A one-hour delay on AH winnings in 2.2
by Eliah Hecht 
Sep 25th 2007 at 6:54PM
Alright, so maybe this morning's "final 2.2 patch notes" weren't so final. They were based on the files distributed with the patch, and there are a couple things that got changed after those files were put together. One is the Daze mechanic not having been retuned as the patch notes claimed (that change in fact got repealed last time on a very special episode of Daze of Our Lives). There is also a change that isn't in the (shipped) patch notes: when someone wins an auction that you're selling, it takes an hour for the gold to get to you.Apparently you get an in-game mail as soon as the item sells saying the sale is "pending," and then an hour later, you get your cash. Nethaera simply says "By adding in the delay we can better track transactions to assure the legitimacy of them;" I'm betting it has something to do with the gold sellers' new tactics. When will you learn, Blizzard, that the gold sellers are like the borg? You can stop one of their channels, but they will simply adapt and find another. Resistance is futile.
Nah, I'm just kidding. One more inconvenience in the way of the RMTers is one more step in the right direction. In this case, it may be a little inconvenient, and it certainly makes playing the AH somewhat harder, as reader Vynn points out (thanks for the screenshot, by the way), but maybe that's not such a bad thing either. How do you guys feel about this change?
And as Blizzard loves to claim, the latest patch notes can always be found at http://worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/. Those notes do contain the AH change and don't erroneously list the daze change. The reason I don't always use that source is because it usually takes a few hours after patches for the notes to show up there.
Filed under: Patches, Economy, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nails Sep 25th 2007 7:02PM
waiting an hour for the gold from a sale is no big deal
if for some reason it even gets changed to waiting an hour for an item you just bought, THAT would be catastrophic
Maazori Sep 25th 2007 7:16PM
Buying mats for your raid prep and for leveling professions will be impacted by this change. Make sure you plan ahead. I'd also hate to wait that extra hour for that really cool purple I just won. Oh well, I guess I have another hour to farm mats...
Matthew Sep 25th 2007 7:19PM
@#2, this is just for the gold you get for selling stuff; doesn't impact the stuff you buy.
Dave Sep 25th 2007 7:26PM
I predict this will mightily piss off the people who do nothing but flip money in the AH, and only slightly inconvenience the people who sell gold. (after all, why not just park an alt in each AH, and mail the gold to yourself instantly if you need to deliver to a client in a particular city?)
DavidC Sep 25th 2007 7:26PM
I don't really see this as a problem at all. Reality is that most people "load up" the AH and then go do something, like farm for more stuff, go raiding, etc, etc.
Small price to pay for Blizzard to make the RMTers work harder to deliver their goods. Not many other options for them beside "face-to-face" transactions at this time.
So ... taking bets on which building in what zones the farmers are going to "hang out in" and wait to deliver your gold to you.
In Shat, I am betting it's the "bar" in the lower city that has the quest dude in it. I dub it the new "gold farmers exchange bar" :-p
Dave Sep 25th 2007 7:26PM
and by AH, i really just mean major city since shattrath can be in there too.
DavidC Sep 25th 2007 7:33PM
#4 Writes: (after all, why not just park an alt in each AH, and mail the gold to yourself instantly if you need to deliver to a client in a particular city?)
I don't think you *comprehend* what is going on.
A) Gold used to be delivered through the mail, but with the 1 hour delay, they had the opportunity to catch / confiscate the gold.
B) Gold Sellers changed delivery methods to an AH buyout system borrowed from the widely known/used method for moving gold/items across factions.
C) Blizzard puts a 1 hour delay on that delivery of gold giving them an opportunity to catch / confiscate that gold.
D) Gold Seller: Now what? Face-to-Face deliveries?
That is going to be much harder for them to do. It's going to take more time to carry out the transaction and allow for more mistakes and harrassment.
Can you imagine what would happen if one of them showed up in Orgrimmar for instance and a bunch of folks find out and /trade spammed the gold seller?
Anyways ... going to be interesting to see what happens next, but this latest move by blizzard is going to put a "cramp in their style".
