Transmogrification causing low-level item prices to soar, what do you think?

[Srg56]

I recently leveled 3 toons to 90 by mostly chain queuing dungeons and questing a bit when the queues were too long to wait for. I had no heirlooms because the server was new, and i didn't feel like i needed to gain items by other means than dungeon drops and quest rewards. *shrug*

You may be overreacting with this or at least over-thinking it. The leveling process these days is so quick and effortless that you level so fast, quickly leaving behind anything that you may buy from the AH anyway. There's literally no reason to buy something off the AH, only to replace it in 4 levels which go by so freaking fast in 2013 WoW, and for what? You are going to do 100 more spelldamage or such? Back in vanilla you may have had a point because even the first 10 levels took over 6 hours of gameplay time, and after that, each level was increasingly longer until where you would have people who would stay at the 50-55 level range for weeks to 1 month.

Are there fewer options to gear up your character? Yeah, one less, big deal. But it's made up for by the bag of goodies you get after each instance which will cover the neck, bracers, rings, capes, glove and even belt slots. Not to mention, the questing rewards are lightyears better than anything the pre-revamp vanilla leveling zones could even come close to.

[Zeelot]

it does slightly rustle my jambonies when I just can't seem to find an upgrade for 10-20 levels and I check the AH only to see all the gear under lvl 60 is 1,000g+. More heirlooms would be appreciated, even if they didn't increase experience.

[Daetur]

It bothers me. If I want a piece for my alt, I have the money to foot for it, but it's hugely discouraging for new players, ad I think any barrier to new players is something that needs to be addressed if the game wants to stay healthy.

Even though gearing up through use of the auction house isn't the most efficient, a new player has no reason to know that, and seeing gear so grossly overpriced and out of their reach just plain feels shitty.

[Deleted]

I recently leveled 3 toons to 90 by mostly chain queuing dungeons and questing a bit when the queues were too long to wait for. I had no heirlooms because the server was new, and i didn't feel like i needed to gain items by other means than dungeon drops and quest rewards. *shrug*

You may be overreacting with this or at least over-thinking it. The leveling process these days is so quick and effortless that you level so fast, quickly leaving behind anything that you may buy from the AH anyway. There's literally no reason to buy something off the AH, only to replace it in 4 levels which go by so freaking fast in 2013 WoW, and for what? You are going to do 100 more spelldamage or such? Back in vanilla you may have had a point because even the first 10 levels took over 6 hours of gameplay time, and after that, each level was increasingly longer until where you would have people who would stay at the 50-55 level range for weeks to 1 month.

Are there fewer options to gear up your character? Yeah, one less. But it's made up for by the bag of goodies you get after each instance which will cover the neck, bracers, rings, capes, glove and even belt slots. Not to mention, the questing rewards are lightyears better than anything the pre-revamp vanilla leveling zones could even come close to.

Then perhaps the problem is down to something bigger, an overall change that's affecting these smaller things.

[Rucati]

I understand that gear may come just as fast running dungeons or questing, but it's not my biggest gripe.

What I am saying is that it's limiting the methods I have to improve my character - AKA the biggest selling point of an MMORPG. Grinding instances is all well and good, but I hate feeling so limited in my options where once I had many more open to me.

Many more? The only one you're losing out on is buying gear from the AH.

That's 1 more. Not many.

And improving your character at level 30 hardly makes any difference anyway, so it's really not a big deal at all.

[Tribunal]

They get listed for those kinds of prices on my server, but rarely sell. I've gotten a few of the "goodies" on my Panda while farming leather and decided to list them.

Even with sharp undercuts it's nothing but relisting so far. I've now vendored most of them.

[dusselldorf]

Gold is so easy to come by in current wow that listing average greens on the auction house is not worth your time. I'd rather vendor low level greens than list them for 20 to 50g a piece and wait for them to sell. Increased prices are not a result of transmoggers raising prices, they're a result of low demand and low value. High priced items have always been on the auction house--someone just hoping to get lucky with a miss clicked sale in my estimation. The difference is now the demand is so low no one is listing that is serious about moving them. This is of course a huge generalization and not a one size fits all statement.

