World of Warcraft, the most popular MMORPG of all time, has reached another milestone 14 years after it was released. On July 18th, developer Blizzard announced to the world that they would make the six first expansions of their game free to new players.
They explained that the only requirement to receive the expansions was to purchase the Battle For Azeroth expansion, which hit shelves a little over a month ago. The decision to make the first six expansions free has been seen by most players as a big step in the right direction.
The Change for New (and Old) Players
There are many out there who previously played the game at some point, only to stop for whatever reason and play other games on other platforms. And over the years, as more expansions were released and accounts became lost, it didn’t make sense to fork out the money again to buy expansions that the player already owned in the past – so Blizzard’s change has been welcomed by both newcomers and past veterans.Battle of Azeroth is the seventh expansion pack released by the developer, and it has become the only one necessary to jump into the game. This means that there is now 14 years worth of game available to players that are new to the franchise, which also means a lot of catching up to do.
As part of the change to WOW, Blizzard has also removed the battle chest system as part of the series of recent updates, with the hope of making the game far more accessible to new players.
The Effect On Other Games
Blizzard is a giant in the industry, and their recent changes to World of Warcraft may have a ripple effect on other franchises. Their parent company, Activision-Blizzard, has been called to adopt the same business model for their latest release, Destiny 2: Forsaken, which is the first expansion to be released for Bungie’s MMO sci-fi shooter, Destiny 2.For players that are new to the game, they will be required not just to fork out the base price for Destiny 2, which is currently around $60, but also for Forsaken, as well as the smaller DLC packs, Curse of Osiris and Warmind. A bundle is most likely in the works, but new players will still need to spend a fair amount on the base game. The move may even spread to other industries, such as Pokies online and mobile gaming.
Comparing The Two
The most obvious difference between the two games is the way the pricing is set up: WoW uses a subscription-based model, while Destiny 2 is sticking to the more conventional pricing model. While it’s true that Destiny 2 only needs to be bought once and can be played forever, the extra expansion costs will hit players hard.
WoW, on the other hand, will set players back $15 a month, which is not inclusive of the latest expansion. But considering the first six are now free to play and enjoy, it may just seem like the more inviting choice.