The latest feature in World of Warcraft is well received by almost everyone. But that’s not a given – because the trade post could have been really terrible.
The trade post in World of Warcraft has been active for just over a week and is very popular. There are many cool unlocks and whether you’re a transmog fan, pet collector, or mount enthusiast – everyone finds something in the trade post that they want. However, the fact that the trade post is so well received is not a given. At the beginning, Blizzard had a few ideas and plans that, in hindsight, seem really terrible.
Where was this discussed? In a one-hour interview with the Community Council of World of Warcraft, the developers behind the trade post answered questions from the community and shared some insights about the ideas and changes made during development. Some of these sound so terrible in retrospect that most should be glad it didn’t turn out that way.
The monthly reward was intended as a purchasable item
Anyone who completed the travel journal in February receives the stylish mount Ash’adar as a free bonus. But that wasn’t always the plan. The original version in the development of the trade post envisioned a very special item each month – in February, it would have been the mount Ash’adar.
The special item would have been the “highlight” of the month. However, that felt terrible, because suddenly there wasn’t really a choice. There was only one decision to make, namely to buy that special item, as everything else felt inferior.
Ultimately, the developers concluded that it would be better to simply award the “best item” of the month as a free bonus. This just feels better and provides more freedom.
Sets spread over several months
In an earlier version of the trade post, each item could be purchased individually. For example, an “ensemble” was divided into 8 individual items. Anyone wanting to buy a set had to purchase many items individually.
This, however, led during internal testing to people finding items like the bracers of a set uninteresting and skipping them.
But that wasn’t all: Sets could be split over several months. For example, half of a set could have been offered in February while the other half landed in the trade post in March. This was supposed to convey the sense of being able to collect a set over time.
Fortunately, this was only a trial – as the idea was not well received from all sides.
Every day, an item is removed from rotation
Another idea was that the selection in the trade post would rotate more frequently. At one point, it was planned that around 30 items would be available in the trade post. Every day, one item would be removed from the system while another replaced it.
What would have theoretically provided more variety and faster new items, would have resulted in complete chaos in practice. It would not only have led to missing an item quickly, but also contributed to players hoarding trade coins at the beginning of the month and hesitating to spend them – after all, it could be the case that cooler items land in the trade post later in the month that they wouldn’t be able to afford.
For this very reason, the feature did not go live in this form.
Trade post is just the beginning
The developers emphasize, however, that the trade post is a feature that will run for a long time and will likely be revised several times. If it turns out that players are not getting by with their trade coins and could be purchasing much more on average, this value might still be adjusted.
At the same time, they have already created “tons” of content for the trade post, so there will always be something new to discover in the coming months – and also some things that haven’t been found in data mining yet.
How do you like the trade post in its current form? Are you satisfied with its development? Or would you have even liked some of the ideas?