No one is "ruining" the economy. People list things for what they want to get or hope to get. If it's more than you or other want to pay, they won't sale. And that's probably fine with those sellers. If they want to sell it badly enough, they'll lower their prices. If not, no big deal. Go farm for 5 minutes and get your own green drops. This game literally stuffs your bags with effortless loot.

[Deleted]

...

Some greens sell really well thanks to their transmog value. I've sold plenty of hats (among other things) for 500-2000g a piece. The right drops will sell quickly for a decent price.

[dusselldorf]

Some greens sell really well thanks to their transmog value. I've sold plenty of hats (among other things) for 500-2000g a piece. The right drops will sell quickly for a decent price.

That's because there's a demand for them. Me? Not worth my time to look at every green and determine if it's worth something. :P As far as raising the green value market, the actual items worth something is a narrow selection. Can't really blame transmogging for average items being priced high. There has *always* been overly priced greens on the auction house.

[Fiddlesnarf]

quests don't guarantee you the pieces you want right away

Of course they don't. You want an MMO that gives instant rewards with no effort and no questing? This doesn't seem like the game for you.

[Herecius]

I feel like this is a really backwards complaint, because while an item might be more expensive for you to buy, this also means that anything that you find also has the possibility of netting a low level character a lot more gold on the AH.

Don't really see the problem, honestly. The player economy is dynamic, that's how it should be.

[ComputerNerd]

Opinions can vary on what is a "good look" or not, so even items which are not in any traditional set can have value, whatever the opinions of someone else.
I agree it can be a pain to fill in a slot lacking a bit due to poor RNG, but that is the nature of the game, where sometimes a single change can influence the value or demand for a lot of items.
I would take a look at maybe some craftable gear, while perhaps not the same stats is at least likely to cost a lot less due to the ability to produce it on demand.

[morfraen]

rare = valuable

Some low level green xmog gear is extremely rare, like farm for a year and you still might not find it.

[dusselldorf]

rare = valuable

Some low level green xmog gear is extremely rare, like farm for a year and you still might not find it.

Not necessarily. Rare =/= desirable. Not always anyway.

[Sole-Warrior]

Good profit for me. I like it.
So far I have 870k over all of my toons, I could use more gold.

[Deleted]

Of course they don't. You want an MMO that gives instant rewards with no effort and no questing? This doesn't seem like the game for you.

And the effort comes from generating the money to buy the items of the Auction House.

[crazyman2]

It seems that it's mostly related to server population. Low pop server AH lords going after the transmog market instead of levelling gear or even enchanting market and there's not enough supply to bring the price to a reasonable level.

I put up dozens of 55-60 greens at 100 to 150g and didn't sell one in a month, while the exact same pieces were being listed at 1000 to 5000 by the same three people. I lost hundreds in AH fees and now it all sits in a guild bank

100g is still out of price range for someone buying greens to level or for enchanting, so I was aiming at people looking for transmog gear, but there''s absolutely no demand for it, and I don't understand what these guys are doing, it just makes it really annoying for anyone else to level enchanting and makes quick upgrades off the AH for levelling a massive waste of gold instead of just a minor one.

[GoldNSilence]

Never had to get items off the AH while leveling a character. Questing and running dungeons is all I need. Selling BoE gear to transmoggers while leveling is a great way to pay for alt riding training.

[Deleted]

I feel like this is a really backwards complaint, because while an item might be more expensive for you to buy, this also means that anything that you find also has the possibility of netting a low level character a lot more gold on the AH.

Don't really see the problem, honestly. The player economy is dynamic, that's how it should be.

It's not so much backwards as it is specific.

You're right, it can help a lower level player, but in my shoes it's a bad thing. I'm not in need of the money, I do however wish to use the Auction House as a source for reasonable priced, level-appropriate gear, hence why the poll was there and why this whole darn thread was started - is it a problem for anyone else, and if not, why not?

I do agree that it's nice to see a dynamic economy. Whilst some fluctuations in my favour wouldn't go amiss I do see how things could get ever so boring if things remained exactly the same... this just isn't the route I would've liked the see the Auction House go.

[7seti]

This goes both ways, ya know. Leveling an alt, I found the following items as random drops while questing: Rune Sword, Sparkleshell Breastplate, Ornate Breastplate and Ornate Girdle. This wasn't my first character on the server so I wasn't short on gold, but if it was, the thousand or so gold I got from selling them would be a nice boost.