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Microtransactions: The good, the bad, and the ugly
News surfaced last week, thanks to the Blizzard Jobs Directory, that the company is seeking microtransaction specialists. While it's highly likely that these potential new recruits will not be set to work exclusively on Blizzard's only sub game, it seems only logical that they will examine the current offerings. As Sarah Pine mentioned, while WoW is currently running from a sub-based model, it will be interesting to see what the future holds. Over the weekend, I played a good number of hours of a game called Warframe. The movement was great, combat was fluid, it's one of the only games I've played lately that has that instantaneous feel you get from WoW. But the microtransaction and grinding methods that upgrades were behind were pretty sub-optimal. Yes, you could go into this largely PvE-based game and grind out the materials to get an upgrade. But the quantities required to achieve even a low-level upgrade seemed huge, let alone those required to unlock high-end ones, or other classes to play outside the basic three. And it's inspired me to think about WoW, and its transactions. What's bad, what's good, and where does WoW's current system fall in the grand scheme of microtransactions?
New Mount and Make-A-Wish pet now available
The Fey Dragon was datamined a while back, and now this new mount is available on the Battle.net store. This incredibly pretty mount is bundled in with the Alterac Brew Pup, and as you'd expect, they both apply to all current and future characters on a battle.net account. The Fey Dragon is a flying mount, but it has no skill requirement apart from riding -- if you can't fly, it'll walk, but it also scales up to your fastest flying speed, so if you're flush enough in-game to get 310%, then the Dragon will do that too. What's more, in a first for WoW mounts, it's color-changing! Gone is the need to get it in every color -- your first and only Fey Dragon will be every Fey Dragon you could want. As WoW Insider reported yesterday, the Alterac Brew Pup, as part of a long line of rescue dogs doing great deeds, is having part of its proceeds -- 50% of the $10 cost -- donated to the Make-a-Wish foundation. As Wowhead mentioned, it's a battle pet, and you can find out more details in their Battle Pet database. The donation will be made to Make-a-Wish whether you buy the pet by itself or the pet and mount bundle.
Know Your Lore, Tinfoil Hat Edition: The curious whispers of Tirisfal Glades
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Long ago, before Human civilization had progressed into kingdoms and civilized society, the Kaldorei of Kalimdor participated in a war that ultimately split the world apart. The war was about power, as all wars ultimately are in Azeroth -- this time, the powers of a mysterious font of energy known as the Well of Eternity. Suffused with arcane magics, the Well commanded the attentions of countless Highborne who grew dependent on its powers. So too, did the Well draw the attention of the dark forces of the Burning Legion and its leader, Sargeras. Though the War of the Ancients ended in a victory for the Night Elves, it wasn't the last they'd see of the Well of Eternity. In an act of desperation to keep the arcane font alive one way or another, Illidan Stormrage used a vial of water from the original Well to create a new one, high atop the peaks of Hyjal. Horrified by his actions, his brother Malfurion had him imprisoned, and the Aspects created the World Tree and charged the Kaldorei with guarding the new Well. The practice of arcane magic was forbidden from use in Kaldorei society, punishable by death. But the Kaldorei underestimated the depths of the Highborne's addiction. And both Highborne and Kaldorei alike didn't realize there were far worse, darker powers to worry about ... Today's Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a look into what has gone before with pure speculation on why it happened. The events presented are events that happened in Azeroth's history, but the conclusions are merely theories and shouldn't be taken as fact.
