🚀 go-pugleaf

<robertocastillo@ameritech.net> wrote 
> Geek.com is reporting that Blizzard is looking to turn Battle.net into
> a pay service. This speculation is based on a Joystiq post which
> quotes a Blizzard official saying that they need to "monetize" the
> gaming service. I've played Diablo II for years, mostly in single
> player mode. But I have played multiplayer games on occasion and would
> be pretty upset to hear that I had to pay a monthly fee to play Diablo
> III online. Time can only tell I guess. Maybe the service itself will
> be free and Blizzard will charge for extra features.

Yeah - that worked so well for Flagship when they did it with Hellgate ...

CC

On Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:05:46 +0100, "Magnate" <not@receiving.here>
wrote:

><robertocastillo@ameritech.net> wrote 
>> Geek.com is reporting that Blizzard is looking to turn Battle.net into
>> a pay service. This speculation is based on a Joystiq post which
>> quotes a Blizzard official saying that they need to "monetize" the
>> gaming service. I've played Diablo II for years, mostly in single
>> player mode. But I have played multiplayer games on occasion and would
>> be pretty upset to hear that I had to pay a monthly fee to play Diablo
>> III online. Time can only tell I guess. Maybe the service itself will
>> be free and Blizzard will charge for extra features.
>
>Yeah - that worked so well for Flagship when they did it with Hellgate ...
>
>CC

It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.

And when you unsubbed, you lost the ability to use the sub-only items
you'd just found.

I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?

I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
pay-for-online-play.

"Mark Morrison" <blank@aol.com> wrote in message 
news:tu1if41mf22qqiie8kur2n62cusjcpoaak@4ax.com...
> It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
> start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
> gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.

This was indeed a huge problem. Some of us bought lifetime subs for HG:L to 
support the fledgling company only to find that increasingly with each patch 
more and more of our "goodies" were being given away for free to entice more 
people to sub.  I paid $150 for lifetime sub and got exactly >one< content 
update the whole time.  So yes, I'm pretty upset with Roper atm.

>
> And when you unsubbed, you lost the ability to use the sub-only items
> you'd just found.

Had the lifetime so this wasn't an issue for me, but I can see it being an 
issue for people who dropped subs because it really wasn't worth $10 a 
month, and I'm being totally honest here.

>
> I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
> what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?
>
> I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
> pay-for-online-play.

I think they're being a bit greedy with this one.  They're releasing 
Starcraft 2 as 3 separate games supposedly to better tell the story (yeah 
tell us another), and they're probably turning b.net into p2p.  This amounts 
to increased revenue for them, as if they don't get enough from WoW.

I'm actually pretty disappointed in Blizzard.  I'm still getting D3 but I 
won't pay to play online.  As far as the two separate mmos they are 
developing, if one of them is related to Diablo I'll look into it, but I'm 
not getting it just because it's a Blizzard product.

Saying that, the one thing they do do for you is if you have prepaid time on 
your WoW account you can call and have them suspend it till you come back to 
WoW.  So some things they will do for you...

Anyway just my 2 copper,
-Cym 

On Nov 9, 11:31 am, "CymTyr" <cym...@nospam.com> wrote:
> "Mark Morrison" <bl...@aol.com> wrote in message
>
> news:tu1if41mf22qqiie8kur2n62cusjcpoaak@4ax.com...
>
> > It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
> > start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
> > gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.
>
> This was indeed a huge problem. Some of us bought lifetime subs for HG:L to
> support the fledgling company only to find that increasingly with each patch
> more and more of our "goodies" were being given away for free to entice more
> people to sub.  I paid $150 for lifetime sub and got exactly >one< content
> update the whole time.  So yes, I'm pretty upset with Roper atm.
>
>
>
> > And when you unsubbed, you lost the ability to use the sub-only items
> > you'd just found.
>
> Had the lifetime so this wasn't an issue for me, but I can see it being an
> issue for people who dropped subs because it really wasn't worth $10 a
> month, and I'm being totally honest here.
>
>
>
> > I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
> > what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?
>
> > I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
> > pay-for-online-play.
>
> I think they're being a bit greedy with this one.  They're releasing
> Starcraft 2 as 3 separate games supposedly to better tell the story (yeah
> tell us another), and they're probably turning b.net into p2p.  This amounts
> to increased revenue for them, as if they don't get enough from WoW.
>
> I'm actually pretty disappointed in Blizzard.  I'm still getting D3 but I
> won't pay to play online.  As far as the two separate mmos they are
> developing, if one of them is related to Diablo I'll look into it, but I'm
> not getting it just because it's a Blizzard product.
>
> Saying that, the one thing they do do for you is if you have prepaid time on
> your WoW account you can call and have them suspend it till you come back to
> WoW.  So some things they will do for you...
>
> Anyway just my 2 copper,

