History of Microtransactions in World of Warcraft

microtransactions are something to become almost a guaranteed part of games these days however back in the days of 2004 when wow first launch they weren't even thought of or were they and of course for the purposes of this video a microtransaction is an in-game item that is either made easier to obtain or is only obtainable through a real money purchase first let's start in 2004. the very second wow vanilla launched and we already have microtransactions starting with the collector's edition a more expensive version of the base game that came with many real-life items like a mouse pad an art book some music discs etc etc however it also came with an in-game good one of three pants of your choice to all of your characters a a little diablo from diablo a little zergling from starcraft or a baby panda from warcraft's pandaren these three pets were and still are only attainable by buying the wow vanilla's collectors edition this has caused some issues recently as wow classic and retail are as blizzard have said 100 separate entities however if you have the retail collector's edition you also get these pets in classic wow meaning over 15 years later with the re-release of vanilla wow and wow classic the only way to get these pets on the new classic wow is to pay a few thousand dollars to buy an unopened vanilla collector's edition and really collector's editions would come for every expansion afterwards and with little to no changes other than what general rewards were given then we move on to 2005 the first real year of wow and well what do we have a new style of microtransactions the blizzcon items this being the murky egg which summoned the famous murky companion and not only have you made my people a pet but you have encouraged them to kill and they shall be forced forgiven for their sins if they adopt one of my children you're stealing my children you're stealing them from their home of south shore obtained from going to blizzcon which was quite expensive really tickets were a fair price and most players you needed to buy plane tickets a hotel room and a much more simply just to go to blizzcon to get the code required that or buy one offline and hope that you didn't get scammed then with 2006 and the soon coming arrival of tbc we got a few new things first we got the first character service realm transfer for price this allowed characters to transfer their characters from one server to another however having a six month cooldown per character only lowered many years later meaning you could not transfer willy-nilly some would say this was the first nail in the coffin for server identity got a reputation for being a scumbag ninja looter than just realm transfer the next new microtransaction was a cross promotion wow was becoming huge and with this they decided to make a trading card game and to help sell this they added special loot cards to the tcg these cards had a rare chance of being found in specific card expansions and could be redeemed in game and well many of these could even be sold at the auction house meaning in a way you could now exchange real life money for in-game gold without the risk of getting banned for buying stuff off of a shifty website the first expansion was the heroes of azeroth and had the tabard of the flame the hippogriff catchling pet and the riding turtle mount before we move on couple cool facts about the riding turtle when it was first added it had no use it was the same speed as the default run speed and in some cases was even slower and it was not until much later on when it got a swim speed added to it another cool fact is that in warlords of draenor this was the only tcg mount made available in game now able to be fished up in the garrison's fishing pond made hilariously easy with the fishing parties of the legion pre-patch cross realm grouping now on to the year of and with the launch of tbc we had a collector's edition again giving a pet however instead of a choice of three pets you got one specific one another drake welt pet however eu players as a bug got the lurky pet a white baby murloc as well we do nothing we go that's not us yelling that's not us screaming this was a blood that blizzard decided not to fix as it was too late by the time they'd notice then after that we had another blizzcon thing this time giving a toy instead of a pet called the murloc costume using this put on a horribly made murloc costume welding a blizzcon flag that's us crying and lastly we had a whopping tcg expansions with loot cards in them through the dark portal contained a toy picnic basket a pet banana charm that summoned a pet monkey and an infinite ball toy acting like a magic eight ball then we got the fires of outland expansion that had a goblin gumbo kettle toy a fishing chair toy and the legendary reigns of the swift spectral tiger mount going for a whopping eight thousand dollars these days then lastly march of the legion this had a paper flying machine a rocket chicken pet and the dragon kite pet as you can see the tcg really has started to kick up the amount of items on this list eventually in blizzcon online 2021 they gave out a similar nether drake welt pet again as a promotion for tbc classic as part of one of their bundles in reminiscent of the tbc collector's edition anyways lastly for the year 2007 we got the name change character surface added to the store 2008 the year of wrath