The In-Game Store: Attempting to Predict the Consequences

WoW has been, from its inception, a subscription-based game. You pay for the box itself (though I seem to have gotten by with just the 10-day trial version, later converted to a subscription, without paying for Vanilla WoW) each time an expansion comes out, and you pay 15 bucks a month (or less, if you subscribe for bigger chunks of time.)

This opens to you the entire game. There is nothing you cannot see of the game if you pay this subscription, if you have the time, skill, and put in the effort.

All that changed with the introduction of the Sparkle Pony, the Celestial Steed, which came in Wrath of the Lich King. For $25, you could have a pretty cool-looking mount. Since the Sparkle Pony, Blizzard has put many mounts and companion pets up for sale on the Blizzard store. The common refrain for supporters of this store/service is that none of these items affect gameplay. The Sparkle Pony was exactly the same as any other flying mount - it went at the same speed and performed the same function. Admittedly, with Pet Battles introduced, some bought pets could theoretically have an advantage, but there are so many pets out there that we can probably imagine that there isn't truly a serious advantage to having, say, your Lil' KT fighting other pets.

However, things are changing again with the introduction of new items that may or may not come in 5.4. These include a potion that can increase the XP you gain by a huge amount.

XP, unlike star-studded horses, is an aspect of player power. The one saving grace here is that there is a cap to XP, and in many minds, hitting the level cap is only the start of WoW-proper.

The reason I worry is that we are seeing the scale of precedent slide slowly in the direction of tying player power to microtransactions. Rumors suggest that in this real-money store, you will be able to purchase Lesser Charms of Good Fortune. Again, there is effectively a cap here due to the fact that you can only spend 50 of these per week, but if I spend, say, an hour doing IoT dailies to get said charms every week, there is a pressure to go the easy way.

Like the problems I've talked about with DLC in other games, I think the danger of microtransactions is not an inherent one, but that it opens a path toward unsavory business strategies. As Chase Hasbrouk of WoW Insider suggested (I paraphrase here,) from a business perspective, if you add an item that speeds up a grind, you might be tempted to add more grinds into the game to make the product more appealing. You may make more money off the people who are willing to pay, but the game objectively gets worse as a result.

My other objection here is that WoW is a subscription-based game. We pay roughly 15 bucks every month, and for that, we expect certain things. It is that 15 bucks that pays for new raids, new dungeons (ehem!) and other new content. We are effectively constantly paying for the new goods (and the maintenance of the server, to be fair.) So to be, asking for additional money for anything new is already a bit dishonest. Despite this, I'm willing to forgive the mounts (though I'm pretty sore over the bat) for the most part because I've got so many mounts already.

But if we start going in the direction of buying our gear, well...

If you recall, Diablo 3 got pretty stupid thanks to the Real Money Auction House. The gear you could get there was so far better than what you found in-game (actually, this applies to the fake money auction house too) that the game ceased to really be an RPG and was more a "slaughter things until you aren't powerful enough to do so anymore, then go back to the Auction House."

WoW has been far better than that, and so it remains, for now. Blizzard has got their toes sticking over the edge of the cliff. I seriously hope they take a step back.

Caveat Epilogue:

The other option here, is of course, going free-to-play. No subscriptions, just microtransactions. While in some ways I think this could wind up being better psychologically (no desperate need to make sure you make that 15 bucks worth it each month,) I also don't really know how a F2P MMO works (I know there are many, but I have time for just WoW.) If it's anything like how Diablo 3 wound up, though, please put a stake through its heart, chop off its head, and bury it at a crossroads.