I have a feeling that D3 will NOT be pay to play. I think blizzard
understands that a VERY large section of their Diablo community is
14-18 years old and plays only to duel each other. These types will
not be able to afford pay to play, and to date, Blizzard has never
needed P2P to make money off Diablo. Dispite the success of WoW,
Diablo is still the company's flagship product.

Mickey

"CymTyr" <cymtyr@nospam.com> wrote
> "Mark Morrison" <blank@aol.com> wrote in message
>> It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
>> start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
>> gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.
>
> This was indeed a huge problem. Some of us bought lifetime subs for HG:L 
> to support the fledgling company only to find that increasingly with each 
> patch more and more of our "goodies" were being given away for free to 
> entice more people to sub.  I paid $150 for lifetime sub and got exactly 
>  >one< content update the whole time.  So yes, I'm pretty upset with Roper 
> atm.

Ow. So there was no moneyback clause in the lifetime sub if, for instance, 
the company went under in less than 12 months?

>> I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
>> what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?
>>
>> I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
>> pay-for-online-play.
>
> I think they're being a bit greedy with this one.  They're releasing 
> Starcraft 2 as 3 separate games supposedly to better tell the story (yeah

I didn't know this - very interesting. I can't see anyone being excited 
about that - except perhaps the pirates.

> tell us another), and they're probably turning b.net into p2p.  This 
> amounts to increased revenue for them, as if they don't get enough from 
> WoW.
>
> I'm actually pretty disappointed in Blizzard.  I'm still getting D3 but I 
> won't pay to play online.  As far as the two separate mmos they are 
> developing, if one of them is related to Diablo I'll look into it, but I'm 
> not getting it just because it's a Blizzard product.
>
> Saying that, the one thing they do do for you is if you have prepaid time 
> on your WoW account you can call and have them suspend it till you come 
> back to WoW.  So some things they will do for you...

That made me think - are there any MMOs which operate on a "pay as you go" 
model rather than a monthly sub? The only reason I don't play MMOs is 
because my gaming is very irregular: one month I'll do a hundred hours of 
gaming, but then the following month I'll do five or six hours, and some 
months none at all. It all depends what's happening in RL, and I don't set 
aside particular times for gaming, so paying a monthly fee doesn't work for 
me at all. But I'd consider paying for a set number of hours, or a set 
number playing days in a 6- or 12-month period. Then it wouldn't matter if I 
went three months without playing, it wouldn't cost me anything.

Just curious to see whether anyone knows of such MMOs.

CC 

"Magnate" <not@receiving.here> wrote in message 
news:gfdou5-sbu.ln1@news.terminalarrogance.com...
> That made me think - are there any MMOs which operate on a "pay as you go" 
> model rather than a monthly sub? The only reason I don't play MMOs is 
> because my gaming is very irregular: one month I'll do a hundred hours of 
> gaming, but then the following month I'll do five or six hours, and some 
> months none at all. It all depends what's happening in RL, and I don't set 
> aside particular times for gaming, so paying a monthly fee doesn't work 
> for me at all. But I'd consider paying for a set number of hours, or a set 
> number playing days in a 6- or 12-month period. Then it wouldn't matter if 
> I went three months without playing, it wouldn't cost me anything.
>
> Just curious to see whether anyone knows of such MMOs.
>
> CC
The closest thing to what you're looking for would be the free mmos with 
item shops.  Some ones you could look into would be Archlord or the horror 
one that just came out, but I can't think of the name for it.

There are no subscription based mmos which have a pay as you go plan, but 
maybe someone will jump on that idea and make one... 

