To all the people suggesting they eliminate auction cancels – that is fine, but realize this will screw over the little guy even more.
Big time goblins can afford to make hundreds of every enchant, but many small time folks cannot. Without cancels, anytime I get undercut I can just list another enchant. The other person will be unable to cancel their auction, and will be hosed until my auctions sell. Eventually the original auctions will timeout and I can cycle them back in. The poor sod just trying to sell a few enchants crafted from some gear they disenchanted will be frustrated as hell though.
That’s the problem with these types of changes to prevent “abusing” the system. They are hard to predict the effects of and in many cases will harm exactly who they are supposed to be helping.
The current system can be frustrating but it puts everyone on an even playing field. Having a more open and efficient market is going to lead to a healthier economy and ultimately better prices for the average user just looking to buy a few items.
A better way to address the issues folks are citing would be to actually invest effort into the underlying game systems, which Blizz has neglected to do. In addition to improving the AH UI further, the introduction of a buy-order type concept would solve the stated problem this hotfix was supposed to fix. Then a casual seller could instantly fill a buy order and receive payment instead of needing to battle with other folks on the AH.
Ultimately these types of improvements to the game systems will be better for all types of players and are going to have a much better effect on the economy than ham-fisted “fixes” made in silent.
This is crap, why the hell would I even bother posting the cheap herbs I get along with my transmog items? Why would I ever post any transmog item worth less than 5k now? This doesn’t make any sense and Blizzard could have at least communicated with us ‘Power Users’ before implementing this travesty of a solution
EXACTLY THIS. this helps only the full-time goblins with multiple accounts and unlimited time. The rest of us, nongoblins and goblins alike, will see less inventory controlled by fewer players and higher prices.
I like to run old raids and collect old recipes with the down time between expacks. Sometimes I post some cool transmog I craft or find. With a cap of 25 now on the AH its like choosing do I post current items? or do I post past items? Thats not fun. Of course I will just list the fast sellers, transmog is slow…and having to sit on the AH for an hour so that I can list slow selling items no longer makes sense.
Not only did they kill the AH but they killed any desire I had to revisit old content.
This is a terrible experience I posted 5 items manually without using an addon at the time and hit some kind of throttle already. Everything is slower even just looking up prices this is awful. I really hope this changes.
This change largely wipes out any incentive of farming or crafting, things that many people in the game spend a lot of time on. Farming old raids, collecting mats to craft a rare item, putting in the time to collect/farm recipes for your professions…incentive is gone. Why would I spend any time on these things if I then need to spend hours posting the fruits of my labors on the AH. While I do enjoy these activities in their own right, I am doing it with the ultimate goal of generating wealth and if the barrier to that becomes too high then a large reason that I play the game is now gone. You are making the game less enjoyable for people. You are going to lose subs.
Much like mythic plus or pvp is the primary activity of some people…you have people who enjoy the AH. These same people generate activity in old markets that would otherwise be dead, providing items to help people level older professions and transmog from previous expansions. The competition among goblins drives down prices that then benefits the consumer. Don’t place so many hurdles in this aspect of the game that it drives people away. A lot of people got into goldmaking because of the Brutosaur…I’ve seen several posts on Reddit about how enjoyable they have found this previously neglected aspect of the game. There is a lot of potential for engagement in this element of the game that will draw people in, create community, and ultimately result in players spending more time in your game. I’m not saying there are not issues, but this hotfix is too heavy handed and you essentially killed this facet of the game for a lot of people.
To say that addons provide an unfair advantage is not true. Anyone can download the addons. Anyone can learn to use them if they put the time in. Part of the fun is learning the various elements of this segment of the game. Ultimately those who have the most time or the most accounts will benefit the most from this change. They will still put in the time on the AH despite the throttle. Blizzard should strive to protect and nourish these sub-communities that pop up as a result of the multifaceted nature of their game…instead they often seem to squash them.
Can you imagine if Blizzard made a change this fundamental to, say, raiding gameplay or PvP with zero player input and zero consideration for how it affected players’ plans???
If blizzard considers AH play a valid game playstyle, they should treat it with the respect they give other areas of the game.
How can we improve the game guys?
Should we make the classes better? Nah make them wait a whole expansion!
Should we look into why our world server just dies everytime more then 10 people can see each other? NOPE!
Should we remove a mount from the game that serves a positive role as a gold sink with the new expansion for literally no good reason and then screw over the people who are only still subbed to the game between now and Shadowlands to get that mount in time without any understanding of how our own auction house functions? YES let’s finally get off our (censored by blizzard thought police) and hotfix THAT!
soooo blizzard doesnt want us making gold on the AH??? i mean… thats the only fun thing for me to do in this game? stack gold selling transmog and potions and materials… like… i have no major reason to play besides farming alot of times… this is so insane. who is gonna even bother now? i feel like my inventory of 500 ish auctions isnt even that large compared to many AHers so what happens when we all just stop cuz blizzard said so?
For background, I want Blizz Devs to see and understand what I actually do:
Log into WoW when I wake up and get my coffee ready. I know it will be a good day for Wow, but first a couple hours to restock my professions. I’m on a High population server.
Cancel scan my things from the night before. It ranges from 15-45 items per profession character. Obviously, 90% of my items have been undercut and the items I have up there will NEVER sell if I don’t cancel them and repost that morning.
I use TSM with each profession to restock groups and craft anything to sell more of what I sold. I also check AH manually using the Favorite feature, which I LOVE, to see what I can buy in bulk and stock on long-term.
I do one Post-scan per profession character and put things at the minimum price.
Do Dailies.
A couple hours later, or after finishing Dailies with one character, I log into the next alt, cancel and post scan once, then do my Dailies on that character. Because, of course I’ve been undercut!
So, the current punishing, unfriendly, inconvenient hotfix will make me want to play less, earn less gold, frustrated with my interaction with the AH, and de motivated to get the brutosaur. I don’t raid anymore or run mythic because I need to be able to play and stop when IRL calls. Full disclosure, I have also spent over $200 on WoW Tokens to get a head start on the 5 million gold ticket price. But if this is the way Blizzard handles things, they really do not respect their players, the time investment, or the money invested into their game.
Absolutely not. If there truly is a drag on resources, perhaps not removing the 5 million gold mount with less than a year of notice would help. As it is, my knee-jerk reaction is to view it as a cash grab for those who want the Bruto so bad they’d buy tokens, especially since it’s the end of the xpac when many are letting their subs be suspended.
I’m one of those looking to get the brutosaur, and this killed my enthusiasm for it, as well as the next xpac. Final Fantasy looks rather appealing now.