Blizzard Confirms They’re Adding An In-Game Store to World Of Warcraft
Last week some members of WoW’s public test servers noticed a brand new item, called the Enduring Elixir of Wisdom. What makes this item different is the fact that it seems to be geared towards a more “pay to win” type of mindset, and seemed to hint that Blizzard was planning on adding an in-game store to purchase those kinds of items. On Blizzard’s forums yesterday, it was confirmed that yes, Blizzard has an in-game microtransaction store in the works.
According to Community Manager Bashiok Blizzard is looking at introducing new kinds of items, including the aforementioned Enduring Elixir of Wisdom, as well as an “alternate way to acquire Lesser Charms of Good Fortune”. Bashiok goes on to say how Blizzard has had “a lot of requests from players in different regions for convenience-oriented items”. The in-game store is set to be introduced first to the Asian regions.
Is this a good idea? I’m going to be honest when I say that this might only cause WoW fans to leave the game in even bigger numbers. After all, many of those fans have put in countless hours to get their characters up to a respectable level, and if Blizzard introduces an in-game store where people can buy with real money items that will allow them to scale levels in a short amount of time that’s going to cause nothing but resentment. I suppose we’ll see if this gamble pays off, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see if by this time next year WoW is down another million or two subscribers.
