Like Gazimoff I was sucked into the Annual Pass thing. I’ve had breaks from WoW before, but a new expansion generally draws me back in for a couple of tiers. When they released the Annual Pass, the shiny new pony and the opportunity of Mists of Pandaria beta AND a copy of Diablo 3 was just too good to pass up.
If I’m honest with myself, even though I’m not playing I probably would have been very lazy about cancelling my sub. I like having the option of logging in, and keeping my WoW install up to date ensures that coming back is significantly less painful than it would otherwise be. (It is so off-putting to have to reinstall 10GB+ of patches when you want to play NOW after a 3 month break.)
So here is my question: What will Blizzard Activision offer Annual Pass users if they sign up for a second year? The deal/commitment only really works because of the Diablo 3/MoP Beta and pretty horse triple threat, which is not something they’ll be able to continue doing after those two packages launch.
Luring in old players
Blizzard aren’t the only one doing this – but you’ve probably heard that they’re trying to tempt players with the promise of free server transfers, a free level 80 character in full 232 ilevel gear, and a few other perks. Including a free upgrade to Cataclysm. Yeah. The expansion that is so bad they’re just giving it away! (I kid, there’s a lot about Cataclysm to love, it’s just our hate tends to be more vocal.)
Back to the Annual Pass
Presumably they want to keep me on the Annual Pass. I imagine it will then be a Heart of the Swarm themed mount, and perhaps a free copy of Starcraft II, and a beta pass for Heart of the Swarm. Possibly? I have no clue. It’s almost as if this is turning into an Annual Blizzard Pass, giving me access to all my Blizz goodness at the LOW LOW cost of my subscription. Honestly? I wouldn’t mind that. I’d prefer it, almost, to chucking £50 at once on a game.
So, are you regretting your Annual Pass decision? What would make you sign up for a second year?
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1
Psynister at http://psynister.wordpress.com
I’m regretting it only because other games came out that I’m enjoying far more than WoW, so I haven’t even logged in since mid-December of last year, and with nothing holding my interested at the moment I won’t be back until MoP pre-launch events start up. So I’m going for who knows how many months where I’m not playing at all but still paying. If you add those months up that I’m paying but not playing then I’m not really getting D3 for free, the WoW mount really wasn’t as cool as I thought it was going to be, and that leaves the MoP beta which may or may not be worth it depending on how long I’m in the beta and how smooth it is.
If I could take it back, I would.
Posted at March 7, 2012 on 2:15pm.
2
Pewter
Well, I never thought of D3 as being ‘for free’, rather that it was part of the package and I would be playing WoW anyway. The WoW mount is pretty cool, but I found I reverted to the winged lion on my alts pretty damn quickly – I think they need more variety in the store mounts, they’re all glitzy and glowy and shiny – we could do with some more edgy/nasty looking mounts
Posted at March 7, 2012 on 3:56pm.
3
Maruka at https://twitter.com/Maruka1977
I don’t regret it at all so far. I’m an in and out, very casual kind of player anyway. My favorite part of the game is leveling. When I get bored with it, it’s easy to step away since I don’t have any raiding obligations. I don’t particularly like paying for something that I’m not using on a regular basis, but like you, I like the option of being able to log in whenever the feeling hits me and knowing that I can do so without having to download major updates. I also like the bonuses that we get for signing up for a year as well.
As for what would make me sign up for year two, I’m not sure. I really love getting free mounts so that would be nice again. Something less frou frou next time though.
Beta access to any game is always nice as well. I’m easy to please and loyal to the game. It wouldn’t take much.
Posted at March 7, 2012 on 6:47pm.
4
Pewter
Just a non-frou frou free mount would be enough for you to sign up for a second year though?
Posted at March 12, 2012 on 1:45pm.
5
Deadren
I wasn’t tempted by it. I subbed for 6 months once, and ended up wondering if I did the right thing because shortly after I found myself somewhat bored of the game. With that in mind I didn’t want to be tied into a year. Of course, reality is that I will end up subbing for a year anyway, just in smaller blocks and costing myself more in the long term
But I suppose I am paying for the feeling of not being locked in.
If I was in love with the game I probably would have gone for it, but I still have bouts of “ho hum” when I log in, so the option to just drop it (or carry on) is nice for me
p.s play more
Posted at March 7, 2012 on 7:55pm.
6
Pewter
Paying for freedom – something we ultimately do all the time
p.s. will try!
Posted at March 12, 2012 on 1:46pm.
7
obscurefox at http://pugadayandothernonsense.blogspot.com/
I’m sorta regretting it, because I would switch through my five accounts, I used to multibox, but dropped down to only one active account at a time when I stopped funding them with WoW art commissions. I feel rather constrained having to stick with the same characters.(my altitis is quite bad) I just didn’t care for how the mount looked after getting it. My daughter is really looking forward to the beta though. So probably not next year if they offer it again.
Posted at March 7, 2012 on 10:14pm.
8
Pewter
Kinda confirms my worries about what they will offer for signing up once the beta is gone – obviously they can always offer Diablo 3 free afterwards.
Posted at March 12, 2012 on 1:47pm.