"Magnate" <not@receiving.here> wrote in message 
news:gfdou5-sbu.ln1@news.terminalarrogance.com...
> "CymTyr" <cymtyr@nospam.com> wrote
>> "Mark Morrison" <blank@aol.com> wrote in message
>>> It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
>>> start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
>>> gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.
>>
>> This was indeed a huge problem. Some of us bought lifetime subs for HG:L 
>> to support the fledgling company only to find that increasingly with each 
>> patch more and more of our "goodies" were being given away for free to 
>> entice more people to sub.  I paid $150 for lifetime sub and got exactly 
>>  >one< content update the whole time.  So yes, I'm pretty upset with Roper 
>> atm.
>
> Ow. So there was no moneyback clause in the lifetime sub if, for instance, 
> the company went under in less than 12 months?
>
>>> I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
>>> what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?
>>>
>>> I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
>>> pay-for-online-play.
>>
>> I think they're being a bit greedy with this one.  They're releasing 
>> Starcraft 2 as 3 separate games supposedly to better tell the story (yeah
>
> I didn't know this - very interesting. I can't see anyone being excited 
> about that - except perhaps the pirates.
>
>> tell us another), and they're probably turning b.net into p2p.  This 
>> amounts to increased revenue for them, as if they don't get enough from 
>> WoW.
>>
>> I'm actually pretty disappointed in Blizzard.  I'm still getting D3 but I 
>> won't pay to play online.  As far as the two separate mmos they are 
>> developing, if one of them is related to Diablo I'll look into it, but 
>> I'm not getting it just because it's a Blizzard product.
>>
>> Saying that, the one thing they do do for you is if you have prepaid time 
>> on your WoW account you can call and have them suspend it till you come 
>> back to WoW.  So some things they will do for you...
>
> That made me think - are there any MMOs which operate on a "pay as you go" 
> model rather than a monthly sub? The only reason I don't play MMOs is 
> because my gaming is very irregular: one month I'll do a hundred hours of 
> gaming, but then the following month I'll do five or six hours, and some 
> months none at all. It all depends what's happening in RL, and I don't set 
> aside particular times for gaming, so paying a monthly fee doesn't work 
> for me at all. But I'd consider paying for a set number of hours, or a set 
> number playing days in a 6- or 12-month period. Then it wouldn't matter if 
> I went three months without playing, it wouldn't cost me anything.
>
> Just curious to see whether anyone knows of such MMOs.
>
> CC

Some common free games with item shops can be found at:
* http://us.91.com/ (most known game: Conquer Online)
* http://www.gpotato.com/ (most known game: Flyff)
* http://www.joymax.com/portal/ (most known game: Silkroad Online)
* http://9dragons.acclaim.com/

Then ofcourse you have membership based games where you can play for free 
but members pay to use additional content like:
* http://www.dungeonrunners.com/ (3D Diablo2 MMO, basically)

Almost everything available as pay-monthly can be found in one of the free 
download games with items shops - another reason why I wont play pay-monthly 
stuff... its an antiquated method of forcing money out of people with them 
getting nothing in return & all companies that try this deserve to fail and 
collapse. 

