Why Blizzard needs to put AH data on the Armory
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 20th 2008 at 4:00PM
There is a certain party, a regular emailer to us among our readers, who believes that we here at WoW Insider take a little too long at the start of our posts to get to the actual point of each story, so in this one, I'll just get right down to it: Blizzard needs to put Auction House information on the Armory.I've been on the grind to the 5000g for my epic flying mount lately, and I've been playing the Auction House like a demon: calculating, buying, selling, and crafting my way to as much gold as I can throw together. And while Auctioneer has definitely helped, the best way I've found to track prices and make sure I get the most for my time in the AH is just to see the prices themselves -- no average price calculated by Auctioneer is worth enough as seeing the real thing. And that's where Blizzard comes in -- while there are a few sites that attempt to track prices with various methods, they have actual, constant access to the prices on every server. And they have a great place to put them: on the Armory.
The item pages on the Armory right now are practically empty -- besides some vendor and reagent information, there's almost nothing there (especially compared to, say, Wowhead). Giving player access to AH information would pull them into the game even when they couldn't play, not to mention let some of Blizzard's most talented web programmers -- their fans -- at data that they could do tons of great stuff with. Want a text alert when your favorite mats drop in price, or when there's room on the AH to finally sell off those Elixirs of Agility you've got? By passing out AH info to the Armory, Blizzard could give fans access to the data needed to make their own great tools, not only leaving Blizzard free to work on actual development, but giving us Auction House haunters all the access we need to track prices and have that much more fun playing the AH.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, AddOns, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Frank Smith Aug 20th 2008 4:07PM
they can't even keep armory stable with character info. you want every server's AH's updated? /bwahahaha
Heilig Aug 20th 2008 4:40PM
Agreed.
You thought the Blizzcon ticket fiasco was bad, wait until everyone is constantly checking their AH 100 times a day for that one thing they're looking for.
Tech Aug 20th 2008 4:09PM
I am a huge AH addict now as it is.
If this does happen I will never get any work done X)
Buckshot Aug 20th 2008 4:09PM
Never, there should be no easy button for making money on the AH. It would make a prices the same and you could never find bargains.
Who Aug 20th 2008 5:55PM
You are correct! The entire economy would become almost stagnant, possibly across all realms. Along with the problem that it would take even less skill to properly use the AH.
Saiforune Aug 20th 2008 5:57PM
Agreed.
Changing the game to make something epic in the game easier isn't something blizzard should do especially when the armoury is bad enough as it is with updating characters.
I've done the 5kg grind three tiems now. It's not hard at all. Seriously just stop being lazy and go out and grind primals and dailies. I did the first two when the daily cap was 10.
So I have to say your tears of QQ sustain me.
al_limlut Aug 20th 2008 4:12PM
This is a good idea if it can be kept for scanning the AH purposes.
I would love to be able to log into my toon on armory and know if it was time to sell some Primal Shadowcloth or even thos Hearts of Darkness I kept in case I want to craft something... or even the average price of the sunmotes.
The issue I would see arise with that is knowing when a certain server has its prices on the rise, and the server jumps to kill the market wherever that may be.
Wolftech Aug 20th 2008 4:13PM
They cant even get their online store to work, what makes you think they would be able to do this?
Talented web programmers? Maybe if they are talented at... FAIL.
Heilig Aug 20th 2008 4:41PM
RTFA, numbnuts. He said Blizzard's most talented web programmers are its fans, not its employees.
Reading comprehension FTW.
Shawn Aug 20th 2008 4:14PM
Bad idea.
If you can't be in the game you shouldn't be getting up to date game information. This sounds like a perfect way for gold farmers and other munchkin gamers to ruin the game economy and steal bargains from players currently logged in.
LostOne Aug 20th 2008 4:23PM
Character info on the armory is always days behind updating, you expect them to keep AH data updated on the armory in real-time? WTF are you smoking?
jbodar Aug 20th 2008 8:25PM
^This.
Al in SoCal Aug 20th 2008 4:23PM
I can't even believe people are against this??!! It would be GREAT! The comment though that I agree with is the fact that the armory site is unstable (at best) and I wish they would devote more time and effort to bringing more content onto the site w/o the client - such as AH prices, stats, etc.
Barth Aug 21st 2008 2:20PM
I agree, I'd love it. I don't get my jollies by amassing great "skill" at making money on the AH. Anything to make the game smoother and easier I'm all for it.
Verodio Aug 20th 2008 4:26PM
I hate this idea and I'm glad that it's really got no chance of ever being implemented. I think auctioneer already makes it too easy for people to make money. It takes away the art of playing the market as a part of the game and gives it to people with absolutely no skill or desire to learn that skill.
isheepthings Aug 20th 2008 4:26PM
Sounds good on the surface but if they move in that direction, and break it up by server, your basically enabling those who simply play the AH meta game. And if they aid them, they might as well write guides to where the best grinding spots are in the game and how to reach 70 the quickest.
Atheira Aug 20th 2008 4:31PM
This would be a big problem to put the AH on the armory. It would be a huge influx of data transfer to get all items constantly being updated on the house, and well, it would just create too much chaos with the kids who complain because they were at school and didn't get to buy said item because they were in math class.
I wouldn't be opposed to something on the armory that kept hourly/daily/weekly/monthly averages for popular items up there. It would help keep a more constant stream with prices and make it more of a market type thing.
here is a thought Aug 20th 2008 4:34PM
it would be handy if the avg AH price was shown when selling an item to a vendor. This would encourage a more vibrant AH as players see how much they lose by dropping items to get the bag space. i suspect a lot of greens, that players would bid on, end up in the hands of NPC vendors
Roma Aug 20th 2008 4:35PM
I think it's a good idea. I also think real time auction house monitoring is not something you'll ever see.
Logistically, it would be a nightmare.
There are just some things you have to do in-game. Being able to interact with the auction house is one of those things.
Fire Aug 20th 2008 4:39PM
I somewhat disagree. Firstly, the benefit of a auction house reference is SPEED SPEED SPEED and not nessicarily "down to the silver" accuracy. Wow armory is a slow, behemeoth of a flash machine, and there are plenty of solid references... namely thottbot, allakazam, and wowhead. However, I do see the benefit of being able to see AH prices on a server by server basis which is not possible in the current system.