arguments against an automated economy in WoW

[Rinnegan2]

Hi Champs!

let's say Blizzard sets the gold price for every item in the game. you pick up a stack of herbs and then you go to the auction house and sell this stack for a predetermined x amount of gold. x is set by Blizzard and depends on region-wide demand and supply. kind of like the WoW token works today, the price for every item in WoW fluctuates but the base value is set by Blizzard.

gold and items are no longer tradeable. the amount you have to tip for a paid service is also set by Blizzard. say you want a blacksmith to craft you a weapon: you will need to trade the mats + a set tip to the Blacksmith, who can then craft the weapon for you from within the trade window.

with this change, you can no longer sell any item for too little by mistake and you can no longer buy something for too much by mistake. any sort of scam is no longer possible.

everyone who wants something in the game has to actually go out in the world and grind for it.

all of this sounds too good to be true, so there must be something I am missing. this is where you come in. what is your argument AGAINST an automated economy in WoW?

[Kaver]

An automated economy is boring in my opinion.

[Nadiru]

Hi Champs!

let's say Blizzard sets the gold prize for every item in the game. you pick up a stack of herbs and then you go to the auction house and sell this stack for a predetermined x amount of gold. x is set by Blizzard and depends on region-wide demand and supply. kind of like the WoW token works today, the prize for every item in WoW fluctuates.

gold is no longer tradeable. the amount you have to tip for a paid service is also set by Blizzard. say you want a blacksmith to craft you a weapon: you will need to trade the mats + set tip to the Blacksmith who can then craft the weapon for you from within the trade window.

with this change, you can no longer sell any item for too little by mistake and you can no longer buy something for too much by mistake. any sort of scam is no longer possible.

everyone who wants something in the game has to actually go out in the world and grind for it.

all of this sounds too good to be true, so there must be something I am missing. this is where you come in. what is your argument AGAINST an automated economy in WoW?

Ignores use-value, which is funny cuz that's a tenet of Marxism.

[Shinrael]

Well, being unable to trade gold is an absolutely "NO" from me. One of my fondest memories from Vanilla is when a random guy gave me a few silver to train spells and then a friend gave me 100 gold for mount training. I was so inspired by them that when a random level 3 player asked me for silver to train their spells, I gave them my entire savings which amounted to 1 gold

No benefit from an automated system can replace this feeling. Also being able to decide your own prices and to rule the market sounds like a cool thing to do within a given server community. IRL not so much because some people own 20 houses and others can't afford food, but in a game where you dont need to have gold to survive, it's perfectly fine imo. Plus people are gold digging jerks irl anyway.

[Tronski]

Hi Champs!

let's say Blizzard sets the gold prize for every item in the game. you pick up a stack of herbs and then you go to the auction house and sell this stack for a predetermined x amount of gold. x is set by Blizzard and depends on region-wide demand and supply. kind of like the WoW token works today, the prize for every item in WoW fluctuates.

gold is no longer tradeable. the amount you have to tip for a paid service is also set by Blizzard. say you want a blacksmith to craft you a weapon: you will need to trade the mats + set tip to the Blacksmith who can then craft the weapon for you from within the trade window.

with this change, you can no longer sell any item for too little by mistake and you can no longer buy something for too much by mistake. any sort of scam is no longer possible.

everyone who wants something in the game has to actually go out in the world and grind for it.

all of this sounds too good to be true, so there must be something I am missing. this is where you come in. what is your argument AGAINST an automated economy in WoW?

Why are we talking about this as if it is an option?

I know of one game who implemented a set price on one particular player-made good to battle unreasonable high prices. It didn't account for inflation and ruined the aspect of the game regarding players selling home-made goods completely. It also hurt botters though.

We do not want set prices in WoW.

[Erwarth]

The AH system is a form of pvp so no !

[Kharadin]

all of this sounds too good to be true, so there must be something I am missing.

You are indeed missing something. Several somethings.

[froschhure]

No way! This threads are gettin more bs every day. You want fixes and controlled prices? Go to black desert online and enjoy, wow is not chinese market yet!! Free markets and social marketizing!!,

[Rinnegan2]

okay.

counterarguments so far:

1. while you can still 'play' the auctionhouse as in buying when price is low and selling when price is high, a great bargain is no longer possible (like buying a boe that's worth 100k gold for 5k gold)
2. making people happy by gifting them gold

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You are indeed missing something. Several somethings.

come on. this is important. I need information, details. give me well thought out counterarguments.

[Kharadin]

come on. this is important. I need information, details. give me well thought out counterarguments.

You have not accounted for inflation, implementing this system now would either allow the top earners to buy literally everything they could ever want, or price out new players/those with little gold.

Gifting disappears, purchasing services disappears.

