For my third MMOG news piece, Blizzard and the World of Warcraft Armory has finally begun testing the long awaited Remote Auction House for the iPhone, iPod touch and web browser.
The free App (and desktop download, available now) allows players to log into the WoW Armory and browse any in-game Auction House that characters on a players WoW account have access to. Once beta testing is complete and the Remote Auction House is truly live, players who subscribe to the service will be able to bid on or buy-out existing auctions; post items for sale from their bags, bank and mailbox; and collect gold that they earn in auctions, all through the mobile device.
Players will pay $2.99 for 30 days of service, with individual subscriptions necessary for each additional account a player owns. Transactions are to be limited to prevent players abusing the service, however it is expected that the limits will eventually stretch to hundreds of transactions per day.
As Blizzard seemingly know no bounds on how to draw money from their player base, and considering WoW subscription numbers are in excess of 11 million accounts, I am sure that there are plenty amongst the user base who own an iPhone or iPod touch who would be more than willing to pay for the service (what’s an extra $3 dollars after all?). Being able to list auction items in-game, while sat on a bus or on your lunch break is an incredible technical achievement on Blizzards part, but one which will save players considerable time and could also earn them considerable gold.
As if WoW addicts didn’t have enough to contend with, any free time they do happen to have will now be swallowed whole by the offline joys of ruling Azeroth’s auction houses. Curse you Blizzard.
You can find all the necessary information relating to this App here.
Don’t forget people:
BUY LOW!
SELL HIGH!
Email the author of this post at lewisb@tap-repeatedly.com
This is hilarious. Next there will be mobile raid dungeons: roll a die and simulate a whole instance.
What I find amazing though is the fact that this App actually effects the game. Just by using an App the player is putting REAL auction items, into the game itself. On live servers. In real time! It’s absolutely barmy and a real technical achievement. Don’t ask me how they do it, it’s all very snazzy I’m sure!
Blizzard never fail to impress me 🙂