"Trammel" <Me@Server.com> wrote in message 
news:43JSk.86814$E41.51478@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> "Magnate" <not@receiving.here> wrote in message 
> news:gfdou5-sbu.ln1@news.terminalarrogance.com...
>> "CymTyr" <cymtyr@nospam.com> wrote
>>> "Mark Morrison" <blank@aol.com> wrote in message
>>>> It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
>>>> start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
>>>> gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.
>>>
>>> This was indeed a huge problem. Some of us bought lifetime subs for HG:L 
>>> to support the fledgling company only to find that increasingly with 
>>> each patch more and more of our "goodies" were being given away for free 
>>> to entice more people to sub.  I paid $150 for lifetime sub and got 
>>> exactly >one< content update the whole time.  So yes, I'm pretty upset 
>>> with Roper atm.
>>
>> Ow. So there was no moneyback clause in the lifetime sub if, for 
>> instance, the company went under in less than 12 months?
>>
>>>> I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
>>>> what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?
>>>>
>>>> I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
>>>> pay-for-online-play.
>>>
>>> I think they're being a bit greedy with this one.  They're releasing 
>>> Starcraft 2 as 3 separate games supposedly to better tell the story 
>>> (yeah
>>
>> I didn't know this - very interesting. I can't see anyone being excited 
>> about that - except perhaps the pirates.
>>
>>> tell us another), and they're probably turning b.net into p2p.  This 
>>> amounts to increased revenue for them, as if they don't get enough from 
>>> WoW.
>>>
>>> I'm actually pretty disappointed in Blizzard.  I'm still getting D3 but 
>>> I won't pay to play online.  As far as the two separate mmos they are 
>>> developing, if one of them is related to Diablo I'll look into it, but 
>>> I'm not getting it just because it's a Blizzard product.
>>>
>>> Saying that, the one thing they do do for you is if you have prepaid 
>>> time on your WoW account you can call and have them suspend it till you 
>>> come back to WoW.  So some things they will do for you...
>>
>> That made me think - are there any MMOs which operate on a "pay as you 
>> go" model rather than a monthly sub? The only reason I don't play MMOs is 
>> because my gaming is very irregular: one month I'll do a hundred hours of 
>> gaming, but then the following month I'll do five or six hours, and some 
>> months none at all. It all depends what's happening in RL, and I don't 
>> set aside particular times for gaming, so paying a monthly fee doesn't 
>> work for me at all. But I'd consider paying for a set number of hours, or 
>> a set number playing days in a 6- or 12-month period. Then it wouldn't 
>> matter if I went three months without playing, it wouldn't cost me 
>> anything.
>>
>> Just curious to see whether anyone knows of such MMOs.
>>
>> CC
>
> Some common free games with item shops can be found at:
> * http://us.91.com/ (most known game: Conquer Online)
> * http://www.gpotato.com/ (most known game: Flyff)
> * http://www.joymax.com/portal/ (most known game: Silkroad Online)
> * http://9dragons.acclaim.com/
>
> Then ofcourse you have membership based games where you can play for free 
> but members pay to use additional content like:
> * http://www.dungeonrunners.com/ (3D Diablo2 MMO, basically)
>
> Almost everything available as pay-monthly can be found in one of the free 
> download games with items shops - another reason why I wont play 
> pay-monthly stuff... its an antiquated method of forcing money out of 
> people with them getting nothing in return & all companies that try this 
> deserve to fail and collapse.

Oops - nearly forgot this one.
http://perfectworld.com/

This is a great free game where you can do martial arts, use bows, use 
magic, fly on animals/swords/with your own wings, etc...
...its got a huge (almost never ending) amount of different quests, huge 
playing area, monsters of various levels incase you dont like quests... 
safe, consentual and PvP areas... item shop for upgrades, etc... and the 
best thing my girlfriend liked is that the male characters can lift up the 
females, give them a kiss and then fly with the woman still in their arms 
:ŹP
(plus my favorite part... I can drop her in the sea ;Ź) 

