Planned sellout of BC?

[El Gallo]

Well, the NYT article notes that they are on pace to make over $1b in revenues this year, which I assume is the ballpark of most people's guesses (my guess was in that ballpark, and everyone always agrees with me amirite?).  No idea how much of that is profit, of course.

A more salient point would be nobody knows how much of that income is going into Vivendi's coffers, and how much actually makes it back to Blizzard.

Salient if you are talking about how many cars Rob Pardo has.  Not so salient if you are talking about the profitability of WoW.

[lamaros]

Many people with a high PvP rank are unskilled. All are grinders.

[Hellinar]

Many people with a high PvP rank are unskilled. All are grinders.

True. But skill can increase the rate at which you grind. Based on a brief experience in Alternac Valley this weekend, I’d say fast reflexes and better situational awareness would have saved me a few times. Of course, I play in first person, which is bad for situational awareness. But I find that fun.

A lot of people seemed to be operating with almost zero tactical skill, which showed up on the kill board later. They would throw themselves at the nearest enemy concentration, with almost zero chance of making a kill. A quick reading of the map would reveal a better spot where our side had superiority, and were therefore making the rapid kills. So I’d say skill does make a difference, but you can substitute time for skill up to a certain point on the ladder.

[Furiously]

The BG's are not about farming honor anymore - they are about ending as quick as possible so you get the honor for winning.

[Xanthippe]

A lot of people seemed to be operating with almost zero tactical skill, which showed up on the kill board later. They would throw themselves at the nearest enemy concentration, with almost zero chance of making a kill. A quick reading of the map would reveal a better spot where our side had superiority, and were therefore making the rapid kills. So I’d say skill does make a difference, but you can substitute time for skill up to a certain point on the ladder.

And some people want to show up on the top of the list, even if it means they lose.  So they won't take one for the team, so to speak, preferring to keep their deaths down.

I'm the kind who goes on suicide missions if it means capping a flag in AV or AB or sacrificing for the FC in WSG.  I just don't really care about the deaths thing, unless I'm on a team with people who are going for the kill-to-death ratios.  Those people just piss me off.

[Threash]

Many people with a high PvP rank are unskilled. All are grinders.

Pvp doesnt take that much skill in the first place, theres only a few things you can do in every situation.  The people pvping all day are probably better at it simply because of the fact that they do it all day.  Everytime a "whos the best of this class" thread pops up on the real forums the answers usually tend to favor those people currently grinding rank at that point, and i know my reflexes and responces were much better when i pvped all day than they are now.  Im not saying high rank = skill by any means but i think theres a very direct correlation between how much time you spend pvping and how good at it you are.

[Venkman]

THat's nothing new though. ANYONE who plays something alot has a chance of getting better at it, if they choose to improve at it (as in, not those just grinding the same thing over and over for gold). Of COURSE PvPing more makes you better at PvPing. Just like Raiding more gives you skill and knowledge for raiding.

That's why the current Rank thing is sorta stupid, and why it's going away. It's not an indication of skil. It's an indication of a vast difference in time spent.

[lamaros]

When I do BGs I very often contribute a lot more to my team that the others players and I am usualy the lowest ranked person in the BG (Rank 2!) because I hardly ever do them. Does this mean I get more honour and rep out of the BGs? No.

Therefore there is no correlation between rank and skill.

People who grind BGs are not better skilled than others. I assure you that you can get a group of skilled players and put them against a group of High Ranked players and the skilled players will win. Because doing well at BGs doesn't require skill.

Actually, the highly ranked players will have epic gear and the others wont. So they might win.

[Hellinar]

And some people want to show up on the top of the list, even if it means they lose.  So they won't take one for the team, so to speak, preferring to keep their deaths down.

Does the kill board in WoW take account of the number of deaths as well as kills? I didn’t pay that much attention to it. I guess that might be an incentive not to die. Seems to me though there is some tactical incentive not to die, as a smaller force that isn’t dying can hold off a larger force that is spending much of its time running back from the graveyard. Which seemed to be happening in some battles I was involved in.

 One thing I did like about my brief visit to Alternac Valley was that it was pretty chaotic, with lots of people having rather different agendas for being there, and often working at cross-purposes. That to me felt pretty immersive and warlike. If everyone had been following the same agenda and strategy, it would have felt more like playing on a football team than fighting a war. Though I guess if you were looking for a team sport rather than a simulated war, that chaos would be kind of frustrating.

 

[Calantus]

It counts deaths... but the ordering is done by kills, deaths only work to sort out ties. So for pure scoreboard whoring you don't care how many times you die.

[lamaros]

One thing I did like about my brief visit to Alternac Valley was that it was pretty chaotic, with lots of people having rather different agendas for being there, and often working at cross-purposes. That to me felt pretty immersive and warlike. If everyone had been following the same agenda and strategy, it would have felt more like playing on a football team than fighting a war. Though I guess if you were looking for a team sport rather than a simulated war, that chaos would be kind of frustrating.

