General Discussion

IMO i think Blizzard is trying very hard to abolish gold buying, if you think about it, alot of good gear and other stuff must be faction grinded, BG's Arena's too name a few which do not require money and faction stuff  which does not cost  that much gold, all the bop and boe. Like some other had mention i think most gold is bought for the big expensive mount, so i say make it a faction grind of some sort. 

  I'm sure some one will say PLZ NO MORE faction grind, well no matter what you either grind faction or gold, what's the diff.  My 2 cents

Originally posted by Shoal

Anybody ever notice that Bliz never states that actually BUYING gold is against TOA and/or EULA ?

And before you shout out that it does, or this press release states that, please go back and read all three carefully.

I agree with Blizzard and their statement in it's entirety.

The issue is not solely with the gold buyers though, it is also with blizzard and how much it costs to buy stuff from vendors (such as food, mounts, etc). To some, gaining 5k is an achievement, to most it is a burden. Yes, if you do all of the daily quests every day you will soon be there, but that isn't the point. Before daily quests were ever around in the game, epic mounts were still 1k. Giving 1k to another player in exchange for an awesome piece of gear is one thing, but giving 1k to a vendor, of which that money will not be redistributed back into the economy, is just downright idiotic. Blizzard says that they are not the ones messing up the economy, but the reality is, they are. The structure of their NPC to PC economy is horrible, and very one-sided. Hell, even in EQ 1 vendors could sometimes run out of money, or have that item that you sold to them buried in their inventory somewhere. You could vendor mine sometimes for some pretty decent pieces of gear.

Anyhow, I got slightly off topic. Blizzard needs to restructure the high priced vendor purchased items. I like... maybe even love what they did with Ogri'la gear. Things like that make sense. Money doesn't just disappear from the economy to never be seen again.

Originally posted by Kanuvani

IMO i think Blizzard is trying very hard to abolish gold buying, if you think about it, alot of good gear and other stuff must be faction grinded, BG's Arena's too name a few which do not require money and faction stuff  which does not cost  that much gold, all the bop and boe. Like some other had mention i think most gold is bought for the big expensive mount, so i say make it a faction grind of some sort. 

  I'm sure some one will say PLZ NO MORE faction grind, well no matter what you either grind faction or gold, what's the diff.  My 2 cents

 

At least faction grind there is more than a singular benefit from getting it up there. I agree with your post. I would also like to note that, when there was the indication that a faction grind (wild hammer to be exact) might provide you with a greatly cheaper mount, blizzard REMOVED the faction from the table (I was revered.... so much for that grind). 5k... thats it, pay it or don't, you can be raising money AND raising rep so that you can get it cheaper... that would just be horrible (even though it would probably take just about the same amount of time, but have a larger overall potential benefit).

LOTRO did something about this ages ago first by porting low level resource takers (after they get killed) back to the starting area's and increasing agro range by 500 percent ,even spawning new ones to kill them quick if they venture into high level area's, and with the new update you can report a spammer in seconds. Like the lorebook WoW is just copying the competition they deserve no accolades for this, too little too late.

I left after BC just came in, if repair costs are still as silly as they used to be thats why gold farmers are so successful, when you raid hardcore and thats how you have your fun you really don't feel like farming for 2 hours to make your repair bill but as I stated, that may have changed since my leaving.

At the end of the day what is really sad here is that thousands if not millions of people feel they need to cheat to play the game. 

Either MMO games are seriously flawed in that they create almost a need to be power leveled or need large infusions of gold/plat or simply that players are now not interested in the game but simply being powerful in an imaginary world.

Perhaps the real question should be, are MMO's more game or more virtual life?  Offline games have their trainers and god modes, but the only person affected is the single player.  In an MMO the social nature of it means one player affects everyone else.   I really think game devs are going to need to address the fact that MMO's aren't like other games and people don't view them as such either.

As long as we the gamers view MMO's or other online social gaming through the lens of single player games, we will never crack this problem of illegal gold/plat farming, power leveling, etc.

Originally posted by TiiKii

I agree with Blizzard on their article..

