Key Takeaways
- WoW buffs event currency gains is because it is easier to increase the numbers than decrease them.
- World of Warcraft errs on the side of caution with event rewards, but ultimately adjusts them based on player feedback, with an example being the increased currency gains for the 20th anniversary event.
World of Warcraft recently revealed the reason that many of the limited-time events in 2024 received buffs to the currency gains later on is because it is easier to increase these numbers than decrease them. While it may be frustrating for players hoping to grind out events as quickly as possible, World of Warcraft tends to err on the side of caution, as it can’t reduce these numbers without significant backlash from the community.
This year, World of Warcraft has run several limited time events: Plunderstorm, WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, the Radiant Echoes Pre-Patch event for The War Within, and the ongoing 20th anniversary celebration. Despite their differences, these World of Warcraft events all received buffs to their currency gathering rates at some point during their runtime.
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During a recent interview with GamesRadar+, World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas explained why this keeps happening. “We can always buff the rewards,” he said. “We’re never going to nerf the rewards, really, right? If things go out too fast and generous, we’ll never pull that back. And so, while playing a bit of that guessing game of trying to pick the right values, we may tend to err on the conservative side.” Hazzikostas emphasized that the devs were not being intentionally stingy, but rather, trying to strike the balance between rewarding and engaging. “Hopefully, the players understand we’ll be fast and responsive if it feels like we’ve missed the mark. We hear the feedback from the community loud and clear.”
World of Warcraft Errs On the Side of Caution With Events
In regard to the most recent example, Hazzikostas noted that the developers had not considered the impact of their own release cadence on the 20th anniversary event. It began only eight weeks after The War Within’s launch, meaning many players were still in the middle of the endgame loop. “Even if they really enjoyed the 20th-anniversary content, there was this sense of ‘I already have been spending a bunch of time doing dungeons and delves and leveling these other alts. This feels like too much to ask on top of that.’” Adding the 20th anniversary event content on top of their existing 11.0 “chores” became overwhelming, leading World of Warcraft to increase the Bronze Celebration Tokens earned from Season 1 activities.
“We can always buff the rewards. We’re never going to nerf the rewards, really, right? If things go out too fast and generous, we’ll never pull that back. And so, while playing a bit of that guessing game of trying to pick the right values, we may tend to err on the conservative side.”
The ramifications of what would happen if it did nerf the acquisition rates of event currency can be seen in the response to hotfixes during World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria. There were a number of superspawn exploits players discovered that trivialized the grind for Bronze, reputation, and threads for their Cloaks of Infinite Potential, the infamous Gulp Frogs being the most notorious of the bunch. Fans were outraged when World of Warcraft dialed back the efficiency of these farming spots – and it is not a leap of logic to assume they would have a similar reaction if Blizzard nerfed an event for being “too fast and generous.”
While players may not be satisfied with Hazzikostas’ answer, the logic does make sense. From a development standpoint, it is better to buff an undertuned event than release an overtuned one and choose between losing engagement or sparking outrage with a nerf. That said, setting a trend that encourages fans to wait for inevitable buffs before engaging in an event isn’t great either. Hopefully, the lessons learned from these events will help future World of Warcraft activities reach that balance on the first try.
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