Unlinked Auction Houses lasted MOST of Vanilla [Some thoughts on staying true to that]

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
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First off, please note that phase 5 is when 1.9 content a beyond begins. This is pretty evident from a tweet by Ion Hazzikostos:

“In general, Phase 2 is 1.3-1.4, Phase 3 is 1.5-1.6, Phase 4 is 1.7-1.8, etc. There may be some exceptions I’m failing to recall, but that’s the general structure.”

This is import to note because 1.9 was when each faction’s set of auction houses were linked, which was past the middle of Vanilla.

Unlinked Auction Houses were practically a thing for the majority of Vanilla!

More to the point, Auction Houses staying unlinked for most of Classic may have major effects on the Nostalgia, Gameplay, and community building experience, way beyond the effects that using mostly 1.12 systems may have. Things like what version of Alterac Valley is being used or what version of itemization is being used, have little effect on the difficulty of the main parts of the outdoor game world and dynamic community ecosystems. The difficulty of the outdoor world was the most interesting and THRIVING part of the game at the time; it was a staple, a mainstay of much of the Vanilla experience!

  1. It adds a layer of decision making to the game. “Do you travel to Darnassus to buy a potion that you know is there; or do you travel to Ironforge, hoping to find a similar potion since you’re already at Thorium Point and have a Dire Maul run in 5 minutes. It won’t be the best potion ever, but it will help you keep your group healed. On the other hand, if you do go to Darnassus, though you’ll be late for your group, you can pick the potion you wanted and it will possibly make up for the time it took to buy it. Maybe if you talk to your group members honestly and nicely, they will be positive, understanding, and might even encourage you to buy the potion in Darnassus?” This is one example of spontaneous player interaction, that positively affects a player’s goal, in a way that helps build friendships and sense of community.
  1. It causes interesting microeconomies to form and allows traveling traders to flourish on the go. Simply put, it adds another layer to how to play the market and how to shop the market. It’s all due to the fact that each auction house may have its own unique items for sale that are often associated with an item type specific to that auction house’s location and types of players that commonly travel there. Items obtained by players as they play, such as rare mob drops or node pickups, can be sold without being close to an auction house because of these microeconomies. The reason is that, due to unlinked auction houses, a larger amount of players will be out in the world heading to different auction houses to look for different items and will be watching chat channels as they do. Some of these players will bump into you and practically be coming to you if you’re a traveling trader, to buy items they wouldn’t have found otherwise or items they were looking for and now you’ve saved them a trip. This is another example of spontaneous player interaction, that positively affects a player’s goal, in a way that helps build friendships and sense of community.

“Hey thanks Jim, it’s a good thing you were in Desolace! You really saved me from having to go to Darnassus, now I can start my dungeon with time to spare!” “No problem Emily! I’m glad I could do business without having to go to a city! I’ll add you to my friend list in case you need help with anything else!” “Thank you again, Jim! You seem nice, would you like to join my guild?”

  1. Traveling and dissuasion Instead of having to sit in an auction house, you’ll be traveling the world to go to different auction houses, seeing what other people might be selling on the way, and just maybe, you’ll get the sudden urge to farm the item(s) you needed for your character. This may be a long trip, but it will be worth it. If you do get the urge to farm instead of going to an Auction House, due to being dissuaded by this split auction house mechanic; you will be seeing many players who are out playing in the outdoor world and maybe make a friend or two! This is my final example of spontaneous player interaction, that positively affects a player’s goal, in a way that helps build friendships and sense of community.

In conclusion, the effects would’ve seemed minimal 15 years ago, when the game was still very new, but now everyone will know what’s up with more than just how Auctions work. It’s all the veteran players, hardcore beta-testers, mainstream fan-sites, and even Blizzard themselves spreading the information out the Wazoo! There isn’t much that players won’t already know about Classic come August 27th! The important part is how you deal with situations in the game, that stem from the difficult parts of the game that were left intact. So if you ask me, I’d be one to bet that these unlinked auction houses will be flooded with a plethora of goods! It is just one simple change, but with many fun challenges to be had in the game!

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Uhh…hard pass. Thankfuly, as the beta shows, this is a 1.12 client so all the AH are linked (shown by Nobbel who posted copper ore in Org and was purchased by a Tauren on stream in TB)

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Un-linked Auction Houses lasted for THREE FOURTHS of Vanilla… :wink:

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Must have been terrible. Glad it won’t be like that in Classic!

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#NoChanges

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It’s a 1.12 version of the game. They were linked in 1.12. So yes, #NoChanges. Glad you finally see reason my good man!

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i remember having to go all the way to booty bay [black market] if i wanted to use any kind of -linked- auction house. funny thing is, blizzard confirmed at blizzcon that it would remain this way. that we would have to go to neutral auction houses if we wanted to do that. but you say that nobbel found that it is the exact opposite of what blizzard confirmed?

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No, they were linked in 1.9 sir… If you read my work. :wink:

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I didn’t imply “1.12 was the patch they linked them” I was saying “in the 1.12 version, they were linked”. Sorry for any confusion

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Mechanics are 1.12 from release.

Linking Auction houses is a mechanic, not content.

Your argument is invalid.

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I think you misinterpreted that interview. Blizz was saying the only way cross-faction purchases would be linked was through those “black-market” AHs. That would be the only way to send something cross faction, and WAS the only way-so they would preserve it

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which was neutral auction houses like booty bay. thats what we called them and they were called in game. but you said nobbel found that faction auction houses like org, could be linked to alliance auction houses like ironforge?

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Never said it was content. :wink:

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Mechanics are all 1.12 from the start. That’s a stated fact.

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What? No. I said he put something up in Org, and was bought by a Tauren in TB (Thunder Bluff) same faction, linked through the main cities.

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oh, well. same faction, hasnt that always been a thing?

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It is a mechanic with major implications!

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Says you.

But since its a Mechanic, its 1.12 from the start.

Waiting for the “BUT MOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!”

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No. As the OP states, in early versions of Vanilla, each Main City was its only AH. They didn’t communicate to each other, even within the same faction. Put something up in Org, it could only be seen/bought in Org. That’s what he’s arguing should be done for Classic. Luckily that won’t be the case

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Detrimental to Classic.