Patch 4.3: Point conversion sell-back policy
by Mathew McCurley 
Nov 9th 2011 at 7:20PM
One of the criticisms of the point conversion last patch was that Blizzard had not given ample notice to players detailing issues with the new PVP set gear and some botched conversions that happened early. It appears that this time, Blizzard is getting ahead of the patch by a wide margin, letting players know about these new policies and procedures much earlier, so no one should be surprised when it happens. Early information is always welcome information. Check out the full item sell-back policy for the patch 4.3 point conversion in the blue post after the jump.
Patch 4.3 sellback policy explanation
With the release of 4.3 all Valor Points will be down-converted to Justice Points, and all Conquest Points will be down-converted to Honor Points. To curb the ability to sell items back to the vendors after the conversion for the higher currency, we're instituting a new sellback policy for items purchased directly before currency down-conversions.
Items purchased within the two hour window before the release of 4.3 will lose their ability to be sold back to the vendor when the realms are brought down for maintenance. No refunds will be granted for items purchased during this time, either by the in-game vendors, or our support departments.
As an example, I buy an item at 2:30 a.m. The servers come down for the release of 4.3 half an hour later. Normally I would still have an hour and a half after the servers return to sell the item back to the vendor. With this policy change though, upon logging in my item can no longer be sold back to the vendor.
This policy is only in effect for maintenances that include currency down-conversions, such as the release of 4.3. To ensure you don't purchase the wrong item with the inability to sell it back, we recommend buying well before the final two hours so there's time to change any incorrect purchases.
For more information on the down-conversion please refer to: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2880562
Items purchased within the two hour window before the release of 4.3 will lose their ability to be sold back to the vendor when the realms are brought down for maintenance. No refunds will be granted for items purchased during this time, either by the in-game vendors, or our support departments.
As an example, I buy an item at 2:30 a.m. The servers come down for the release of 4.3 half an hour later. Normally I would still have an hour and a half after the servers return to sell the item back to the vendor. With this policy change though, upon logging in my item can no longer be sold back to the vendor.
This policy is only in effect for maintenances that include currency down-conversions, such as the release of 4.3. To ensure you don't purchase the wrong item with the inability to sell it back, we recommend buying well before the final two hours so there's time to change any incorrect purchases.
For more information on the down-conversion please refer to: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2880562
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Peebers Nov 9th 2011 7:27PM
good.
murmaiderxx Nov 9th 2011 7:37PM
There was ample time last time for the notice. Some people just sound upset that they couldn't take advantage of the system, which is what they are wanting to curb and why the conversions happen in the first place. You little tricksters you...
Sleutel Nov 9th 2011 7:44PM
It seems like it would be much simpler--and less disruptive--to simply remove the sellback timer from every currently extant item as the new patch goes live. Or, heck, just make it so that the gear refunds for the new currency instead of the old. Of course, there's no way to say for sure without knowing what the actual code looks like.
vocenoctum Nov 9th 2011 8:00PM
That was what folks did, amass point, buy gear so that your JP + VP was 4k or less when the VP got converted to JP with the patch. "return" the gear you had just bought to get back that JP you'd spent and exceed the JP cap and have a bunch of the gear instantly.
Thought the refund timer was killed last patch though, so not sure what the difference is this time.
Sleutel Nov 9th 2011 8:12PM
That's incorrect, at least according to the article: "This restriction is being put in place to curb the practice of buying valor point gear, waiting for the conversion from valor points to justice points, and then selling back the items for valor points."
The exploit was to store your valor points in a form that wouldn't get converted (as gear that could be refunded for the same purchase currency).
loop_not_defined Nov 9th 2011 10:46PM
There's no reason to remove sell-back timers from all items, though. That's an incredibly wide-reaching solution for a relatively small problem.
Sleutel Nov 9th 2011 11:16PM
Sorry, I meant currently extant item that came from the VP vendor. Not all items, period.
Pyromelter Nov 9th 2011 8:00PM
People can complain a lot about wow and blizzard, but it's things like this that makes them the great company they are.
Might sound like I'm apologetic and/or gushing, but it's this kind of attention to detail that has made WoW the great game it is, so I hope people who complain about this or that realize just how refined everything is about the game.
BladedDingo Nov 9th 2011 8:03PM
Wait.. I dont understand... Were people buying items, say a chest for 2200 valor, then after the patch is released and valor is reset to zero, they hen return the item for full valor and instantly have 2200 valor points?
Thats crafty...
kjjk7 Nov 9th 2011 8:14PM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I'm reading, one could buy gear more than two hours before maintenance, log immediately, and still exploit the system.
