The lead designer of World of Warcraft recently commented in an interview about the annual pass prior to the last expansion Mists of Pandaria. In retrospect, it seems it wasn’t a good idea.
The debate surrounding the Mists of Pandaria annual pass
The annual pass, offered to World of Warcraft players after the content end of Cataclysm, has been a hot topic of discussion ever since. The annual pass allowed players to play World of Warcraft for a year and granted them access to the then-upcoming Diablo 3. Many thought it was a great deal. However, most expected that new content in World of Warcraft would appear soon. They planned to pass the time with Diablo 3 until the expansion was available and then play it with the remaining time on the WoW annual pass.
These hopes and ideas from the players did not materialize. Mists of Pandaria took a long time to arrive. The World of Warcraft portion of the annual pass went unused for many, at least partially. New content only arrived when the annual pass expired. For many who entered the deal at that time, it remains a nuisance to this day.
How the lead designer of World of Warcraft views the pass now
Blizzard seems to view the pass skeptically now as well. Lead designer Tom Chilton was asked about the topic in an interview with Icy Veins and stated that they thought it was a great idea at the time. They had this amazing game Diablo 3 in development and wanted World of Warcraft fans to feel they were benefiting from the deal and receiving a lot in return.
When they offered the deal, players were excited about it. Later, the reaction was more mixed. They also reflected on the annual pass and asked themselves: “Are our players now clearly happier with us as a company because of the annual pass?” It felt like it was up for debate and somewhat questionable: “And if that’s questionable, then we don’t think our players would want such a thing from us again,” Chilton continued.
Mein MMO thinks: In the interview, there seems to be the most cautious wording for “Yeah, it was bad. We shouldn’t have done that” in the history of mankind. When you talk to fans, the annual pass is still one of the biggest black marks on Blizzard’s otherwise fairly clean record even after two or three years.
The “mixed reaction” from fans is not without reason; the process had a strong dissonance. When commercial interests and content planning mix so intensely, it creates a difficult situation for everyone involved. Binding players to the game for 12 months (even at a significantly reduced price) led many fans to suspect that Blizzard already knew at that time that nothing would happen with MoP within the year. What would the numbers have looked like between expansions, during this long content drought, without the annual pass?
In our view, it is very commendable that Blizzard now distances itself from such actions, at least indirectly. Although, for our taste, it could have been a bit clearer.
What do you think? Did you take advantage of the annual pass back then? And did you regret it later on?
