Posts tagged Subscription at WOW Insider

Posts with tag subscription

Foxtel to carry BlizzCon PPV in Australia

Posted Sep 25th 2008 11:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Fan stuff, WoW Social Conventions, Blizzard

In Australia, and bummed you can't make it up to the states for BlizzCon? You too can experience it virtually -- while DirecTV has a deal to carry it on pay-per-view in the US, Foxtel has apparently landed the same agreement in Oz. For $14.95 a day (no word of getting it for free by signing up, which is the deal DirecTV is offering), you can experience all the festivities straight through your television. They're even offering that BlizzCon mount if you buy both days. One problem, though: it's all being shown live, apparently, so in order to see it all, you'd have to get up at 4am. But a little lost sleep is a small price to pay for experience all that is BlizzCon, right?

Of course, you could just stick to WoW Insider and we'll show you everything you need to see at the show for free. We don't have a mount to give you (yet), and we won't ask you to wake up at four in the morning, but we will have pretty in-depth coverage from right there on the scene. Or, y'know, you could do both. It's up to you, Aussies.

Forum post of the day: Rage against the authenticator

Posted Jun 28th 2008 3:58AM by Amanda Dean
Filed under: Blizzard, Forums, Hardware, Account Security, Forum Post of the Day

Alright, so the splash screen mystery is dramatic. Whatever the important announcement is, I don't think they could come up with one that makes me happier than the new authenticator. I will be first in line to buy mine once it comes out. It seems that most of us are with me. We've been clamoring for better authentication, and we're going to get it.

A one-time charge of six and a half bucks for an extra layer of security seems like a smoking deal to me. It hasn't occurred to me to be bothered by the price. Tuhrell of Malrone believes that the authenticators should be distributed by Blizzard for free. Vallana of Thaurissan is on a short list of responders in the thread that agreed with the original poster. She believes that her $15/month is enough to spend on WoW and is "not retarded enough to get hacked so I really don't need it."

Continue reading Forum post of the day: Rage against the authenticator

Six ways playing WoW can save you money

Posted Jun 9th 2008 2:00PM by Michael Gray
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Economy

Summer's here, gas prices are up, and the economy is suffering both in-game and in real life. Ultimately, it's a "dogs and cats sleeping together" kind of situation for your cash flow. Jagoex over at Warlock Therapy has your wallet covered with "10 Ways Gamers Can Save Money." He's talking about all gamers, and has quite a lot to say for the console gamers, but his tips pretty much apply to everyone.

Of course, there are a few things you can do specifically as a WoW player to save your bank account some stress over this bleeding hot summer.

Continue reading Six ways playing WoW can save you money

60-day cards for $20 at Circuit City

Posted May 12th 2008 7:00PM by Eliah Hecht
Filed under: Tips

Back in the day, you could get 60 day playtime cards for $20 at Amazon, all the time. This appears to be the resurrection of that deal: the same cards are currently available for $20 at Circuit City. This is, as they say, a $30 value, assuming you normally pay the single-month rate of $15 per month. The cards are sold out online, but available for in-store pickup; click over to the site and enter your ZIP code to see if they're available in your store.

Personally, I'm not going for it, because the closest Circuit City is about 15 minutes away, and also because I like to pay for a month at a time and then cancel my account. That way, if I happen not to be able to play for some amount of time after my subscription is up, it doesn't renew until I need it and go renew it manually (which takes all of two minutes), and so I save a few bucks. But for those with more regular play schedules, this looks like a good deal.
[via the Bronze Kettle]

Craig Sherman of Gaia Online: WoW is "not a success"

Posted Apr 10th 2008 5:30PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard

See if you can follow this reasoning: WoW has ten million players, which is nice and all, but there are actually 800 million teens in the world. Therefore, since Blizzard hasn't reached even 10% of them (80 million), WoW is not actually a success. That's what Craig Sherman of Gaia Online (a casual, browser-based MMO) said to folks at the M16 Marketing conference in San Francisco this week. He claims that WoW's subscription fee has hampered its growth, and that it would be even bigger if there was a free-to-play model.

But his reasoning is unstable there to say the least. Part of the reason WoW is so successful is that Blizzard has had the cash to put up for new servers, new content, and a brand new HQ, and with a free-to-play model, they wouldn't be making nearly as much money as they are. Not to mention the quality of the players -- in my experience, part of the reason WoW is such a good game is that when people pay to play it, you often get a much more interested and involved player base. And of course, while yes, WoW hasn't reached a larger fraction of its "potential" player base (however you define that -- what makes Sherman think that Blizzard is targeting teens at all?), anyone who thinks a 10 million player MMO is "not a success" needs to examine the rest of the MMO market more closely.

Will there be a game bigger than World of Warcraft? It sure seems like it -- at some point in the future, there should be a game that does go free to play and does hit on all the marks -- casual, hardcore, serious, fun -- that World of Warcraft does (in fact, maybe WoW itself will someday open up a free-to-play model). But to claim that WoW has somehow suffered from its subscription model is pretty far from the truth.

[Via Worldofwar.net]

Rumor: WoW going free-to-play in China

Posted Nov 19th 2007 7:08PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Economy

Curse Gaming posted a rumor the other day from a Chinese newspaper named RedlineChina that The9 (the company that runs World of Warcraft in China) is considering switching the game to a "free-to-play" model. As Curse notes, the rumor is just that-- a rumor-- especially considering that The9 is raking in the cash over there. So take this with a nice big cubic block of salt-- odds are that both you and Chinese players will be paying that monthly subscription for years to come.

