Build of the Month
Recent Blue Posts
Season of Discovery Hotfixes - 23 April
Season of Discovery Hotfixes - April 23
Recent Forum Posts
Boosting payments.
To address some issues related to the Auction House, we’re reconsidering how deposits—the refundable fees you pay to list your auctions—are calculated. This fee is based on the item’s vendor price, and for profession materials in particular, vendors offer very low prices, so these mats have a low deposit cost. Deposits are substantial on items such as BoE uncommon gear, gems, and so forth, but not trade skill materials (trade goods such as cloth, ore, leather, etc.).
One thing we’ve identified as particularly troublesome is a large volume of trade skill materials being auctioned off in stacks of 1. Some addons make posting quantities of this size trivial to do, resulting in dozens, if not hundreds, of pages of auctions for a single item. As we looked at ways to change this behavior and improve the overall Auction House experience, we found that we prefer to avoid inflexible solutions such as caps on the number of listings a player can make, or increased minimum stack counts, which might interfere with many players' common gameplay habits.
Our current plan is to increase the deposit cost of some profession materials on a per-stack basis, which should provide incentive for players to post items in larger stacks.
Here's an example:
In either case, the deposit is returned to the seller if the item sells. Successful auctions aren’t affected by this change.
Our goal is to give players some forewarning on this change, and to gather feedback. We’re putting together a list of the items that would be affected by this deposit change, which we expect to be limited to high-quantity trade goods. Furthermore, we’re deploying the change to the PTR first, so that addon authors can work through the change while we test it thoroughly.
This change will likely be a temporary measure, as we’re also working to broadly improve the default Auction House in the future. It’s clear to us that many players use addons because they find the default Auction House interface inadequate. A temporary change to deposit fees will help with this in the short term, and we’ll continue to work on overall improvements to the Auction House for a future patch.
One thing we’ve identified as particularly troublesome is a large volume of trade skill materials being auctioned off in stacks of 1. Some addons make posting quantities of this size trivial to do, resulting in dozens, if not hundreds, of pages of auctions for a single item. As we looked at ways to change this behavior and improve the overall Auction House experience, we found that we prefer to avoid inflexible solutions such as caps on the number of listings a player can make, or increased minimum stack counts, which might interfere with many players' common gameplay habits.
Our current plan is to increase the deposit cost of some profession materials on a per-stack basis, which should provide incentive for players to post items in larger stacks.
Here's an example:
- Let’s say that a player is trying to sell 200 Tidespray Linen for 10g (gold) each. Today, each item has the normal deposit cost of 1c (copper), with a 1s (silver) minimum deposit, so 1 auction of 200 linen requires a deposit of 1s, and 200 auctions of 1 linen each adds up to a total deposit of 2g.
- Now imagine an additional 20% deposit added to the listing fee per auction. With an asking price of 10g each, that raises the deposit by 2g per stack. In the case of 1 stack of 200 linen, the total buyout price is 2000g, and the new deposit is 2g1s. In the case of 200 individual stacks, the new deposit of an additional 2g per stack brings the total deposit up to 402g.
In either case, the deposit is returned to the seller if the item sells. Successful auctions aren’t affected by this change.
Our goal is to give players some forewarning on this change, and to gather feedback. We’re putting together a list of the items that would be affected by this deposit change, which we expect to be limited to high-quantity trade goods. Furthermore, we’re deploying the change to the PTR first, so that addon authors can work through the change while we test it thoroughly.
This change will likely be a temporary measure, as we’re also working to broadly improve the default Auction House in the future. It’s clear to us that many players use addons because they find the default Auction House interface inadequate. A temporary change to deposit fees will help with this in the short term, and we’ll continue to work on overall improvements to the Auction House for a future patch.
World Quest Exploit Actions
It seems that the frenzy of this WQ exploit is propagating a ton of misinformation, like 3 day bans going out and whatnot.