"Trammel" <Me@Server.com> wrote in message 
news:b9JSk.86816$E41.57268@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> "Trammel" <Me@Server.com> wrote in message 
> news:43JSk.86814$E41.51478@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>> "Magnate" <not@receiving.here> wrote in message 
>> news:gfdou5-sbu.ln1@news.terminalarrogance.com...
>>> "CymTyr" <cymtyr@nospam.com> wrote
>>>> "Mark Morrison" <blank@aol.com> wrote in message
>>>>> It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
>>>>> start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
>>>>> gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.
>>>>
>>>> This was indeed a huge problem. Some of us bought lifetime subs for 
>>>> HG:L to support the fledgling company only to find that increasingly 
>>>> with each patch more and more of our "goodies" were being given away 
>>>> for free to entice more people to sub.  I paid $150 for lifetime sub 
>>>> and got exactly >one< content update the whole time.  So yes, I'm 
>>>> pretty upset with Roper atm.
>>>
>>> Ow. So there was no moneyback clause in the lifetime sub if, for 
>>> instance, the company went under in less than 12 months?
>>>
>>>>> I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
>>>>> what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?
>>>>>
>>>>> I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
>>>>> pay-for-online-play.
>>>>
>>>> I think they're being a bit greedy with this one.  They're releasing 
>>>> Starcraft 2 as 3 separate games supposedly to better tell the story 
>>>> (yeah
>>>
>>> I didn't know this - very interesting. I can't see anyone being excited 
>>> about that - except perhaps the pirates.
>>>
>>>> tell us another), and they're probably turning b.net into p2p.  This 
>>>> amounts to increased revenue for them, as if they don't get enough from 
>>>> WoW.
>>>>
>>>> I'm actually pretty disappointed in Blizzard.  I'm still getting D3 but 
>>>> I won't pay to play online.  As far as the two separate mmos they are 
>>>> developing, if one of them is related to Diablo I'll look into it, but 
>>>> I'm not getting it just because it's a Blizzard product.
>>>>
>>>> Saying that, the one thing they do do for you is if you have prepaid 
>>>> time on your WoW account you can call and have them suspend it till you 
>>>> come back to WoW.  So some things they will do for you...
>>>
>>> That made me think - are there any MMOs which operate on a "pay as you 
>>> go" model rather than a monthly sub? The only reason I don't play MMOs 
>>> is because my gaming is very irregular: one month I'll do a hundred 
>>> hours of gaming, but then the following month I'll do five or six hours, 
>>> and some months none at all. It all depends what's happening in RL, and 
>>> I don't set aside particular times for gaming, so paying a monthly fee 
>>> doesn't work for me at all. But I'd consider paying for a set number of 
>>> hours, or a set number playing days in a 6- or 12-month period. Then it 
>>> wouldn't matter if I went three months without playing, it wouldn't cost 
>>> me anything.
>>>
>>> Just curious to see whether anyone knows of such MMOs.
>>>
>>> CC
>>
>> Some common free games with item shops can be found at:
>> * http://us.91.com/ (most known game: Conquer Online)
>> * http://www.gpotato.com/ (most known game: Flyff)
>> * http://www.joymax.com/portal/ (most known game: Silkroad Online)
>> * http://9dragons.acclaim.com/
>>
>> Then ofcourse you have membership based games where you can play for free 
>> but members pay to use additional content like:
>> * http://www.dungeonrunners.com/ (3D Diablo2 MMO, basically)
>>
>> Almost everything available as pay-monthly can be found in one of the 
>> free download games with items shops - another reason why I wont play 
>> pay-monthly stuff... its an antiquated method of forcing money out of 
>> people with them getting nothing in return & all companies that try this 
>> deserve to fail and collapse.
>
> Oops - nearly forgot this one.
> http://perfectworld.com/
>
> This is a great free game where you can do martial arts, use bows, use 
> magic, fly on animals/swords/with your own wings, etc...
> ...its got a huge (almost never ending) amount of different quests, huge 
> playing area, monsters of various levels incase you dont like quests... 
> safe, consentual and PvP areas... item shop for upgrades, etc... and the 
> best thing my girlfriend liked is that the male characters can lift up the 
> females, give them a kiss and then fly with the woman still in their arms 
> :ŹP
> (plus my favorite part... I can drop her in the sea ;Ź)

A truly perfect world ;>)
> 

On Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:48:32 GMT, "Trammel" <Me@Server.com> wrote:

> another reason why I wont play pay-monthly 
>stuff... its an antiquated method of forcing money out of people with them 
>getting nothing in return & all companies that try this deserve to fail and 
>collapse. 

Such as Blizzard? It's my opinion (and only that) that Blizz will keep
Battle Net free, mostly because the success of WoW will allow them to.

ald
"Knowledge is Power"
VK`Sister`ald level 47 Rogue (HF V&K) (RIP :-( )
Matriarch Sis-West level 82 Bowazon (US West)
Champion RingsNThngs level 61 Bowazon (US West)
Slayer ZannEsu-ald level 51 Sorceress (US West)
Matriarch Sis-AR level 99 Bowazon (Ancestral Recall Mod)
Champion Creepy-AR Level 91 Necromancer (AR)
Slayer Zan-AR Level 79 Sorceress (AR)
Slayer SisEight-AR Level 78 Bowazon (AR)
Gems-AR Level 55 Barbarian (AR)
Matriarch Sis-otSEye Level 78 Bowazon (US West, co-op)
BtaSisEight-ald Level 50 Bowazon (LoD 1.10 SP)
Aragorn-AR Level 51 Zealadin (AR)
Champion LTwoSis-ald Level 79 Bowazon (US West Ladder)
CotSRSig #16

