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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsPatch 4.2: The keyring is gone. Gozer is saddened.
by Adam Holisky 
May 23rd 2011 at 12:36PM
Are you the keymaster?
Not in patch 4.2, Mr. Gozer The Gozerian, Gozer the Destructor, Volguus Zildrohar, Gozer the Travler, Lord of the Sebouillia.
Takralus has announced on Blizzard's EU forums that come patch 4.2, the keyring will be disappearing -- a fact that many people have already noticed on the PTR. Any keys that you don't need for the game will vanish into the ether, potentially giving you a very small amount of gold, and any key that you do need to access some part of the game will be transferred to your inventory.
We bid you farewell, keyring. You've been in our toolbar since patch 1.11, and that's special.
The full blue post after the break.
Not in patch 4.2, Mr. Gozer The Gozerian, Gozer the Destructor, Volguus Zildrohar, Gozer the Travler, Lord of the Sebouillia.
Takralus has announced on Blizzard's EU forums that come patch 4.2, the keyring will be disappearing -- a fact that many people have already noticed on the PTR. Any keys that you don't need for the game will vanish into the ether, potentially giving you a very small amount of gold, and any key that you do need to access some part of the game will be transferred to your inventory.
We bid you farewell, keyring. You've been in our toolbar since patch 1.11, and that's special.
The full blue post after the break.
Takralus
World of Warcraft has evolved quite a bit since the day the Keyring bag slot was added in patch 1.11. When implemented, this Keyring provided players with a convenient way of storing dungeon, quest, and other keys automatically. Back when the largest bag was a mind bottling 18 slots - rumoured to be bottomless - the Keyring helped save precious bag space. But as things tend to do, time went on, bags got bigger, and designs for gating content (literally and figuratively) evolved through the years.
In today's Azeroth, keys don't really serve much of a purpose except to take up physical storage space from the game (which could be used for other awesome stuff), and visual interface space on yours. Because of this, we've decided to get rid of the Keyring in order to free up some user interface space for exciting new features. This change could also potentially allow us to play around with the amount of default storage space you're allotted down the road. So, what does this mean for you and the keys you might not have looked at in the last couple expansions or so?
We're currently working on the implementation of a system in patch 4.2 which will handle the removal of the Keyring, while causing you as little hassle with keys as possible. Some keys which no longer serve a purpose in the game will automatically be removed from your inventory. In return, you'll be compensated for them with their respective vendor sell prices in gold. You might also have random leftover quest keys from outdated quests, or quests which were removed in Cataclysm. Keys that fall into this category have no use and no sell price, as they are labelled as quest items, and will be automatically removed from your inventory. Any remaining keys that might still potentially serve some use in the game will be transferred into your regular inventory. If there is not enough space in your inventory to hold any leftover keys once patch 4.2 hits live realms, the keys will be placed in a backlogged storage system. Once space is made for a backlogged key, the key will take that space after you log out or switch to a new zone (i.e. changing continents, entering a dungeon or Battleground, etc.).
We are continuing to work on new ways of allowing you to better manage the storage of various items in the game, and it is our goal to make sure the removal of the Keyring causes as little inconvenience to you as possible.
In today's Azeroth, keys don't really serve much of a purpose except to take up physical storage space from the game (which could be used for other awesome stuff), and visual interface space on yours. Because of this, we've decided to get rid of the Keyring in order to free up some user interface space for exciting new features. This change could also potentially allow us to play around with the amount of default storage space you're allotted down the road. So, what does this mean for you and the keys you might not have looked at in the last couple expansions or so?
We're currently working on the implementation of a system in patch 4.2 which will handle the removal of the Keyring, while causing you as little hassle with keys as possible. Some keys which no longer serve a purpose in the game will automatically be removed from your inventory. In return, you'll be compensated for them with their respective vendor sell prices in gold. You might also have random leftover quest keys from outdated quests, or quests which were removed in Cataclysm. Keys that fall into this category have no use and no sell price, as they are labelled as quest items, and will be automatically removed from your inventory. Any remaining keys that might still potentially serve some use in the game will be transferred into your regular inventory. If there is not enough space in your inventory to hold any leftover keys once patch 4.2 hits live realms, the keys will be placed in a backlogged storage system. Once space is made for a backlogged key, the key will take that space after you log out or switch to a new zone (i.e. changing continents, entering a dungeon or Battleground, etc.).
We are continuing to work on new ways of allowing you to better manage the storage of various items in the game, and it is our goal to make sure the removal of the Keyring causes as little inconvenience to you as possible.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 7)
Krytture May 23rd 2011 3:11PM
@Hyacintha
I'm with you 100% sir.
Chris May 23rd 2011 1:10PM
I have the following keys on my keyring:
Key to Refurbished Shredder
Zuluhed’s Key
Jump a tRon 4000
Reservoir Key
Key of Time
Warpforged Key
Auchenai Key
Key of the Focusing Iris
Flamewrought Key
Relic Offer Key
Essence Infused Moonstone
Master Key
Scarab Coffer Key
Greater Scarab Coffer Key
Kolkar Booty Key
Violet Hold Key
Eye of Haramad Key
Ethereum Prison Key
Hopefully, Bliz has some plans for new storage space in 4.2. Maybe making our personal banks to be more like the Guild Bank models. More space for tabards and other things I collect.
