Slowly ruining WoW's AH economy?

[Metacrias]

So, over the past few patches Blizzard has simplified several professions and also made them easier to level. Mining and herbalism can now easily be leveled in a single night without leaving Pandaria; Jewelcrafting and Enchantment now make finished products that scale with your level so you don't need to buy them as often; Inscription was hit earlier by the removal of 3 glyph slots with the release of MoP... Additionally, Blizzard has announced plans to 'streamline' all professions - making them easier to level (and, I assume, also making it so 'consumers' need to buy the resultant 'products' more rare as is now the case with gems and enchants). This sounds great at first, as it means you can finally level that one profession you've always wanted to max out but just couldn't commit to and you are tired of buying enchants every 4 or 5 levels when leveling a new toon... BUT, what is this doing to the AH, the WoW economy? It is increasing supply while simultaneously reducing demand - AH prices will keep going down except for very brief periods when a big patch comes out... People will have more incentive to be self-sufficient, less reason to even look at the AH - less reason still considering that people will be making less gold overall due to this meaning they have less funds to buy off the AH. Blizzard wants us to be more social, the game more interactive... yet what they are doing to professions is going to result in just the opposite and make the game less fun to play (I like 'playing the AH' - many people, however, just like to buy and not mess around with making things they can buy - both people like me and 'buyers' will end up less happy overall).

I really think Blizzard should stop trying to dumb down the professions, they are becoming too easy and too unprofitable. At this rate, they will eventually have no reason not to let us all make anything from any profession as long as we've the mats without having to buy anything and without having to level professions - and get rid of the AH except for more specialized items like rare drop gear and pets.

[Stevegasm]

The professions needed streamlining at the lower levels. After as many xpacs as there is, the game needs it for the older content. The only thing I find that wrecks the profitability of professions is how easy it is to get better gear in MoP. I can run some BGs, do TB, and what not to get my item level up easy enough for LFR. LFR can be hit or miss, but thanks to the loot coins, I'll get upgrades sooner or later. Because new gear is so easy to come buy, I rarely get the expensive gems and enchants unless I have the materials in abundance. I mean, back in Vanilla, a 15 agility enchant was pretty baller when your character sheet has like 100 agility. But spending a lot extra to go from an uncommon gem to a rare gem for 40 extra of a stat, when that stat already has nearly 20k doesn't seem prudent until the gear is BiS.

Then again, it sort of leads to LFR. A lot of people do it, and you don't need to min/max all that hard to get by. When LFR didn't exist, it was important to have the absolute best stuff you can in order to help with guild progress, or if you were applying for guilds, nobody would take you unless you did your best with what you had (basically a signal of how much of a try hard you were). Back in the day when the best gear in the game was far and ahead better than second best, people would arena and raid to get it. Doing either requires putting a lot of effort into a character. Today, LFR and random BGs are "good enough" for most people.

Overall, I'm finding money to be almost worthless in the game. I get so much and I'm not even farming it, while at the same time, never finding a place to spend it on anything worthwhile.

[Elite Peon]

Honestly over the many years I have played it has occurred to me that Blizzard does not care about the economy of this game at all . That is why if they find that players are making a decent amount of Gold doing anything other then dailies it is nerfed into the ground . I think they treat professions as a time passing mini-game and so they never put any effort into making them more diverse or interesting . They treat all profs like Archeology ..it's interesting enough that some people do it but they are not going to focus on that . The AH is a fun mini game for a lot of people ..even the reason some people stay subbed but they know as lon as players have some sort of reward for time spent such as Timeless Isles dailies then most will stay subbed and they don't have to do anything like try and make a real economy . This is why we will never see any new profs sadly .

Steve nailed it ... money holds little value if there is nothing anybody needs it for .

[Luxeley]

I think Blizzard is dumbing down the game at a very quick pace because they realize the other 7.7 million subs who play their game are idiots, myself included. I am being sarcastic, but there is a morsel of truth in what I say. LOL

[Windfury]

Some of the professions are just god awful to level, they need a redo (hai leatherworking), and Blizzard should be doing it. It's not 'dumbing down' because they're already really dumb, it's updating - and that needs to happen in an evolving game.

I do think they have actively tried to limit inflation this xpac - 'shuffle' type gold making strategies appear to have been targeted, and their profitability substantially reduced over how they were in Cata, things like the JC research model and the focus on having leveled and played toons be the ones to craft the best stuff also cut into traditional methods. But there have also been plenty of other opportunities to earn gold. Mists has absolutely been more challenging than Wrath or Cata were for me, but I've still made plenty of gold by anyone's standards. It's required a bit more flexibility and creativity for sure, but I don't think that's such a bad thing.

There's always going to be gold to be made, I don't really see anything wrong with streamlining things that are annoying pains in the ass to do. If anything goldmakers are now being rewarded a bit more for being clever and creative, rather than for doing something as totally mindless as being able to spam a macro they got from somewhere else for hours then sending the results to another toon and spamming another macro.

For all that you're complaining about professions being too easy now I could equally complain that gold making itself got too easy. If the only way you can make money is exploiting an out of date system, then it's really more your problem tbh. A successful goblin is able to adapt. Put that skill to good use!

[Deleted]

I think Blizzard is dumbing down the game at a very quick pace because they realize the other 7.7 million subs who play their game are idiots, myself included. I am being sarcastic, but there is a morsel of truth in what I say. LOL

lol, so true

[Schwert]

I'll agree;

I'm very disappointed in the notion that old world materials are becoming more and more useless.
Some professions were absolutely hell to level (lol LWing) but the catchup was made /too/ easy. Nerfing the materials required rather than making it doable through only one would have been a smoother notion for everybody.

If they're going to continue down this route I believe they should put more vanity craftable items in using old world mats.
Interesting transmog gear - fun toys - mounts/pets.

Making an entire section of gathering useless is bad for people who do have those professions; And is unhealthy for those markets in general.

[Hoddie]

I don't really see a problem here. Yes a level 90 can skill-up a gathering profession in a single night, but lower level characters cannot; they continue to level these professions as they themselves level, though depending on heirlooms and other XP buffs a toon would probably have to back-track to ensure their profession skill keeps up, and I suppose this is more true for skinning than the other two.

It was always possible for a toon to get from 0 to max skill level in a single sitting, either crafting (expensive) or gathering (time-consuming). The new changes just give you another option but in all likelihood it will remain expensive and/or time-consuming.

Because the lower level crafting mats aren't needed to level some skills now, there are generally more of them on the AH as a result, meaning those who still want them for transmog crafts and vanity crafts can actually grab them for a decent price. It seems everyone's a winner really, the only losers are the AH flippers.