Blizzard announces upcoming premium AH through Armory feature
by Matthew Rossi 
Feb 2nd 2010 at 2:45PM
In all seriousness, I know a lot of people who would probably club me over the head and hand me over to a cabal of secretive necromancers for this feature. No news yet on exactly how it's going to work, and Bornakk does point out that with the amount of work it will be to develop, you're probably going to have to pay extra for it.
This is a fairly complex service to develop, due in large part to its unprecedented integration with the game, so we don't have an exact release date yet. It's important to note here that certain elements of the service will be premium-based, which we'll go into more detail on once the service functionality is finalized. As with all of the services we offer, we plan to integrate the Auction House and Armory in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience, and we won't release it until it meets the quality standards that we've set for our other features and services.See the rest of the announcement after the break.
From Bornakk:
Since the launch of the World of Warcraft Armory, we've been regularly releasing updates and new features designed to help players stay connected to the game even when they're not logged in. Today, we wanted to give you a heads-up about a new service now in development that will let players access the Auction House directly through the Armory website or Armory App for iPhone or iPod touch.
While there are still plenty of details to be worked out, we're designing the service to offer auction functionality similar to what's available in-game. Players have been requesting -- and we've been hoping to implement -- a feature like this for a long time, and we're excited that the Armory and the game have evolved to a point that makes it possible.
This is a fairly complex service to develop, due in large part to its unprecedented integration with the game, so we don't have an exact release date yet. It's important to note here that certain elements of the service will be premium-based, which we'll go into more detail on once the service functionality is finalized. As with all of the services we offer, we plan to integrate the Auction House and Armory in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience, and we won't release it until it meets the quality standards that we've set for our other features and services. You may be seeing bits and pieces of the Auction House service pop up in the test builds we use for the public test realms as we go through the process of internal testing. We'll have more info to share with you here and at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.co m as we get closer to release.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Add-Ons
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 9)
Norfrit Feb 2nd 2010 2:47PM
Prenium? As they need more money?
Creese5704 Feb 2nd 2010 2:58PM
That is what I am thinking.
Rob Feb 2nd 2010 3:03PM
If it allows me to post items for sale in the AH and buy items from the AH and retrieve items from my mailbox (and then repost in some cases). I'll pay just about anything for it.
Norfrit Feb 2nd 2010 3:05PM
That's what a good customer would say.
Roobix Feb 2nd 2010 3:33PM
I have an idea for Blizz:
Seeing as this will increase the number of people buying iphones etc, instead of getting us to pay for it, they should get people like Apple to sponsor it.
Foolproof!
Netherscourge Feb 2nd 2010 3:39PM
Doesn't this make it 100 times easier for people to buy and sell items with REAL money via a 3rd party website?
Lets say you want to sell someone 1,000 gold.
Well, with the online AH feature, someone pays you via Paypal for the 1,000 gold, then the buyer put's up a piece of junk item for 1,000 gold, which the guy who just got paid through Paypal buys for 1,000 gold.
Bam. Gold just got transferred from a gold seller to a gold buyer using the AH and neither of them even had to be logged into the game itself to do it.
...
It makes it too easy to move gold around. Even easier then it is now.
Cyanea Feb 2nd 2010 3:40PM
You know...I've been behind Blizzard for a while. In the past year we've gone from no paid services outside of subscriptions to like...five, and I've always shrugged and continued on with my gaming.
But the rate at which we're getting these services is a little...scary. Especially now that they're moving into things that directly impact gameplay (the pets were okay cause they're noncombat, race/faction changes are okay cause they don't really change much aside from your apperance, a few somewhat useless racials, and which side of Dalaran you use, and customization never changed much except for your name and your face)...but this is the first one that directly impacts something inside the game.
For once, I'm gonna be joining the slippery slope crowd.
slozon3 Feb 2nd 2010 3:46PM
@Cyanea
i really don't see how this affects actual game play only thing i can see is maybe i won't have to log on my bank toon as much...
Cyanea Feb 2nd 2010 3:50PM
I should clarify: I'm fine with a service (although I'm not going to pay for it) that exports AH data to the Armory, (I'm out questing and want to check on my auctions without popping back to Silvermoon, for example) but the second you let people perform AH transactions is when you've crossed the line. As I said, not only does it represent the first service that lets you pay for some gameplay changing thing, but as others have put it nicely in the comments, you open the server economies up to all sorts of manipulation by bots and gold farmers. And there's little that Blizz can do against a bot when the actions are happening out of the game.
Cyanea Feb 2nd 2010 3:53PM
@slozon:
No...it doesn't effect gameplay to the level of Blizzard selling epics or gold, but it does provide those who use the service an advantage over the people who don't. And if this is successful, what's to stop Blizz from doing more?
slozon3 Feb 2nd 2010 4:05PM
@Cyanea
advantage at what? who buys your auctions first?
only people i could see that would pay for this would be people that play the auction house heavily and don't they already have the advantage?
Starlin Feb 2nd 2010 4:16PM
They lost me at "premium". There's no way I'm paying extra for equal access to a service I already pay a monthly subscription towards. Isn't that grounds for a class-action lawsuit of some sort? Any legal minds know?
slozon3 Feb 2nd 2010 4:20PM
TOS says no it's their game and even though you pay they can do what they want with it you agree to this every patch
Siphaed Feb 2nd 2010 4:25PM
Yep, every MMORPG lately seems to have been milking more and more from it's customers. This is getting ridiculously out of hand and will require a user/player protest (hopefully outside of E3) to counter this crap.
I mean, look at Today's launch of Star Trek Online in which they had DAY #1 MICROTRANSACTION ITEMS. That means that they took time away from developing the actual game to instead developing little extras that they'd charge the players for besides their subscription amount.
Makes one wonder how much extra resources and time taken away from Cataclysm, Star Craft II, and Diablo III that Blizzard is sourcing out to this Armory AH thing just to milk more money from their customers?
This only making waiting for Star Wars: The Old Republic that much more anticipatory and needed. Even with EA on their backs, I'm sure that Bioware will push for a quality, good product about the game itself, and not the milking of it's players...
ducss750 Feb 2nd 2010 4:40PM
Yes, more money.
Someone PLEASE reassure me that this isn't the first step down the path of "free MMO w/premium content" (Can anyone say Facebook apps?)
Something about having to pay to be the best rather than earning the spot rubs me wrong, like having your parents buy your way into a good college without passing any placement tests. Yeah, you're there in the big time, but you didn't earn your way. At $15US/month/account, you're not bringing in enough to cover payroll on this project?
Blizz... What you've got isn't broken so don't fix it! Start a new project for your "premium" service option.
Arbitor Feb 2nd 2010 4:39PM
I'm not sure I understand the problem.
You cannot use the AH while away from the computer, am I correct?
Blizzard is developing a bit of new tech, that allows to use the AH while away from the computer, a "mini-pc" with WoW ah fucntions only, if you will.
You aren't paying for an "advantage" over another player, you aren't "paying to make your character "stronger", you are paying for a bit of kit, THAT BLIZZ HAS TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE, that allows you to some mediocre tasks in the game world while away from your computer.
Note: By mediocre I mean stand in a single spot and click on menu buttons, not dailys.
Hell I'd be fine with an out of game postal service, an out of game chat service to keep in touch with guildys and friends on the go!
OH NOES! I've one too far!
Now by paying to do all that, all thats left to do when I log in is... Quest... run dungeons/raids... compete in world events.... mess around... do dailies...grind...pvp...everything else I said before...
...Owait,
Arbitor Feb 2nd 2010 4:44PM
functions*
to perform some**
I would also like to point out that I enjoy facing up the slippery slope, and marching forward...uphill.
Ruhig Feb 2nd 2010 5:40PM
@Starlin
*facepalm*
Class action lawsuit? Are you daft? You've already got "equal service" by logging in. The premium features of the iPhone/web app will be for additional service (ie accessing the AH outside of the game). Any lawyer would laugh you out of the room if you told them this.
Gorgondor Feb 2nd 2010 5:50PM
@cyanea and @slozon3
at first I was a little on Cyanea's side, but when i read slozon3's post, i came to realise it won't really give an advantage at all unless you can retrieve and repost items you buy.
Example, if you can only buy or post items on the AH, So what if you have an advantage to buy earlier than you normally could? likewise with selling, so maybe you farmed lots of herbs before a shutdown, and no time to post them, you could do it from work the next day perhaps. It doesn't really change anything, since you still had to play the real game to farm those herbs.
The only real advantage to making gold i see this would give some people over others, is if you're able to buy something off the AH, retrieve it from your mail, and repost it (play the AH as many people do) I honestly can't see this actually being the case.
Cyanea Feb 2nd 2010 6:22PM
@gorgornder
I'm sure Blizz sees things the same way you do, so I'm sure that there's got to be more to this feature than the announcement says, otherwise would they really expect people to pay $whatever-it-is extra to access just a listing of AH stuff when you can't physically log on and take advantage of the information? It doesn't make much sense for them to develop that from a business standpoint.
What I'm honestly concerned with more so than THIS PARTICULAR FEATURE right now, is the fact that a year ago we were told that there would never be a paid service like faction transfer, race changes, and now this in the game. The "slippery slope" has me concerned because this is the first of (probably many) features that will have a direct impact on the game from more than just an aesthetic sense.