The “Elemental Lariat” is an extremely powerful neck piece that WoW Dragonflight jewelers can create. However, they need a recipe for that. Exactly this was bugged – and those who had it could make a lot of profit. Blizzard has now fixed this – but too late, says MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus.
What was the bug? The recipe for the Elemental Lariat is said to be found from “rare enemies in elemental storms on the Dragon Islands” according to the in-game tooltip. The storms have been active since season 1 on December 14th.
However, there were problems here because the recipe was simply not dropping. Or rather: much less often than it was actually planned. Blizzard indirectly confirmed this, as in a hotfix from December 19th it states:
“We fixed a bug where the recipe: Elemental Lariat was not properly dropped by all bosses in storms. It should now drop correctly.” (via worldofwarcraft.com)
How did players become millionaires with this? The corresponding neck piece, the Elemental Lariat, is the best neck item for most classes in the game and will remain so for quite some time. With the new crafting system of Dragonflight, it is possible to raise the item level to up to 415. This corresponds to mythic raid loot.
Consequently, the necklace is extremely sought after by many players. So much so that they are willing to pay a high price for it – which has indeed happened. The few lucky ones who could obtain the recipe made a fortune.
Through the crafting order system, players can order items from crafters, but must also bear all material costs themselves for public orders. Since hardly anyone possessed the recipe, those who had it could demand a lot of money for it without incurring any costs themselves.
On my server alone, I have seen offers of over 100,000 gold per order, and that is a pretty small RP server. Other players report offers of over 300,000 gold per order (via reddit). That is worth more than a WoW token, which costs 20 euros. Whoever had the recipe could practically rake in gold.
In our special, you will find all info about Dragonflight. In the video, we explain the new profession system in 2 minutes:
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I am a jeweler and belong to those who have farmed the recipe since day 1 of the storms. Every day, I spent several hours trying to find as many bosses as possible, and it is really exhausting. Because they spawn irregularly, sometimes not at all.
The events themselves are terribly monotonous, boring, and offer someone who plays somewhat actively absolutely nothing. Except for a few pets and a mount that do not interest me. And this stupid recipe. Or rather, not at all…
I suspected early on that something was wrong here because in several raid groups, not a single person received the recipe over the course of several days. I am not bothered by the fact that I cannot get the best items right away. But that there is no faster reaction when obviously so many people are paying a lot of gold for it, I do not understand.
By the way, it has not gotten better since the hotfix. The developers have stated: The recipe has a chance to drop with each first kill per boss and per day. But even now, while writing this article, I have killed several bosses and have not seen a drop. The same goes for the 2 days prior. That’s why I doubt that the fix is really active.
Above all, I am surprised that Blizzard waited so long. From a layman’s perspective, the fix does not seem very demanding. And larger issues have also been addressed quite quickly.
The WoW economy has certainly suffered in parts. And many important items for raiders are already exorbitantly expensive at the moment. Personally, I do not want the recipe even for myself, but because I am one of the jewelers in my guild and we simply need these neck pieces.
That all three jewelers among us are still waiting for the recipe while others become millionaires disappoints me. The season started off so well:
