In World of Warcraft, there are many NPCs and locations that serve no purpose. Many players demand: Give the vendors a purpose again.
MMORPGs must fulfill many qualities to provide players with a fun yet convincing experience. Regular new content, many fellow players, and above all, a world that feels alive are just a few of the things that are necessary. However, the convincing world is a problem in World of Warcraft, with a specific aspect: vendors and vendor houses.
What is the problem? Vendors have drastically changed over the course of 8 expansions in World of Warcraft. While players once had to visit at least a few different vendors in the capital cities — like an arrow vendor for the hunter, reagent vendor as a paladin, or poison vendor as a rogue — many of these former vendors today are virtually without purpose.
However, most vendors and their houses still exist, as do the many armor vendors in capital cities like Stormwind or Orgrimmar. However, they have virtually nothing interesting in their assortment, only selling items of gray or white quality that maybe a roleplayer buys every few years.
As a result, many buildings and their inhabitants have no real use in the game world. This is exactly what was criticized in a current post in the World of Warcraft subreddit and has already gathered over 11,000 upvotes in less than 24 hours. The post is titled “The fact that 99.9% of all shops in the game have no use is depressing” – and it has received much support. Several awards and over 95% approval reveal that many people see it this way.
How could it be solved? Basically, a solution to the problem already exists on a smaller scale. Something that is repeatedly demanded: The now dilapidated vendors should have items in their sales window that you can’t get anywhere else. This has been the case since Vanilla with some vendors who sell special recipes for crafting or green gear that you can’t get anywhere else.
This system could easily be expanded, allowing various items to appear randomly at a number of vendors – like transmog from Vanilla, Burning Crusade, and other expansions.
In some areas, armor vendors actually have such a use. For example, in Mists of Pandaria, and also in some Cataclysm areas, you can buy green gear from vendors that is suitable for leveling in the respective area and thematically fits well.
Here’s how the community discusses it: The topic is also actively discussed in the thread. Many have their own ideas, suggestions, or opinions on the matter.
Graphiccsp writes:
Despite the problems that Cataclysm had, I really liked how Blizzard gave different shops and buildings a purpose for professions, equipment, badges, and so on. Or how Dalaran’s buildings served a purpose for quests. I believe they make the cities more a part of the game and not just the scenery. I wish they would bring that back.
Takkatoo sees it even more drastically:
The WoW world feels empty and artificial. Every time nostalgia hits me and I jump back into the game, this nostalgia is quickly shattered.
However, some are also pleased about empty buildings, like craftpunk23, who notes that roleplayers can derive benefit from them.
They are good for RP guilds. I was in the game at a wedding party in the tavern in the mage quarter, that was really fun.
What do you think? Do you have a good idea on how to reintegrate the vendors and their buildings into the game meaningfully?
