Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

World of Warcraft and UDE Point System Fiasco 251

Posted by Hemos from the going-to-get-a-lot-of-backlash dept.
Richard Manley writes "A report on the card game trinket fiasco. When the UDE (Upper Deck Entertainment) point system finally went live, I would imagine most of the people that logged in felt the same fury I did. Blizzard knows the lengths that its fans will go to get trinkets (look at the price of Murloc cards on eBay), but their arrangement with Upper Deck simply takes advantage of the good will many fans have shown." From the article: "This means that in order to get these trinkets, one would have to purchase 9 BOXES of cards for the fireworks and 21 BOXES of cards for the ogre. What does this mean? Want a fireworks trinket? Sure, it is only going to cost you $900.00. Want an Ogre trinket? No problem, it is only going to cost you $2,100.00. Bear in mind that these items are purely for show off purposes and give no in-game advantage to players." Having been through the Magic: The Gathering addiction twice, I've decided staying away from this Collectible Card Game is a good idea.
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

World of Warcraft and UDE Point System Fiasco More

World of Warcraft and UDE Point System Fiasco

Comments Filter:

  • What will happen (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Lord_Slepnir ( 585350 )
    Players of WoW will be pissed for about two weeks, then blizzard will implement [Axe of ZOMGWTF Pwnage], and soon they'll all be off to EPL to grind the 400 zombie asses they need to turn in to get it. This is just the epic obsession of the month. Next patch there will be something better.

    • Link pls? (Score:5, Funny)

      by lsw ( 95027 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:25AM (#16641411) Homepage
      I tried to click on the [Axe of ZOMGWTF Pwnage] but doesn't work. can anyone link it so I can see the stats please?

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by bigdavesmith ( 928732 )
      I'm sorry, I don't think there's going to be any 'grinding' going on wherever this card game is concerned.
      • OP's point is that once the next best thing comes out the unwashed masses will be attracted to the next shiny sparkly object. For example, once the expansion is released, (ZOMG LAAATE BLIZ I H888888TE JOO!!!) there will be WTFPWN LEVEL 70 EPIX!!! to covet instead of useless trinkets.
      • Actually during magic the gatherings hey day, Mox's passed hands this way at least once at one of the big con's. Pretty girl earned her card the "old fashioned" way.

        Then there was the guy who took a handful of rares and tossed it off the balcony into the crowd and berated them as they crawled around on the ground trying to get the cards.

        The internet was young-- a guy in italy sent me a check directly for my arabians, legends, and something else (antiquities?) for 3 grand. Today, you'd ebay or something.

        L

    • Re:What will happen (Score:4, Insightful)

      by thelost ( 808451 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:40AM (#16641601) Journal
      doubtful. More likely is that as with most things in WoW the most heard voices will be from a loud few, who get distracted a few days later by a perceived nurf to their fav class or weapon.

      I think no community can bark louder than than the WoW one, but seeing as the majority are a bunch of kids it just doesn't fucking matter.
    • In WoW most grinds, no matter how crazy, you're at least given the information in some form so you know what to expect. Take a typical faction grind, you need X amount of faction and with some effort you can determine what's a likely rate of faction gain per unit of time (say, an hour). Therefore you can get a rough idea of how many hours it takes to go through the grind, so at least you've some idea of what to expect. Here no such information was given. Maybe there is nothing wrong with a '$2100 grind'

  • Aah yes ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nbvb ( 32836 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @08:44AM (#16641003) Journal
    Aah yes, the UDE system... I'd much prefer CCQ myself as well. Although I never had an MtG problem, I still fear MiG's that were sold to some unfriendly countries.

    What the heck does all THAT mean? I must be getting old ....

    It seems to me that the more time passes, the less I understand around here. Funny how that happens.

    • Re:Aah yes ... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by boule75 ( 649166 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:23AM (#16641387) Homepage
      I fully agree. Mod him up.

      Unless you spend half of your weeks to roam forums about this game, there's no way to understand this article.

      I was hoping that just reading games.slashdot.org twice a month would be enough to make me appear a shining gammer amongst my friends but... I just cannot read it anymore!

