If you can't beat the gold farmer, make everyone's life miserable
by Mark Crump 
Oct 15th 2007 at 3:00PM
I'm able to roll with the changes. I can accept I can't bring more than 3oz. of water through a security checkpoint because an over-eager Homeland exec thought 24 was a documentary. We live in Changed Times. At least that's what the TSA guy said as he instructed me to bend over and I heard the snap of a latex glove. But this delay on receiving gold from auctions may have pushed me to take action. I'd write my Senator, but since his claim to fame is driving a good-looking woman off a bridge in Chappaquiddick (a family record his nephew beat when he flew two good looking women into the ocean off Martha's Vineyard), I don't see where he's going to help.We all know why this was added. Those wily gold resellers came up with a fun way to get around the delay-in-mailing-gold problem by having you sell spare ribs for 5k gold. I don't know about you, but when I heard that I laughed my arse off. Talk about a way to game the system.
Changes like this make me think Blizzard hired that guy that forced NyQuil to now have the potency of children's aspirin. Really, whom do they think they are kidding here? If someone is going buy the gold to get their epic flyer it's unlikely they are going to hover their mouse over the checkout button and go: Ya know, I'd really like to just buy the 5k gold and not have to farm motes for the next five days, but, now that I think about it with the hour delay in the AH, I'll just go farm it.
My AH needs are modest. Once I've got a backpack full of whatever I'll send it off to my mule before I go to bed. Over the next few days I'm likely to wonder where the heck that backpack full of motes and skins went. Then I slap myself upside the head, log on the mule and hit the auction house. I'll then forget about the mule for a few days again. I don't think that my usage is all that different than most folks, and even if it's not, the delay in getting your gold isn't a big enough issue to force Bono to hold a benefit concert. Really, the only people I see this affecting are day traders. If you're one of those people sitting there going, "Gordon, I heard Blizzard is going to change the drop rates on Clefthoof Leather by -.94384384%, It's going for 50 gold a stack right now, but tomorrow it'll be going for 52. BUY BUY BUY!" well, you're playing a whole different game than I am.
Blizzard isn't going to stop gold farming by putting in delays to the mail and auction house. You want to stop gold farming? The answer is simple: make radical design changes that eliminate the need for gold and barter-able items. Because if it isn't a Reselling Gold Farmer stealing all the good-dropping mobs it's someone just farming gold to get their own mount. While people liken gold reselling to supporting terrorism, the harsh truth is that gold is entering the game largely through legal means. People buying gold are just outsourcing the farming they themselves would be required to do to get items.
Before the cries of "Heretic! Heretic! Burn him!" ensue in the comments I want to make sure the point of this isn't lost: in order to truly eliminate gold reselling, the reason why people feel the need to purchase gold has to be addressed. And that's likely to result in changes none of us want to deal with.
For those of you not buying pitchforks and torches in the AH, what say you: How much pain and suffering are you willing to put up if the result is the elimination of third-party reselling?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Economy, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Krazen Oct 15th 2007 3:11PM
Heretic! Heretic! Burn him! lol just joking.
Sonvar Oct 15th 2007 3:12PM
Its also not like buying gold is the end all for getting the best gear because the best gear Bind on Pickup or requires a token which requires you can make that far in the game itself. I think what Blizzard has tried to do to stopp is just annoying to those in game more than it really hurting those selling it.
Aietius Oct 15th 2007 3:13PM
The delay isn't to deter people from buying the gold, it's to give Blizzard a better way to track down transactions. Do some research before you post this trash. What you're saying is misleading and wrong.
Shadgalaul Oct 15th 2007 3:17PM
I damn near fell outta my chair when i read that...
I don't know if the folks that do write ups for this site have other employment, but seriously Mark, you might be too good for this schtick.
To anyone who has the ability, pay this man well.
blah Oct 15th 2007 3:22PM
Last night I needed 20 more gold to buy some mats. I had 3 Primal Waters sell in the AH but with the delay I just went to bed instead of finishing off what I worked all day to level my enchanting for. Kinda sucks.
