What do you do for a living? Are you married? Do you have kids? A/S/L? While these are all great questions in general conversation I am still really curious to learn more about the WoW token, and exactly how it works. When it was first launched I made the assumption that for every WoW token sold there was one purchased with cash which would make it a net even cash proposition for Blizzard. However, if this was true then why can’t tokens be used for other things in the WoW store? Mounts, level 100 boosts, et al all require cold hard cash. This leads me to believe that the Token does not have an equivalent cash value to Blizzard and makes me wonder the math behind it all and how much money they are actually making compared to a straight sub fee situation. From what I have heard Draenor basically bestowed hundreds of thousands of gold on basically anyone and everyone who put in a minimum effort. Then there are players like me that probably wouldn’t be playing past the first month without the WoW token – which is ridiculously easy to attain in Legion. (in one month, I basically have my next three free.) If anyone has some insight here I would love to hear it. I would also prefer to use those tokens to inst-level my 90 rogue – the WoD experience isn’t nearly as fun as Legion so far.
Set me free!
Not flying in this expansion is completely dumb. No ifs ands or buts. There isn’t even an in game reason for it. It is most likely the dumbest thing Blizzard has ever done (which is saying a lot). The sad thing about it all is that they actually FINALLY made compelling enough content that perhaps people wouldn’t fly anyway to skip the content. The whistle mechanic completely trivializes non-flying as a barrier. Let people fly. Let them enjoy the game. This sounds like someone up high at Blizzard just has a personal feeling about this because it is not rooted in any sort of sensibility or logical reasoning. I am reminded of how much I love flying every time I get to go back to Azeroth and that becomes more irksome with each return visit as well.
Pleasantly Surprised
Similarly I keep finding myself stopping to take pictures and walking off the beaten path to explore. Not flying doesn’t encourage me to do this, beautiful views and curiosities do. Design well and you don’t need fake walls to bang your head (and subscription fee) against. (This is a backhanded compliment, yes, I realize that. Intended!). I was Herbalizing (not what you think it means) and stumbled across Night Elf bodies. Why were they there? There was no sign of how they died, or why, but there was a small village nearby so I went exploring to do some detective work. I didn’t find out why but I spent some solid time trying to learn. This is why Legion is working for me. I am engaged in the world.
It is also the little things – such as water with flowing current. I know that sounds silly, but I fell into a river and started flowing downstream. I was amazed. I also found a treasure chest that I had to fight against the current to line up to get enough time to open it before I was swept away. Little details are very world immersive. I don’t fondly remember these as much in past expansions and admittedly that might be because I was focused on raiding on progression.
Old Stomping Grounds
I really enjoy the fact that there are quests that push you back into old zones from all previous expansions. I am almost done a herbalism quest that sent me to Azeroth, Northrend, and Draenor. This was great because I got to use my flight form… in Azeroth and Northrend. I was fortunate enough to have the flight path for the Draenor zone because I had just done enough quests in Draenor to get it – that would have been a complete pain in the ass trying to find my way through a zone I had no clue about. That could be a poor design decision if anyone did skip over the full expansion. Players should get all flight paths from old zones when new expansions launch.
I continue to enjoy my time in Azeroth, once again. Who knew? I am only a flight form away from being a complete fanboy. Still curious on the longevity but I am not even thinking about that at this time.
Oh, one more flight photo. Just because.
Tokens were designed to be a gold sink, on par with the Black Market Auction House. Very few people actually pay attention to the BMAH, and most people who post on the regular AH don’t pay much attention either. I find little competition when it comes to my herbalist/miner, which leads me to believe that for many people, their income is based on quests/drops (sold to a vendor). So, my gut is that the token is not so much a cash value as it is a practical way to keep inflation from getting out of hand.
In other news, I sold 20 Starlight Rose for just under 4k. I posted those and a few other items on the bus on the way to work (Armory is great), with a total sale under 7k. Tokens are just under 30K on Stormrage. I think I’m around +150k since Legion launch now – only having spent money on heirlooms and their upgrades.
They removed flying so that people would play the content as designed, rather than skip everything like they did in Cata. Extremely poor world design in WoD showed what happens when flying is removed and the alternatives are bad. It doesn’t really bug me that much in Legion, what with 3 heartstones, a class hall teleport and a flight whistle as options.
Now, a glider on a 15 minute cooldown when a whole class gets access to it on demand… that picks me off something fierce.
Why do you need a gold sink so bad? ESPECIALLY when it is one that directly cuts into your profits? If there is too much gold… stop, I don’t know – giving out so much to begin with?
I agree there are so many options – hearthstones, whistles, etc. Which makes it even more pointless to remove flying in my opinion. You basically can skip through the majority of everything already. Might as well let people do it in ways they enjoy. I love flying! =)
That’s where the logic bomb hits.
Why not have a button with a 30s cooldown that spawns herbs in your bags, and skips the entire flying discussion completely? At which point does convenience break the design?
I get the convenience of skipping a time sink, where it’s just thumb twiddling (I was there for the entire EQ /gems debacle). But I can also see the merit in actually living in the world the devs created. I guess it’s perception/opinion as to which piece of content is actually relevant, and which is padding. My lack of frustration makes it acceptable to me. I can see why that would not be the case for others.
Several MMOs have water that sweeps you along if you aren’t careful. It’s a very welcome feature.
Definitely – and this is the first MMO I can recall that i have played that has it. What are some others? Did I just miss it?
I have to be honest when the current took me away for the first time I panicked a little at first. lol
I think the tokens topic is an interesting one.
I never thought swimming in an MMO could feel so cool… =)
The whole “not thinking about it” is one of the keys to enjoying games, or re-enjoying old games again. Enjoy it while it lasts, yet at the same time don’t think about how it won’t last forever. A good mind trick.
I’m with you. Nothing wrong with just having fun and not having to analyze / over-analyze everything =)