Are we going backwards here, Blizzard?  Are we going from the realm of excellent customer care and the industry standard business model, to the polar opposites in such a short order?

WoW, the 1989 edition!

This week’s post is going to be short and sweet, because I am none too pleased with Blizzard this week.  Yes, me, who usually tows the Blizzard line even if the decisions are questionable.  But these two gaffes are just too much for me to be quiet about.  The first, people know about.  The second is something they seem to be doing to a select few of us.

First off, I’m sure everyone has seen or heard of the new mini-pet microtransactions offered at the “Blizzard Pet Store”.  All arguments aside, this has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve seen any company do since, well, Age of Failnan was released.  I know they have microtransactions in the game already via character changes, but the difference couldn’t be more vast.  Paying $25 to put one’s self in a better playing situation, be it faction, server or race change is NOT a failure.  It is $25 going to making your MANY gaming hours much better for the future.  But $10 for a MINI-PET?  Get real.  At $2 or $3, this announcement would have raised, I speculate, no negative publicity at all.  But $10?  Let’s not mince words here… Anyone who buys one of these pets is a jackass.

I hate seeing the fact brought up of “Oh, well it’s going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation!”.  No, it isn’t.  Stop being a fanboy.  HALF of ONE of the pets is going to Make-A-Wish.  And only until December 31st.  So if some jackass buys $20 of pets, $5 goes to Make-A-Wish.  That’s a great use of $5, but don’t be an even bigger jackass and say you did it to make the donation.  If that were the case, I can provide a handy link where you can straight donate all of the $20 to Make-A-Wish.  Because only an asshat would justify their mini-pet purchase that way.  Also, to Blizzard?  Shame on you.  I expect more from you guys… Either let 100% of the pet sales until December 31st go to Make-A-Wish OR let the $5 be donated forever, without a time limit.  This just reeks of “We want a quick way to make a ton of cash, and here is our cover for doing so(For now!)”.

The other gaffe is on a more personal level.  Some of you may remember, the @Warcraft Blizzard account on Twitter was doing a #Battlecry contest around Blizzcon time.  It involved tweeting your #battlecry for the Horde or Alliance whenever called for, and customized however you thought best.  Neat little contest.  Too bad nobody ever wins those things.

Turns out I won.  Yup, little ole’ me won the #battlecry contest.  What did I win?  No fucking idea.  As per the screenshot, I was told I won, submitted the required info and have even sent follow-up emails to Blizzard.  Two months later, still not a damn word from them.  I don’t care if it was a freaking “Battlecrier Tzeriel” title in-game.  Something that minor.  Just follow up on shit like that, dammit.

No, I’m not canceling my account.  I’ve put too much time into the damned game to just up and abandon it.  This does put a decent dent in my image of Blizzard, though, which has remained untarnished since the WarCraft: Orcs vs Humans days.

Despite all this, I’ve managed to get my hands on a screenshot of a Worgen in some Tier 12.5 Warrior battlegear.

HEY NED A TNAK???