MissAshley May 23rd 2011 1:13PM
Between this and Archeology, Blizz seems to really have it out for bag/bank space. :(
Dimmak May 23rd 2011 1:19PM
Ok,
This could cause a serious problem for blacksmith's. Instead of opening up more bag space all of my existing lock picking keys are now going to dump into my bag. Second it will wreak havoc on the the Key Master achievement. Third I worked very hard for my now defunct pixels, I want to keep that memorabilia.
The key ring does not interfere with anything at this time, let's just leave that alone and realign your resources to more pressing matters.
Since this is a European post and I cannot post there since I am on US servers, someone please cross post this over there and express my concerns.
Dimmak
Drahken May 23rd 2011 1:25PM
The Keymaster was already removed from the game in the Shattering. It wasn't even made into a Feat of Strength. It was just removed.
(cutaia) May 23rd 2011 1:18PM
"what a douchebag move."
Even though I understand wanting the keyring to remain...you realize this is a tremendous overreaction, right?
Jennifer May 23rd 2011 1:23PM
So...we already have critical storage space for our items, and now they're going to take away our key storage and make us hold them in our bags?
Yeah, that's helpful, Blizzard.
Drahken May 23rd 2011 1:22PM
Not to be a nitpicking nerd, but Gozer wasn't the Keymaster. Gozer was the god itself who first looked like that weird woman (aim for the flattop), then Stay Puft. The Keymaster (Rick Moranis) was Vinz Clortho. And of course, with the Gatekeeper there was no Sigourney Weaver, only Zuul. (which was the name of my Blighthound-skinned wolf through Wrath)
valantor May 23rd 2011 1:28PM
They removed the keymaster acheive in cata when they took out a ton of keys already , why it didnt become a feat of strength then ill never know too me ages to get it only to lose it
Tender Burntfuse May 23rd 2011 1:30PM
Yea.... Im not happy. bagspace is kinda important.... and my BS isnot gonna be happy about having to either only have Capped Skele Keys and waste them on Lowbie boxes, or having to make yet -another- bag worth of space in her already cramped bank and only do box openings in the city....
Danghor May 23rd 2011 1:32PM
lame. Because I really need MORE crap in my inventory...
B1ue May 23rd 2011 1:36PM
*Shrug* After they removed the Keymaster achievement and allowed rogues to pick any lock up to their levelx5 (as opposed to making them level the skill), I can't say this suprises me. Keys were on the way out once 4.0 hit. Maybe blacksmiths and engineers will get a multiple use unlocking item.
Noyou May 23rd 2011 3:11PM
As for someone who leveled their rogue for lockpicking "the hard way" I am glad they made it the way it is now. Sure it was cute to go to Athers mill in Red Ridge and sit there and pick locks til you got to 100 then go out to the lake and swim and swim and swim some more until you got to 150 or whatever. Keep telling yourself that. It was a total time sink. Worse than leveling any weapon (or every weapon) in my opinion. The only time I enjoyed it was when I hit 58 and had a field day picking junkboxes from those dudes in the cave next to Honor Hold. Actually pulled a rare sword out of one of them.
sezen May 23rd 2011 1:48PM
i was more upset that my Keymaster achievement was completely removed than the keys themselves...at least that was a record of the keys i had once without having to keep the keys themselves.
RetPallyJil May 23rd 2011 1:48PM
They took away my hometown.
They took away my single, uncompleted Tier 3 armor quest.
Now they want my Workshop Key? My Key to Searing Gorge?? MY SCARLET KEY????
To the Twisting Nether with you, Blizzard!
kingoomieiii May 23rd 2011 1:52PM
Per character.
11 million subscribers.
More than one character apiece.
Tarvos May 23rd 2011 1:54PM
So I'm fairly certain this won't be much of an issue, but I might as well ask - what will become of the keys for heroic BC dungeons? Will the dungeons automatically open at the appropriate level and/or reputation? Or will there be a new means of gaining access?
Yersavior May 23rd 2011 1:58PM
While I like the idea of all the keys, I've never understood why there wasn't a "key spell" which would allow you to open different doors. Basically it would just live in your spellbook along with everything else that's passive. This would mean you still would have to gather the "keys"/spells for things like BC heroics but wouldn't have a physical item that would need to be displayed.
I'm personally in favor of some type of mechanism to make people "earn" their way into some of the content. None of it is that hard or time consuming.
Shade May 23rd 2011 2:07PM
There originally was - mages were the first lockpicks a long, long time ago
Shade May 23rd 2011 2:49PM
forgot to finish my comment when I went off to bitch in my own comment ._.
Tongue-in-cheek pun about "key spell" aside, I think it might be a little difficult to implement a spell like that. The skeleton key/lock skill system wouldn't work, because a key to, say, a level 85 instance shouldn't be able to open, say, a level 60 instance. Teleport and Portal spells are still technically individual spells, since you click the main spell and then select the city you want to go to to actually begin casting. Doing that with keys would get very cluttered.
One 'Key' spell would be clean for the user, but a bit messy for the programmers. They'd have to create a spell for every possible key combination - one for each individual key, one for each pair of keys, etc etc.