Summary
Earlier this year, Blizzard surprised everyone when it announced thatWorld of Warcraftwas going to be getting a brand-new feature known as the Trading Post. This Post was supposed to give players a new way to earn cosmetics every single month simply by playing the game. It sounded like a fantastic addition to the game as it could provide it with one of its first pieces of evergreen content, and additional cosmetics is usually always a good thing. However, things seem to be changing forWorld of Warcraft’s Trading Post as the year has gone by.
Since release, the Trading Post has slowly been showing some worrying signs. It has felt like Blizzard has been quietly pushing players to buy things onWorld of Warcraft’s Cash Shopinstead, which has made the Trading Post feel like nothing more than another cash stream. While the concept behind it is still fantastic, the actual feature seems to quickly be losing its appeal. And this month’s item prices may have cemented that fact.
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WoW’s Trading Post Feels Like Just Another Cash Shop Now
When it was first introduced,WoW’s Trading Postwas supposed to offer new or retired cosmetics for players to earn just by playing the game. Every single month, they could earn 1,000 Trader’s Tender that they could then spend on a couple of these items. While it was impossible to buy it all, items were allegedly going to rotate back in, and players could also freeze one item to carry over to the next month. It may not have been as freeform as some players would have liked, but it sounded great.
However, within the first couple of months players started noticing something was up with the Post. For starters,a coupleWoWCash Shop cosmeticscame with a notice that they would eventually arrive in the Trading Post after a certain date. This meant that players could either buy the item now, so they had more Tender to spend later, or they could just wait until the item eventually showed up on the Post. Some players felt like this was a sign of things to come, and they would be right.
Recently, Blizzard has beenincluding Trader’s Tender in some Cash Shop bundles. While it is not outright selling Tender as a separate microtransaction, it is coming bundled with other cosmetics, which makes it a microtransaction in all but name. Now, players who want a few extra Tender can buy a cosmetic pack they may never have bought before. This seems to make the Trading Post nothing more than another way for Blizzard to charge players, which goes against what it was supposed to be in the first place.
Additionally, some players have noticed that the actual price ofitems within the Trading Posthas increased drastically since launch. Now, most of the interesting items cost around 400-500 Tender each. Since players can only earn 1,000 Tender a month, this forces them to save it, buy a future Trading Post item from the cash shop, or purchase a bundle that comes with Tender. This pushes players towards the cash shop, which could hurt the appeal of the feature in the long run.
While the Trading Post is still a great addition toWorld of Warcraft, some of the recent changes seem a bit worrying. What was supposed to be a way for players to earn cosmetics simply by playing is slowly becoming another cash shop, which is a shame to see. It may make sense for Blizzard to monetize a feature like this, but it would have been nice if it had been left untouched instead.
