The start of the second phase of WoW Classic Season of Discovery will do away with one of the oldest and most reliable ways to get gear: GDKP runs.
For years, these runs (which stand for Gold Dragon Kill Points) have been extremely common among the WoW Classic community as they’ve helped players earn both gear and gold in raid groups. But on Jan. 30, Blizzard announced that GDKP runs will be a thing of the past in SoD phase two, citing “concerns surrounding the erosion of traditional guild and social structures that are a part of the spirit of Season of Discovery.”
GDKP runs allow players to bid on certain items when they drop during a dungeon raid. Players can go back and forth with their bids until the player with the highest bid eventually wins the piece of gear. Then, the gold they spent on that piece of gear will be distributed evenly among the players who didn’t win it. In short, GDKP runs are a win-win scenario for players looking to either make gold or earn new gear, but they oftentimes negatively incentivize players to buy gold to catch up to the rest of the player base.
“GDKP can create an ‘arms race’ effect that encourages participating players to purchase gold to be able to compete for the best items,” Blizzard said earlier this month.
The GDKP system also takes a lot out of the traditional raiding process as the runs are almost exclusively done by pick-up groups (PUGs) and take a lot out of the community aspect of raids and its traditional methods of loot earning/distribution.
What happens if you do GDKP runs in WoW Classic SoD phase two?
Blizzard has been extremely clear about the consequences for players who engage in GDKP runs during phase two of Season of Discovery. “Account actions up to and including suspension and permanent account closure” have been promised by the game’s developers. Players caught engaging in these runs or advertising them in trade chat or general chat will face consequences.
Keep in mind that GDKP runs are still on the table in other versions of WoW and WoW Classic. This change is only applicable to Season of Discovery servers.
GDKP runs will be outlawed in WoW SoD starting on Feb. 8 at 3pm CT.
