The first warnings to surprised fans of World of Warcraft have been issued. Apparently, the developers are serious and see more than many thought.
In the season of discoveries of World of Warcraft Classic, Blizzard is trying out a few new things. This affects not only game content but also the fundamental rule system according to which WoW is to be played. One of the latest changes ensures that the “GDKP” principle for loot distribution is no longer allowed.
At first, many players mocked that Blizzard couldn’t possibly check this – but now the first warnings have arrived.
What is GDKP? A GDKP system is referred to when loot distribution in raids or dungeons is decided through gold bids. The character that places the highest gold bid then receives the loot. After the raid or instance, the gold collected is distributed among all participants. This way, especially wealthy characters get a lot of loot and everyone else receives a nice sum of gold.
This method of loot distribution is now prohibited with the start of Phase 2 of the season of discoveries – starting now.
What has Blizzard done now? Many were astonished, but Blizzard has issued numerous warnings in conjunction with the start of Phase 2. Accounts that have participated in GDKP systems in the recent past have been explicitly warned.
In this warning, Blizzard points out that this behavior is no longer allowed and can lead to sanctions such as the temporary or permanent suspension of an account.
Several players report this and publish screenshots of their warnings:
Why is Blizzard banning GDKP? Blizzard justifies this by stating that GDKP would lead to gold sellers and thus also bots becoming an ever-increasing problem. If loot is only distributed through gold, more people feel encouraged to buy gold from dubious sites.
However, this creates a vicious cycle. Because the more gold is purchased, the more gold is in circulation, and the higher the bids in GDKP become – prompting one to have to buy even more gold.
This is how the community reacts: In the Subreddit of WoW Classic, people are surprised and simultaneously positively surprised that Blizzard is already acting proactively. This way, no one can excuse themselves later by saying they did not know the new rules.
As Hranica writes:
I haven’t played much Classic lately, but the confidence with which people here claimed “Blizzard can’t track this at all, so everything’s fine” was really strange.
Did the people from the GDKP Discord servers really think that everything was okay as long as they just coordinated in voice chat and Blizzard couldn’t trace it when thousands of gold pieces changed accounts?
The general mood seems to be optimistic and positive among those who support the GDKP ban.
Now it remains to be seen whether the rule change actually has an effect and does not result in a shift to other methods as feared.
The modern WoW is also taking inspiration from the season of discoveries: There is a secret patch that is not being tested.
