WoW demon Cortyn has a criticism of the trading post in World of Warcraft. Because the fun was over too quickly – most tasks are pointless.
Since February 1, 2023, the trading post has been active in World of Warcraft. Although there were a few issues immediately after the launch of the feature, which led to temporary shutdowns, the trading post is now running stably and offers all players a wealth of unlockable items. Mounts, transmog, and even pets are currently included.
To obtain them, you just need to complete a series of quests to collect a total of 1,000 travel points. It’s enough to complete a small fraction of the available missions.
The trading post becomes irrelevant after one day of the month
Maybe I stand quite alone with this opinion, but fulfilling the quests went too quickly for me. Collecting 1,000 travel points took me just under 3 hours – and that was 3 hours I hadn’t planned for. I simply went through my usual “Wednesday routine”, checked off the various world quests, fulfilled my crafting quests, took down a world boss, and participated in a few events (hunting and cooking).
Without really trying, I was done with the monthly quests.
By now, it should be clear to everyone that the trading post is not a “battle pass” – the missions are too insignificant, the tasks are completed too quickly, and the gameplay effort is close to zero.
On one hand, it’s great that the tasks of the trading post can be completed on the side. This way, no one has to carve out extra time and feel “forced” to complete something to receive the cosmetic rewards. This is very inclusive and supports all kinds of playstyles, whether PvE, PvP, auction house mogul or pet battle fan.
On the other hand, it is a bit sad that with the current design, the trading post will have no relevance for active players by the 3rd day of the month, as they are “done” with the tasks – regardless of whether they approached them with intention or not.
Additional incentives to complete more quests
There are certainly potential solutions to the “problem”.
More trader currencies are not the answer here. Because that would only force everyone to feel obligated to complete all tasks. That you can easily acquire the maximum amount of trader currencies is a good thing and should remain so.
However, completing the quests could bring in additional small benefits. Rewards that are not so important that everyone wants to complete them but are interesting enough to provide optional incentives:
- How about unlocking a bonus for 3,000 travel points to “save” and freeze another item for the next month?
- How about a toy that rewards you for completing over 250 tasks over several months?
- How about a title you get when you collect over 50,000 travel points over several months?
There are many options, and I am sure Blizzard would be able to find a good way to restructure the feature to provide more long-term goals without everyone feeling “forced” to work more than necessary for the trading post.
In summary, I miss a bit of grind and a bit of motivation to want to fulfill more quests. I would like to spend more time with the feature, but without any incentive, that’s just not possible.
What do you think of the trading post? Would you like a bit more to do? Or do you think the strength of the new system is that you hardly have to do anything for it?
