GDKP - The Correct Way To Think About Them

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
182

You’re absolutely right that tbanning GDKP’s would help reduce RMT (Real Money Trading), though it wouldn’t eliminate it entirely. To effectively combat RMT, several steps should be taken:

  1. Implement anti-VPN protocols on all servers.
  2. Enforce region locking.
  3. Require Real ID verification for accounts and IP addresses. Accounts caught botting, engaging in RMT, or violating other rules should receive a permanent ban.

While these steps might reduce the number of accounts, they would ultimately benefit genuine players.

Although these measures wouldn’t completely stop RMT, botting, or other malicious activities, they would significantly impact these illicit activities.

183

In fairness, it’s not totally undeserved. I feel like its overblown at this stage of Era’s lifespan though. It was right out in the open for the last 1/3 of Classic’s run and then it largely went to TBC and Wrath - which was ugly in some cases with gold sellers hosting gdkps (lol) so I think people just assume every GDKP is full of filthy, greedy swipers and sellers.

They do exist, somewhere, but if any damage has been done to Era it happened already. GDKPs weren’t popping off left and right for 6-8 months after TBCC…its not like this has been a consistent, rampant problem of epic proportions. Era has been out long enough now to where gold is probably the most useless of commodities for many players but we still like seeing numbers go up.

Nah. Guilds are still the main raid association and GDKPs are easily avoidable if you’re against them. I dont care for mage boosting, RMT or GDKPs as a way of life but I can’t do anything about it so I dont sweat it. No one is forcing me to parse in speedrun raids on a set schedule either and that’s how I look at it. Associate with like minded people, that’s all you gotta do. Then you dont need to worry about anyone else save yourself.

People will figure it out or quit. Whatever works.

184

I didn’t say that and I’m not convinced of that either. That’s a theory and a plausible one but whether or not that’s actually true is something else entirely. I don’t think GDKPs make people buy more or extra gold. I think GDKPs gives lazy posers a place to spend the gold they were gonna buy anyway. You don’t need a GDKP to buy a carry with swiped coin and buying carries is as old as the hills where this game is concerned.

That’s the market GDKP is filling and most don’t care where your money comes from.

As somewhat of an aside, outside of Naxx, the prices Ive seen on most other items from even AQ40 are relatively reasonably priced that you wouldn’t need to be a gold farmer or buyer to afford them. No one is dropping 5k gold on a T1 piece, y’know?

Again, I think RMT in Era as of today is more hyperbole and past experiences than an epidemic that needs to be addressed in draconian fashion asap. Im sure it happens but your experience isn’t immediately crushed into garbage when he grabs it out of the mailbox.

185

The guild system is the one that went on the attack. It wasn’t guilds but GDKPs that got banned in SoD. And it was all backed by players that supported guilds and demonized GDKPs.

GDKP players got kicked out of an entire game mode by the hand of pro-guild players. We weren’t just able to ‘associate with like minded people’.

It’s easy for pro-guild people to say ‘don’t worry about it’ but we facing the real situation that there are players trying to ban our preferred way to organize and play the game.

186

Blizz banned them in SoD because they had sufficient evidence that it would go to the horrific lengths they witnessed in the rest of the “classics”. They see everything and its not like players cared or kept it a huge secret.

That’s not GDKPs fault but its the same thing as the pvp ranking change in SoD and Era, we can’t be trusted not to ruin it for everyone so something has to be done, plain and simple. GDKP in SoD is taking the same bullet the old ranking system did.

187

I would place decent money on a bet that both of those changes initially stemmed from player complaints, not any employee looking at data and thinking ‘oh look we have a problem here’. Both from the same sort of player as well, the retail-lizards have deeply infested all versions.

188

That means you think blizz actually listens to the player base!!! LOL

189

Yes and that’s a massive issue if you want a good game.

Of course they should listen to what player say, but most of it will be bad and needs to be ignored and sometimes bluntly denied. If they listen to bad players crying it will cause a bad game, look at retail - they don’t even have pvp servers anymore. It’s clown world because they listened to clowns.

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190

Lol well you do have a point there

I agree but when people are reporting bugs those are the reports that should be addressed and fixed. Along with some other areas like Feral DPS in cata needs a buff ( But thats a topic for anther post )

191

What are you talking about lol. They absolutely have a look at the data, the bots, the gold selling, and know EXACTLY what people are doing with the purchased gold.

