Where can I buy my life back?

Yeah, they've said this before. If they ever do it it will be at the same time they drop the monthly charge. As for when that is, who knows. Probably when they release a sequel.

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.

@Chronic Logic

"What could Blizzard want with that kind of money?"
The same thing any capitalist business wants: even more money! You can never have enough money, can you?

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

I really do not see what the big deal about this is.

Microtransactions have tended to be content that is not needed for a full experience of the game...just something to further customize an individual's experience with the game. With that being said, this content has never been required to be bought.

Also, Blizz merely mentioned that it was a possibility. Something that tons of developers do only for the online community to already start bitching about.

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.

Well, free-to-play is the only way to get me to play their game so yeah, maybe it is a good idea after all :P

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

While they've said this is "possible", they've also said about a dozen times that at the moment they only want to provide services akin to realm transfers and name changes (which they already do). In other words, things that are nice for people to be able to do but that have no noticeable effect on the game itself.

What's more likely (because they've already been doing it) is tie-ins that also yield in game loot. Going to Blizzcon or getting rare cards in the Warcraft TCG can get you specific rare mounts and pets, and a promotion with Mountain Dew gave out a free pet.

The last gasp of an already dead game.

@bunnymud
11 million I think world wide? Hardly dead.

WoW is not going to die. Any new released MMO would have to do something significantly different then WoW in order to beat it. With all the money going to Blizzards pockets, you don't think that they would just implement that change into WoW?

Blizzard is a lot like Valve. Great games, huge wait time. I've been keeping up with WoW since I quit (2 and a half years clean) and it just seems as though it isn't going to die. They are just making the game easier and easier for the new comer.

As for micro transactions? It'll make the newcomer even more welcome. The new comer won't have to spend 15 - 20 bucks to play the game for a month to see if they like it. They can get the 2 week (I think?) trial and then use the micro transactions to get another week to test out the waters some more.

If the microtransactions branch off to items? Dear lord Blizzard better be ready to here the moans from the preBC people.

Brilliant, Blizzard is going to make a killing.

Don't they already have microtransactions? Such as moving your character from one account to another or moving to another realm. Didn't they just put in changing your sex even?

I don't play WoW anymore but my GF does and that's what she told me. So technically don't they already do it?

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.

Microtransactions? Would keep me away from the game entirely.

Prefer to pay monthly than to pay for microtransactions.

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

so its going to have subscriptions, expansions, and microtransactions? why don't they just change the name of WoW to "Wallet Rape"

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*

I could see them adding more paid 'services' or incorporating some form of microtransaction system for purely aesthetic/none game changing stuff in the near future.

Perhaps when if their next MMO draws massive crowds or a new Warcraft MMO is released and WoW subscriptions start to drop substantially they may look at using a free to play model rather than a flat monthly fee.

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.

@Volomon

Yeah, WoW does have some sort of microtransaction scheme in-game however, they're mostly for aesthetic purposes only that have very little to no effect on the gameplay.

Personally, I'd rather pay the monthly and get the full game outright. I don't like it whenever I come up to some interesting part of the game only find out that I still need to pay up before I get access to it. Kinda makes me feel that I'm getting screwed over my wow account or something.