      Gosh... then, what were those acronyms again? UDE, CCQ, MtG, MiG, THAT, RTFA, IANAL...
      • I was hoping that just reading games.slashdot.org twice a month would be enough to make me appear a shining gammer

        How would reading games.slashdot.org make you look like an old woman? [reference.com] Sorry, I just couldn't resist ;-)

      • Re:Aah yes ... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Voltronalpha ( 244088 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @11:49AM (#16643411)
        I run a retail game shop so I will explain:

        UDE (Upper Deck Entertainment) Released a card game for WoW last week, it is one of the better CCG's (collectible card game) we've seen in a long long time.

        In each pack of cards is a 'FREE' UDE points card, it is worth 100 UDE points, which are good for redeeming UDE merchandise and in game WoW items.

        The submitter (and invariably slashdot) have a pretty tainted view of things, since this item is free and is there simply as a value add to the card game, they of course make no mention of the 'loot' cards you can pull in the set that give you in game mounts one of which is currently ebaying for $250~300.

        Only complaints about the free item they put into the card packs, which reward the CCG game players for purchasing the packs.

        Any WoW online player that bought the packs only for the possibility of getting online items is a huge and total fool.

        People want to complain when a product that wasn't meant to be used in a certain way doesn't work the way they want it too as is the case here.

        This is a CCG rarity and scarcity are a factor for people who play a game like this, you either grok that and are okay with it and play the game or you don't.

        Also as another note, this game is so good it's sold out within the week at 100's of stores across the country (including mine)

        I can tell you, since I sold 90% of the product at my shop no one there even cared about the points (or if they did, it was an after thought)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mmalove ( 919245 )
      I think CCQ is supposed to be CCG, or collectible card game. MtG is Magic the Gathering, arguably the most successsful of all CCG spanning nine editions and over a dozen expansions. MtG put Wizards of the Coast on the map. MiGs are dated jet airplanes. UDE I can't figure out the acronym, but it's a point reward system like when you collect UPCs off a cereal box, and if you ate captain crunch for a year you could get a free T-shirt. The original poster (OP) is complaining because the company advertised

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by dave562 ( 969951 )
      It seems to me that the more time passes, the less I understand around here. Funny how that happens.

      Have you noticed that too? Do you ever feel like "the powers that be" only choose to "inform" a particular age bracket about what "cool" is and after a while, you realize you aren't getting those messages anymore? =)

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by nbvb ( 32836 )
        Pretty much. It seems that after I zipped past the 18-24 demographic, things went right past me. And that was some years ago ....
  • That's a 50 DKP MINUS!
    • Whelps. Many whelps left side. HANDLE IT!

  • HELP! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by spectrokid ( 660550 )
    English....? Anyone? Please?

    • Re: (Score:2, Redundant)

      by teslar ( 706653 )
      Step 1: Sell a WoW card game where each pack gives people 100 points.
      Step 2: Promise the points can be traded in WoW for something shiny but useless, eventually.
      Step 3: Eventually require up to 50,000 points for those shiny things, equalling the purchase of 2,100$ worth of cards.
      Step 4: PROFIT!!! Actually, strike that, get an angry mob... for about 20 Minutes until they go raiding again.
    • yes, really, some context please for those of us who don't follow WoW that closely?

      they are selling some sort of real-world cards that give you some sort of game points for some unspecified purpose?
      • They're selling a "collectible card game". Each $20ish pack has cards, and '100 points' you can redeem for novelty WoW trinkets. Nothing is available for 100 points except for desktop wallpapers. Everything is worth like 10,000 points. That's just a little past ridiculous, and I think Blizzard is rightfully feeling some sort of backlash against this. Not OMG-the-online-world-is-over backlash, but still: it's a grand way to get some of your more devoted players (with greater fiscal resources) pissed off. I d

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by gsslay ( 807818 )
          That's just a little past ridiculous, and I think Blizzard is rightfully feeling some sort of backlash against this.

          You know, if they were trinkets that were easy to get then everyone would have them, and all the dimwits who are getting so upset about this wouldn't want them.

          And it seems pretty clear to me that having introduced a reward system, Blizzard are unlikely to just leave it at these daft card games. You could pick up points in all manner of other ways. Some points, its to be hoped, could be e

          • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

            by guy-in-corner ( 614138 )
            Some points, its to be hoped, could be earned in ways that don't involve you having more money that sense.

            How about a WoW-branded credit card? Instead of cashback, you get in-game points for real-world spending.

