soulbound
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Spirits of Harmony may become BoE after all
Spirits of Harmony, the Mists of Pandaria currency used by many professions both for supplies and for crafting, have been BoP since the expansions launch. The last we'd heard, there were no plans to make the items BoE by the end of expansion, as with Cataclym's Chaos Orbs and Wrath's Frozen Orbs. However, a tweet exchange last week between Professions Designer @hwoome and a player suggests that the resource might not stay BoP after all ... and might even make the switch to a BoE item sooner than we'd thought. @StarkRavingCalm No harm in 6.0? I agree. Maybe even a little earlier. ;) - Hwoo (@hwoome) March 28, 2014 While it's not a confirmation by any means, the tweet came from a game designer, which suggests at the very least that the issue is not off the table for discussion as previously thought. Whether or not we'll see Spirits lose their BoP status is still up in the air, though -- so I wouldn't worry about stockpiling the items for now.
No plans to make Motes or Spirits of Harmony account wide
Thanks to Chaos Orbs in Cataclysm, which began life as a BoP item, but became BoE with the last patch, and Wrath of the Lich King's Frozen Orbs, many had assumed that Spirits of Harmony would lose their soulbound status towards the end of the expansion. Community Manager Lore has confirmed once and for all that there are no plans to make this change with Spirits of Harmony. @rebrown38 @WoWMonk No plans to make those (or Spirits) account-wide. - Lore (@CM_Lore) March 21, 2014 We're not entirely sure on the reasoning behind this decision, but it might be something of an annoyance for players. Although, with previous expansions at least, the item was largely completely irrelevant by this point. Spirits of Harmony, in so much as they can be traded for items in the Shrine, have at least held some value. So don't stockpile them for an alt's crafting, on the basis that they might become BoA, or for an auction house bonanza that may never come.
MMO Mechanics: Balancing game economies
Most players won't need an economics degree to play an MMO, but strong mechanical forces under the bonnet still guide our actions in our favourite titles. Virtually every financial exchange can be broken down into an effort equals economic gain equation: We put in our hours, and the game economy churns out new gear or money. Since so many in-game actions financially reward players, MMOs have developed mechanics that attempt to curtail the inflation game economies usually see. Charging your character for goods and services, bind-on-pickup gear, regular destruction of valuable goods, and player-controlled auction house and farming systems all combine to keep the spiralling amount of coppers falling into player hands in check. In this week's MMO Mechanics, I'm going to look at some ways both sandbox and themepark MMOs automatically rebalance weighted economies by exploring the systems that restrict the free trade of goods and curb players' constant accrual of money. I'll look at how each system functions and how player manipulation adds a new layer of realism to game economies.
WoW Moviewatch: Lean Like a Forum Troll
Whoah, y'all. We haven't seen one of these in a long time. Could Lean Like a Forum Troll herald the return of belf rap? (Important note: Few belfs appear in this video, and none of them really rap. It's just what it's called.) I can't evaluate the music, really. I have the faint notion that I probably should recognize the song from ... somewhere ... but I couldn't place it. I get that it's a parody of Lean Like a Cholo, but that's not terribly informative to me. I definitely notice that it's Alliance-biased, instead of the inevitable Horde-flavor you usually get with rap parodies. So that's cool. The video's good stuff and the lyrics feel earnestly written; it was just slapped together because some words have the same number of syllables. All in all, it's nice to see some belf rap get back in the saddle. My hat's off to Xylan and Soulbound, with a solid nod to Khayllys for the machinima work. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
The Tattered Notebook: Auctioning raid loot, place bids now!
If you've spent any time in EverQuest II, you've probably seen auctions in public channels for fabled group and raid loot. And if you've walked past entrances to raid zones, you've probably seen the herd of semi-afk toons waiting outside, watching chat, and ready to zone in and loot at a moment's notice. Those who object to this practice have a few strong arguments. But the main one is that they believe in the philosophy of "earn it to wear it" -- that you should put in the effort and the time it takes to defeat a raid encounter in order to reap the benefits. They also argue that it cheapens the overall sense of value that raid gear has if "everyone else is wearing it." While I find that argument a bit dubious (and I have a little story to explain why), there are several strong arguments, both for and against the selling of loot rights. Read on for a closer look.
Dealing with old currencies
Gaviedrummer has exactly the problem that I have, only mine is probably worse: he has about 50 Badges of Justice left over from the last expansion. True, I've only got about 30, but I've also got stacks of Apexis Shards, Spirit Shards, Halaa Tokens, Obsidian Warbeads, and pretty much every other old reputation and currency item from the Burning Crusade sitting around clogging up my bank. And while some of it is just me being lazy (I could turn the Warbeads in, and I think I could probably grind out a few more Halaa tokens to pick up something there), as gaviedrummer finds out, most of it is completely useless. Yes, we can still trade for level 70 items, but who needs those any more?It would be nice, especially with the soulbound stuff (I presume I will someday have an alt coming up through Outland that might need some help), for Blizzard to give us an out. Even if it requires level 80 to do, and even if the exchange rate is terrible (something like one level 80 badge for five or ten level 70 badges), at least we'll be able to get rid of the old stuff. Obviously, they're worried that if they offer exchanges for new items, people will go back and grind the old instances for the old currency. But there has to be some middle ground or a level requirement or something, some rate that allows us to get something for the old junk, while keeping current level 80s from exploiting the system. Heck, even cloth has a reputation turn-in value, at the very minimum.The Stone Keeper's Shards at least have a turn-in for honor, and at the bare minimum, that's what you'd want for any currency -- something cheap that you can just cash out of the system with all of your leftovers. Blizzard may say what's past is past (and like I said, I may just need to spend a weekend cleaning out the bank), but it would be nice to have an NPC in Shattrath that can say "Oh, you're level 80? Let me just take those old tokens off your hands at a discounted price!" And it would be an Ethereal, of course.