Buying gold, going to GDKP, and spending endlessly.

What you on lol

192

The issue is that GDKP supporters deliberately ignore and dismiss the facts when they are presented. I posted several facts, and they all got triggered, claiming it was “fake news.” The main proponent of these pro-GDKP posts accused me of harassment and stalking because I consistently debunked his pro-GDKP stance. People only get defensive and angry when they know they’re wrong and are confronted with evidence-backed facts.

193

The sad part is… GDKP without RMT would be an amazing and PERFECT loot system.

The problem is that with all the money in the world there is no way to stop RMT in a feasible manner… so therefore that perfect GDKP system cannot exist… is what it is i guess

194

Blizzard, a leading tech company (owned by Microsoft), has the potential & means to significantly reduce Real Money Trading (RMT) in World of Warcraft by implementing several strategic measures. While it may be impossible to eliminate RMT entirely, these steps can drastically minimize its occurrence:

  1. Implement Anti-VPN Measures: By making servers resistant to VPN usage, Blizzard can prevent players from masking their true locations, which is a common tactic used by RMT operators to evade detection
  2. Link Accounts to Real ID: Requiring players to link their accounts to a verified Real ID can add an extra layer of accountability, making it harder for RMT traders to create multiple fraudulent accounts
  3. Enhance VPN Authentication: Utilizing advanced technology similar to that used in authenticators, Blizzard can link accounts to specific VPNs, ensuring that only authorized VPNs are used and reducing the chances of RMT activities
  4. Region Lock Servers: By region-locking servers, Blizzard can limit the ability of RMT traders to operate across different regions, thereby reducing the market for RMT services

These measures, backed by Blizzard’s technological capabilities, can create a more secure and fair gaming environment for all players.

At the end of the day, they CHOSE NOT TO!!! Because they don’t really care about the player they only care about money!!!

195

RMT isn’t as much of the issue as botting/raw gold inflation is.

If someone paid $20 for gold you could farm in 1 hour, most would laugh at them.

It’s the fact they can pay $20 for 100 hours of farming that causes all these issues.

196

Here’s the thing… I can accept, and even be ok with the fact, that some people legitimately and truly enjoy GDKP as a loot system. I don’t think it’s as many as some folks would have us believe for a various reasons, but I’m sure there are folks out there who do like it. Unfortunately, what I can’t be ok with is what GDKP has done to WoW. How it’s changed the perceptions of the playerbase and strongly forced the game down monetization and pay to win paths that the original design never intended.

This is no different than loot boxes in games and everything that has come with that. Sure, loot boxes are a great way to collect a few things in a game you like, but unfortunately that have come to dominate the industry and heavily exploit human psychology.

Sometimes things that can be good are not good for us. GDKP is one of those things. It’s taken over and driven some very negative practices in the game. While Blizzard absolutely should ban gold buying, they also need to ban what has become a major driver for it.

If the only thing keeping you in WoW is GDKPs, I find it acceptable that you would move on in its absense. You should be playing WoW because you enjoy WoW, not because you want to make your gold number go up at others expense. There are plenty of other loot systems available and GDKP isn’t any better, it’s just different. There’s a lot of talk of how fair GDKP is, but it’s almost always by people who have been running it for a long time and have a lot of gold to throw around. GDKP is extremely unfair to newer players who don’t wish to RMT because it requires an excessive amount of grinding before you can even get an invite to a run.

I would say that other loot systems are actually more fair because, upon joining a guild, you’re at least eligible for some loot from day one and in less time than it would take you to grind out the buy-in for your very first GDKP run, you can be eligible for higher tier loot in LC systems.

Loot systems are a hotly debated topic in WoW and they all have positives and negatives. GDKP addresses some negatives of more traditional loot systems, but it’s clearly come with its own as well.

I’ve seen this repeated often but there is no tangible evidence that the dropoff in that region correlates with the GDKP ban. In fact, if you examine the population curves, that dropoff you see at the end of Phase 1 is proportially comparable to the same dropoff you see at the end of Phase 2. Furthermore, if you examine every phased release in WoW’s history, you see the same pattern that the SoD graph is currently presenting.

