RPers distraught to see saved letters soulbound
Here's a really interesting undocumented note from the latest patch: Angelhunter on LJ says letters (as in saved copies of mailed ingame letters) are now soulbound. And that's a huge deal, apparently, to roleplayers -- they used those little scraps of paper for everything from treasure hunts and "official" documents to invitations and tickets.
Now, I'm not quite sure exactly why this change would be made -- for what possible reason would you want to keep people from trading saved copies of in-game mail? It's not like it would stop anyone's communication -- anything goldsellers could say in these sheets of paper, they could say in in-game chat just as well. And I can't think of any possible way that these saved letters could be used to do something devious like pass secret letters or communicate across factions-- there's no reason to make them soulbound by default.
Of course, it may just be a bug -- that's what someone was told by a GM, so maybe Blizzard will put a fix in, and RPers can have their murder mysteries again. Unfortunately, I can't seeing it justifying a hotfix -- odds are that even if it is just a bug, RPers will be waiting quite a while until they can trade letters again.
Now, I'm not quite sure exactly why this change would be made -- for what possible reason would you want to keep people from trading saved copies of in-game mail? It's not like it would stop anyone's communication -- anything goldsellers could say in these sheets of paper, they could say in in-game chat just as well. And I can't think of any possible way that these saved letters could be used to do something devious like pass secret letters or communicate across factions-- there's no reason to make them soulbound by default.
Of course, it may just be a bug -- that's what someone was told by a GM, so maybe Blizzard will put a fix in, and RPers can have their murder mysteries again. Unfortunately, I can't seeing it justifying a hotfix -- odds are that even if it is just a bug, RPers will be waiting quite a while until they can trade letters again.

















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-27-2007 @ 2:34PM
jpn said...
I love when RPers QQ about stupid stuff.
Reply
9-27-2007 @ 2:45PM
Buuty said...
It could be to reduce in-game gambling. Some players use the mail to make raffle tickets and bingo cards, which they charge other players for. They use some random number generator to pick a winner.
Since they charge for these tickets, they are making a profit through in-game mechanics...a big no-no in the eyes of Blizz
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9-27-2007 @ 2:49PM
lori said...
Yep, probably an inadverent change resulting for some other software modification for the patch. Like the gold delivery delay to stop goldsellers.
There are simply too many bugs introduced with new patches and they aren't being found early. IMO, PTRs don't work and Blizz needs to consider putting new stuff in a few servers where a LOT of people actually play the game for real for that phase of testing. Or at least NOT put a new patch up live on ALL servers after PTR is finished.
Doing so would also give addon providers a chance to debug their stuff, as well.
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9-27-2007 @ 2:51PM
Addie said...
I wonder if it has to do with the bit of mail you get from the AH now acting as a receipt in case you never get the money.
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9-27-2007 @ 3:03PM
Michel said...
>1. I love when RPers QQ about stupid stuff.
why the hate ? did an "RPer" broke your toy when you were in pre-school ??
the letters was very convenient to give instructions for events, to save a letter send to a guild master and give back to officer
and so on..
it was easy and simple !
--
if you have no use of a thing, it's not to be "smart" to laugh when the thing is broken. it's just plain stupid and to be an ass.
>Since they charge for these tickets, they
>are making a profit through in-game
>mechanics...a big no-no in the eyes of Blizz
it's easier to ask people to choose a number, to note it and just /rand in a raid.
I believe we should remove text and vocal chat. people could use it... it would be bad.
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9-27-2007 @ 3:06PM
Chilblain said...
Probably another exploit being used by gold farmers.
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9-27-2007 @ 3:16PM
jpn said...
@5 -
yes, an RPer broke my toy in pre-school. how'd you know...you must be a mean toy-breaker.
you'll just have to find another way to pretend you're a Real Orc.
i'm not laughing that it's broken - i'm laughing that people complain that it's broken. please refer to my original post, it's comment #1.
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9-27-2007 @ 3:33PM
Armath said...
@1/@7 - I love it when whiners qq about stupid stuff.
Go back to playing a troll in WoW instead of here.
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9-27-2007 @ 3:39PM
rich said...
Nah, #1 is just trying to be seriously hardcore in a carebear game and needs to pick on the RP'ers because of it.
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9-27-2007 @ 4:13PM
Mikkel Rasmussen said...
It can be used for scamming, beleive it or not someone (mainly stubid 11 year olds) beleive that its real if they get a document in game that says Turtle Mount code: 132-1231asda-ad13123 etc !
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9-27-2007 @ 4:14PM
Paul said...
haha. Armath wins, jpn. you lose.
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9-27-2007 @ 4:21PM
Chadwick said...
Well there used to be a mod called Ephemeral that allowed one to create objects in the game. Not sure if it is still working and supported. But I think that it would be a better choice to use.
Also...
@1, stupid stuff like the titles you seem to want.
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9-27-2007 @ 4:33PM
Xonate said...
As an officer in a guild, this was actually a very useful ability. Occasionally the guild leader would get a letter from members of the guild (or people outside the guild asking about something) and would share it with the officers so that we would be able to see what was said and interpret it. I hope that they change it back, as it makes things soooo much easier than having to type out everything that was said in a letter.
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9-27-2007 @ 5:19PM
Sophey said...
I had noticed that all my saved letters in my bank suddenly appeared in my inventory in the patch and wondered why, but just put them back without even noticing they were now soulbound.
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9-27-2007 @ 5:31PM
Mel said...
It seems as if Blizz has already fixed the problem.
*yay*
#1/#7 go back and whine about stupid titles.
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9-27-2007 @ 9:44PM
Chay said...
Stuoid post.
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9-27-2007 @ 9:45PM
Chay said...
Stupid*
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9-29-2007 @ 12:53AM
biohazard said...
@15
im not sure blizzard did anything, my notes are still soulbound to my player, im just glad i had mailed some to a bank alt before this went down. and keeping notes isnt just for RP'ers. i have notes from a few friends in game and a few people who quit the server im on about how to reach them and what not.
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9-29-2007 @ 12:54AM
biohazard said...
blah i mean did anything to fix this
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