In World of Warcraft, a preview for the next Patch 6.1 has now been released. In addition to things that could be expected, such as the new Blood Elf models, the opening of the next raid, and a new system for heirlooms, Blizzard has also planned some surprises.
Blizzard gives an outlook on the near future of WoW. Here they show that they also want to keep up with the times.
Blizzard introduces tradable game time
Thus, they introduce “tradable game time”, which is already familiar to players of WildStar, EVE Online, ArcheAge, and other games. This involves an in-game item that can be traded in-game, which grants a specific game time to the account with a right-click. You can buy the item either from other players for gold or from Blizzard for real money, to then sell it to other players for gold – or to trade it for any other services.
Similar offers are already seen in the trade channels of this world: “Trading gold for game card/game time.” However, this is against the EULA of WoW and can be penalized. Additionally, players can already be scammed and ripped off this way, losing their hard-earned gold. If it happens officially with this item, there will be security.
Caution: It is currently unclear whether the tradable game time will come directly with 6.1. Blizzard does not make a significant distinction in the outlook between “long-term projects” and the direct preview of 6.1.
Moreover, WoW players will soon be able to tweet.
As announced, new flight routes are also being introduced to make traveling more direct. They currently do not want to acknowledge flying players on their own mounts.
The heirlooms are returning
Additionally, with 6.1, the revamped heirloom system is coming. The heirlooms will find their way into the game and the interface in the form of a tab, just like mounts, toys, and pets used to. The “normal” version of the heirlooms will be purchasable from vendors, and there will also be items with which the heirlooms can be upgraded in World of Warcraft.
Heirlooms in WoW allow twinks to breeze through the content. They provide XP bonuses and have relatively strong stats.
The base version of the heirlooms should, however, only reach up to level 60. There will be two additional tiers that can upgrade the base items – one to level 90 and one to level 100. The original items can be purchased for gold, and upgrading works through a special currency that players can earn in-game.
More of everything: Legendary quest, new raid
The less surprising part of 6.1 continues the legendary questline involving Khadgar. Here, players will also be able to earn a legendary follower, as currently, only the guys, gals, and Blood Elves manage to reach epic status.
There will also be new content for raiders: The Blackrock Foundry, the next raid in WoW, will open its doors. Rukhmar, the next world boss, will also be present. This also brings the itemization into a new realm.
Blood Elves will receive their remodelling as announced. Additionally, the garrison will be further expanded to remain attractive. Detours to friends’ garrisons should be worthwhile in the future. The invasions should also become a bit more exciting: Perhaps a world boss will also drop by for some exciting brawls.
The patch will soon be available on the test server, and the new raid will likely launch in February. It seems that Patch 6.1 could be expected around this time.
Attack on Ratchet
Mein MMO says: The actual surprise in this preview is certainly the tradable game time. There was previously no signal from Blizzard for this.
A kind of “ingame tradable game card” is not a new idea, as EVE has been doing this with PLEX for years. In the past year, it became acceptable with WildStar and ran relatively smoothly, while ArcheAge faced major problems with its APEX.
The reasoning behind this for Blizzard is clear: They are trying to cut off the lifeline of gold sellers or at least attempt to. Certainly a right step for WoW, which could have been taken a few years ago. But it is typical behavior for Blizzard: They observe what other games are doing, see how well it works for them, and then wonder how to implement it in their own game, in World of Warcraft.