of the lich king and of course the wrath of the lich king's collector's edition containing the pet frosty a little skeletal dragon whelp and for this year's blizzcon we got the blizzard bear mount with a small baby murloc on its back waving a blizzcon flag [Applause] but wait we also had this thing called the world of warcraft invitational a big wild tournament separate from blizzcon and this year if you traveled there and bought a ticket you would get the tyrio's hilt that summoned a small terial companion from diablo this was the only reward ever from this event as soon after the event would just be merged into blizzcon next of course we have the tcg rewards another three expansions the servants of the betrayer which contained the goblin weather machine toy the x-51 nether rocket extreme mount funnily enough it's the mount used for wowhead's icon and lastly the papa hubble's pet biscuits allowing you to double your companion pet size and this was actually a consumable and you only got 50 of them from the loot card so you could eventually just run out although this card was rather common so it was not too much of a deal although they later on added an in-game item that can be obtained that did exactly the same thing so save the money go to the timeless isle and buy some or just do pet battle events as they drop like candy from pet loot bags you obtain from all forms of pet battle content next we have the hunt for illidan expansion giving you the disco toy the sole trade beacon which summoned an ethereal pet actually acting as a vendor just not one you could sell anything to and while summoned allowed you to gather a special currency for killing things that is used to buy stuff from the vendor a cosmetic set that looks like ethereal bandages some neat stuff like alcohol and a ball to throw to your friends or alter your companion's appearance the biggest thing being a potion that allowed you to see lesser invisibility this could possibly be seen as pay to win but it's not and then the path of the illidan another consumable item this left a fail trail behind you for five minutes and came with 100 charges lastly the drums of war expansion which contained the flag of the ownership toy the big battle bear mount and 100 party grenades an item they made pretty easy to get in game later on in wow you can see a bit of a trend now they are adding a few consumable items however as the tcg was later discontinued blizzard added these consumable items to the game as a way to get them even after the cards have long since disappeared 2009 the fifth anniversary of wow's release at this point we really start to see the microtransaction speed up so we better get through these quick our first ever virtual blizzcon now finally people can get blizzcon goodies without traveling across the world for a few days and paying insane costs and for buying this ticket you got grunty a murloc and a starcraft marine armor we also got the new character services faction change a race change we also got another 3t cg expansions the blood of the gladiators containing the sandbox tiger toy another consumable toy epic purple shirt and a foam sword rack toy the fields of honor expansion containing the path of cenaris an item like the trail of illidan but flowers instead of fell flame the ogre pinata toy and the magic rooster mount and the scourge wear expansion the tuskar kite pet the spectral tiger cub pet and the little white stallion mount for alliance or little ivory raptor for horde but wait it's not actually a mount it was a mount but each time he mounted onto it it would consume one of its charges and only came with 50 charges maybe the only consume on use mount in history or i guess there's also the winter's veil reindeers those also count but before we move on to 2010 there is one more thing they added the virtual store this is the store we still have to this day although originally not in-game it was on their website later moved in game the store launched with a little phylactery summoning a little kt pet and the pandaren monk pet however the pender and monk pet launched with a new charity event where people would buy the pet and 100 of the money earned would go to the charity of blizzard's choice allowing players to donate to charities and be rewarded for it with a pet in their favorite game then in the year of 2010 cataclysm is released in this year and with it the little deathwing pet coming from its collector's edition as well as the murloc deathwing hybrid pet deathy coming from blizzcon we also got a ton of new things added to the warcraft store a little ragnaros pet a little xt pet and a moonkin hatchling pet bringing back the charity event pet also the infamous celestial steed mount this mount caused all kinds of backlash when it was released as it was the first real store mount and just straight up had advantages over in-game mounts its speed changed along with your training which no other pets did at the time it would gain the ability to fly when you unlock fine and it could be obtained on all of your alts instead of just one character so it was the first mount a lot of player alts would have since it was free for them and was seen everywhere in low level battlegrounds because of it and then again another three tcg expansions the wrathgate containing the instant statue pedestal toy the blazing hippogriff mount and landro's gift box this box was very common although it's now very expensive