The losing side in a war, maybe. I would assume the there are some military groups out there who are quite well organised and work together very well, on an infantry level anyway.

[Furiously]

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/collectors.html

Well - looks like they finally saw the $$.

[Yoshimaru]

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/collectors.html

Well - looks like they finally saw the $$.

Two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game Starter Packs, plus Exclusive Cards

O.M.G

Where do I pre-order?!?!?

[Jobu]

The original collector's edition was worth it JUST for the art book.

I will definitely get the new one as well, JUST for the art book.

And only 1 pet is lame. The original had 3 pets to choose from.

[Merusk]

You prettymuch summed-up my thoughts, Jobu.

I still get a kick out of the artbook.

[Numtini]

The pet is very very pretty though.

I should probably order a second copy for ebay.

[Xanthippe]

My daughter's ecstatic.  She hasn't even seen what the new pet looks like.  Her highest toon is still 12, and will probably stay that way.

2 copies preordered yay.

All games should have collector's editions like this.  I am very happy with the collector's edition I already have, and was so so so hoping they'd come out with one for BC.

[Chenghiz]

I'm sorely tempted. I didn't get the first one but a  friend of mine did, and the artbook was pretty awesome. Considering the game+artbook was pretty much what they would cost seperately, and it came with the pets, I might end up buying the CE this time.

[Furiously]

I'm not sure the expansion will have the same resell value as the original collectors edition but I wish I had bought 10 copies to sell on ebay 2 years later for a 400% profit.

[schild]

Lol at the collectors edition. Time to buy that and not open it and then sell my original box.

[Yoshimaru]

How much did the original CE's go for?  I looked but didn't see one on Ebay.

[Numtini]

I looked a while back and they were in the 300-400 range.

[Merusk]

I looked a while back and they were in the 300-400 range.

They still are.

There's a few there in the $100 range, but they were opened boxes.

[Ironwood]

Insane.

[Xanthippe]

I looked a while back and they were in the 300-400 range.

They still are.

There's a few there in the $100 range, but they were opened boxes.

Why would it matter if they are opened or not?  Unopened are probably at their peak value right now.

Assuming the accounts go with the opened boxes, so you get the pets.

(I'm only in it for the pets).

[Furiously]

It would matter because the person selling might have had a banned account for being a botter?

[Lantyssa]

Oh bloody hell.  They had to make the pet a dragon (well, whelp)?  The only quicker way to sucker me in would be something along the lines of a cute, tiny zhevra or a bloodpetal pest.

[Merusk]

It would matter because the person selling might have had a banned account for being a botter?

Well, there's that. There's also the whole "New in Box" thing that collectors get such a hard-on over. 

Considering there were only 75k or so Collector's Editions, and there's now over 7mil subs (and who knows how many boxes moved.) an unopened box probably is a rarity of sorts.   The funny thing is the entire notion of collecting something like a computer game in the first place.  Nevermind that it's an MMO and won't last forever even IF you could find a machine to run it on 25 years from now. 

Ah yes, I can see it now.  I'm dead and gone and in my will I leave my collector's editions to my grandkids.  Oh how they'll treasure this sterile box that hold no memories of me or the long-terminated game within for them.  It'll be lovely.

[Calantus]

Oh bloody hell.  They had to make the pet a dragon (well, whelp)?  The only quicker way to sucker me in would be something along the lines of a cute, tiny zhevra or a bloodpetal pest.

The nether whelp is very cute. I saw it in one of those videos where people are running around as different BC creatures. It doesn't look like the other whelps in game, it has a largish head and very big eyes, as well as a general cutifying of the face by making it less angula, etc. :P

[Trippy]

Oh bloody hell.  They had to make the pet a dragon (well, whelp)?  The only quicker way to sucker me in would be something along the lines of a cute, tiny zhevra or a bloodpetal pest.

WTH, the CE pet is a fire-lizard!? That's almost as good as the panda pet. Crap now I need to get some CE copies. I wonder if the pet sits on your shoulder.

[Numtini]

Given the amount of time I've spent in the Wetlands farming for a whelpling, $30 seems a small price to pay for one. But that's me. I think "small pets" are one of the best things WOW did.

[Ironwood]

Hey, one of my victories - A Crimson whelpling dropped for me the first time I ever visited the Wetlands with my Rogue.  I'd only been playing for about a week and it was the second whelp I'd killed.

I had no idea for months that they were rare.  He just kept me company and I never even noticed people staring.  I honestly think I must have been the first Guy in Europe to get one. 

[Trippy]

I don't think I saw a single whelpling as a pet when I played for the first 3 months or so.

[SurfD]

My personal favourit pet is the Kwee Q. Peddlefeet pet, a goblin in a cupid outfit (Wings, bow and heart headed arrows, and whatnot) which you could get as a fairly rare random drop out of the Valentines event gift boxes.

[bhodi]

it was even better, becuase you used it on someone else - you fire an arrow at someone, and he follows that person around just like their pet.