PeeWee Nov 9th 2011 8:26PM
From what I can see, when the servers open up with 4.3, no vendors will purchase items from you that wasn't purchased during 4.3. At all. So buying the item now and stay logged off until 4.3 hits won't help you.
Hih Nov 9th 2011 9:26PM
@Peewee: "Items purchased within the two hour window before the release of 4.3 will lose their ability to be sold back to the vendor"
They don't mention items bought 2 hours and 1 minute before the release of 4.3, or 2 hours and 2 minutes, etc. Unless they make the sellback continue to tick down while you're logged out, it sounds like you could just say, buy something now and then log out until 4.3 and sell it back as normal.
Considering most people probably wont be on at the 4-5am or whenever the server goes down for your timezone, or even at the two hours before then, people will have bought their gear before logging off for the night, and then just log back on bypassing the small restriction window entirely.
loop_not_defined Nov 9th 2011 10:49PM
I'm pretty sure this is just Bashiok getting the details wrong. Expect all Valor/Conquest gear to have their sell-back timers removed when 4.3 launches, regardless of when they were purchased.
Nyold Nov 9th 2011 10:54PM
yes but 2 hours is the limit you have before you can refund a piece of gear anyway.... so if you buy 2 hours + 1 minute BEFORE server shuts down, you still can't refund it....
Hih Nov 9th 2011 11:19PM
@Nylod: When you log off, the timer for selling an item back STOPS. This means I could buy something now and sell it back next week, or a month from now. The "two hour time limit" is based on IN GAME TIME. Don't believe me? Go test it out yourself. I just did to make sure I'm not talking out my ass. I bought something with both JP and VP. I logged out. A couple minutes later I log back in. Timer for both items is still sitting at 1 hour 59 minutes. That's how you "game the system" and that's why Blizzard's attempt at stopping it is pointless.
Blizzard has a couple options to make really stop the "gameyness". They could make the timer continue to count down while you're logged out, or they could simply make it impossible to sell 4.2 items back in 4.3.
The way they've currently worded their current plan is to make it simply that 2 hours before servers are brought down, if you buy anything from a JP/VP/HP/CP vendor that it will be missing the usual 2 hour sellback timer. If that's all they're doing, then I'm going to have 4000 VP come 4.3. Someone dedicated enough could start stockpiling now and have well over 4000 VP come 4.3 by constantly buying/selling VP items to keep item's timer going while they collect more VP.
Soeroah_the_second Nov 10th 2011 1:01AM
@Hih
It is worded poorly, but Blizzard isn't stupid. It will be something like downloading the patch causes any refundable item still on a time to instantly become bound to the character, regardless of when they bought it.
If it's going to work the way I think it is, they should have worded it more along the lines of "Once the servers go down, any item within the two-hour refund period will lose its ability to be refunded".
Snuzzle Nov 10th 2011 2:24AM
I was thinking the same thing Hih and Kjjk were. People can just buy their stuff well before server down and then sell it back after it comes up.
If they want to make things uncomplicated, they can just blanket remove all the buyback windows on Vendor items when 4.3 comes up.
PeeWee Nov 9th 2011 8:24PM
If a system can be abused, it will be. And people will always manage to come up with numerous excuses for their behaviour.
What is "right" and what is "wrong" just doesn't seem to apply when it comes to shiny pixels.
Eddy Nov 9th 2011 8:48PM
However, there has been the odd thing where Blizzard's policy has been, "If you can game the system, go for it." I know that applied to the required ilvls for Heroics at the start of Cata- there was some blue post that basically said, "If you can get over the cap in a way that's not exactly based on the gear you're wearing, you understand what's going on, and we can't really stop you, so go ahead."
I was pretty glad of that at the time, actually- I was just slightly less geared than my new guild, they wanted to test me out, and someone lent me a BOE trinket that pushed my gear over the edge. I held onto it until I had enough gear to be doing the things properly, and then gave it back.
I sometimes think that 'think smarter, not harder' applies, and that if someone is smart enough to beat the system, they deserve to get away with it every once in a while. Of course, Blizzard should also be playing catch-up and making it difficult for would-be rulebreakers.
Hih Nov 9th 2011 9:30PM
@Eddy: I really hope they refine and improve the "item level" "stat" in MoP. Making it smart enough that it goes off of *equipped* item level should have been something they did from the start. Making it sophisticated enough that it knows the difference between healing and dps and tanking gear (obviously if a piece can be used for multiple it has to be inclusive, not exclusive) so you can't sign up for a role unless you meet the equipped item level restriction for each individual role.