because it was wow's very first loot crate i guess you could call it it always contained a sandbox tiger or pet biscuit or path of cenarius although it could also contain a spectral tiger a swift spectral tiger an x-51 another rocket extreme and a special blue version simply called the x-51 other rocket as well as a big battle bear or a riding turtle some would almost call this wow's version of gambling although buying the tcg packs themselves could also be called such so funny enough through the art on this card it included a ton of pass loot card references on it although most of the things visible in the card art are not actually obtainable from the box next we have the ice crown tcg expansion containing the first ever unique hearthstone a toy called the ethereal portal then the woolly white rhino mount and a consumable paint bombs again 50 charges per cart then lastly the world breaker expansion which had a grim campfire toy the model drake mount and landros little xt the exact same path that was available on the in-game store for eight months at this point but with a different name why they did this i'm not super sure 2011 was quite a unique year for well microtransactions first we got the merkablow a hybrid diablo murloc pet from blizzcon guild services in the manner of faction transfers realm transfers and name change allowing people to change entire guilds especially with the new guild progression system meaning guilds actually meant something now with achievements and levels and such then as usual three tcg expansions war of the elements containing the war party hitching post a toy place that let players click on it to mount on a horse then the savage raptor mount and the landros lichling pet again just like little xt this pet was the same one available on the in-game store but was now also made obtainable randomly from a card pack with also like a technically a different name then we have the twilight of the dragons nightsaber cub companion fool's gold toy allowing people to click on it to summon a cobalt companion for a bit and the amani dragonhawk mount lastly the thrones of tides expansion seemingly named after the cancelled raid for cataclysm they contain the purple puffer pet a sack of starfish toy that she throws starfishes onto your friend's face and the swift shorestrider mount that's a lot of microtransactions isn't it we are almost halfway there in the in-game store we also got the winged guardian mount and the cenarian hatchling pet this time a companion from the tcg being added to the store instead of the other way around and lastly we got the guardian cub companion pet this pet was unique that this pet could be bought in the in-game store for real cash and then betrayed it in-game and even sold on the auction house and was removed three years later meaning there is a limited amount of these now in the game and they were bought for real money and traded for gold acting almost as well as token does today except it's a pet and not wow time or peanut balance it was blizzard's first attempt to try and have a way to pay real money from the online store to convert it into golden game through the auction house which wasn't as successful as they probably hoped now we move over to 2012 first year in a long time with no blizzcon so we move right away to the tcg packs with the crown of heavens first a magical ogre idol toy grill moss pet and the corrupted hippogryph mount next we have the tomb of the forgotten war which had the spurious sarcophagus toy the san scara patch and the white riding camel mount then the war of the ancients expansions the demon hunters aspect toy allowing you to play a demon hunter only about four years early the eye of the legion pet and the phil drake mount 2012 was also the year we got the mists of pandaria collectors edition which not only had the pet being the lucky quillian cub but also a mountain match in the imperial quillet then the in-game store we got the cinderkitten pet being the charity event pet for the year solo the aspects pet and the heart of the aspects mount one of the most annoying fly mounts to ever use in game and lastly we got a very special mount this mount was called a tyrial's charger based on tyrial from diablo 3. this mount was granted to players who signed up for the annual subscription to wow and as a bonus for doing so they got this mount as well as diablo 3 for free and even access to the misa pandaria beta as you would guess this promo only lasted for 6 months and this type of promo was pretty well received and would see a return some years later 2013 a very special year blizzcon is back and this time with mergalot based on a murloc version of the new crusader class in diablo 3 who was also one of the only good microtransaction pets when it came to pet battles later on surprisingly all of the best pets and pet battles are usually very easy to obtain in game with mercolat being the lone exception until they nerfed it in shadowlands we also were saying goodbye to mercumis the gladiator this gladiator murloc pet was made available in 2009 and was gifted to players who completed 200 duels in the special arena tournament servers these servers were open for a limited time each year and cost money to access them then in 2010 it was lower to 50. another bonus was the vanquisher title a title granted to those who were in the top 1000 teams on the server a title that liked the pet transferred to the