Where can I buy my life back?

Jeez, I don't think that even EA does that kind of stuff. What could Blizzard want with that kind of money? Although I do see some good out of it. I mean how much time would you have to spend playing WoW in order to have a maxed out character with all the best stats and best gear? I'd say that it could take a while, possibly too much time for some players. I mean, the only reason why most people grind is because to get the best gear to to do pvp and battlegrounds and stuff. I'd rather spend 5 bucks on some uber gear or things to make my grinding easier then spend days or weeks grinding normally hoping to get the best gear. So if you got the money, flaunt it.

I am surprised they aren't doing this already..

This isn't the least bit surprising to me. The real watershed moment will come when one of the MMOs removes the dollar standard against its in-game currency and allows it to trade as the market determines. When that happens, I'll start preparing for the coming apocalypse.

I believe Jim means "more THAN open", not "more THEN open".

The last gasp of an already dead game.

Brilliant, Blizzard is going to make a killing.

This actually sounds like a good idea, and something they should of done A LONG FUCKING TIME AGO. But ONLY if the microtransactions mean that it becomes FTP. If it still has the monthly fees then fuck them.

It's very obvious that Blizzard will not do this until WoW saturates and is no longer relevant, so don't worry about it, if you're concerned :D

At least the microtransactions are optional. Just...I'd expect it in free-to-play games like Maple Story and whatnot, but you're already paying enough for WoW. Why couldn't they just...you know, give you some things for free?

*one of the few people to resist the siren's call*

The Dungeons and Dragons Online MMO's free to play microtransactions concept is really neat and sound, and I wouldn't mind it at all in other games. In case you haven't listened to the latest Gamers with Jobs podcast where they go over it, the D&DO points store can be accessed anywhere, including in dungeons, unlike the ingame stores, so you can get more health potions or arrows or whatever else you can run out of in an emergency, and includes unique items that rez your character or party, and also contains "premium" instances you can share with your friends at no cost to them, and they'll even come with premade leveled characters so you can play your premium bought levels with friends without having to wait for them to grind a character up to snuff. There's absolutely no weapons or gear unique to the store, and in fact a lot of the more powerful weapons aren't available for purchase at all, because they don't want people to come in with a boatload of cash and buy their way to the top of the game. Only the rez items are unique to the store, but can be replaced ingame by having a healer character of course.
On top of that, you can actually earn points for that store ingame, without having to pay money, as they're used as faction rewards. When the ingame NPC factions like you and you level up to a new level of likinghood, you get points.