But

To NOT have so many people buying gold, outside the game, why doesn't Blizzard raise the amount you get per quest.

My god..

When you are very young and work hard to get that quest done, you get ALL of what - 20copper? If you're lucky that is.. And - it goes like this for several lvls.

Pffftt..

This is the only MMO I have played that the quest rewards on money were so slim in the early stages of your adventuring!

 

What in the world are you talking about?  High end quests give around 10g or more.

It all comes down to laziness.  Really, it is not that hard to get the money you need in this game, only the stupid people buy these kind of services.  Like Blizz said, it is affecting everyone when it is done, and needs to stop.  A statement like this only helps.

I got a nice idea to get rid of those problems of gold farmer.. inflation and gold sellers.. but is to maquivelical to speak it here... so i will just say that is something to insane that will shock the world.. the way I got ridden of those gold farmers.... and such...

I buy gold.  Regularly.

Made a few enemies with that one didn't I?  No doubt stir up some high-minded "pity" too and some petty name calling... usually does when I jump in to the fray of these types of discussions.

So, here's your chance to see into the screwed up head of a gold-buying MMO destroyer! 

I love playing WOW.  I despise grinding.  Oops!  Guess that should knock me right out of the MMORPG scene!  Auctioneer and the AH was fun for a bit, then way too much time to manage. 

Like many of you, I have a RL.  In fact, I love RL- my beautiful wife, amazing 5 year old son, many friends.  Participating as a volunteer at a local non-profit.  Working as a sysadmin.  Pretty normal life, really.  And I love it.  So, the little time I have set aside to spend playing WOW with a couple of buddies is precious to me.  Buying gold simply allows me to enjoy the game more with the little time I have set aside to play. I use it to by consumables.  I use it to buy new equipment.  I use it to buy mats to skill up faster and I don't hear ANYONE complaining that they're getting 1g47s from me for a stack of copper ore.  Consider that this is one reason why you find it so easy to get gold in the game... because I'm buying your mats and equipment you got from grinding and harvesting routes... and I'm buying it with gold I bought from the bot who you're pissed off at because it was camping that ore pop on your route!  So, every time you do somersaults for getting 1g47s for that stack of ore, remember, you too are now supporting "spamming, botting and keylogging" through me.  Doh!  Bottom line- I buy gold because it makes the game more enjoyable for me.

I know, I know, y'all have a mind-boggling array of very legitimate ways that the game is "designed" to be enjoyed and "if you can't enjoy the game the way it's designed than get the $%^ out and stop ruining it for the rest of us, you $#*%#()!!!"  Ugh.  But go ahead, fire away, I'm so sure you'll say something really original and very convincing and I'll immediately repent of my wicked ways... sure. <yawn>

See, here's the thing though- NO ONE gets to determine for me what enjoyment is for me.  No one.   If you're frothing at the mouth right now and desire nothing more than PWN me now because of my position here, then I can confidently say that your definitions of enjoyment are not mine!  Go pwn your cat or teddy bear!

Again, the fact is that buying gold and using it for skillz, mats, consumables, new equipment greatly increases my enjoyment of the game.  As disheartening as it may be, until Blizzard gets a hold on that formula and finds a way to make the game enjoyable at that level without buying gold, I'm gonna be buying gold and supporting all the spamming, botting and keylogging evil-doers out there in the process.

Now, here's a little extra for you.  I've been playing WOW since it was released.  I've never had a character over lvl 27, though I've had dozens under 27.  I don't play that much.  I despise grinding.

Side-bar here... pardon me, I digress... Hey Bliz- want to entice me to stop buying gold?  Micro-transactions.  But then, you made it clear at GDC '08 that you are the almighty MMO creator and micro-transactions will never work <cough>.  Writings already on the wall, Bliz... know one needs to make a WOW killer... you're killing yourself with your pride and arrogance... see SOE and EQII for reference.

I think I'll start a new warlock tonight... look for me as "Evilnoob" if it's not taken.  Anyone have any gold for sale?

Ciao!