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We’ve recently seen some cool new features added to the WoW Armory like the Character Activity Feed and the 3D Model Viewer. Features like these are just the latest in Blizzard’s goal of giving players the ability to access information about their characters more easily while away from the game. We can already access information about our characters on the go via the Armory App for the iPhone and the iPod Touch, and the latest features even allow some info to reach us via RRS feed.
The thing about how the Armory works now is that it accesses data from the game so basically it’s just “read only” functionality. CM Bornakk has given us the heads up of a new feature that they are currently working on that could change that to some extent. They are working on a feature that will integrate the Auction House with the Armory. When I first read this, I thought that the feature would be another “read only” thing where we can only browse the items and their prices. Now that’s a pretty awesome thing to have already. But when Bornakk mentioned that they want to offer auction house functionality similar to what’s in the game, I believe he means even buying and selling of items.
If you think about it, we can already access some items in the game to some extent. The fact that we can log in to our accounts via the Armory and see what’s in the guild bank means that we can do the same thing for the items in our bags and in our personal banks. But seeing the items is different from being able to involve them in auction house transactions is a really big step that if done correctly could lead into several possibilities. I’m just thinking out loud here but breaking the “read only” functionality that the Armory currently has could possibly lead to things like being able to mail items to other players while away from the game and accessing said mail. The Armory already sees the progress of our professions and one day we might see the Armory have a feature where we can not only see our crafting “recipes” but also craft things and seel them in the auction house, all while away from the game.
As you can see there are many possibilities but the question we must ask ourselves is “how much of the game do you really want to be able to interact with while away from the game?”
I am sure Blizzard has thought this through but it just seems like there could be a huge risk for potential hacking and scamming. When you will be able to access and manipulate in game stuff outside the game it opens up much more capability to script and automate without getting detected. It could quite literally ruin the economy on a server with a bot script undercutting every auction all the time. But like I said, I am sure Blizzard has thought of all this. I am quite interested in how they implement this.