EA rants and marketing

I'm really tired of the ranting and complaining about Early Access and 'making' people pay for it and all that bullshit. Blizzard is a company that makes money selling a resource that is created by people working for them. That resource is more or less all digital in form. You pay them to access that digital material. Everyone thinks that the way that THEY access that material is better than the way that other people access it. We all have our opinions, but we are all still just accessing the same material. 

If I pay extra to access it sooner than others, great. In a month, nobody will know or care aside from you. 

If I pay extra to access a specific look or object, great. In a month, nobody will know or care aside from you. 

If I pay extra to access a sweet set of Bookends designed to look like that main character of the expansion, great. Nobody will ever know or care aside from you.

Blizzard has created different aspects of this material for a reason. Each one appeals to a different subset of people. And each one contains things that appeal to a different subset of people. Some people want early access, some want beta access, some want special pets, and some want transmogs.

You are all complaining about paying for EA when you don't want it or feel like you shouldn't have to. Or paying for Pets when "nobody uses them". Or paying for Tender when they promised you would never have to. I swear, some people would complain about free gold being too heavy. If you don't like what you're paying for, then don't pay? Stop making it bad for others. Stop bringing your negativity into something that others enjoy.

I look at each expansion like "Okay, am I willing to pay this much for this item?" or "Will I be able to get this item later in the game for free?" All of the rest is just a bonus. If I don't want it, or think I can get it later, I won't spend the money. But paying money to access something sooner than other people is just foolish to me. You gain nothing. If that's what you're paying for, I think you need to rethink how you spend your money. That's just my opinion. 

We all have a different opinion and that's why this is such a great marketing tool. They are able to appeal to a wide variety of opinions with the same product and we are all willing to pay for the part of it that's important to us and share our opinions on why ours is better than yours. I'm just happy to have been a part of it for 20 years. It's been quite a ride.

 

Extended Maintenance Downtime Thoughts

The completionist in me wants to create and level a Demon Hunter, Death Knight, and Evoker on the Horde side so I will have one of each class for Horde and Alliance. But knowing what's in store for all of my alts, it just seems fruitless. I know in the past I haven't kept them up to speed after a new expansion hits. And the idea of getting them all to max level in TWW just makes me cringe. I guess I'll have to see how painful the leveling process is first. As long as we aren't forced to do the same drawn-out death runs (without flying) to complete quests-lines through some kind of time-gating grind for each alt, I could be talked into it. I suppose I should be questing on the beta realm to get the hang of it. But I really want the expansion to have that new feel when I first see it.

Run awaaaay!

Glad they have the tuning down for the memory events. It was a little shaky at first, but they have been ironed out and are working well now. 

Get out and level your alt and/or collect that 480 gear. Don't forget the pets and mount. Now's the time to catch up. I'm sure the greens and blues that start dropping in a couple weeks will be lame compared to these epics...  ;-)

Warbanding it up!

I must admit, I am pretty excited about this whole Warband thing. It's a game changer for a transmogger and collector. I'm a little worried about all of my alts just going stale. I've put a lot of effort into them. But they aren't going anywhere.

Cantrips rant

Maybe it's just me but I always thought of cantrips as a quirky addition to any player for non-combat fun and trickery. I know there are combat cantrips that do some minor damage, but they are limited to certain classes and not the main intent. I have always wanted these to be added to the game as fun 'spells' similar to toys for effects and building your characters uniqueness and story. Now we are getting them as pseudo-trinket effects and soon-to-be forgotten (think Azerite Abilities) combat abilities that won't scale and will fade away with the expansion. I still have hope for a Dancing Lights or Thunderclap in the future for my Wizard, but I won't hold my breath.

Downloading The War Within Beta

Excited to be downloading the beta for something to do. I'm really not impressed with the Panda Remix.
 

New "Three Storms" Bamboo Hat

I'm pretty excited about this new hat. I think there are similar looks already, but this is getting closer to the "Three Storms" look I've been wanting for a while.

Run Speed Bags in TWW

While I can't stand toys and other items that are zone-restricted, I can get behind this effect in a new zone where we won't be able to fly. Running around new content doing daily quests before 'earning' the right to fly is so BFA.

I also find it shocking that people are complaining in the comments about giving up bag space to get the effect. I can't imagine running around with 34 slot bags and not having enough room. Who carries around that much crap in their bags? I have bags purchased from the Grand Expedition Yak on most of my characters and rarely run out of space. If I do, it's 90% vendor trash that can be sold or discarded. I swear, some people would complain about free gold bars being too heavy.