Those who wanted to take care of their virtual finances on the go could do this with the mobile auction house from World of Warcraft. However, this feature will be removed from the Arsenal app on April 18 – because it is too expensive.
The Arsenal app from World of Warcraft has been a companion for many WoW players for several years. Check realm status, chat with guild members, check invitations in the calendar, or view talents and equipment – all in one app.
For a long time, particularly engaged players and economic experts could also actively participate in the auction house through the app. The Wolves of Wall Street in Orgrimmar or Stormwind could observe or set auctions, buy items, and rake in gold were among the basic functions.
Too few users, maintenance blocks the development of new features
On April 18, this part of the app will now be shut down. Already at the beginning of April, Blizzard released this announcement, which sparked a large discussion about “why?” In a relevant thread in the US forum of World of Warcraft, community manager Ythisens finally provided the justification.
Basically, too few players used this feature of the app to justify its maintenance – only 1% of the community. The cost-benefit ratio was not justified for Blizzard.
Particularly the frequent errors were the problem. These repeatedly led to exploits, the misuse of the app, which had impacts on the economy in-game. The resolution of these errors cost more resources than the demand in the community could justify – at the expense of the development of new features.
The Arsenal app will remain!
On the cut-off date, only the auction house function of the Arsenal app will be discontinued. Contrary to rumors, Blizzard has no plans to remove the app completely from the market. Functions like guild chat and item browser will remain.
The foundation of the app, the API, will remain accessible to the community. Pages and apps that monitor the WoW market will remain untouched – and if development allows it at some point, a return of the feature to the Arsenal app is also conceivable.
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