Starting out in Vana'diel: Community, controls and cooperation
Hello there adventurers! It's Thursday, and that means more tips for those of you who are new to Vana'diel.This time around we have some less documented topics to talk about -- the controls of Final Fantasy XI, how to get into groups and how to run groups, and answer one of the questions presented by reader Green Armadillo in last column's comment area.I know these topics may seem weird for a recurring feature that is suppose to be a guide to starting out in Final Fantasy XI. You would think I would be tackling more game play issues or tips on how to level. However, these topics play right into getting the most out of your FFXI experience. Knowing these things is going to help you tremendously in Vana'diel, so let's stop talking about it and get down into it.
Happy Valentine's Day from WoW Insider
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Ataraxaven and Alastriona of Azuremyst sent us this picture of their "soulbound" wedding rings -- just like the other wedding rings we've posted before, the couple says that "soulbound" works well for them. It has a nice gamer reference (they're both WoW players, obviously, and they've been playing together for two years now), and even people who've never picked up a BoP item at least get the meaning.Very cool. Being as it is Valentine's Day today, don't forget to check out our guide to the Love Fool achievements, and be sure to get your sweetie something nice, ingame and/or out. Happy Valentine's Day to Ataraxaven and Alastriona and all of the lovers out there this weekend, hope you have a good one. Love is in the Air and on WoW Insider. Check out our continuing coverage of the event and our guide to earning the achievement. And you better hurry; the holiday only lasts five days!
Relics of Ulduar to stay soulbound?
A poster in the general forums today outlined his, and many others, money making strategy they'll do when patch 3.0.8 goes live: Save up bank-tabs-full of Relics of Ulduar Sell Relics of Ulduar when they are no longer soulbound in patch 3.0.8 This is a solid scheme, it seemed, to make a metric ton of gold. In 3.0.8 Relics will be able to be turned in for Sons of Hodir reputation. Everyone and their mother are going to want them.However a response by Bornakk, a Blizzard Community Manager, reads "Is there a problem? Yes sir, the data on the relics is inaccurate. While things can still change, they may remain souldbound."So in the typical Blizzard fashion of not confirming anything outright, they have more or less strongly hinted that relics will remain soulbound in 3.0.8. So much for the money making scheme.
2.4 may herald new bag types
World of Raids has been releasing information by the bucket loads, and one intriguing little morsel has caught our eye: The addition of four new bag types, marked "Leatherworking Supplies," "Soulbound Equipment," "Vanity Pets," and a fourth one simply marked "Unused." Almost any vanity pet fanatic will tell you that one of the hardest things to do is deciding what to delete to make room for your newest little friend, or which pet to take out of the bank and parade about when heading out to quest, grind, or raid. The idea of making vanity pets easier to store and carry has been one that's been a perennial topic of the suggestion boards and an issue dear to the hearts of every pet fanatic who's set up elaborate trade agreements with the other faction or spent countless hours in Zangarmarsh just to make sure they got ALL the vanity pets possible, and it looks as if Blizzard has finally answered their prayers. The leatherworking supplies bag is a bit harder to pin down. We already have a leatherworking bag category, so this may be simply a shuffling of data. As far as a soulbound items bag goes, if it simply allows any type of soulbound item or gear, and comes in sizes greater than the current 18 slot standard, this could be great salvation for any class who carries around an extra set of gear for various situations, be they a Druid with tank, DPS, and healing sets, or a raider with various resist sets. Of course, we can't say for sure yet if these new categories will be used right away for Sunwell loot or recipes, or whether they're simply in reserve for possible future use, but the prospect of more bag space has this druid drooling.
RPers distraught to see saved letters soulbound
Here's a really interesting undocumented note from the latest patch: Angelhunter on LJ says letters (as in saved copies of mailed ingame letters) are now soulbound. And that's a huge deal, apparently, to roleplayers -- they used those little scraps of paper for everything from treasure hunts and "official" documents to invitations and tickets.Now, I'm not quite sure exactly why this change would be made -- for what possible reason would you want to keep people from trading saved copies of in-game mail? It's not like it would stop anyone's communication -- anything goldsellers could say in these sheets of paper, they could say in in-game chat just as well. And I can't think of any possible way that these saved letters could be used to do something devious like pass secret letters or communicate across factions-- there's no reason to make them soulbound by default.Of course, it may just be a bug -- that's what someone was told by a GM, so maybe Blizzard will put a fix in, and RPers can have their murder mysteries again. Unfortunately, I can't seeing it justifying a hotfix -- odds are that even if it is just a bug, RPers will be waiting quite a while until they can trade letters again.
Real life wedding rings get Soulbound
A member of the WoW Ladies livejournal group, Tsuraibara, and her husband figured out a completely awesome way for them to customize their wedding rings. Since they "met on an online game, the engraving was free, [and] 'soulbound' sounds nice even if you aren't familiar with WoW," they actually went out and got "Soulbound" carved on the inside of each of the rings. That's great!I liked the plush Shammy a lot, but I think this might be my new favorite real life WoW item. Of course, this does mean that they won't be able to put these on the AH anymore. But if for some reason an upgrade drops (maybe on a wedding anniversary), a vendor could probably offer them a few gold at least.
