Today in WoW: Monday, Aug. 1, 2011
by Adam Holisky 
Aug 1st 2011 at 9:00PM
What we're going to do with Today in WoW is bring you what's going on in the WoW universe via a roundup of relevant posts on WoW Insider, posts on other major sites, and posts by Blizzard's blues. We'll also be covering some of our other favorite games via our sister sites, Joystiq and Massively.
Today in WoW will be evolving, too, so don't be surprised if you see some different things in the next few weeks. We'll eventually settle into a format that works for us and you. One thing to note is that we're not discontinuing The Daily Quest or our Weekly Podcast Roundup. Those columns focus more on the community, and we love to showcase those aspects of the WoW universe. This column will trend toward news and current events.
- Blue posts and WoW news from other sites
- News and features from WoW Insider
- Miscellaneous links from around the web
Blue posts, WoW news from other sites
- MMO-Champion's coverage of the Diablo 3 beta
- Wowhead's coverage of the D3 beta and other WoW news
- WoW TCG gives away stuff on its Facebook page all week
Trust in Blizzard?
Quote:
I used to remember the days when Blizzard would swear up and down they would never offer ingame items for real life money. Eventually they did, offering better mounts and pets that are obtainable in game, but it's all good because they're non-combat items right? They swore they would never offer ingame equipment for sale with real life money because it ruins the spirit of the game. Now they've done so with D3.
There are so many other things they said they would never do, like PVE->PVP transfers, both factions on the same server, etc., what reason is there to trust them on anything they say? This is especially true considering everything they've ever changed their mind on directly concerned things that would make them more money.
I used to remember the days when Blizzard would swear up and down they would never offer ingame items for real life money. Eventually they did, offering better mounts and pets that are obtainable in game, but it's all good because they're non-combat items right? They swore they would never offer ingame equipment for sale with real life money because it ruins the spirit of the game. Now they've done so with D3.
There are so many other things they said they would never do, like PVE->PVP transfers, both factions on the same server, etc., what reason is there to trust them on anything they say? This is especially true considering everything they've ever changed their mind on directly concerned things that would make them more money.
World of Warcraft and Diablo III are two different game types. Please feel free to read more information about the latest Diablo III information either on our website here- http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/events/diablo3-announcement/index.html#summary
Or on one of the various media sites that were able to cover the press tour for more information. If you wish to discuss the latest Diablo III news, you can do so on the game forums here, the Diablo forums, or on one of the many fansites and media sites that are covering this topic.
Length of time to get hacked
Quote:
TL:DR: How long does it usually take to get hacked once your information is taken?
TL:DR: How long does it usually take to get hacked once your information is taken?
It really just depends, they've been known to use them immediately - or sit on them.
Just depends what their needs are at the moment. There are many things they use stolen accounts for - none of them are 'nice', :(
What happens when you get hacked in D3?
We're not ready to discuss specific account support policies, but in short no small part of the auction house fees goes directly toward supporting the sales that happen. That means guaranteeing that items get from sellers to buyers, the funds transfer, but ultimately helping support and correct any issues that can crop up around it, including account compromise.
But to be clear there's no direct credit card purchases happening. You charge up your Battle.net balance to buy items from other players in the auction house (or build it up from selling items), but someone wouldn't be able to spend beyond what balance you have, and again we're fully supporting such situations.
We do hope people will take the appropriate precautions to protect their accounts, of course.
But to be clear there's no direct credit card purchases happening. You charge up your Battle.net balance to buy items from other players in the auction house (or build it up from selling items), but someone wouldn't be able to spend beyond what balance you have, and again we're fully supporting such situations.
We do hope people will take the appropriate precautions to protect their accounts, of course.
From WoW Insider
- The Queue: San Francisco? More like San-ctuary
- Drama Mamas: It's time for That Guy again
- What are the implications of a real-dollar auction house?
- Officers' Quarters: Raiding without characters
- Blood Pact: Quashing misleading rumors about warlocks
- Two Bosses Enter: Lord Godfrey vs. Venoxis
- Gold Capped: How the heck do you price a Chaos Orb?
