I had to take TBC off for the birth of our kid and when I came back for Wrath, my raid slot had been filled (obviously).
As a result, I’ve done a couple of guild runs- smooth, easy, fun. But everyone is 70 and raiding now so I’ve had the choice of attending the guild alliance GDKP of trusted players OR risk the lockout on PUGs.
I tried PUGs twice, both times they were hosted by partial guild groups- mostly no name 10 man guilds. Both times, they ninja’d stuff that wasn’t worth ninjaing and the raid fell apart.
So, I gave up on PUGing and started attending the GDKPs… the problem? I don’t buy gold. At this point in classic, it’s fairly normal to buy gold so no one thinks anything of it- talk openly about which sites offer the best rates DURING the raid.
End result? I’m bidding gold from quests and dailies against gold bought with credit cards, and it’s just not working out in my favor lol. I’ve been outbid on everything. Every item is 4k+ gold.
I know it’s too late, there’s too much inflation, there’s too much botting, there’s now a culture of buying.
I still blame Blizzard though. They didn’t really crack down on the army of flying dwarf rogues heading to BRD. They didn’t crack down on the army of rogues outside of slave pens. They didn’t crack down on gold sellers and buyers.
They just let it happen.
Again, fine. Whatever, it’s just a game.
I guess I’ve finally reached the point where I care as much about the game as the devs.
This is why I quit Wrath (which is basically “Retail Progression - Remix Vol. III”) and returned to Classic Era.
GDKPs are essentially power-leveling services - which goes against Blizzard’s own EULA.
Blizzard has made it clear that they have chosen to allow what are essentially in-game Real Money (Micro) Transactions in Classic.
Bots still run rampant 24/7. This is in spite of how easy it is for anyone to identify bots by their 5-8 character, unpronounceable names, who are all the same level and class (e.g., Rogue/DK/Hunter) in the same dungeons - over and over again - and who respond with “no” whenever you whisper them.
Today, gold trading and micro-transactions occur daily in GDKPs and are regularly streamed on Twitch by big-name Classic streamers now (Frostadamus and even Swifty of all people).
Blizzard has decided to allow today’s players to dictate what Classic Wrath (and TBC before it) has become - a microtransaction game (similar to Diablo Immortal or Overwatch 2, now).
The ironic thing is, GDKP players are foolish enough to pay for gold ON TOP of already paying for a monthly subscription.
So why should a for-profit company refuse a fool’s choice to willing open their wallet?
Because letting players dictate want they want for Classic WoW defeats the purpose of Classic WoW in the first place. That’s what Retail is for - to evolve the game. Classic is supposed to preserve the game.
It turns Classic Era/TBC/Wrath into Cata/BFA/Shadowlands, which in turn, results in players who asked for Classic WoW. Doesn’t it defeat the purpose of Classic WoW?
And doesn’t the desire for Classic WoW become futile at some point? As players, we need to examine why we are playing Classic WoW to begin with. Is it to make Classic WoW like a Shadowlands Mythic Dugeon Speed Run competition?
Why go to a favorite expensive restaurant and then order take out and eat alone, in the car, as fast as you can?
If Classic WoW is allow RMTs as it is doing with GDKPs, then Blizzard needs to admit it (and switch to a Battle Pass) or ban RMTs and preserve the sprit of the original game.
Blizzard has no moral ground to keep touting the virtues (“pillars”) of Classic WoW while looking the other way on RMTs and GDKPs and profiting while doing it.
Having played OG Vanilla, OG TBC, OG Wrath and MoP, I can tell you GDKPs were NOT anything like they are today. Back then, you were shunned for pay-to-win and considered weak, lazy and greedy for buying gold. That started to change in Wrath.
I’m glad I stayed in Era. The open world is low-pop but players are raiding Naxx on all regions weekly.
The GDKP cancer is trying to grow in Era now, unfortunately. But the cancer is not as widespread in Era (yet).
I wrote this appeal, more as a matter of conscience:
it sucks but just hang in there and continue to try and gear up. Guilds will be looking for more players soon. People are realizing that Wrath just isnt as fun as everyone made it out to be. 80%+ of the player base are raid logging, I mean in my guild I’m usually the only one online on off raid night.
This new player base is nothing like it was back in old days. You either play like they do (raid log) or move on to something else.
I have 3 char’s that keep me busy for a couple of days of raiding. Arenas are almost dead. I can’t find decent people to save my life. Played with a mage that said he had 1800+ exp and yet he had 71 points into frost. /smh
GDKP is a cancerous playstyle for a cancerous playerbase. By participating in that culture you legitimize it. Your actions are your own. You have complete control over whether or not you choose to promote such garbage.
Lots of people were and are able to spend 12K gold on trinkets without buying gold. Spend an afternoon questing in max-level zones, do dailies, make use of your professions…
If you are with people who are actively talking about buying gold in discord during raid, that’s on you. You’re part of that group, and you’re passively enabling it by being OK with it.
Coming on the forums and complaining that
for enabling gold buying, while actively contributing to a community that openly discusses gold buying is like being in a drug cartel and complaining that the police aren’t doing enough to stop drugs being available to citizens in your neighborhood.
Sure, it’d be great if there were better tools, or mechanisms for Blizzard to crack down on RMT, but just like IRL, a lot of crime that goes unreported goes unpunished…
You are looking at it all wrong. Just keep saving up gold until you can buy a shadowmourne and defeat the target dummy in stormwind that’s the point of wow.