            • That's actually a pretty good idea, guy (not that I play WoW)... it'd be another revenue stream for Blizzard, and it'd give the players another way of getting points. IANAL, but I hope there is some way you could copyright (or whatever the proper legal phrase would be) that idea so you could get something if Blizzard ever does it.
          • Some points, its to be hoped, could be earned in ways that don't involve you having more money that sense.

            Well, we are talking about WoW players...
        • The people who would get upset about this are those people burdened with an impossible completism, who seem to think that they can get one of "everything" in an MMO. It's a goal that is both unrealistic and really neurotic.

          The more I look at the world of MMOs - and I play one - the more I see a cesspool of dysfunctional personalities, the exploitation of mental and personal problems, and the exaltation of the worst behaviour. I know many people play them casually and enjoy them (I'd like to think I do), but
        • Yeh, down with Blizzard, and once we've hit them, we're moving onto the bigger target, those one-armed bandits at the fair which dish out tickets instead of money... 300 for a pencil! This is outrageous!

      • Re:HELP! (Score:5, Informative)

        by virg_mattes ( 230616 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:21AM (#16641355)
        The context is a crossover for marketing. Blizzard (who publishes the WoW online game) contracted with Upper Deck (a card manufacturer) to publish a WoW collectible card game. As a draw for the online folks, they put 100 "points" in each pack of cards, with a promise that those points could be used to purchase items in the WoW online game. So, a lot of online-WoW players ponied up for the cards to get points, before the points and rewards were announced. When Blizzard announced how many points each trinket or doodad cost, the points were so high that people would need to buy thousands of dollars worth of cards before they could amass enough points to get anything but lowball stuff like screensavers/wallpaper. WoW players who bought cards just for the online points are now understandably bent out of shape about it.

        Virg
        • Thank you for that recap, I really didn't understand what the story was talking about. Now that I understand...

          What a bunch of loser dorks! HAHA. Wow, really something to get bent out of shape about. Why don't you write some angry emails to the company, and get on some chat rooms and flame them? HAHA.

          I am sure this is only an issue for the dork-wannabes anyway. I am sure the true uber-dorks who play this game wouldn't bother with this. I don't know much about it, but from what I hear it reminds me of t

  • It's an all-volunteer army (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 30, 2006 @08:48AM (#16641033)
    Complaining about this makes as much sense as being a devout Catholic and then getting all upset with the arbitrary rituals and limitations that come with the package.
    • MPU

      well said. That comment invalidates about half the comments on slashdot that are complaints about DRM, MS, MMORPGs with subscription fees, etc.

      • That comment invalidates about half the comments on slashdot that are complaints about ... MS ...

        To be fair, I doubt most of the people on Slashdot could force their company/family/friends to go to another OS, even if they wanted to. So complaining about MS is more like complaining about the quality of your government... While you technically have the power to change it, first you have to convince most of the people around you it's worth the effort.

    • "Complaining about this makes as much sense as being a devout Catholic and then getting all upset with the arbitrary rituals and limitations that come with the package."

      I'm not so sure...

      If you found out later the points didnt exist... that's Catholic.

      Finding out what you're looking for cost a shit load is Scientology.
    • "makes as much sense as being a devout Catholic"

      Wait, are you saying that religion is just a giant rep grind with feeble rewards at the end? ZOMG! Why am I playing this game!

  • Assumptions! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Aladrin ( 926209 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @08:51AM (#16641055)
    The article makes a huge assumption: That the cards are the ONLY way to get UDE points. Maybe this is just the first way. Maybe you can also earn them by grinding, in-game. Or winning contests. Or special quests. Or other WoW merchandise.

    Or maybe they just placed an extra 0 on all the stuff online by accident.

    Or maybe they really are just greedy bastards and know how to exploit the playerbase of the most popular game in the world.

    Or maybe, just maybe... They meant it to be REALLY FSCKING TOUGH to get those. They aren't special if everyone has one.
    • Hey, you're surfing while you're astroturfing!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Aladrin ( 926209 )
        Might be true IF I played WoW, or worked for the company. I just see a lot of FUD and feel the need to fight it. Screaming 'FIRE!' when you see a whisp of smoke is FUD.
    • Or so I've been told by people who demo the card game.
    • Tough is one thing. Tough should be spending time and effort to achieve something in-game. Rare drops, difficult instances (dungeons), possibly even something that requires strategy.