Still, it's an interesting idea. There are a few free-to-play MMOs here in the US, but there are many, many more over in Asian countries like China and Korea. And there's no question that as popular as World of Warcraft is now, it would be even more popular as a free-to-play model. Odds are that The9 would have to come up with some other form of revenue if they did switch it to free-to-play, although as it is, you can play for free on a demo here in the US-- maybe RedlineChina really meant to report that The9 is going to start releasing free demo copies, up to level 20 with a week of free play, or some plan like that, while still charging for the full game.

At any rate, this is more likely a miscommunication than a rumor with any substance at all. Especially with subscriptions rising and the next expansion on the way, Blizzard is nowhere near even lowering the price on a WoW subscription.

Poll: Do you use a game card or a credit card?

Posted Oct 11th 2007 10:22AM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Polls, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Economy

I'm very interested in seeing the answer to this one-- I have always used a credit card to pay for my account, just because it's all automatically done between Blizzard and my bank, and I don't ever have to worry if my account is all paid up. But I'm sure there are tons of people out there, like popsixx, who play from game card to game card, buying them one after another, or hoarding them up (from gifts or elsewhere), and putting them in when necessary.

For the life of me, though, I can't guess which one would be more popular. There are definitely a lot of kids playing the game, and they'd use game cards for sure. But then again, most of the folks I play with are a little older and financially more stable, and more likely to use credit cards (or PayPal for that matter)

So which is it? Game cards or credit cards? And feel free to tell us in the comments why you do what you do-- maybe there's some huge benefit to using only game cards that I haven't noticed yet.

Win a Free Year of WoW

Posted Apr 5th 2006 1:47PM by Mike D'Anna
Filed under: Events, Fan stuff, Odds and ends, News items

That's right...the guys over at MMO Portal are giving away a whole year's subscription to WoW for free. And the best part is, it's not even a real contest. I mean, it is a real contest, but you don't have to do much of anything to win it; just go to their site, sign up for their forums, and make a post...the winner will be chosen at random on April 15th at 6 P.M. CST. The full details of the contest can be read here.

You know, it just occurred to me that I should have gone & entered about 500 times before I posted this announcement, but now you guys get to reap the benefits of my honesty; go win that sucker!

BlizzCon Roundup day 1	BlizzCon
BlizzCon 2008: WoW PvP panel	BlizzCon
BlizzCon 2008: Costume contest pics and video	BlizzCon
BlizzCon 2008: Dance contest video highlights	BlizzCon
Who's who at BlizzCon	BlizzCon
Major features in Patch 3.0.2	Patch 3.0.2
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Event	Date
Darkmoon Faire (Mulgore)	10/6 - 10/12
BlizzCon 2008 in Anaheim, CA	10/10 - 10/11
AB weekend	10/10 - 10/13
Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza	SUN 2p - 4p
Patch 3.0.2	10/14??
Hallow's End	10/18 - 11/1
Wrath release	11/13

#	Blogger	Posts	Cmts
1	Mike Schramm	100	21
2	Alex Ziebart	56	34
3	Zach Yonzon	46	0
4	Elizabeth Wachowski	37	1
5	Allison Robert	32	34
6	Adam Holisky	32	17
7	Daniel Whitcomb	28	8
8	Eliah Hecht	22	2
9	Amanda Miller	20	1
10	Matthew Rossi	20	40
11	Natalie Mootz	19	6
12	David Bowers	13	38
13	Moo Money	11	5
14	Daniel Howell	10	0
15	Michael Gray	9	0
16	Dan O'Halloran	9	0
17	Amanda Dean	8	0
18	Christian Belt	7	0
19	Matt Low	5	0
20	Scott Andrews	4	0

Blu-ray movie releases for the week of October 12th TGS 08 hands-on: Spelunker (PSN) The mystery of Sony's 'unannounced' TGS games	Planning for the Hallow's End title The Art of War(craft): PvP in BlizzCon 2008 All the World's a Stage: So you want to be Forsaken
Deals: Gift card with Dead Space, B2G1 at Toys R Us and more Soulja Boy calls out Xbox Live gamers Activision calls in the budget Secret Service	Reminder: Wario Land is up for grabs Wii Warm Up: Worn around the edges High Voltage announces new WiiWare racer
Reminder: Millionheir is up for grabs DS Daily: Camera games DS Daily: Saving up for a Flowery, Sunny, and Rainy day	PSP worldwide releases for the week of October 12 TGS 08: Full Square Enix Closed Theater impressions TGS 08: LocoRoco 2 and the curiously embargoed trailer
The Best of Big Download: October 6-12 Yep, more BlizzCon Blizzard looking to "monetize" Battle.net in the future	Five Months Pregnant and Still Making Birdies, Hjorth Near the Lead in LPGA Boo Weekley on 'The Tonight Show'

Foxtel to carry BlizzCon PPV in Australia

Forum post of the day: Rage against the authenticator

Six ways playing WoW can save you money

60-day cards for $20 at Circuit City

Craig Sherman of Gaia Online: WoW is "not a success"

Rumor: WoW going free-to-play in China

Poll: Do you use a game card or a credit card?

Win a Free Year of WoW

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