There is a feature that many players from World of Warcraft have missed in the recent announcements regarding Patch 11.1.5. The developers did not provide a reason for the silence for a long time. Only now is there finally an update on the “Puzzling Cartel Chips”.
What are the “Puzzling Cartel Chips”? The new currency is supposed to be introduced with WoW-Patch 11.1.5 and will take the place of the dinars from the Shadowlands expansion. In other words, anyone who possesses such a cartel chip can choose a specific loot piece from the current raid instance at Ando from “Liberation of Lorenhall”.
When Blizzard presented the roadmap and content rollout for the next content patch of WoW last week, there was no sign of the “Puzzling Cartel Chips”. See for yourselves:
- April 23: Nightmare scenario, cooldown manager, and the winds of mysterious fortune
- May 21: Return of the Disturbing Visions
- June 4: Cunning Duos
Consequently, one could frequently read the question in the forum and on Reddit about what was happening with the new dinars?! A reaction from the Blizzard officials has only now come – and it is unsatisfying.
The trailer for the current WoW patch 11.1:
Announcement for an Announcement
How does Blizzard respond? In a post on forums.blizzard.com, the WoW player Athernon asks the developers to finally clarify their concrete plans for the “Puzzling Cartel Chips”, as he would base which item he chooses from the vault during the next ID change on the timing of the dinars’ premiere. Many commentators there also desire clarity.
And indeed, community manager Kaivax spoke up last night. However, he only had a rather vague announcement for the community (via forums.blizzard.com): “We have not forgotten them! We will provide more details about the implementation of the Puzzling Cartel Chips as soon as the patch goes live.”
At least one piece of information can be drawn from this: The “Puzzling Cartel Chips” will likely not come with Patch 11.1.5 on April 23, 2025, but at a later date.
How does the community respond? They partially respond with sarcasm to Blizzard’s inability to make a clear statement on the topic in a timely manner.
- Snozay writes on forums.blizzard.com: “Such a super informative and clear comment. So much effort.”
- arfenos_porrows jokes on Reddit: “Even the announcement of the dinars is time-gated” – so it is artificially withheld.
- Hrekires does not understand it (via Reddit): “I don’t understand what is so difficult about just telling us what the plan/schedule is. Let’s say 6 months from now, whatever, I would just like to be able to plan around it.”
- xCAMPINGxCARLx speculates on Reddit: “I suspect they will connect them [the chips] with each of the patch events. So one from Flame’s Radiance (new faction), one from the visions, one from the Cunning Duos, one from the leveling event. Account-wide unlocking.”
But even if xCAMPINGxCARLx hits the nail on the head with his speculation, one could certainly communicate that – without spoilers – to the community. What do you think about Blizzard’s current communication policy? Would you also like more clarity on such details? Recently, there have also been some ambiguities when Blizzard adjusted the rules for gold trading: Be careful who you give gold to in WoW, in the worst-case scenario your account is gone
