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Soon you will be able to play World of Warcraft without spending any real world money as Blizzard is going to start accepting in-game gold for subscription time, something that Eve Online has been doing for a while and has proven successful.
A new in-game item will also be coming in to play, it is called the WoW token, which can be purchased with real money and then sold on the auction house, allowing you to buy in-game gold without going to dodgy third-party farmers.
In-game gold can also be used to purchase a token, which can then be redeemed for 30 days of game access. Prices have not been announced but this does give some gamers a way to enjoy the game without needing a subscription, which could lower the barrier for entry, allowing those that simply can't afford a subscription to earn their game-time with gold.
Blizzard's real aim with the WoW tokens appears to be the gold farmers though. With these tokens, players can generate and buy their own in-game gold within the game, eliminating the need to go to a gold farmer.
You can read all of the details of the announcement over on Blizzard's site, HERE.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: Being able to pay for your membership with gold could be a good thing for World of Warcraft and could also encourage those put off by the subscription fee to play. What do you guys think of this? Is this a good move for Blizzard?
I can say I have never played WoW because of the subscription price, but this could make me change my mind.
Here’s the problem with this approach – a problem that EVE has been plagued by for a very long time and has never truly solved – A sudden influx of new, very valuable in-game consumable items causes inflation.
Additionally, these “tokens” (in EVE they are known as Pilot License Extensions aka PLEX) will always retain their true value and will not be devalued by inflation, therefore richer players tend to convert their liquid cash into PLEX in order to prevent their wallets becoming devalued over time. This drives up the prices by removing many such items from the market and perpetuates the cycle of inflation.
I think they’re a great idea, but they will cause problems for the in-game economy which Blizzard will need to keep on top of.
“therefore richer players..”, that’s the sad truth about these systems.
I don’t like the fact that you can sell them for gold, even though gold has no real value, this will surely change that.
Both EVE and WildStar have been sporting this feature, but some people (like myself) still frown upon it.
The real issue is going to be the bots, they will be able to maintain their own time now. I almost guarantee bots will be coming back in full force with this update
This happens in EVE now and then. CCP deal with it by banning the bot accounts and selling all their assets on the market at below average prices 😀
Only problem is, you have to get to a high enough level in both character and skills to be able to acquire enough gold. Even if you just work the auction house, you’ll need starting capital. Depending on how much you can grind… You might be paying that sub for a while. Of course, you could always buy a few tokens to sell to help you along the way, but then you’re putting in money, not getting your sub paid for.
Having played WoW, I doubt Blizz will be so proactive.
Just look at TF2. Since Refined metal is an infinite resource it slowly loses value which means the cost for ref to keys continually rises. where 3 years ago 1 key was 2.6 refined today its 16.33 refined. These games need a method of burning these unlimited currency so that their value can heighten again
I dont think that would work for wow as the tokens are supposed to be bound to the account of the first buyer. So people cannot buy them and resell later.
For all the people out there worrying about inflation, fyi there are more than enough money sinks in wow so dont worry about that. Also if i’m correct you wont be able to resell them after getting them so they wont serve as a purchasing currency.As a player whose sub time ended just 3 days ago, i cant wait for that feature to come out.I can barelly afford that 13 euros a month anyway.