Steamwheedle Cartel holding a "Black Market" crafting event
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 5th 2009 at 4:00PM
In fact, I'd love to see something like this come to the game at large -- maybe Blizzard could provide a bonus to crafting when it's done at a certain time in a certain place, like create a "crafter's market" weekly on Saturday mornings (scheduled just like the Sunday fishing tournament), where crafters can make sure to be in a certain area ready to craft for any players who might need it, and can get bonus items or currency or mats for their trouble.
For such a social game, combat seems to always end up being the only way for players to connect regularly (not that there's anything wrong with that, but the only way to bond in game seems to be killing things). It would be nice to see more of this type of connection encouraged by Blizzard, with players using the skills they've earned to help each other and both sides getting a nice reward for it.
Filed under: Herbalism, Wrath of the Lich King, Jewelcrafting, News items, Blizzard, Odds and ends, Virtual selves, Fan stuff, Analysis / Opinion, Items, Enchanting, Tailoring, Leatherworking, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Moo Jan 5th 2009 4:20PM
what a fantastic idea! I'd love to see this happen on Uldaman. Probably it would just turn into a bunch of Norris jokes on Uldaman, but it could still be fun.
fugos Jan 5th 2009 4:21PM
i would love events like this not every week but a holiday sort of thing like winters veil or hallows end.
Also another thing i would enjoy is having a holiday like this black market every year then having each profession have its own holiday where say a leatherworker could get special recipes mats and hang out with other leatherworkers.
=) plz blizz make this black market thing a yearly event
Tess Jan 6th 2009 12:16AM
I want to see this monthly myself.
Flamespawn Jan 5th 2009 4:23PM
That would be an awesome (if only needed by the casual (haven't all us "hardcore minority" got everything we need already?) side of the player base) idea. For all us maxed level proffesion peeps to go service the rest of the community.
Seeing as my guild has cleared all the current 25 man content in roughly 5-6 raid hours over two days (Sarth with 2 drakes included, possibly 3 drakes next week), it leaves quite the void of time to mince about messing in 10 mans and generally making money/gaining rep for the hell of it.
Trailing off there... So again i'll state: I like that idea a lot.
Hal Jan 5th 2009 4:25PM
The only problem I could see with an open-ended sort of event would be too many people trying to get involved. The trade channel is hectic enough. Imagine going into the PC-vendor area, and there stand 27 blacksmiths clamoring for your business.
I'd certainly participate in such a thing, but I'd need a guarantee that I wasn't going to sit in a crowd of like-minded crafters for an entire day without getting any business because there's just too many of us.
thundercougarfalconbird Jan 5th 2009 4:56PM
Then it'd just be like any flea market, antique show, European open air market I've ever been to.
My own Chicago's Maxwell Street market was just junk sellers, hot dog vendors, and blues musicians all crowded on a little street, everyone screaming for attention. A big blur...
BanshihSWC Jan 5th 2009 5:03PM
Hi there, I created and coordinate the Black Market.
To help deal with this problem..and avoid possible scamming we have designated crafters :) . These are known and trusted players.
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Crafters: Alexiel (Tailoring), Urt (Blacksmith),Plaguewalker (Jewelcrafting), Bdullah (Alchemy), Leiwin (Enchanting), Rikora (Engineering), Banshih (Leatherworking). Every crafter is lvl 80, with their profession maxed out.
Frank Jan 5th 2009 9:35PM
interesting... i love the basic idea for sure! but, how do you decide who gets to be IN and who doesn't? do they just have to be maxxed-out crafters? i'd love to try and hype this concept on my own server, but i need some specifics to help build my case. thanks for thinking of this, and any answers you can provide.
Clint Jan 6th 2009 11:16AM
Fantastic Idea!
I really hope this is one of those ideas blizzard sees and responds to. There would be concerns of mat stealing, etc, but isn't there always that risk when getting something crafted? In any case, blizz could implement some type of structure to it to keep it semi-organized.
But that is kinda the fun of black markets, bargaining a price between multiple vendors with the same goods amist a hectic, huslin' and busilin' market.
Marco Polaris Jan 6th 2009 6:43PM
Could be worse than an MMO where everybody mostly RPs in combat. It could go the other way. One of my turn-offs from City of Heroes (though not the grandest one by far) was the fact that I discovered 85% of their RP to revolve around attending DJ parties or lining up for the HOURLY costume contests. It started to drive me nuts. It was a Sims MMO with superpowers and more catgirls!!
