Breakfast Topic: Reputation grinding
by Jennie Lees 
Jun 26th 2006 at 11:05AM
At 60, one of the many things on my to-do list is "grind reputation". I didn't really start caring about reputation before I hit 60 (save for some furbolg slaughter to appease the Timbermaws), so I have had a long way to go with all the game's factions.The recent Scourge invasion and expansion of Light's Hope Chapel now mean there's even more you can do to get the Argent Dawn to like you. However, I'm torn. I'm saving up for an epic mount, and the various turn-in items (Crypt Fiend parts, Dark Iron scraps, Bone Fragments, etc) are fetching high prices on the auction house. So I've been splitting my spoils -- selling some, and turning in others.
Do you see this as taking advantage of reputation grinders? Or is it merely profiting from the game's mechanics? If I manage to save enough for my mount this way, I'll stop; but I've seen lots of spam in the Trade channel advertising the same items, so it isn't just me who thinks this way.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Duwanis Jun 26th 2006 11:16AM
You're not exploiting the game mechanics, you're exploiting the game economy. One of the cardinal principles of economics (paraphrased) is that the right price is any one that both the seller and the buyer agree on - so if you're selling something people want at a price they're willing to pay, then more power to you.
This gets kind of fuzzy around the edges when you consider that some people are willing to pay more because they used illicit means to get their capital (i.e. gold buyers), but there's really no way for you to check that. They're on their own in hurting economies ;)
SilentBob Jun 26th 2006 12:50PM
Very simply, it's not taking advantage when it seems Blizzard meant for it to work this way. Otherwise, the items would be soulbound. By not binding the items to you means they know it's likely to be traded/sold off. The obnoxious prices are more of a function of the farmers / gold sellers causing artificial inflation. Some kid who puts 1000g on his/her parent's AmEx monthly isn't going to blink when he/she pays 300g for 30 Bone Fragments. Another reason why we need to get rid of the farmers and sellers IMO. The fact that lvl20 blue items sell for 50g+ on Alleria is obscene.
joey Jun 26th 2006 1:59PM
Actually the best way to curb inflation is to UN-soulbind everything.
If nothing was soulbound items would be more common and would go for less cash.
A non-solution is to soulbind EVERYTHING. Because if you do that... what's then the point of actually playing the game with other people? Trade is a huge fun part of the game.
As it stands now I yearn in earnest for the old beta days when NOTHING was soulbound. The game was 10 times more fun and items could be epensive but not inflated.
IMHO the only things that should be soulbound are quest rewards.
viperx Jun 26th 2006 2:37PM
yep. Soulbinding has raised inflation. This is like a basic supply and demand lesson. The economy in wow has less to do with farmers are more to do with the way Blizzard built the game than they would like you to think.
Future MMORPG builders will do well to truly look at real work economics and build in methods through which they can effect inflation on a per server basis. For most MMORPGs economy is an afterthought or is created by developers who don't really understand the subleties of how economics works.
Things like weapons that break and no-soulbinding, as well as a dynamic drop-rates that change depending on how much of a specific item or material is in the market and how much they are going for at any given time could be used to fix and stablize any economy "on the fly". Not only is it possible, with a well designed system, a MMORPG could control its economy better than any real world economy every could.
Things like weapons that break, sounds bad at first, but only becuase they are so difficult to get in WoW. If done properly it would not be as hard to find a replacement via purchase or drop. Just look at Diablo for an example of a game where you can repair items, they do eventually break and are fairly easy to replace.
The problem with wow is, everything lasts forever, you can't trade items you no longer use to people that need them, and money leaves the economy at a far slower rate than it comes in. This type of economy is doomed to inflate, regardless of farmers. Blaming farmers for this borders on retarded.
Cedric Jun 26th 2006 4:20PM
Sorry, but that's nonsense. From a trade perspective, a soulbound item is an item that doesn't exist. Period.
How can a non-existent item have any impact on an economy?
Scarcity and gold farmers are what drives prices up. When it takes a credit card swap to receive 5000g, you're much more likely to splurge 1000g on a blue item than someone like me, who has to consider very carefully each purchase before committing his hard-earned money.
Joe Jun 26th 2006 4:59PM
Viperx-
Thanks for taking the time to write a comment that is actually thought out and reasonable...
...but your last sentance ruined it.
Dustin Jun 26th 2006 5:29PM
I have to agree with Cedric. I am sorry I can not remember the interview, but I believe it was Jeff Kaplan that explained that gold farming was not as big an issue as the players made it out to be due to the mechanic of Soul binding. It is my belief that if all items could be sold at the Auction house, then you would have a problem with runaway inflation due to the fact of that people would be more inclined to buy gold. After I bought my epic mount I found that the only time I spent gold was on repairs and materials at the Auction House.
Joey is correct in that perhaps items would go down in cost in the short term if Soul Binding was eliminated. Long term though, with the growing industry in gold and item farming and adding in the high population of the game, I believe high level items would sell for much more than they do now.
Ceej Jun 26th 2006 9:58PM
viperx -
I have to agree with Joe - you had a good post going there and a few decent points, except for the last paragraph.
In fact, I have to take exception. From a market perspective, nothing in WoW lasts forever. BoP items leave the market before they even enter - they have no "cash" value beyond what they can be vendored for what you can sell the DE for.
BoE items are lost the moment they are equipped, essentially removing them from the economy the same as BoP items. Plus if it is a Boe for, say, a level 30, it will likely be replaced within 10 levels anyhow.
Tradeskill mats? Consumable by nature. 'nuff said.
I'm no financial consultant or market analyst, but it strikes me that the game, in and of itself, is fairly well designed to perpetuate a growing, healthy economy on it's own. Items will never stay around forever, gear (with the exception of the highest level stuff) will always eventually need to be replaced/upgraded. Tradeskill mats from all circles will always be in demand. Everything in game is this for that, one thing for another thing. Demanded, supplied, consumed. Basic economics. And these things are reflected in the game.
What cocks it up is when you insert unforseen (and unintended) variables, such as gold farmers/buyers. Suddenly you have gold literally appearing out of thin air with nothing in game to balance it out. No product or service in game being sold or traded to stimulate the economy. A character can go from desperately poor to insanely rich in 1 hour, with no tangible, in game byproduct of the aquisition. The rate at which gold is leaving the economy is just fine. Whip out a credit card and go from 30 gold in the bank to 1000? Talk about gold entering the market faster than leaving it!
Some people say that the farmers are doing the same thing that the players would do, so what's the difference? The difference it that average players - even hardcore players - don't/can't run 20 accounts 24/7, paying people below minimum wage to accumulate gold. These people are accumulating and distributing gold faster than the economy is designed to absorb it.
I understand what you're saying about BoE items. The more items there are to buy, the more gold will be exchanged. This makes some sense, I'll give you that. But the soulbound/consumable nature of just about all the items in game are what drive this thing.
But.. this thread was about reputation, right? LOL