After a community outcry, Blizzard is changing the cost for a character copy in WoW Classic. The price drops by almost 60%.
In recent weeks and months, the developers of modern World of Warcraft and WoW Classic have not earned much praise from the community. High prices for Burning Crusade Classic and the character copy have brought a lot of criticism. Now, Blizzard has surprisingly announced: It’s not as bad as it seems, the price is dropping significantly.
What happened? Blizzard announced that the price for a character copy (also called “character clone”) will be drastically reduced. From the original $35, the price is dropping to $15. That is a price reduction of almost 57%.
What is a character clone? With the launch of the pre-patch, players need to decide how they want to play their old characters in WoW Classic. Either players stay on their realm and move into the shattered world and the gaming experience of Burning Crusade, or they choose not to and switch to a new “Classic Era” realm where time does not advance.
If one wants to play both with the same character, a character copy must be purchased.
What exactly was said? Community Manager Kaivax published a post about the clone issue in the official WoW forum, where he explains Blizzard’s motivations a bit further. It says:
This service […] is new to us. Our initial concept of the value for this service was based on how we had structured other optional items and services. We want players who choose Classic Era to feel that their decision comes with the possibility of finding friendships and guilds they can rely on.
The reason for the high price was, according to Blizzard, to create a barrier and encourage players to think carefully about their decision. The underlying thought was: Those who pay more money are more likely to play a character in the long term and thus be a reliable teammate.
Players remain skeptical: Although there are many players in the official forum who are clearly happy about the drastic price drop, there are also many skeptics. Some theorize that Blizzard planned this step from the beginning. The goal was supposedly to set the price initially at $35, only to then lower it and present itself as a company that listens to customer feedback and is even willing to take significant steps like a cut of over 50% off the price.
Whether the whole action was a prearranged play by Blizzard or if it really was the feedback that led to the change will likely remain a question for each individual to answer for themselves.
One thing is certain: the character copy is now significantly more affordable for a larger number of players. And that should – at least for the wallet – be a good thing for every player.
What do you think of this drastic price reduction? A good decision by Blizzard that listened to feedback? Or was it planned from the start?