Gimmlette Jan 5th 2009 4:37PM
We did it once within the guild and are looking at another date in February to give people a chance to explore Northrend and get patterns, recipes, schematics, etc, from there. We hold our in Stormwind Park which makes it reasonably close to an AH and there's a mailbox so you can station your alt by the bank and mail things to yourself, picking them up at the mailbox in the park.
It was a huge success. I tipped the enchanters who tricked out my armor and weapons but tipping was not required. The guild paid for many mats to make sure things were available. People brought their mains and their alts.
Having a designated space and a suggested time would be a great way to connect buyer and seller. Not everyone would be able to take advantage of an organized craft fair so it wouldn't remove the need for a Trade Channel. If you showed up at a craft fair every time it was available, you could develop a clientele who would, during the times the fair is not operational, contact you for your services.
Tim Hettler Jan 5th 2009 4:33PM
I agree with Hal. RPers are always clamoring for things like this but these sort of events don't scale well. Blizz tries hard to scatter players as much as possible to avoid lag, so if they say something like "if you're in the trade quarter of dalaran on Saturday between 8AM & 12PM server time you get +1 to any skill-ups" then EVERYONE will be there, making it chaotic and pointless.
Keyra Jan 5th 2009 6:06PM
"Blizz tries hard to scatter players as much as possible to avoid lag..."
Except during Brewfest, All Hallows, Winter Veil...
Sorry, I couldn't resist jabbing you in the ribs there. I know where you're coming from. During Brewfest, for example, all I wanted to do was get into Org to finish out a quest. My FPS stinks anyway, and that just made it absolutely crawl. The ram races, people duelling at the gate, and then along comes All Hallows. Again, I'm trying to complete a quest, but can't because there are 60-odd people around putting out the fires from the Headless Horseman. During Winterveil, I wasn't trying to complete a quest, just get my presents. Inconsiderate jerks with huge effing mounts standing around the base of the tree so you couldn't even see your present, and the usual dozen or so duelers plus another two dozen doing the Crashin' & Thrashin'...
What? My allotted minute is up for a rant about lag during events? Damn...and I haven't even gotten to the goo--------
Keyra Jan 5th 2009 6:14PM
Oops...that was supposed to say "I haven't even gotten to the goo------d--d-d----pp------[lag]"
Must be the la....g.....
[disconnected from server]
Istananwe Jan 5th 2009 4:36PM
This would be awesome on a weekly basis and would really bring a sense of community to the realm. People would be encouraged to tip the High Level Crafters, and im sure it would really boost their business. also, lets be honest here, the Darkmoon Faire has gone stale and is relatively pointless apart from trinkets so why not incorparate the two?
It's really impressive and nice to see a whole realm do something original also.
Paradoxx Jan 5th 2009 4:38PM
Sorry, but this is pointless. Now that blizz eliminated rare patterns, most everyone should know a crafter for what the need. I'm a LW and every time someone actually answers my LFW... I just think "how...how crappy is your guild?"
I miss TBC when I spent 5 days hunting down a LW who could make the bindings from sunwell. In WOTLK I spent 4 hours farming arctic furs and had every single rare and epic LW pattern except for a quiver and pouch.
jim carey Jan 5th 2009 5:23PM
yeah i somewhat agree with that. in blizz's search for making the game more suitable to casuals i think they may have taken away a number of things (like farming for rare recipes) away from the hardcore players that didnt need to be.
Moo Jan 5th 2009 5:27PM
I don't think it's pointless at all from a social or RP (if you're into that) aspect. And it could be substantively handy for the guildless or noobs out there. But your comments about rare patterns are well taken. I'm a BS and it's exactly the same for us. I'm really disappointed at the total lack of high level recipe drops or BS recipes earned with faction rep.
Bummer...hopefully they'll add some someday.
Arcticwolf Jan 5th 2009 6:49PM
I miss the rare crafting drops as well. As a BS I loved being able to craft things other people didn't have, for whatever reason. Now I feel like a Smith-clone.
Max Jan 6th 2009 12:19AM
^ agree with jim carey (oh lord) up there. But it's not just taking away from the hardcore, it hurts us casuals as well. If everyone has everything, how fun is this game?
I'm happy to let the hardcore raiders be better than me...
They should at least have SOME rare patterns (i.e. the spellstrike from BC). It could drop from heroics or normal instances so even casuals have a shot at it, but have a rare enough drop rate that not that many people would have it.