Noncombat pets bought before the patch not selling on the AH

by Mike Schramm Oct 17th 2008 at 1:00PM

Reader Dave sent word of another bug in the game after the latest patch (thanks!) that might cost players some money. A player was trying to sell his Hyacinth pet on the Auction House (there's a small craze on vanity pets right now, thanks to the achievements) when he ran into a problem -- an error told him that you couldn't AH "an item with used charges." Except that he hadn't used the pet yet -- it wasn't in his pets screen. But Blues have confirmed that with pets purchased or obtained but not used before the patch, this can happen -- the pet will be unsellable.

Darkmoon Faire cards are apparently having the same issue, but as you might expect, it's unlikely that Blizzard will take steps to fix this, both because all we're talking about here is AH selling (not a critical game mechanic), and because this problem doesn't seem to be affecting new pets and cards, only cards that were purchased and owned before the patch. But maybe they will hotfix it, we'll just have to wait and see.

Anyone that horded pets to sell on the AH could be in trouble, though -- if you've got a significant amount of gold stored up in pets you were intending to sell, you might be out ot luck.

Tags: achievements, ah, auction-house, hyacinth, macaw, noncombat, pets, sales, vanity

Filed under: Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Bugs, Virtual selves, Blizzard, The Burning Crusade, Making money

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Reinard Oct 17th 2008 1:05PM

Huh. It's a good thing I decided to use my Hyacinth last night rather than sell it. I've had it banked for months considering selling it, but I finally made up my mind. Heh :P

Xandrence Oct 17th 2008 1:09PM

This answers why I had issues with my 8 of Beasts card when i went to sell it. Hope they fix the issue at some point at least.

Acceptable Risk Oct 17th 2008 1:08PM

Aww, I've got a couple of Darkmoon cards that I'd been casually collecting when the prices were right. I wasn't really sure I'd be keeping them. Guess I'm stuck with them now...

pb Oct 17th 2008 1:13PM

you imply in this article that they will not be fixing this, but I read the post you link and the blue poster does not say this, he says:

"If you learned this pet, you'll never be able to sell it or trade it. That should have disappeared when you learned it - some aren't....that's one issue.

We are also getting reports of pretty much the same situation - but where the pet had NOT been learned.

I am very sorry for this inconvenience - this is something they are aware of and are looking into right now. "

and

"Hopefully we'll get an answer back on the status of this in the near future. "

to me that says it MAY or may NOT be fixed, but that it is something they are looking into

Mike Schramm Oct 17th 2008 1:16PM

Yes. My guess is that they won't fix it, but that's just a guess -- remember that this isn't happening for people who obtain these items after the patch. For the sake of the people affected, I hope they do fix it, but with everything else on their plate, I doubt this ranks.

Wade Oct 17th 2008 1:48PM

So Mike, because they fucked up so hard you don't expect them to fix every problem?

Every player should be emailing/calling/mailing/posting in the forums/ticketing GMs demanding that:

-EVERY problem caused by this unready patch be corrected.

-All items lost/unauctionable/broken in anyway be returned/reimbursed for.

-That all players are reimbursed their gametime for the time from the patch release to when every problem is fixed.

To just accept that "oh theres bigger problems so they're not accountable" is fucking retarded. Get your tongue out from Blizzard's orifices.

Angry Joe Oct 17th 2008 2:19PM

I'm waiting for more than a year now that Blizzard fix the Ramstein bug in Strat, so, yes, some bugs go on for a long time.

People keep complaining, they keep ignoring it.

Chris Anthony Oct 17th 2008 2:28PM

Wade, I'm curious. If Blizzard implemented a policy such that any angry ticket filed within a month of a major patch by a player who hadn't spent a significant amount of time playtesting the patch was automatically deleted, unread...

...how many of your tickets would actually go through?

