The business of virtual currency seems to be doing well. 1 Gold in WoW Classic currently costs more than one Euro. However, there are no legal methods for trading.
This is how expensive Gold is: There are various providers for Gold in WoW Classic (which we will not name for safety reasons). The price of Gold depends on the provider and the server where the Gold is to be purchased.
A rough overview of different providers shows that a Gold piece costs around 1.01-1.20€ on the largest German servers Lucifron (PvP) and Everlook (PvE). On the newest server Heartstriker, the price even rises to about 2.50€.
How do the dealers operate? To sell the Gold, dealers use various methods. For example, players are supposed to open auctions in the auction house that are then bought by the Gold dealer.
However, this often leads to scams. Players pay but receive no Gold or lose their accounts when they leave their account data with dealers.
Dealers have also come up with new methods to advertise their business. They now use a mechanic in WoW Classic that did not exist in Vanilla and that was introduced only in newer versions of Battle.net.
Better a mount or a new PC?
Why trade at all? Classic is a time-consuming game and Gold is needed for many things, such as the first mount. However, not everyone wants to bother farming the Gold for mounts or new skills.
Classes like the Rogue have some nice advantages, but many players prefer to rely on the offers from dealers often referred to as “China Farmers”. This way they avoid the long grind for a coveted mount or item and reach their goal faster.
How sensible this is, however, is questionable given the prices. If players wanted to buy an epic mount (including riding costs almost 1000 Gold pieces) for real money, they would pay about as much as for a new mid-range gaming PC, even including a new Ryzen 3000.
What is Blizzard doing about it? According to the terms of service, Blizzard bans any account involved in Gold trading – including buyers. Therefore, we advise against accepting such an offer.
In the retail version of WoW, there is also the WoW token, which allows players to legally exchange Gold for real money, in both directions (with restrictions).
However, there is no such token for Classic and whether it will come is questionable. After all, there was none “back then” and Classic fans are sometimes quite meticulous about changing things.