Perrins Oct 15th 2007 3:20PM
Personally speaking-
My main source of income is the AH. I started with 10g on a lvl 13 toon and by the time she reached lvl 19 I had 450g. All I kept doing was getting all the lowbie greens and sticking them in the AH for low buyouts.
Atm- I’m gambling on the AH. I buy all of a particular item and then put them back up at an increased rate. I know this might be monopolizing the item but I have to make my G so I can repair.
Buckshot Oct 15th 2007 3:21PM
No harm, no foul. It's your $14 a month play the game however you want. BoP is on most all good drops anyway. The 1 hour delay is a sham and needs to go away. What of those of us who have multiple accounts? Haveing to wait 1 hour for 2 stack of ore is BS, pure and simple.
Arras Oct 15th 2007 3:23PM
If you can't stop it, make it really really annoying to do it...that'll impede 'em
the idea behind the delay is that Blizzard is supposed to check the transaction to make sure it's legit (how they're determining that is beyond me and I'm sure a little bit out of their reach too).
Want to stop gold selling? You don't need to delay Auction House transactions or anything like that, just kill the demand. Make it easy enough for anyone who wants to to grind 5000 gold in a weekend afternoon.
Liel Oct 15th 2007 3:23PM
I swear I have read some really retarded conspiracy theories on the official forums. The one that stuck out was that Blizzard put the hour delay in the the AH to reduce inflation or earn interest....
Znodis Oct 15th 2007 3:24PM
I think Bliz needs to allow for a certain amount of gold selling as an alternative to people's accounts getting stolen. Here's what I mean:
As an example, I think most people consider the 5k needed for the epic flier to be the main reason people buy gold. Suppose they changed it to be a rep grind instead. Now the people who were to lazy to grind gold have a choice: either grind the rep themselves, don't get the epic training, or get someone else to grind their character for them. I think people would likely risk their accounts if what would be a several month grind could be reduced to a few weeks. But stealing an account creates much greater problems for Bliz.
If a player gets ripped off for buying gold, Bliz can shrug and say "you shouldn't have done that" with no further action, and ban the account of the goldseller. If someone's account gets compromised, the player will probably be much more upset (and likely to quit), Bliz is more likely to try to restore that players account (a lot of work), and they have no action against the person (can't ban an account like with a gold seller). In short, buying gold is a much better problem for Bliz than sharing accounts is.
That's why you'll see changes to bother/harass/annoy both goldsellers and buyers, but wont see radical changes as described above.
Chai Oct 15th 2007 3:30PM
Personally..I think the only reason people really buy gold anymore is for the mounts. I can easily do 1 or 2 dailies to get the money I need for a basic item. Or do a few circuits of mining to toss bars up on the AH for enough profit to buy an item I may need.
I was discussing how much easier it would be for blizzard to implement an upgrade system for the mounts as opposed to spending a large lump sum, of almost unreasonable proportions, of gold.
Imagine just spending the 800 gold for your basic Flyer + Training. 800 is easily attainable at 70. I usually have twice that depending on class/professions by the time I get there. After purchasing the Flyer+Training, receiving either a series of quests which would unlock upgrades for the mount you've already purchased.
Like in Shimmering Flats you collect Hollow Vulture Bones to lighten the goblins race car.. implement a quest to kill Chimaeras in SMV, say a good number.. more than the Nagrand Mastery quests. Which would unlock a purchasable upgrade "Load Lightening - Increased Flying Mount Speed by 40%" and so on.. until you got to 280%. At this point, people would could earn the upgrade instead of dropping the large sum of cash.
Who knows, maybe it would settle some servers economy issues, where everyone is overpricing everything to be able to get their epic birds.
Baluki Oct 15th 2007 3:26PM
@3: It's both. One of the reasons why the goldsellers were using the AH was because it could transfer the money instantaneously.
Anyway, I just don't see what the problem is. It's only an hour, and it helps our gold retain its value. Do you want to have to pay 100g for a single Mote? Then you'll just have to wait an hour on your auctions. If you really need the money NOW, go do some daily quests, or borrow it from a guildie.
It's really not a problem, and it does far more good than harm.