normal realms as well and with these servers going away for the final time in 2013 they were gone gone another thing going away in 2013 was the tcg with one final expansion betrayal of the guardian the gusting remor pet the dark portal hearthstone and the ghastly charger mount and there we go that's the end of the tcg thank lord because nine new items every year from the tcg alone was way too much to list for this video now on to the in-game store seemingly to make it for the lack of two tcg expansions they put more things onto the store itself first the altera brandy bernard companion which was part of a charity event for the year the enchanted fae dragon mount the blossoming ancient pet which is a special trent that changes appearances with the real-life seasons the armored blundwink mount swift winstead mount and our first ever transmog of the in-game store the crown of eternal winter hood of hungering darkness and the jewel of the firelord which were so poorly received they didn't try putting transmog on the store again for another seven years 2014 wow's 10th anniversary in the release of warlords of draenor this year introduced the character boost allowing people to instantly get to level 90 which at the time of release was max level although once warlord's adrenal released was only now high enough level to get started in the expansion it also came with the dread raven mount and matching pet blizzcon that year to match the expansion came out with the grom hellscream murloc and well the store only got a few items the argy patch which was part of that yearly charity event the grinning reverb mount iron skyreaver mount and the warforged nightmare mount which came with the hitching post toy much like the hitching post earlier from the tcg it allowed friends to click on it in order to get a temporary version of the mount for how much people complained about the store mounts in this year since they believe those award aesthetic mounts should have been rewards from mod content it was actually quite a light year in terms of microtransactions now into 2015. first we have the merkadin a demon hunter murloc given by blizzcon as well as nimble's the fel stalker pet in the illidari fell stalker mount from the legion collector's edition then brightpaw the magical cat pet which was part of the charity event for the year and the mystic runesaber mount and lastly the biggest thing ever added to wow's micro transactions the wow token this item was able to be bought with real money and put onto the auction house which then could be bought for gold by other players who could then consume it to gain 30 days of game time yes wow was finally adding a 100 direct version of trading real money for gold and the player base has been very vocally upset about it ever since even if it is a very popular addition to the game that is very widely used now onto 2016 we have two murloc pets each based on the factions a horde murloc and an alliance marlock both from blizzcon and mischief a fel corrupted pet that was the charity event pet of the year and that's it yeah that's all there is for 2016 probably the lightest year ever in terms of micro transactions for 2017 we got another year of faction theme rewards this time two mounts an airship for alliance and zeppelin for horde celebrating faction more at blizzcon we got three things added to the in-game store the charity event pet of the year shadow the fox pat the luminous star seeker mount and a cat pet called twilight there was two special things that also happened this year first the wow token could now be exchanged for battle net balance instead of wow time costing 20 to purchase it it could be exchanged for 15 or one month of game time and lastly the asian servers had a special event to celebrate the chinese new year for the year of the rooster anyone who did a special subscription promo got the magical rooster mount meaning technically in asian servers the riding turtle was no longer the only tcg mount now obtainable through other memes although the writing turtle was still the only one obtainable for free in game also the tyrio's charger mount was made available on asian servers in their in-game store since they did not get the same promo the rest of the world did so on to 2018 for this year's blizzcon giving you a special transmog cape based on your faction for a horridor alliance as well as a banner toy again based on your faction to pair this faction conflict we got battle for collector's edition this came with a mount also based on your faction a zandalari raptor for horde and a culture on steed for alliance and a total the torch hole in pet we also got the captain cracker parrot pat on the in-game store and this year's charity event was whomper the yeti there was also the vulpine familiar and shoon zen a dog mount calibrating the year of the dog this mount was simply purchased on the star however in the asian servers like the rooster the year before it was earned for free through a special subscription package lastly like the magical rooster and shenzhou for asia the rest of the world was about to get a free mount the same way they got the tyrio's charger by buying a 6 month sub they could get the dread wake mount for free or they could buy it from the store itself if they do not want to pay for a six month subscription now on to 2019 and wow's 15th year anniversary this brought three new mounts with it the alabaster griffin and wavern