Here's a real rundown:
A WQ exploit was discovered (since hotfixed) that allowed one to get the rewards for completing a WQ, yet flag it has having not been completed, creating a cycle where one could gain the rewards over and over again, be it raw gold, gear, resources or most commonly, reputation.
As far as I can tell, no official action has been taken yet against anyone, and that is likely due to the scale of damage done.
This exploit undermined gearing (repeating gear quests for titanforges), economy (Raw gold, materials/expulsom from scrapping gear), and reputation gates (jumping to exalted on every rep in a day versus the intended few weeks). It's a massive amount of damage. Thousands of gold and reputation, tons of ilvls, resources, etc.
Action will be taken. Unlike the cooking spices exploit that simply allowed people to powerlevel cooking, or the early Legion AP exploit that saw people get their AP reset that were fairly contained in scale, this exploit was effectively an item and gold dupe with far reaching impact.
It's my personal opinion that anyone who abused this should be given a permenant ban, as it's clear this exploit circumvented and undermined multiple game systems for unfair benefit.
Please stop spreading rumors that this was only a reputation exploit and that people are only getting 3 day temp bans for it. It's false information and the issue is much more serious than that.
We are indeed aware of this exploit and have been working on a fix. We are also taking action against those who are abusing it.
Here's a real rundown:
A WQ exploit was discovered (since hotfixed) that allowed one to get the rewards for completing a WQ, yet flag it has having not been completed, creating a cycle where one could gain the rewards over and over again, be it raw gold, gear, resources or most commonly, reputation.
As far as I can tell, no official action has been taken yet against anyone, and that is likely due to the scale of damage done.
This exploit undermined gearing (repeating gear quests for titanforges), economy (Raw gold, materials/expulsom from scrapping gear), and reputation gates (jumping to exalted on every rep in a day versus the intended few weeks). It's a massive amount of damage. Thousands of gold and reputation, tons of ilvls, resources, etc.
Action will be taken. Unlike the cooking spices exploit that simply allowed people to powerlevel cooking, or the early Legion AP exploit that saw people get their AP reset that were fairly contained in scale, this exploit was effectively an item and gold dupe with far reaching impact.
It's my personal opinion that anyone who abused this should be given a permenant ban, as it's clear this exploit circumvented and undermined multiple game systems for unfair benefit.
Please stop spreading rumors that this was only a reputation exploit and that people are only getting 3 day temp bans for it. It's false information and the issue is much more serious than that.
We are indeed aware of this exploit and have been working on a fix. We are also taking action against those who are abusing it.
Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Outdoor Mob Scaling Issues
I understand the concern about wanting to feel yourself get stronger but you still actually do have the ability to feel stronger, the world just feels a little relevant for a little longer while you're doing it and I think it achieves that. On my main I've already far outpaced it and at 341 I feel like a god again. I can pull a large number of mobs and easily handle them all and churn through WQs pretty quickly.
I even leveled an alt up and geared it this weekend up to almost 320 ilvl and it felt just as fine as it did the first time. When I hit 120 I noticed the mobs were a little stronger and I was having to be a little more careful but not by much and that didn't last long at all.
If you're finding mobs that do individually feel strange you should bug report them so the team can look into it but the system as a whole is working fine at least from my experience.
He isn't on the dev/design team. He is providing his feedback as a player.
Exactly. I'm just sharing what exactly my experience was when going through it both times and they both felt the same. I'm leveling a Warlock next so I'm interested to see the difference it makes as a clothie. I'll probably share my thoughts on that experience too but from my guildies they didn't even notice the scaling hardly at all even as a caster.
Casters do have it worse than melee.
Yeah this is what I'm interested in testing out myself and seeing how different it feels.
I'm curious, have you ever played an elemental shaman? If so, how was your questing experience compared to other classes/specs?
Elemental is usually always my second alt that I use for alt night raiding. I haven't quested with him yet but I plan on doing that one after Warlock. Historically for me it's always been fine, little slower obviously but still fine.
this was never an issue in older expansions.
people leveled to max level, and had fun when they got gear and stomped everything in the older content. that's what an mmo is, you get strong and go back and have fun lording over all the stupid crap you had to fight before.