Laukidh Sep 25th 2007 7:34PM
The pending email spam would be more annoying than the delay.
honkhonk Sep 25th 2007 7:38PM
now that really annoys the fuck out of me. I often enough need some quick gold and put up a few primals which tend to sell within minutes, and instantly have my monwy. Now waiting for an hour? that really pies me off. So now they inconvenience me even more for their futile attempts of battling gold farmers.
Ferocious Sep 25th 2007 7:52PM
Il put it these way
FARMERS HIT THE GAME HARD,BLIZ JUST SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD
(halo3 style of comment)
Now serious,wtf? sure it will help but farmers will find a way around it like always,all these does is make the game worse for everyone and harder to have fun.
Ryan Sep 25th 2007 7:53PM
Unfortunately my money never arrived. Thanks a bunch blizz.
Paul Sep 25th 2007 7:55PM
just save up an extra few gold, and then this 1 hour delay thing will never affect you.
anything Blizz can do to make it harder for the gold sellers is alright with me- as another poster mentioned, if it makes it more of a hassle, it will be more of their time wasted, meaing less profitablity. you push that profitability lower and lower, and eventually it's less and less worth it for people to be in the gold selling business. gold prices go up, and we have less purchased gold on our servers.
Other than meet face to face, i don't know how they're going to coordinate it now, but then, my income isn't dependent on figuring that out: i'm sure they'll figure something out that no one has thought of before.
nailPuppy Sep 25th 2007 8:00PM
@9 - There is a trade channel for when you need to make a quick buck.
TotalBiscuit Sep 25th 2007 8:00PM
@9 - Welcome to the world of Enchanters. We use the trade channel, that's what it's there for. Hopefully this will encourage more people to use it. Need gold now? Sell to someone face to face.
TB.
Anteia Sep 25th 2007 8:35PM
Honestly? Really irked by this. While I understand the reasoning and the desire to stop gold selling- why not put a limit on how much the transaction goes for before it requires an hour wait? Making me wait an hour to get my FOUR SILVER is a bit absurd. I would say a 50g or 100g sale would be worth the hour, and I don't think gold sellers would really find it worthwhile to do smaller sales. If people think so, I could even see going as anything more than 20g- if someone lists twenty things for 10g, that's a bit more conspicuous, isn't it? Blizzard could have an alert for that. But those of us who just want to deal with the auction house and get our money quickly on 1g transactions shouldn't have to wait an hour for the money. That just seems ridiculously overzealous.
I just don't see why this wait has to be on ALL sales, no matter how small.
Xaveri Sep 25th 2007 9:22PM
I dont mind the hour delay, i do mind the mail spam. Give me a place where Ic an disable the spam email and just get the money an hour later and I will be happy.
Pook Sep 25th 2007 9:54PM
Its not really going to effect most ppl at all. I sell 100-200 items a day on the AH and cant really see this affecting me.
AndyF Sep 25th 2007 9:59PM
Not a fan of this change at all. As my main crafting character is somewhat low on cash, I pretty much sit in Thunder Bluff (short distance from AH -> Postbox) and run my activies based around AH sales.
Another hour on sales means an hour where I can't get anything done. Annoying change, not necessairily stupid, but annoying.
spinninnzen Sep 25th 2007 10:47PM
I think this change is crossing the line of trying to hurt gold farmers but as a result making it somewhat inconvenient for us. I understand they are trying but gold farmers will always find a way. if they advertise by dropping gnomes to spell out the website they will have no problem trading gold to someone in game (just check out many of the other MMO's). What next hour delay for trading between people to stop that? Blizzard needs to figure out a smarter way to stop. I know they are trying and this is more just a nag then anything else. But I think it will be just a matter of time before it could potentially get worse.
Abe Sep 25th 2007 11:56PM
Me likey AH change.
Me likey gold farmer tears.
QQ little gold farmers.
There is no reason you can't wait an hour for your gold other than
A) You bought it and are scared of getting busted
B) You suck
c) You are an impatient brat
To all those who oppose this change please indicate with an A, B or C in your post which category you fall into.