      Tough shouldn't be 'how much can we make them buy'. This is very similar to the discussions that have been taking place lately about purchasing content instead of having it available through playing the game.
    • I'll go with GREEDY BASTARDS.

      Going offtopic here --- but as an ex-gaming/hobby retailer, I feel the need to vent some spleen as regards Upper Dick.

      [rant on]
      To put it bluntly, they shit all over the hobby retailer by giving exclusive launches to chains like Blockbuster Video (search on www.icv2.com for "upper deck blockbuster" to find information about the Shaman King launch, and other complaints), whose stores don't host tournaments or staff employees knowledgable in CCG's. Furthermore, UDE offers their

    • They're not that hard to get, really (Score:5, Funny)

      by Chris Burke ( 6130 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @12:11PM (#16643727) Homepage
      Yeah, as usual people whine about it being to hard to get a useless item that they don't need. If you don't want to spend the money, don't get it! It isn't like some powerful item that only uber-raiders can get, it's a piece of crap that will make you look cool for two seconds.

      Besides, they're easy to get. I've almost got mine already.

      Sure, if you just buy enough cards off the Auction House, you'll have to spend 900-2000g to get the trinket, and of course that isn't worth it. Instead, just grind it out!

      The day after they patched the game to include the cards, I went to the Franklin Elementary Playground zone during lunch. The weak mobs there were dropping packs of cards pretty often, and other loot besides. Plus they have a really hilarious crying emote they do when you hit them. The "Save me mommy!" one was the best; keep at it until you hear it, trust me! After an hour the mobs stopped spawning, but I came back later and there were big crowds of them all lined up in front of where the big yellow tram comes. I must have taken out a hundred of them in like fifteen minutes. A few tougher mobs aggroed from the trams, though, so be warned.

      All told in about an hour and a half of grinding, plus travel time, I got a total of 10k points towards my ogre trinket, a few g worth of cash, a Nintendo DS Lite and a Nintendo DS (strangely the Lite sold for more on the AH even though it is white and the DS is blue... go figure). Compared to most of the semi-worthless things you grind for in WoW this is easy, so those complaining about the price should just STFU.

      One more note... I know this is probably just the Random Number Generator screwing with me, but I went back to Franklin the next day and it seemed like nobody was dropping WoW cards any more. So I left and went to Washington Middle School nearby. The mobs were a little harder, but still pretty easy and they droppped more cash and the WoW cards to boot.

      Uh oh, gotta go, the My Boss elite is patrolling this way.

  • A fool and their money are soon parted (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Chris_Jefferson ( 581445 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @08:53AM (#16641077) Homepage
    So let me get this straight. I group of people bought large amounts of some card game they didn't actually want to play, because they would get some points, with no idea as to how many points they will need. Then it turns out the things they can buy with the points are really expensive.

    Why not either a) Buy the cards for the cards, or b) Wait until you know how much things will cost before buying the cards?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Cylix ( 55374 )
      Well that is of course the explanation to the whole article summed up!

      a) It probably stinks and/or doesn't have pretty graphics.
      b) They would not be wasting so much time with a game if they could demonstrate such signs of intelligence.
  • Greed is a good thing, except when it runs over any other sense, like it did this time. Looks like they bracketed costs of trinkets to other sort of similar costs of online items. Except these have *NO* in game value, as per sysem of points, experience.

    I don't play WoW, but what a way to get burnt... maybe they can have trinkets rented with micropayments, like 0.01$ for each use? [I shouldn't give them ideas eh ?]

  • Vanity is Expensive (Score:5, Insightful)

    by popo ( 107611 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @08:58AM (#16641119) Homepage
    Complaining about the cost of "trinkets" is a little silly. They're nothing
    other than "vanity items".

    So the writer of this article is upset that vanity items cost too much? Hello?

    Any disappointment on the part of players is a result of over-expectation
    in the 'freebie collectible' component of the offline game. I'm not sure that
    having one's un-researched expectations shattered by reality is something that warrants
    casting blame on the manufacturer.

    IMHO as long as we're talking about something that has no other purpose but to
    flaunt in front of other players and say "Na-ha, look what I have!", there's no
    'appropriate' price. As in the real world, vanity has no upper price limit.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mblase ( 200735 )
      So the writer of this article is upset that vanity items cost too much? Hello?