The point is it was an issue that always was there but you didn't pay much attention to it as a player nor really care too much about it to be honest. I didn't notice it either until the dev team had pointed it out. It seemed like something they always wanted to try to fix it or change it but never had the chance until now with the scaling tech they have now.
It feels good to get stronger, to see your avatar in this world crush your foes, and it feels very good to get gear and get upgrades, that's a core feature of an MMO, there is no debating that or changing that. What's great though is being in a place where the content can be as relevant as possible and the rewards still match your time investment. One of the things Ion talked about with this system is that the health pool of open world mobs does get a little higher with your ilvl, but you get stronger in a faster pace. It's not making them infinitely stronger than you or making them comparative to you forever, its just a little bump at the beginning. By the time you're hitting 320 you are already far outpacing them at least from my experience.
I think its a good topic to be aware of and concerned about and I 100% get the concern and agree that going overboard does counter a core feeling of the game, but if the beginning, middle, and end of the system still end with you being able to have that character progression and feel yourself progress then I think the system can work. When it doesn't is where you have the problems and of course the team doesn't want that. Which is why they ask for specifics on any issues you're finding so they can address them and fix it if needed. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
I understand the concern about wanting to feel yourself get stronger but you still actually do have the ability to feel stronger, the world just feels a little relevant for a little longer while you're doing it and I think it achieves that. On my main I've already far outpaced it and at 341 I feel like a god again. I can pull a large number of mobs and easily handle them all and churn through WQs pretty quickly.
I even leveled an alt up and geared it this weekend up to almost 320 ilvl and it felt just as fine as it did the first time. When I hit 120 I noticed the mobs were a little stronger and I was having to be a little more careful but not by much and that didn't last long at all.
If you're finding mobs that do individually feel strange you should bug report them so the team can look into it but the system as a whole is working fine at least from my experience.
He isn't on the dev/design team. He is providing his feedback as a player.
Exactly. I'm just sharing what exactly my experience was when going through it both times and they both felt the same. I'm leveling a Warlock next so I'm interested to see the difference it makes as a clothie. I'll probably share my thoughts on that experience too but from my guildies they didn't even notice the scaling hardly at all even as a caster.
Casters do have it worse than melee.
Yeah this is what I'm interested in testing out myself and seeing how different it feels.
I'm curious, have you ever played an elemental shaman? If so, how was your questing experience compared to other classes/specs?
Elemental is usually always my second alt that I use for alt night raiding. I haven't quested with him yet but I plan on doing that one after Warlock. Historically for me it's always been fine, little slower obviously but still fine.
this was never an issue in older expansions.
people leveled to max level, and had fun when they got gear and stomped everything in the older content. that's what an mmo is, you get strong and go back and have fun lording over all the stupid crap you had to fight before.
The point is it was an issue that always was there but you didn't pay much attention to it as a player nor really care too much about it to be honest. I didn't notice it either until the dev team had pointed it out. It seemed like something they always wanted to try to fix it or change it but never had the chance until now with the scaling tech they have now.
It feels good to get stronger, to see your avatar in this world crush your foes, and it feels very good to get gear and get upgrades, that's a core feature of an MMO, there is no debating that or changing that. What's great though is being in a place where the content can be as relevant as possible and the rewards still match your time investment. One of the things Ion talked about with this system is that the health pool of open world mobs does get a little higher with your ilvl, but you get stronger in a faster pace. It's not making them infinitely stronger than you or making them comparative to you forever, its just a little bump at the beginning. By the time you're hitting 320 you are already far outpacing them at least from my experience.
I think its a good topic to be aware of and concerned about and I 100% get the concern and agree that going overboard does counter a core feeling of the game, but if the beginning, middle, and end of the system still end with you being able to have that character progression and feel yourself progress then I think the system can work. When it doesn't is where you have the problems and of course the team doesn't want that. Which is why they ask for specifics on any issues you're finding so they can address them and fix it if needed. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
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