On Nov 12, 6:40 pm, "Ross \(RPJ\)" <ros...@nospamshaw.ca> wrote:
> "Trammel" <M...@Server.com> wrote in message
>
> news:b9JSk.86816$E41.57268@text.news.virginmedia.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > "Trammel" <M...@Server.com> wrote in message
> >news:43JSk.86814$E41.51478@text.news.virginmedia.com...
> >> "Magnate" <n...@receiving.here> wrote in message
> >>news:gfdou5-sbu.ln1@news.terminalarrogance.com...
> >>> "CymTyr" <cym...@nospam.com> wrote
> >>>> "Mark Morrison" <bl...@aol.com> wrote in message
> >>>>> It all comes down to value for money - Hellgate was screwed from the
> >>>>> start, as what you got for your money was fine, but they immediately
> >>>>> gave a lot of that stuff for free to the non-subs.
>
> >>>> This was indeed a huge problem. Some of us bought lifetime subs for
> >>>> HG:L to support the fledgling company only to find that increasingly
> >>>> with each patch more and more of our "goodies" were being given away
> >>>> for free to entice more people to sub.  I paid $150 for lifetime sub
> >>>> and got exactly >one< content update the whole time.  So yes, I'm
> >>>> pretty upset with Roper atm.
>
> >>> Ow. So there was no moneyback clause in the lifetime sub if, for
> >>> instance, the company went under in less than 12 months?
>
> >>>>> I'd imagine Blizzard will put more thought into it, but I can't see
> >>>>> what they'd offer for Diablo 2, for subscribers - bigger stash ?
>
> >>>>> I can only assume that they're testing the waters for Diablo 3
> >>>>> pay-for-online-play.
>
> >>>> I think they're being a bit greedy with this one.  They're releasing
> >>>> Starcraft 2 as 3 separate games supposedly to better tell the story
> >>>> (yeah
>
> >>> I didn't know this - very interesting. I can't see anyone being excited
> >>> about that - except perhaps the pirates.
>
> >>>> tell us another), and they're probably turning b.net into p2p.  This
> >>>> amounts to increased revenue for them, as if they don't get enough from
> >>>> WoW.
>
> >>>> I'm actually pretty disappointed in Blizzard.  I'm still getting D3 but
> >>>> I won't pay to play online.  As far as the two separate mmos they are
> >>>> developing, if one of them is related to Diablo I'll look into it, but
> >>>> I'm not getting it just because it's a Blizzard product.
>
> >>>> Saying that, the one thing they do do for you is if you have prepaid
> >>>> time on your WoW account you can call and have them suspend it till you
> >>>> come back to WoW.  So some things they will do for you...
>
> >>> That made me think - are there any MMOs which operate on a "pay as you
> >>> go" model rather than a monthly sub? The only reason I don't play MMOs
> >>> is because my gaming is very irregular: one month I'll do a hundred
> >>> hours of gaming, but then the following month I'll do five or six hours,
> >>> and some months none at all. It all depends what's happening in RL, and
> >>> I don't set aside particular times for gaming, so paying a monthly fee
> >>> doesn't work for me at all. But I'd consider paying for a set number of
> >>> hours, or a set number playing days in a 6- or 12-month period. Then it
> >>> wouldn't matter if I went three months without playing, it wouldn't cost
> >>> me anything.
>
> >>> Just curious to see whether anyone knows of such MMOs.
>
> >>> CC
>
> >> Some common free games with item shops can be found at:
> >> *http://us.91.com/(most known game: Conquer Online)
> >> *http://www.gpotato.com/(most known game: Flyff)
> >> *http://www.joymax.com/portal/(most known game: Silkroad Online)
> >> *http://9dragons.acclaim.com/
>
> >> Then ofcourse you have membership based games where you can play for free
> >> but members pay to use additional content like:
> >> *http://www.dungeonrunners.com/(3D Diablo2 MMO, basically)
>
> >> Almost everything available as pay-monthly can be found in one of the
> >> free download games with items shops - another reason why I wont play
> >> pay-monthly stuff... its an antiquated method of forcing money out of
> >> people with them getting nothing in return & all companies that try this
> >> deserve to fail and collapse.
>
> > Oops - nearly forgot this one.
> >http://perfectworld.com/
>
> > This is a great free game where you can do martial arts, use bows, use
> > magic, fly on animals/swords/with your own wings, etc...
> > ...its got a huge (almost never ending) amount of different quests, huge
> > playing area, monsters of various levels incase you dont like quests...
> > safe, consentual and PvP areas... item shop for upgrades, etc... and the
> > best thing my girlfriend liked is that the male characters can lift up the
> > females, give them a kiss and then fly with the woman still in their arms
> > :¬P
> > (plus my favorite part... I can drop her in the sea ;¬)
>
> A truly perfect world ;>)

ROFLMAO... spoken like a married man :)

> It's my opinion (and only that) that Blizz will keep
> Battle Net free, mostly because the success of WoW will allow them to.

On upgrading to WotLK, one of the licence agreement screens said
something like "I agree to my WoW account becoming a Battle.net
account at some time in the future".

Hoofu, 73 tauren shaman, Argent Dawn (EU)