      Listen, you have NO IDEA how much I had to pay for this Prada mousepad and Armani leather wrist rest so that I could play WoW in the sort of luxury I deserve. It's not like I have a lot of spare cash left over for my virtual accoutrements as well.
    • > So the writer of this article is upset that vanity items cost too much?

      Not exactly his point. His point is that the cost of the vanity items is far out of line with what they do, and it was so unrealistic that it was an affront to common sense.

      > I'm not sure that having one's un-researched expectations shattered by reality is something that warrants casting blame on the manufacturer.

      Considering the venue I'd say that the only appropriate target for complaint is the manufacturer. Since comp

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Macthorpe ( 960048 )
        As far as I'm concerned, the article invalidated it's own point and yours.

        There is outrage at how much these trinkets cost to get, and then they reveal that there's no competitive advantage to having one, which invalidates the pricing of them because they are vanity only.

        Let me qualify that. If they were 'forcing', by game mechanic or otherwise, subscribers to get these cards to get a nominal in-game advantage then I would agree wholeheartedly that allowing people to buy an advantage is creating an inherent
        • > As far as I'm concerned, the article invalidated it's own point and yours.

          Firstly, since the article is an opinion, it's not invalidated by disagreement. Second, my point is that the only proper target for complaints about WoW is Blizzard. Since this guy is grousing to Blizzard about the "values" oif the items, he's taking proper recourse.

          > It's like complaining to McDonalds that their Happy Meal toy costs the price of a Happy Meal.

          Why would that be inappropriate? Sure, it's likely that M
  • "Having been through the MtG additiction twice, I've decided staying away from this CCQ is a good idea."

    If the editors can't it right, who can? It's *addiction*/SpellingNazi

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by mblase ( 200735 )
      Having been through the MtG additiction twice, I've decided staying away from this CCQ is a good idea."

      If the editors can't it right, who can?

      No no, I think it's a new word. An "additiction" is when you get so miserably hooked on it your face starts to twitch when you realize your dealer--sorry, the card manufacturers--has upped the price again.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crossmr ( 957846 )
      If you're going to be a nazi you might want to toss a "get" or "spell" into your sentence there.

  • Oh... My... God... (Score:3, Funny)

    by iroll ( 717924 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:04AM (#16641169) Homepage
    How can we kill that which... has no life?

  • What were people expecting? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Broken scope ( 973885 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:06AM (#16641197) Homepage
    Do people complain about those little coke codes that you can redeem?

    Hell no, why? Because only an idiot goes out and buys the coke bottle just for the code. They code is a little reward for drinking the coke. Its not a consolation prize, it is a little reward for a bit of brand loyalty. Hell the rewards for the soda are less useful.

    God, what an ass. I'm gonna buy a ccq so i can win a freaking e-penis enhancement. Oh boy, I pay 15 bucks a month already, why don't I just bend over some more then bitch about it. You have not been kidnapped, you don't have a knife at your throat, DON'T BUY THE FUCKING CARD GAME YOU MORON, GOD DAMMIT ITS THAT SIMPLE. ITS ONLY A FIASCO IF YOU ARE A FUCKING MORON.



    cough. ahem. sorry.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tim C ( 15259 )
      Please, carry on - I'm just glad I'm not the only person who saw this and thought "Oh, who gives a fuck!?" Between trivia like this and FUD like the IE phishing filter story, I find myself wondering why I come here more and more often.
    • Do people complain about those little coke codes that you can redeem?

      Unfortunately, yes they do [drinkchooselive.com]. In fact, they're even trying to sue them! People will complain about anything.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by onion2k ( 203094 )
      The article states that the Fireworks trinket would cost you $900.00, and the Ogre trinket $2,100.00. From experience running a university gaming society back at the height of MtG's popularity I'd say that a $2100 collection is actually quite small. I've met people at gaming conventions with collections that must have cost them 10* that.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by mblase ( 200735 )
      I simply have to agree. The article starts with this comment:

      I, like many people that purchased the World of Warcraft Collectable Card Game, have no interest in playing the game. What we are after is the brilliant in-game promotional items stuffed into random packages

      So he's already admitted he's not buying the Collectible Card Game for the Game; he's only interested in the Collectible Cards.

