World of Warcraft: Dragon Swarm – Trading Post to Cash Shop?
World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, Dragon Swarm, was a breath of fresh air for the 19-year-old MMO after some controversial additions. The game seemed to be doing everything right and was fun to play again. The story was engaging, the content was enjoyable, and Azeroth added a wealth of exciting features. The expansion even included great evergreen content like the WoW Trading Post, but recent data analysis suggests that things may be changing quickly. What was originally intended as a free service could soon become another microtransaction shop.
According to recent data-mined assets, the Trading Post may be turning into a cash shop. Although not yet in the game, there are shop assets for various Trader’s Tender packages that resemble the images found in the Battle.net shop. If Blizzard does add microtransactions to the Trading Post, it will quickly lose its appeal and feel like the in-game store that already exists. This addition to the game would be wrong, considering that World of Warcraft is not a free game and players pay a monthly subscription fee of $15 to access Azeroth.
The Trading Post was a fantastic addition to the game, giving players access to a rotating catalog of cosmetics that they could earn simply by playing. It helped players expand their cosmetic collections, gave Blizzard the opportunity to release previously unavailable cosmetics, and provided evergreen content that could exist across expansions. It was too good to be true, and skeptics may have been right.
Although these data sets could be a good thing, Blizzard has not said what these assets are for. The future of the Trading Post looks bleak at the moment, and players will have to wait for Blizzard’s announcement to know what their plans are. World of Warcraft is available now for PC.