- Spiritual Guidance: How to play an Atonement priest
- Million dollar DOTA2 tournament
- The Old Republic gameplay demonstration blasts through the Esseles
- Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions hits iPhone this Thursday
- Diablo 3 beta preview: Polish and punch
Filed under: Today in WoW
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Zhiva Aug 1st 2011 9:12PM
# Miscellaneous links from around the web #
You mean "MMO Roundup: Last day on Joystiq"?
Adam Holisky Aug 1st 2011 9:27PM
No.
They're not about MMOs only, there's stuff from Massively. We'll probably expand to other sties as well. Starting off at a place I know and trust, however.
MattKrotzer Aug 2nd 2011 10:44AM
Adam, your avatar seemed to go so well with your response that it made me giggle.
MusedMoose Aug 1st 2011 9:32PM
Re: Trust in Blizzard:
It really bothers me when people act as though Blizzard isn't allowed to change its mind or policies. *Everything* changes, and it's because Blizzard has adapted to the changing game and market that WoW is still around and doing as well as it is. And saying that everything Blizzard has changed their minds on involves them making more money is a ridiculous generalization; for it to be true, someone would have to find every single statement Blizzard's people had made about not doing something, see if that had changed, and see if the result of the change led to Blizzard making more money; only if the answer was always yes could it be true.
I realize that even me saying this is kind of pointless, as people will always complain and accuse corporations of being money-grubbing soulless entities. But it makes me feel sorry for Blizzard's people to see them held to standards that the accusers would never hold themselves to.
Tdog Aug 1st 2011 9:53PM
While yes, people will always complain, there's always somebody that will defend Blizzard to the end even though they know deep down that something doesn't seem right.
Khirsah Aug 1st 2011 10:09PM
I agree with you, Mused. Further, Blizzard should not have to apologize for finding ways to increase their profits. I've played WoW for over 4 years now, and my subscription rate has not, as far as I can remember, ever gone up. None of my other monthly expenses can boast that kind of stability. The "money-makers" that Blizz offers to its players are strictly voluntary. I don't own mounts or pets that were not awarded in-game, and neither my game nor my wallet have suffered for it.
All that said, I really hope that Blizz does not bring a rl currency AH to WoW. I think it turns what should be a recreational passtime into something far more serious. Wanna join an Arena or Raid team? Sure. What is your resilience, ilevel, and current balance in your account in case you need to buy gems or enchants?
But, I could be totally wrong, too. I'm just glad D3 is the guinea pig on this one, and not WoW.
MusedMoose Aug 1st 2011 10:30PM
@ Tdog - that's true too; it really does go both ways. I'll defend Blizzard's decisions if someone's being unreasonable about it, but they're in no way perfect. When they announced that Real ID would show your real name on the forums, I was ready to quit if they went through with it.
@ Khirsah - I didn't even think about the subscription thing, but you're right. I'd much rather see sparkleponies and Winged Guardians than a higher monthly bill. ^_^ But I agree that the real money auction house should stay D3-only. I can't say for sure how it would affect WoW, but I can guess, and I don't see it being a good thing.
Revanel Aug 2nd 2011 12:00AM
I agree with you Tdog.
I personally have lost faith in Blizzard, and do not believe anything they say anymore. Blizzard has lost a lot of credibility in my eyes because of these flip-flops.
I totally understand that they are a company and are in the business of making money and that their actions makes sense. I really do understand it.
But Blizzard, to me, was the kind of game company that I used to be able to say was better than the rest because they didn't do shady things and made quality products. Unfortunately, only the latter is true now. And even that is debatable to some.
I know that, especially on WoWInsider, my views are not very popular. But I guess that's what those stars are for! :P
Goodk4t Aug 2nd 2011 3:13AM
Blizzard isn't offering items for real life money on Diablo 3, as none of the items will be sold by Blizzard. This is actually a very smart way to both stop the gold farm industry and make a lot of money for themselves:
1. There won't be any 3rd part sites selling Diablo 3 gold. There is no reason to spend resources making a site that will have no views.