      Want an Ogre trinket? No problem, it is only going to cost you $2,100.00. Bear in mind that these items are purely fo

  • I have been fearful of Blizzard for a while now, and now it seems my concerns are slowing being realized. I played SWG for 1.5 years since release. The urge to use the fans for money just became too tempting to resist. Things changed from "we want to provide you with fun," to "things will change and it is our game."

    With the change to the UI's to be locked down to the +healing nerf, Blizzard has now clearly stated that they know how the game is "supposed" to be played. The mods they disliked were written
  • "Waaaaah waaaaah waaaaaaah."

    Honestly, bunch of clowns get upset that some 'exclusive' in game items of zero real world value are going to take them more time and / or money to aquire than they would have liked.

    Cry me a river.

  • This could very well be the end of the World (Score:3, Funny)

    by DrugCheese ( 266151 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:14AM (#16641287)
    ... of Warcraft

  • I bought precisely two decks of cards, so that if nobody I knew bought a deck, I'd still be able to play. That's it -- I don't anticipate buying any more.

    If you don't want to play the card game, don't buy any cards. If you buy them in order to get the in-game rewards, you are going to be disappointed. Period. Don't do that. Buy them to play the card game, not for any other reason.

  • QQ More (Score:3, Informative)

    by Qetu ( 732155 ) <adolfo.nieto@gmail.com> on Monday October 30, 2006 @09:21AM (#16641361)
    If you expect to open a pack and get a fun trinket in game, what would stop every wow player to open just one pack and get it? Then it would not be special.

    - You get 100 points per pack.
    - You can get a nice amount of points in special tournaments [upperdeck.com] (probably more than 100 points and less than 5000).
    - You can get omg lucky! and open an special Legendary Loot [upperdeck.com] card. It gives you a code for a special reward in game. Turtle mounts [ebay.com] are reaching some high prices...

    So this is more a problem of children crying GIEF NAO!
  • It took me several months (and lots of persuasion from RL friends) to even spend the money on the game and the monthly fee, but I'll be damned if they'll get me to buy some useless card game just so I can get some useless pet that 1) does nothing, 2) takes up inventory space, and 3) ensures I can't enable any OTHER pet I've got wasting inventory space if I activate it.

    It's bad enough they make us do cartwheels for months to get adequate bag space (wtf buying a bank slot for 100g, when its just as much extra

    • It's bad enough they make us do cartwheels for months to get adequate bag space (wtf buying a bank slot for 100g, when its just as much extra space as the 10s one, with NO free bag?)

      Hey, Horde/Alliance law requires that the First Bank of WoW give you 24 slots of storage space for free. The bank is free to charge for any additional space you ask for. The catch is that the bank doesn't want to give you more space than that, so the more additional space you want, the more prohibitively expensive their charge

  • So if I understand this correctly, this guy bought a bunch of stuff he didn't want to earn reward points in a system he knew nothing about, and is now upset about it.


    Seems pretty stupid to pay cash for the cards without having any idea how many points are needed for the rewards.

  • fury? (Score:2)

    by syle ( 638903 )
    When the UDE point system finally went live, I would imagine most of the people that logged in felt the same fury I did.
    I would imagine that if you feel fury about trading cards and video games, it may be time to re-examine your life.
    • That sentence you quoted sounds 100% like he was channelling 'Comic Book Guy.' Just put his voice to it and it sounds perfectly natural.

  • CCG first, bonus second? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mmalove ( 919245 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @10:07AM (#16641959)
    A couple counter points to the article -

    First, I've known many many people who have spend over 1000 dollars on CCGs, most notably MTG. The extra tabard, the turtle mount, and whatever else is a bonus. It's not meant to be a grind, it's not meant to be the sole reason you spend 1000 dollars. The fact that people are willing to spend such an obscene amount of money for one, rather than leave it up to chance, is no more Blizzard's fault than it would be Sony's fault that people will buy playstations on Ebay for 3x the price just to get one 2 weeks early.

    Second, everything I've seen as a bonus from this is inconsequential in the game. The turtle mount isn't even epic, meaning you would still need a regular in game mount or everyone (your guildies, your battleground comrades, or that night elf you were chasing down) will outpace you. Vanity in game pets don't fight in combat, and most shape altering trinkets (this UPC item I'm sure included) don't fool guards or most players.

