Project Lore

According to a government-issued press release, China's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce (that's right, they've got two Ministries on the job!) have filed an injunction against anybody who would sell or trade virtual currency for real goods or services. This comes as the country's first official ruling on the matter, which defines what does and does not constitute virtual currency (game cards count, apparently), and cites concerns of gambling and illicit trade using the the funny money as a go-between. Now, your average gold seller probably spends at least half his day in a tiny room filled with cigarette smoke and the ambient buzz of a dozen or so computers running non-stop, farming up mobs and resources just so he can earn his meager paycheck. He's the computer-age equivalent of your average "working joe." It almost makes me feel sorry for I wonder if Cash4Gold would accept all of my virtual WoW money? those guys, but hopefully the enaction of this new law will curtail the more malicious brand of online crooks: those that hack and ravage player accounts. Even if you haven't experienced it yourself, we almost all know someone who's fallen victim to the practice, and we understand how much of a pain in the butt it can be to get things squared away again. So, does this mean bye-bye Susan Express? As one of the more noted gold-selling sites, perhaps, as the Chinese government no doubt has their eyes on certain firms. But, as with just about any illegal trade, it will be all but impossible to completely stamp out. Gold farmers will go further underground or move their operations to other countries that have yet to ban the practice, though I believe that the law works both ways, meaning that Chinese players could be indicted for buying, as well as selling. The press release cites "QQ Coins" (yes, they're really called that) from Tencent.com as the most often-traded virtual currency in the country. Originally, they were used to purchase clothes and accessories for online avatars, but have come to be used by a variety of online stores seeking to capitalize on the incredible popularity of the associated online/networking services provided by Tencent. The new law makes exceptions for legitimate content providers, and the company has stated their intent to cooperate with the government in stopping online theft (just look at their "vision:" To be the most respected internet company). According to tech-related business site Information Week, the gold-selling business currently bring in "between $200 million and $1 billion annually." In addition to simply curtailing crime, the regulation seems apt to prevent the virtual trade from becoming too much of a burden on China's real-world economy in the future. I, for one, am glad to see China taking a stance on the issue, especially since the country is purported to house at least 80% of gold-selling operations worldwide. I can guess what most of you think of this development, at least from a WoW player's standpoint. But what about the global economy? These illicit operations may be a thorn in the side of real-world governments and creators of virtual goods (like Blizzard), but is stunting the growthy of a new economic avenue worth it in the long run? Just as digital distribution of products like movies or games is becoming a steady alternative to buying physical copies from the store, is it possible for money to effectively be traded in a similar fashion?

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Fing classic.

Patch v3.0.8 had many of us at ProjectLore a bit excited. Heck, you could get away with calling us downright ecstatic at all the changes the first Wrath of the Lich King patch would bring. We all all had our owns reasons for the anticipation, new achievements, cheaper enchants, one-shot mining, knowing that Dorkins will never stop complaining, it was all there. Blizzard finally dropped the patch on us this Tuesday, but not all was well in the lands of Azeroth. Actually, the whole ordeal has been quite a clusterfrak.

The first major bug to rear its ugly, beady-eyed head was a Death Knight related bug. The non-gameplay issue basically nullified one of the “features” being added by v3.0.8. For many, the ability to make Death Knights on any realm, so long as you had a level 55 character somewhere, was unavailable. Not a big deal, and it didn't affect a majority of the players directly. However, the hotfix forced a series of rolling restarts, the first of many to come.

The next two issues were huge, game changing problems that brought major features of WoW to its knees. A bit more troublesome than some lag and server restarts for sure. Lake Wintergrasp, a highly touted feature for Wrath's release, had a moth in it so bad that it crashed servers or at least Northrend (depending on  reports). I was indirectly informed that Wintergrasp's issue had something to do with zone population. According to the informer, the zone was not stress tested heavily enough on the PTR.  This allowed the bug to sneak into the live code and wreak havoc.

The next major $#*() is far more upsetting than Lake Wintergrasp being disabled. Blizzard silently modified the way Arena matching and rating was calculated in the patch with disastrous results. The modifications allowed teams to shoot up to 2000+ ranking in no time flat. This was caused by the fact that a losing team did not see a reduction in Arena points. Following the Wintergrasp debacle, Blizzard pulled the plug on Arenas as they attempted to correct the bug.

What's worse (to some) is that the developers decided that everything gained during this time frame was “illegitimate.” Do to their stance, the company reset team and personal ratings to pre-weekly maintenance levels, removed all awarded gems, points and enchantments. I for one agree with them on this entirely, but it still sucks when people waste their time.  Kalgan also has a post up that goes into more detail on the rollback.

Hopefully we can have an uneventful weekend after this morning's emergency maintenance “to resolve current In-Game issues,” but at this point who knows. I guess I may have been lucky as none of these bugs really bothered me. I have avoided Wrath PvP so far, as I am still working on my gear.  On my server the Alliance was stuck with the Wintergrasp buff. So that was cool. In fact, my buddy who plays the game for the Arena actually ran some rare instances!

Oh geez, I almost forgot this non-patch related dozy. Despite my best efforts to warn them about the pitfalls of ads on their official forums, Blizzard got a little greedy and did it anyways. As the screenshot shows, an unapproved group of ads slipped through their filtering process. Someone over at Microsoft (who owns the ad provider) is getting canned. At least the banner managed to stay on topic!

Tell me Bastosa, was this the mess you were “so anxious” about?

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