Delta Oct 15th 2007 3:27PM
It's too double edge, the main point I get from many people is that the costs of epic mounts and such are too high, which is why some people buy the gold, but to lower the price, many people would be outraged that the price was lowered after their epic grind to get it, as well as others who would say that the challenge in earning your epic flyer would be eliminated, or ezmode. Do I think 5k for epic flyer is a bit much? Yes. Am I willing to pay someone else to get me the gold? No. Reason is, getting gold in this game takes effort, and effort is something lost in many games today, no one wants to make the effort to earn their rewards, they want them as fast as they can for as little effort as they can. I have no problem grinding my epic flyer, it might take forever, and I'll curse a lot, but I won't spend more real money to obtain something that is only in the game. I've spent far too much money on other things that I don't even want anymore.
John W Oct 15th 2007 3:29PM
If you want to get rid of gold farmers, do what some other MMO's do: Blizzard should sell gold themselves. Charge enough to keep the economy from being flooded, but keep it quick and reliable, and you will kill the farming industry overnight. People who have more money than time will be able to get decent stuff, people who have the time to get the über BOP stuff will still have better gear.
Rich Oct 15th 2007 3:30PM
Regardless if its for tracking purposes or not, its still annoying as hell. I would actually prefer it if they didn't send the "Sale pending notice".
His point about getting rid of gold sellers is still valid. In order to get rid of them, we would need to make some serious changes to the game or Blizzard would need to sell it themselves.
There are three changes that Blizzard could do in the next patch that would seriously put a dent in gold farming.
1) Make all blues and purples (weapons, armor, profession patterns, etc) BoP.
2) Increase the money and most item drop rates on outdoor world mobs to about twice what it currently is.
3) Increase the money earned from quests by 50%
Paul Oct 15th 2007 3:31PM
My paychecks don't clear for a day after they get into my checking account. But instead of crying about it, i just keep enough in there so i'm not waiting for it if i need to buy anything right away.
Just do the same thing in game- don't spend all your money, and this new rule doesn't affect you at all.
Even if this did affect me, it would be worth any more hassle it causes for gold sellers.
DeathRawkBoy Oct 15th 2007 3:34PM
@3
He's right you know? While I won't call you work trash (you've written some articles I like) I will say that it's wrong. You should consider retracting this post or rewriting it. If you want to write us something interesting, try interviewing someone at Blizz to ask how they are figuring out what's legit and what's not. That's what I'm interested in.
Pougen Oct 15th 2007 3:38PM
GREAT article!
Blizzard, the one-hour lag is not just annoying the gold sellers, it's annoying legit subscribers, too. Quit punishing your players, dammit.
Pucechan Oct 15th 2007 3:34PM
As @3 said, the delay isn't about the actual transfer of cash, it's simply to give Blizzard room to trace and check transactions to help catch the "dodgy" ones easier. (Why exactly they didn't have checks in place without needing to expand the transaction period is another question, but I digress.)
To be honest, when you put an item up for auction, you accept that it'll take a possible 8, 12 or 24 (soon to be 12, 24 and 48) hours to sell, or not sell at all. How exactly is waiting an hour a problem? If you want to make cash instantly then use the trade channel, that is, after all, what it is there for!
I don't really see where the issue is except as something else to whine about. And this is yet another ill-researched post.
WoWInsider is suddenly turning into the Official WoW Forums, Mark 2.
Znodis Oct 15th 2007 3:39PM
@8
"If you can't stop it, make it really really annoying to do it...that'll impede 'em"
You seem to mean this argument as sarcasm, but it's the truth. This follows the same principles as security. Make the work greater than the reward.
The only way to completely end gold selling in WoW is to shut WoW down, no game == no gold. As long as gold is valued, people will find ways around. But as with security, the trick is to make the hassle of working around a system greater than the value of the items.
If I put a penny in a school locker, people probably aren't even going to try breaking in. If I put a million dollars in one, even I might try to break in. What if I put the million inside a locker and put that inside another locker and put that inside another locker, and so on until you had to get through 10 lockers. It's really not any harder to break through 10 than just one, but it's more of a hassle, and fewer people would try to do it. More hassle means more secure.
Or to put it another way, if it bothers you because you're sending virtual items and money, how much more will it bother someone whose REAL money is involved.