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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 6 of 7)
Amaxe May 23rd 2011 5:03PM
How about "learning" a key and then having access to opening that door?
Also it will be a pain for the Blacksmiths with their keys (unless they removed them and I didn't hear) since they used to go in keyrings
Zetsubou May 23rd 2011 5:35PM
i don't know how much it takes up in code, but keyring on the interface its tiny. it seems silly that they HAD to remove it to "make space" for something undefined in the future. i guess if it leads to something like +backpack space or tabard inventory it won't be a terrible trade, but things like quest keys going into inventory now seems like a step back.
then again it seems like keys and lockpicking have been mostly phased out. i mean, the only time i remember key collecting recently is brd, which though annoying is hardly important anymore. and things like lockboxes and chests really only ever served blacksmiths and rogues anyway. maybe they are winding up to remove keys and locks completely. i can hear the rogues crying already.
Bapo May 23rd 2011 5:56PM
I wouldn't be surprised if Blizz ended up releasing a "premium" storage device that would store keys and tabards. I also will not be surprised when the cross server mailing of heirloom gear is premium as well.
Cambro May 23rd 2011 6:08PM
How about they take the server storage space used for keys and give us a much bigger backpack? Current backpack = 16 slots, keyring = 18 slots, so in theory we should be able to have a 34 slot backpack. I would be happy with even 24 slots, honestly. I imagine code-wise, this would be easier than allowing us to replace our default backpack, although that would be groovy too. Or hey, how about keep the 16 slot backpack and give us a little more bank storage space? I've been playing the game over 5 years and have a lot of keepsakes, either fun gear or holiday keepsakes or other things which are soulbound, many of which are not replaceable. I have all 22 slot bags for my vault, and even if I upgraded them all to 26 slots, that would only hold me over until barely the end of the expansion, probably not even that long. :(
Jason May 23rd 2011 6:17PM
Awesome, all of my keys go into my bank... wasting another 10 slots... how retarded.
Shirubia May 23rd 2011 11:04PM
So, with this I'll have back in my inventory 5 keys to heroics who might as well be available at honored without the need of buying the keys, key to Yor, two keys for Malygos, the key to violet hold, key to karazan and several other keys to random treasures?
No, no, no. First remove the need of keys for BC heroics and for malygos, then remove the keyring and it's a deal, since it's old content why the need for keys? (And before you say ''just delete them'' I still do malygos for drakes, kara and sethek for mounts and the other BC heroics for ench mats to level my alts enchanting.)
pkasarski May 23rd 2011 6:54PM
Wow, 1 TB drives are $50 nowdays and Bliz is removing a feature from the game to save them money? Shameless penny pinching IMO.
pakkman781 May 23rd 2011 7:13PM
Aww, my Blacksmith will have to vendor about 200 Titanium Skeleton keys /tear
But I am excited about getting bags for other stuff, like tabards, armor sets, etc.
In A World (XBL) May 23rd 2011 7:44PM
They should start the Backpack at 16 slots and add 4 slots for every 10 levels you ding so you have a total of 48 slots by level 80. They should also rework how all tabards work so that they give rep for their faction when killing any mob that yeilds XP (double Rep for dungeon mobs). I assume the key requirement for Burning Crusade heroics will be removed. That's a good start, but they should also make all heroics truely heroic, meaning you would have level 85 versions of Hellfire Ramparts, Utgarde Keep, etc. In future expansions they could retune all these to level 90, then to 95, and so on. Finally, the next expansion needs to consolidate all previous expansions into 1 game. New users pay $50 and get all the 1 - 90 content. Existing users get a revamped Outland questing experience and a single, complete Eastern Kingdoms continent to fly over. Retexturing the ugly-ass vanilla landscape would also be much appreciated.
lolikitty May 23rd 2011 8:25PM
I remember the day we got the keyring *feels old*
At one point I had 32 keys, filling up the entire thing : I wonder if we'll be granted a 32 slots backpack in the future. Fingers crossed.
Luke May 23rd 2011 8:56PM
WHAT DID YOU DO RAY ! ! ! ? ? ?
Haden May 23rd 2011 9:25PM
SWEET i can wait for my inventory to be flooded with the 200+ Obsidium Skeleton Keys i have left over from leveling my BS. looks like ill have to get buddy buddy with a rogue to open my lock boxes >_
flawless May 23rd 2011 10:12PM
Blizzard decided that rehashing content wasn't enough, they need to rehash UI elements/space.
Rob May 23rd 2011 11:31PM
The keyring still seems like a "new" feature to me. I've been playing this game for too long.
Malefaca May 24th 2011 11:42AM
If they remove the keyring to add in a "premium" backpack, I cancel my subscriptions. The game has gone from such a high quality game run by Blizzard to a bloated cash cow run ("to the ground, baby!") by Activision and Bobby Cockdick. It's sad.
Minos May 24th 2011 2:00PM
Bashiok said:
"We're not going to hold off on removing an antiquated system just because we don't have a new inventory management system."
Ok, fine, test the removal of the keyring on the PTR. But what would be the point of removing it on live until the replacement is available?
sardai May 24th 2011 3:32PM
-an ode to a Keyring-
goodbye old friend, you have been with me through thick and thin, khaz modan and orgrimmar, you were the only friend who never judged, the only one who never asked if running headfirst into danger was wise, you've been with me through two lives, two classes and two servers, when they took our first key, the gnomereagan workshop key, from us, we soldiered on, knowing we would never be seperated. but now your time has come to an end old friend, goodbye old friend, may your keys never dull and blacksmiths watch over you
John May 25th 2011 12:56PM
So how's this going to impact the key requirement for heroic dungeons in Outland?
Olkaahyva Jun 7th 2011 2:30PM
Either they just remove the key requirements for BC heroics or they just make them need you to have honored rep with the faction to enter.
Even if they decided to keep the BC -H keys as they are, why would they give a damn about peoples bagspace because it's just outdated content.
Drahliana Jun 2nd 2011 10:04AM
I'm working on the list of keys I must KEEP hold of.. My Jump-A-Tron 4000, my Harpoon Control Key....