So we’ve all seen the news; cosmetic helmets in the cash shop, $15 a piece. This addition, along with the upcoming XP boost, makes it pretty clear that Blizzard is taking a serious cue from the many successful free-to-play cash shops out there. But what place does the free-to-play style cash shop have in a subscription MMO? Where is the line between subscription content and cash shop content? No clue. Let’s talk it through. I’ll be sure to use the terms “slippery slope” and “pay to win” as much as possible.
What’s the precedent?
We’ve been purchasing pets and mounts for years now, from sparkle ponies, Drakes, Quilen, to Pandaren Monk pets (cuz they’ll never be playable in-game or nuthin). Plopping down real world cash for in-game stuff is nothing new at all. And they’ve been pretty popular. I remember seeing everyone and their brother riding the sparkle pony the week they came out. You can’t really fault Blizzard for expanding what is a decidedly popular feature.
Free-to-play style stuff
But there’s an invisible line somewhere in the minds of the player where our spider sense tingles and it feels like too much. 
For many this was the recent data mining discovery of an XP boost item and the subsequent announcement of the addition of an in-game cash shop. Traditionally, a pure subscription game has not offered XP boost items on their cash shop. This was typically the realm of free-to-play games. Also typically part of the free-to-play cash shop were purely cosmetic items. Poke your head into the Team Fortress 2 cash shop and see how many hats you can buy. But what exactly makes these items off limits for a subscription cash shop? Well….nothing inherently. It just hasn’t been done. But let’s look at the potential downsides of heading down this path.
Slippery Slope
You see a lot of this term lately in regard to the cash shop. The idea is that Blizzard will gradually add more and more items into the cash shop, testing new waters, until eventually you’ll be able to buy a ready made level 90 toon, or buy a full set of starter gear for your 90, or even buy a full set of LFR gear maybe. This would put a large disadvantage to not paying real-world cash. Pay-to-win!!! is the buzzword for this type of cash shop. There are even F2P cash shops out there that sell BIS items and gems. That would be bad mmkay. But the hysteria surrounding the “slippery slope” argument is unfounded. There is one glaring problem. Blizzard hasn’t announced any of that stuff!!! Until they do, the slippery slopers are arguing against something that doesn’t even exist yet or probably ever. Historically, (but not always) pay-to-win style cash shops have been an act of desperation by floundering games. They make the cash shop super troll friendly (“buy player power and 1-shot newbs!1!!!”) and perform an internet community service by attracting all the trolls to their game for a while. But WoW is no where near that stage. 7 million+ subs is still a ton of subs!! Not to mention, Blizzard isn’t known for those shady practices. Love ’em or hate ’em, Blizzard is a pretty stand-up company. I do not anticipate the purchase of player power items in the cash shop in WoW in the future and I really think that those who are seriously fretting over this prospect are a lot premature and a little paranoid.
Too ‘Spensive
Ok, so this one is hard to argue with. The helmets are $15 bucks each!!!! 
That’s the cost of one month of unlimited play-time in WoW. Let that sink in. This is a ridiculous price and everyone, including Blizzard knows it. So why would they price it like this? Simple. if they price it too low they could be underestimating what the average player would be willing to pay for such an item and once they’ve set a precedent, the tears that would come from hiking the price would drown the whole world (of warcraft). If they start high, they can slowly lower the price with each new item until they hit the sweet spot and the funny part is, every time they lower the price they’ll be seen as the hero <cackle>. Genius.
What does my subscription pay for?
Here’s where it gets problematic for me though. I pay $15 a month for access to this game. But in order for Blizzard to plop three head pieces onto the cash shop, they have to pull resources off of development for the game itself in order to create something for the cash shop. Every item you see on the cash shop is one less thing you will see in game. As the cash shop grows, we are effectively losing in-game content because the devs who created that item could have been making something for the subscriber to enjoy, but they weren’t. This is largely the realm of speculation, paranoia, and those suffering from the martyr complex. But there is also some merit to the discussion. Undoubtedly, more of a focus on creating items for the cash shop WILL cost subscribers some content. Are you good with that?
I am, I guess. At the moment, there is no MMO that can really compete with the quality of the content or systems found in World of Warcraft. And the last few years, each big MMO that has launched has been missing some key elements that ended up bringing many of their early adopters right back to Momma Blizz’s loving arms. So unless you’re willing to sacrifice feature depth or content depth, they kind of have you over a barrel. This means Blizzard is free to experiment I guess. And they are.
Internet Hysteria
But does this merit the amount of hysteria we have seen on the forums and web? Nah. Not at all. 
This isn’t really much of a change. Putting the items players have already been purchasing into an in-game store changes nothing in the way of availability. Adding an XP boost doesn’t change the fact that leveling a toon at present is ludicrously fast. It only makes it even more ludicrously fast. Adding three transmog helms changes nothing at all, especially at the current price. All of this was inevitable anyway. The rest of the industry is innovating on the free-to-play concept while the last vanguard of the subscription model is missing out on the innovations. Let’s not forget that Blizzard runs a business. This makes good business sense because players WILL buy these items in droves.
For those who hate these changes, here’s an easy solution. Don’t buy the stuff!!! As I said, Blizzard is a business. They will not pursue something that is unprofitable. They will only continue down this line if players respond. So if it bothers you, DON’T BUY THE STUFF!!! If no one does, Blizzard will get the hint. The majority will win on this issue.
That’s my perspective anyway. What’s yours?
>luvbacon<
Totem Ploppin' 