What I suspect you’re doing is attributing the large population decline beteween Phase 1 and Phase 2 entirely to the GDKP ban, with no evidence other than a few forum posts and your own bias to support it. There are a lot of reasons why players may have left and not returned during that period. I myself am a part of that statistic and the core reason is that while I think SoD is really cool and love that it exists, it just wasn’t for me. I’ve heard this a lot… “SoD is just not what I’m looking for.” We also saw this same pattern in WoW Classic 2019 to begin wth. A massive population spike for Phase 1 followed by a significantly diminished population for subsequent phases.

We can never know the true cause of why people departed from SoD. While I have absolutely no doubt that some folks left SoD because of the GDKP ban, I also know there is no convincing evidence this was the cause of it “[losing] hundreds of thousands of players in the following weeks.”

Not only is this statement wholly incorrect, skill is probably the smallest contributor to overall player performance in Vanilla WoW, it in no way addresses the text you quoted.

You should not be able to throw massive quantities of gold at the AH so you can have 100% uptime on the best consumables in the game. If you want them, go farm them. If you can’t spend the time farming them, either learn to do without or leave the game.

You are currently buying your way to a tier of play that lets you compete against those who do have time to go farm all of the consumables they need.

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197

The amount of complaints from 90% of these forums for those “solutions” would be all time.

Ppl would lose their minds having to link to real ID or something.

198

Among the four options, Real ID linking is the only one that requires player action. The other three options would be managed entirely by Blizzard. I would consider Real ID linking as the last resort. Blizzard could link accounts to IP addresses and implement IP bans, but the use of VPN software complicates this. Therefore, implementing Anti-VPN servers should be one of the first steps taken.

199

This is nonsense.

GDKP has zero impact on affording consumables as consumable costs can always be compensated for by farming and selling materials.

If dreamfoil is 100g a stack that means you can sell it and buy it for 100g a stack. Trade will always ensure this is never an issue. The only problem inflation creates is the value of the gold you already have may drop. And inflation is actually a good thing because it reinforces the need to farm materials. So if GDKP causes inflation then it forces people to farm. That’s good for the server.

200

Let’s break down the benefits of keeping GDKP’s banned in SoD. Here are several compelling reasons why this ban is beneficial for the game and its community:

Preservation of Traditional Guild Structures:

  • Community Focus: By keeping GDKP runs banned it helps to maintain the traditional guild and social structures that are central to the spirit of SoD. This encourages players to participate in guild activities and build stronger in-game communities.
  • Fair Play: It reduces the “arms race” effect where players feel pressured to buy gold to compete for the best items.

Reduction of Pay-to-Win Dynamics:

  • Balanced Gameplay: By keeping GDKP runs removed, the game becomes less about who can spend the most money and more about skill and teamwork.
  • Less Gold Buying: It discourages the practice of buying gold, which can lead to a healthier in-game economy and reduce the risk of account suspensions for players.

Enhanced Raid Experience:

  • Traditional Loot Distribution: Players return to more traditional methods of loot distribution, which can make raids feel more rewarding and fair.
  • Increased Challenge: Without the ability to buy gear, players must rely on their skills and strategies to progress, potentially making the game more challenging and engaging.

Fairness and Equality:

  • GDKP runs often favors players with more in-game gold, creating an imbalance where wealthier players could easily outbid others for the best gear. With GDKP continuing to be banned, Blizzard aims to level the playing field, ensuring that gear acquisition is based more on skill and participation rather than financial resources.

Encouraging Teamwork and Community:

  • Traditional raid systems encourage players to work together and support each other to achieve common goals. since GDKP’s have been 86’d, Blizzard is promoting a more collaborative and community-focused environment, which can enhance the overall social experience of the game.

Preventing Exploitation:

  • GDKP runs are often exploited by players who used real money to buy in-game gold, violating the game’s terms of service and creating an unfair advantage. The ban helps to curb such exploitative practices and maintain the integrity of the game.

THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!!!

Balancing the Economy:

  • The influx of gold from GDKP runs inflate the in-game economy, making it harder for average players to afford essential items. By keeping GDKP banned, Blizzard can help stabilize the economy and make it more accessible to all players.
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201

Item affordability doesn’t change because of inflation if you’re participating in trade. If I sell an arcanite bar for 1000g and buy a flask for 1000g then I have a flask. If I sell an arcanite bar for 100g and buy a flask for 100g I have a flask.

See how that works?