    Conclusion : The article's author confused a collectible card game with a lottery, and got teary when he didn't win. To quoth the WoW forums, "Cry more nub".
  • I'm sorry, you spent five bucks on a pack of cards, and expected there to be something -other- -than- the cards in that pack that was worth five bucks?

    Sorry, but IMHO, the original poster is an idiot. That's like complaining that you spent sixty bucks on a new 360 game, not to play it, but to use the CD as a mirror for shaving... but it's not shiny enough to shave with.
  • Anyone who gets pissed off about this stuff needs to reevaluate their priorities. The items are a nice little "thank you" from Blizzard to the people who play the CCG, not a deck of cards that you buy and get items. If you play the CCG, go for it, just don't expect an item card. I wouldn't buy the cards just in hopes of getting an item though.

  • Irrational Beings Are Predictable, Too (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kthejoker ( 931838 ) on Monday October 30, 2006 @10:30AM (#16642261)
    You have $5 in your hand. Do you buy:

    a) A deck of WoW UDE cards - throwing away the cards and hording points for a system not yet in place to spend the points online?
    b) A video game rental?
    c) 5 Crispy Chicken Sandwiches from Wendy's (pre-tax)?
    d) A share in Ford (they're hovering right around that)?
    e) Some cheap headphones?
    f) A 1 gig flash drive from TigerDirect (after rebate)?
    g) 5 lotto tickets?
    h) 5 songs on iTunes?
    i) 40 songs on AllOfMp3?
    j) any other thing on this planet you can get for $5?

    Utility theory says that all of these are not equal to everyone. The major downside to spending the $5 is, of course, that you no longer have the $5, and the thing you have acquired may not be worth $5 to anyone else, so you can't always just "turn it back in" and magically get $5 again. It is that moment of choice which defines self utility. And frankly, people scarfing up these decks of cards placed an irrational (and needlessly high) value on these decks.

    It's like playing the lotto. Irrationality is predictable, too, because self-utility is not a rational thing, but it can be measured all the same. Good marketing people know this.

  • Yei! (Score:2)

    by suv4x4 ( 956391 )
    I'm extremely happy to announce that I can't understand a single word from the article OR comments!
  • Clearly just another slap in the casual players face. The only way to get these items is if you're in a large raiding guild and help each other out.

    (in all seriousness it is rather steep... 250 boosters packs for fireworks or 500 boosters for an ogre costume? at least make some of the codes worth more than 100 points at random...)
  • Hi,

    i ask myself "What fiasco?". I've never even heard about those trinkets. No player (i know of) has those Murlocs pe(s)t trinket. Nobody plays the trading card game. None of my WoW websites (i read about 5 per day) mentions neither the game nor the alleged fiasco. I think the topic is overblown.

    Regards, Martin

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Once you lose your job to this game, seeing another goal that can only be reached by spending money seems a bit unfair.
  • Oh yes, evil Blizzard is exploiting their poor addicted playerbase. How dare they, compelling these tortured souls to spend their hard-earned money on useless in-game items.

    Here's an idea! Don't buy them!

    Jesus Christ... I'm probably as much of a WoW addict as most anybody who reads /., but I'm not going to be blowing $900+ for an item, no matter how good it is. Nobody should be.

    If you do, and you're not so rich that it's just a joke for you to spend that kind of cash, then it's not that you have an addictio
  • It's a collecting card game, you moron! The points aren't there to get you to buy the cards (the author admits he doesn't even play, he's buying just for the points), they are there to show appreciation for people that do buy the cards in order to play the card game! How did you possibly get it in your mind to buy collectible cards just to get points to spend on something you would get in WOW?

    If that is all you are after, consider checking EBay [ebay.com], where people that play the card game are selling point car

  • This would be like if someone camped out and buy boxes of McDonald fries to try to get a Broadwalk, only to find that the prize for Broadwalk is not announced until a week later and turned out to be only $1000. The wisdom of the buyer is questionable regardless of what the prize was but people should at least know what they're shooting for. In this case, they've nothing to base it on because the conversion system isn't announced. While the most logical thing to do would be to wait and see, I do think it'

Slashdot Top Deals

Whoever dies with the most toys wins.

Close