There's also logistics, implementing this would cost Blizzard resources, what would they gain? What is the point of this apart from to remove all fun from playing around with the auction house?

And that's just with 5 minutes thought.

[Firedemon]

Hi Champs!

let's say Blizzard sets the gold prize for every item in the game. you pick up a stack of herbs and then you go to the auction house and sell this stack for a predetermined x amount of gold. x is set by Blizzard and depends on region-wide demand and supply. kind of like the WoW token works today, the prize for every item in WoW fluctuates.

gold is no longer tradeable. the amount you have to tip for a paid service is also set by Blizzard. say you want a blacksmith to craft you a weapon: you will need to trade the mats + set tip to the Blacksmith who can then craft the weapon for you from within the trade window.

with this change, you can no longer sell any item for too little by mistake and you can no longer buy something for too much by mistake. any sort of scam is no longer possible.

everyone who wants something in the game has to actually go out in the world and grind for it.

all of this sounds too good to be true, so there must be something I am missing. this is where you come in. what is your argument AGAINST an automated economy in WoW?

Sounds retarded and pointless. May as well just remove the AH and the option to trade and just add everything to a vendor.

It will also take away the opportunity of a great deal and a quick buck from people. Say you're in dire need of gold and you just had a drop that's worth 100g. You can advertise it at 70-80 and sell it pretty fast. On the other hand there's a person wanting that item but can't afford to spend 100. He can at most spend 80. By using your system, you're effectively screwing both for no reason.

[Rinnegan2]

You have not accounted for inflation, implementing this system now would either allow the top earners to buy literally everything they could ever want, or price out new players/those with little gold.

ideally, if this system were to go live, then the prices would be the exact same as they are today, and then slowly change over time, depending on supply/demand.
so not much would change for someone with a lot of gold, little gold or no gold.

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May as well just remove the AH and the option to trade and just add everything to a vendor.

no, because of player-dependent fluctuations in prices.

[Grahper]

all of this sounds too good to be true

No, it sounds terrible. It means you won't be able to set the price anymore. I like buying something for 1000gold and reselling it for 50k gold. Every once in a while I sell a transmog piece, a pet, some piece of gear or a glyph for 50k-100k and it feels great. I don't want Blizzard to mess with that.

[Kharadin]

so not much would change for someone with a lot of gold, little gold or no gold.

player-dependent fluctuations in prices.

So, you want to implement a system with massive sweeping to changes to the player economy with many downsides and achieve... basically nothing.

10/10 good thread.

[Loveliest]

I wouldn't mind it, I'd actually be all in for it because:
1. I don't play the AH and I assume I'd still be able to cover my expenses without it
2. it would probably eliminate some of the boosting

But BoltBlaster is probably right.

[ecospherez]

What you're suggesting just sounds boring to me personally.

The current system is alive, its almost tangible, it's ran by the people and not the company. As someone else said above it's basically PVP.

I do not play the AH and i never have, i'm 1 of those people who has something to sell, searches for the current prices and undercuts it by a gold just to get rid of it. However i quite like knowing there are people out there who are playing it every day as if it was real.

You system just sounds bland not very fun.

[Tiwack]

Realize the AH is receiving a much needed update next patch. No clue what you're on about turning it into a single player experience.

[Accendor]

Hi Champs!

let's say Blizzard sets the gold price for every item in the game. you pick up a stack of herbs and then you go to the auction house and sell this stack for a predetermined x amount of gold. x is set by Blizzard and depends on region-wide demand and supply. kind of like the WoW token works today, the price for every item in WoW fluctuates.

gold is no longer tradeable. the amount you have to tip for a paid service is also set by Blizzard. say you want a blacksmith to craft you a weapon: you will need to trade the mats + set tip to the Blacksmith who can then craft the weapon for you from within the trade window.

with this change, you can no longer sell any item for too little by mistake and you can no longer buy something for too much by mistake. any sort of scam is no longer possible.

everyone who wants something in the game has to actually go out in the world and grind for it.

all of this sounds too good to be true, so there must be something I am missing. this is where you come in. what is your argument AGAINST an automated economy in WoW?

Why the heck would anybody want to have a system like this? I see basically no positive to this system over the existing one, only drawbacks. Very, very heavy drawbacks.

[Shakana]

Na. I even like to trade gold for friends to buy wow tokens when they are not able to actually buy game time so we play together. Happened even me offering game time via email with real money. If I want to play with them I don't mind helping them 1month sometimes. And this wouldn't be possible if what you said happened. Or helping someone buy whatever and they just need like 20k. I don't appreciate your idea. Even this helped me before. Making items and gold tradable is one of the good things.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

OP you want arguements against your idea but you never said anything that would present it as a good idea. It's fucking horrible to be honest. A quick way to kill the game.