact on the player experience and community. Does having these exclusive items create a divide between players who can afford them and those who can’t? Or is it simply offering more choices for those who want them?
I’m particularly curious about the psychological aspect of limited-time offers. The “fear of missing out” seems to be a powerful motivator, especially with items that are advertised as never being available again. But is this enhancing the game experience or just creating artificial scarcity?
Looking forward to hearing different perspectives on this, especially from others who’ve witnessed this evolution firsthand. What do you think about the current monetization approach compared to the simpler model of the past? Has it affected how you engage with the game?
TLDR: WoW’s monetization has changed dramatically from the simple expansion + subscription model of the past to include various limited-time purchases and promotions. People today are scalping and reselling thousand of dollars of mountain dew for in game codes
The game uses every type of dark pattern there is to make you log on every day and soak up all your time.
How so? I actually think in recent years, they’ve gone away from making you log in all the time, with less daily quest and much better catch up mechanics, so it doesn’t matter too much if you don’t play for weeks or even months.
That could be true, I quit during battle for azeroth
This has been a thing since TCG mounts and pets… back in TBC.
I won’t bother with any more of an argument since you’ll probably nuke this thread, too. I suggest you stop flapping your butt about WoW and go find a game you enjoy that respects your time and money.
The amount you complain about WoW you should probably just quit the game, if you’re even playing it. Also why do you keep making topics and then deleting them? You complained about subscriptions, and now you’re complaining about optional additional cosmetic content.
Like 99% of the community likely doesn’t care about promotional stuff. You can just pay the game and subscription and get access to all gameplay features just fine. If someone spends hundreds of bucks to get some useless promotional item, then let them. It doesn’t affect my gameplay.
Yeah, you can buy a mount from the store that saves you like a 2 minute walk or flight to your closest auction house, ironically I’ve never ever seen anyone even use these mounts outside of the cities that have actual auction houses, they’re usually just next to a mailbox or bank across the street of the auction house.
The fact that these things sell is probably one reason why subscriptions in the past 20 years haven’t rising in the first place.
World of Warcraft’s monetization seems to be getting way more aggressive
of course it is. it’s a microsoft property now.
I think you’re looking at this through rose-tinted glasses.
In my opinion mounts, pets, toys or whatever don’t count as content, so in that case, you still get everything with the expansion and a sub.
But even if you think it’s content, back in the day you also already had Collectors edition mounts and pets, the stuff from Blizzcon (before it was digital), TCG codes, etc. Not much different than today I think.
Idk what point you’re trying to get across. Back in TBC everything was in game. Every mount and cosmetic. There was no shop. Collectors edition obviously existed, sure. How is cosmetics and mounts not content? It’s part of the game lol
Not exactly true. There were mounts you could only get from buy the trading cards (spectral tiger being the most popular)
While additional cosmetic options can add variety and personal expression to the game
I guess if bragging about spending extra money to advertise for some company is personal expression, sure.
I just started playing WoW again and I don’t feel any pressure from the supposed “dark patterns”, or having to buy this stuff (which I can’t, because I’m not in the US). It has zero effect on my gameplay. WoW is fun and addicting in a sense for sure, but there are way worse MMOs when it comes to this. Just look at any Korean MMO, like Black Desert Online. I’d even argue ESO is way worse than WoW when it comes to monetization.
Yeah it’s the same when people say this about FFXIV, which does have an extensive money-shop for extra mounts/animations/skins/etc.
They’re pricey as hell, but at the same time the only thing you ever might feel pressured into getting are:
- Fantasia (character do-overs) after enough years because you feel like you’ve seen enough of this face and want another one and want to finally become a cat-girl like everybody else is! The game does however give you two for free, and we’re soon getting a third one, at least temporarily.
- Character boosts if your friends are being assholes and berate you for not skipping the story (seen it happen) and it starts to get to you, instead of what 99% of the community does which is the exact opposite and encouraging everyone to take their time however many many months that might be. 😅
World of War craft would rather you have diabetes by the looks of things.
Meanwhile Final Fantasy XIV is doing a collaboration with hair dye.