I ask because your flavor of blind, ignorant self-entitlement tends to come the most from people who haven't actually participated in the process, and just want the results to be perfect. In this case, you can slim that down to "no time spent helping track down bugs on the PTR? No bitching for you. Come back, one year."

Wade Oct 17th 2008 2:39PM

Wait.. So I should pay them to make a game and release new content, then be expected to test what I'm paying for?

Any other form of company that creates new products tests them rigorously before releasing them (they don't rely on there customers), and if there are any problems found with the problem later products are recalled to be fixed/replaced and the customer is reimbursed if necessary, not left hanging with a defective product for an unknown time while paying a monthly fee for it.

Gessilea Oct 17th 2008 2:44PM

Wade must really, really want to sell those non-combat pets that he considers his subscription fee wasted until it's fixed. Here's a hint dude. 1. MMOs are not the same as console games. They are always changing, thus, they are never a "finished product." 2. If everything sucks so hard, why are you still giving Blizzard money?

Wade Oct 17th 2008 2:53PM

No I'm angry at my wasted gametime because of my realms constant lag, dcs, not being able to login, characters stuck in BGs with more than a days wait time on a GM, random maintenance/restarts, my mounts and pets disappearing, the sudden imbalance and stupid imbalance in PvP (Ret Pallys) and not being able to sell the cards I had sitting around after cleaning 5 characters banks, All occurring after this unready patch.

To have someone in a position of some say in the WoW community claim that things don't need to be fixed because they're not important for them pisses me off.

Also at your other silly question, I play WoW because I really enjoy it and am really looking forward to Wrath.

Muffnman Oct 17th 2008 1:17PM

How would this affect Darkmoon Cards in a guild bank?

endjinn Oct 17th 2008 1:23PM

I can understand that vanity pets aren't a big issues but being unable to sell Darkmoon Cards is a fairly big issue surely?

You CANNOT expect people to collect a set by farming them - it's near impossible to do!

They are one of the things the AH is really designed for - items which drop highly randomly and which you may not have a use for personally but for which others will pay well.

Saying DM cards aren't important is like saying BoE Blue/Purple armor isn't important...

Foxfyr Oct 17th 2008 1:37PM

I had this happen with some Winter Holliday pets.

I'm pretty sure they'll fix it but for the time being you can mail them to people, trade them to people, sell them on trade chat, but you cannot put them on the AH.

Hevnlyst Oct 17th 2008 1:44PM

I noticed this when I tried to put my captured firefly up on the ah. But I tested selling it through the trade window, which can still be done. Trade channel is the way to sell cards/pets now I guess....

Algorithm Oct 17th 2008 1:47PM

Let's say... I bought an oozling on the opposing faction's auction house through shenanigans. Is there any way to transfer it from account to account now?

Sean Oct 17th 2008 1:47PM

I had reported this as a bug with regards to DM cards a few days ago and someone told me that it has been a bug in beta for over a month. I hope they address this soon as I have a lot invested in cards and the AH is the easiest place to sell them.

Thorzon Oct 17th 2008 1:52PM

I'm an Engineer and I have the same problem with Mechanical Yetis I have been selling on the AH. Up until the patch, I was able to place them on the AH and sell them with no problems. After the patch, I'm getting the same error. Funny thing is though, I can trade them to other players and even mail them. Blizzard definately needs to get this hotfixed. Saying it's not a critical issue like you did in your article is nonsense. Engineers already have a very limited amount of trade resources and now we're being hampered even more. These make up a substantial part of my weekly income and it needs to be fixed.

Jamesisgreat Oct 17th 2008 3:25PM

Exactly - I've got a few mechanical frogs that I made and saved up to sell (they were going for around 80g pre patch). Figured the prices would rise as everyone tried to complete their pet achievements. Now I can't sell them in the AH. Saying that it won't get fixed because it's not a big deal - well if your not an engineer then I guess it isn't! But for my engineer it was a good money maker that has been buggered up due to a shoddy bit of programming.