2. Since there will be no websites selling D3 gold, the number of people being hacked with the use of keyloggers will lower.
3. With less people being hacked, the gold income of gold farmers will also greatly lower.
4. Yes, gold farmers will use the Diablo 3 Auction House to sell gold, it's obvious.
5. Blizzard will be able to easily track and ban those gold farmers, since everything is done in-game. News accounts with huge amounts of gold can be automatically banned by The Warden.
6. If you make the math, you will soon realize the 5% cut off the AH will generate more money to Blizzard than anything they ever sold on the Blizzard store.
If this works out and they do the same thing to WoW, I would say all 3rd part sites selling WoW gold would cease to exist within 5 months. Maybe with all this money Blizzard can hire some decent voice actors for a change. ;)
i.heart.u.all Aug 1st 2011 10:10PM
This is a great summary of stuff around. Will be a nice addition to my rss feeds.
David Aug 1st 2011 10:31PM
Really interested to see how the D3 thing pushes out, especially with hackers getting real money on your account.
Moanique Aug 1st 2011 11:27PM
SW:TOR: I dunno. It looked nice enough but there sure was a lot of chit-chat if it was a decent example of gameplay.
That might be fun a few times. But after a few times...
marauder Aug 2nd 2011 1:08AM
I agree. It seems like SW:TOR isn't a game that will support a lot of alts. Which is actually similar to the last Star Wars MMO, where you could only have one character per server.
Kaphik Aug 2nd 2011 6:51AM
Well, there's at least eight different story arcs, one for each class in the game. I believe the number that was thrown around was around 200 hours of content for each class, but I'm not sure how much of that includes instances. I also believe that it was stated that that 200 hours did not include repeatable content (dailies and/or end game grinding) nor pvp.
MattKrotzer Aug 2nd 2011 10:48AM
@Marauder: You can have 2 on SWG. Also, with being able to have trading, combat and entertainment professions for each character, it DID add at least a little diversity to the restriction.
But yeah. Hoping its a bit more alt-friendly... but worried it won't be.
Darky Aug 2nd 2011 12:03AM
What blizzard is forgetting is the price of putting up autctions, if someone hacks an account and puts up auctions it will cost the seller money. Even if this person can not profit from this (which they can, through making enough money to buy gold then resell at a higher price) there will be people such as lulzboat who will do this simply to cost people money, if blizzard is happy with refunding such cases all will be well, (won't affect me because of my authenticator).
Also blizzard should try and introduce a coin lock system like rift's but improve on it by allowing someone to give a different email for this purpose (to further increase security).
Shrike Aug 2nd 2011 12:51AM
You know, I was feeling kinda bad about letting my WoW subscription lapse while waiting to save money to replace my dead computer.
Now? Now I'm thinking I may be getting out of Blizzard games at juuuuust the right moment.
razion Aug 2nd 2011 5:02AM
There's certainly validity to the points people make for the new system coming in Diablo 3. However, all I will say to summarize for my opinion is that I just don't like where this seems to be headed, which is why I will not be purchasing Diablo 3.
silentpvp Aug 2nd 2011 8:06AM
People forget a lot of things.
Diablo is not subscription based. Once the game is purchased, the job is done (apart from the AH fees). If people get bored and don't play, it doesn't matter to blizz.
WoW is subscription based, if you could buy the latest items for cash, people would get bored and leave. Half the addictiveness of WoW is the fruit machine lottery of loot drops. If people leave WoW the game dies and they lose billions.
tl:dr WoW will never sell loot for real cash as its a subscription game.
MattKrotzer Aug 2nd 2011 10:51AM
This is pretty much my thoughts on it, as well.
People don't much bat an eye on DLC for TF2 or Portal 2 (Although the initial DLC for Portal 2is ridiculously pricey, IMO) but when Blizzard does it, it's OMGZORZ TEH SKIZ B FALLIN!
Settle down, people. Blizz clearly has a line of demarcation about that stuff for their subscription-based stuff. I can't say that will never change, but crying DOOM at this point is just silly.