I've decided to visit characters I haven't touched for years and years at lower levels and I have noticed something. Prices for lower level items are absurdly huge, hundreds of gold for a single item... I can only assume this was down to transmogrification making those items sought after for the nostalgic and fashionable.
I've got bits of gear missing here and there, and where I once might have been able to check the AH, splash some cash and buy the items, I now I have to lay down almost a thousand gold to replace my missing pieces.
Of course, items are easily gained through quests but there are situations where that isn't an option. I dislike questing, I'd much rather grind dungeons or PVP plus quests don't guarantee you the pieces you want right away, you have to keep going until you hit something that rewards you the right item to match the slot, armor type and stats.
I know this sounds a bit whiney... but I liked having the freedom to improve my character in a multitude of ways. With the auction house now flooded with over-priced (Well, not over-priced... they're obviously worth 400g a piece to someone) items I'm pushed into questing, reducing my options and making me feel like I'm playing a linear, single-player title rather than an MMORPG.
Being on a low population realm doesn't help either, but on my mains server with a much higher pop things aren't that much greener. Hopefully the connected realms feature might help relieve the problem slightly.
So, what do you guys think? Does the influx of high-priced items on the Auction House bother you whilst leveling and do you think it needs a "fix"? (Don't ask me what that fix is; all I can see is a problem and post-solution scenario, not the bits in-between)