Neutral Auction houses (and putting them in Northrend)
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 24th 2009 at 5:00PM
You've probably heard, by now, the reason why there are no auction houses (or class trainers) in Dalaran or Shattrath. Blizzard doesn't want the old world towns (like Ironforge and Orgrimmar) to become ghost towns. Ghost towns like, for example, Shattrath -- have you been there lately? But as Gnomeaggedon pointed out last week, there's another option: neutral Auction houses.We haven't talked about the Neutral Auction houses in the game for a long time -- they exist only in Winterspring, Booty Bay, and Tanaris, and pretty much have only served the purpose of trading items back and forth between the two factions (or scamming between them). But Gnomeaggedon has a new idea: why not reintroduce them to the newer cities, and create another option for people rather than having to go all the way back to the old world (and waste a hearthstone cooldown)? Not only would you bring people back to the Neutral Auction houses (they really are empty right now), but you'd bring the auction house back to the people, at a slightly higher cost.
I like it, and so does Mend Pet, though she sees a few issues: even with the higher cost, you might still get people forgetting about the normal Auction houses and then you've just switched where the problem is (not to mention that people leveling wouldn't see anyone in the big cities when they went). And Dalaran is laggy and crowded as it is -- creating another mess of characters won't help. And finally, this is a solution without a real problem: we're getting the Hearthstone cooldown lowered anyway, so it's not that big deal to go back home occasionally (or just use a bank alt). Still, the Neutral houses are just sort of sitting there. Giving us more access to them might be worth it.
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Economy, Making money
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
SweetPoison Mar 24th 2009 5:03PM
There is also one in Booty Bay.
nyghtbringer Mar 25th 2009 9:06AM
why not just make all the AH neutral? twould solve all teh problems.
werd Mar 24th 2009 5:04PM
There are neutral auctioneers in Booty Bay as well
Cyanea Mar 24th 2009 5:06PM
And Ratchet, I think.
I'd still use the Bankalt I have camped in Ironforge. Can't beat two tabs worth of gbank space for storing mats for alts.
pietrex Mar 24th 2009 5:11PM
Nope, none in Ratchet. Just Gadgetzan, Everlook and Booty Bay. No one goes to Winterspring, Tanaris is waaay too far from other capitals (unless you're an engineer) and BB... well, that's where I'd go. Allies can get there very quickly, Hordies have to use a boat or a zeppelin. Still, I think making a neutral AH, as mentioned in the article, would make it superior to normal ones and thus make them almost as deserted as poor Shatt.
Jason Mar 24th 2009 5:54PM
Gnomish Engineers can teleport to the Neutral AH in Gadgetzan; Goblin Engineers can teleport to the Neutral AH in Everlook.
If Blizzard was going to add another Neutral AH they should put it in K3. It's a quick flight from Dalaran and while not easily accessible to all characters it'd still make it a heck of a lot more accessible to folks who have at least one level 80 character.
Kakistocracy Mar 24th 2009 7:50PM
Yeah, when I see goblins that don't have an AH, I feel sad for them, so lets put in AHs in the netherstorm town and K3.
Trauma Mar 24th 2009 8:55PM
K3 wouldn't be bad for a neutral AH, but the one in Tanaris isn't that far if you have access to Dalaran. Hop into the Viloet Citadel and port to the Caverns of Time, from there, a 2 minute jaunt on mount. Not the MOST convenient option, to be sure, but not horrible.
placebo Mar 26th 2009 9:16AM
"Tanaris is waaay too far from other capitals (unless you're an engineer)"
Maybe it used to be too far away - now you can port to CoT from the Violet Citadel and then its no time at all to mount up and ride over to Bartertown.
I still use my ripper to Everlook every now and then.
Nick Mar 24th 2009 5:09PM
there is a neutral AH in my pants. it hasn't been implemented yet.
T Mar 24th 2009 5:11PM
I read that as "neutered".
DrFaust Mar 24th 2009 7:42PM
Yes. We had already guessed that whatever you had in your pants had not been implemented and we really doubt that neutered area ever will see any real action outside the basement.
actodd Mar 24th 2009 5:25PM
If you put neutral AH's in Dalaran (or K3 to remove/reduce lag issues), you're just going to turn Everlook, Gadgetestan, and Booty Bay into ghost towns!
oh wait....
BigFire Mar 24th 2009 5:29PM
I second putting the auction house in K3 for reduce lag purpose. Afterall, that is a goblin town.
havitech Mar 24th 2009 5:11PM
The only problem that exists is the fact that the ONLY reason to go to the old world is for the auction houses.
I would love to see an mini-expansion of sorts that polishes up the old world and adds content that makes it relevant to the endgame. If level 80's regularly traveled around all of Azeroth's continents, the auction houses could stay where they are and yet no longer be "out of the way."
Erogroth Mar 24th 2009 5:53PM
So true.
Candina@WH Mar 24th 2009 6:14PM
If Blizz put a portal Mage in each major city, hell, make the mage portal trainer offer to port people between cities for gold, I would be happy.
I use a bank alt, which is functionally an exploit (using something to go around how Blizz wants you to do something). Once my toons hit the trainer the final time, I never go back to the oldworld.
Blizz is being pig headed about it. If they want people to 'hang out' in the old world, give us a method of travel. I would rather hang out in TB than Daralan anyway. But as I am not a mage, having to burn my Hearthstone just to hang out there is ridiculous.
From a 'reality' check standpoint. We have portals to every battleground. We have portals to Shatt. We have teleporters from Silverymoon to UC, etc. Why on Azeroth wouldn't the Horde/Alliance invest in a Portal from their major cities to their new offensive fronts?
windstrum Mar 24th 2009 6:19PM
Further, you could have auction houses (neutral or faction) in places like Dalaran and Shattrath without fear of the old cities becomming ghost towns.
JAM Mar 24th 2009 6:24PM
They keep saying they won't go back and work on (improve) existing content, but they don't want it left behind either. You can't have it both ways.
They need to give high levels a reason to come back instead of trying to keep them from leaving.
Shionia Mar 24th 2009 6:40PM
"If level 80's regularly traveled around all of Azeroth's continents "
Agreed. I suppose they're trying to accomplish this by making a number of the world events (e.g., Hallows, Lunar Festival, Midsummer) require that you travel to various old world places but ... just blasting from FP to FP is hardly "content relevant to the endgame".