based on your faction these mounts were available from the in-game store and as part of the physical collector's edition celebrating 15 years and for the fourth and final year in a row blizzcon gave another faction based reward this time a pet murloc based on anduin and sylvanus alongside a special transmog set a pair of yeti pajamas they also released another mount for the chinese new year hagris yet again a six-month promo for china but for the rest of the world a simple store mount another special thing they did this year was add two toys to the in-game shot these two toys were released on the store with the promise of their profits going to the prize pool for tournaments although this had a lot of its own issues in the community which they rightly called them out for the toys being the transmorpher and the faction fireworks lastly we had the dottie pet added to the store which was this year's charity event pet and another six-month subscription reward mount added the silverian dreamer now on to 2020 the year of well shadowlands the most recent expansion and a new much larger collector's edition containing multiple versions with more rewards in the last it had a special weapon enchant called wrath chill armor set called vestments of the eternal traveler the ever worm mount eternal traveler hearthstone and anima wormling pet on top of that something to mention is that mr pandaria was the first expansion to have a digital collector's edition however after some time it was removed from the online store but every expansion sense has stayed on the online store and so at 2020 they returned the pandaren pet and mount to the store next we have two more mounts both of them yet again six month sub-promos the steam scale incinerator and finally the chinese new year mounts which would also be made a six-month subpromo for the whole world making the next six-month sub-mount squeakers a rat for that year of the rat but before we move on there was one more six month promo that year in the spirit darter costume this transmog set is the first full set to put on the store and like the steam scale and squeakers it was given free to people who had a six month sub going on or available on the store for everyone else and just like with the transmog hood seven years prior was met with a lot of backlash well technically all six month promos and store mounts are met with backlash but the transmog items got way more as it's seen as a lesser item than mounts to most players funny enough there is almost zero backlash for transmog items that come with blizzcon rewards and now 2021 we already have two mounts the lucky yoon ox from the year of the ox 6 month promo and the snowstorm bear from the blizzcon virtual goody bundle as 2020's blizzcon was postponed and made entirely free and virtual with the usual goodies being added as a bonus bundle this bundle also giving the moonwell pet an alternate color version of the tbc collector's edition pet lastly at blizzcon 2021 2020 whatever it's meant to be they announced two new charity pets this time changing it up a bit to make it much more player friendly players can donate any amount they want as little or as much as they want and by doing so they add to a donation pool which when it reaches a specific amount gives all players the bananas monkey pet which is originally from the tcg to all players even those who did not donate as well as a new pet called daisy the sloth if the donations reach a stretch goal then giving all players donated or not two new pets basically for free but also basically still a micro transaction now before we end there is something else to mention blizzard has many games and they love to have their games cross over and for all these collectors editions of wow games they also gave rewards for the other games like starcraft 2 overwatch heroes of the storm hearthstone and diablo 3. however those games also cross over into wow so quickly starcraft 2 collector's edition you got the mini thor pet starcraft 2 heart of the swarm got you the baneling pet starcraft 2 legacy of the void got you the zeradar archon pet diablo 3 got you the fetish shaman pet the diablo 3 rebro of souls got you the treasure goblin pet and overwatch's collector's edition got you the baby winston pet and wow and now we are done that is all the micro transactions in olive well that we could find something to note is that if you go off the actual list the amount of microtransactions has drastically gone down over the past few years although many people did not know about many of the things as 2006 to 2013 was filled with stuff and as of recent years we're returning to a more manageable amounts especially with these amounts that are given for free to people who either already have a six month sub or purchase one during their promotion well as free as an incentive to pay for a long sub is anyway you

Channel: hirumaredx

Views: 104,573

Keywords: Battle, For, Azeroth, World Of Warcraft (Video Game), hirumaredx, history, wow, worl, vanilla, bc, burning crusade, wrath, wrath of the lich king, linch king, Video Game (Industry), World Warcraft, facts, Warcraft (Fictional Universe), how did doom work before wrath, before cata, how it use to work, funny, 8.3, 2020

Id: NpYr20fregg

Length: 26min 54sec (1614 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 05 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/SpahghettiBoi]

Oh how the mighty have fallen.