The WoW token is more expensive than ever on some realms. It is hardly possible to farm it through gold – however, ‘Gold Selling’ is being fought.
Those who do not want to pay a subscription in World of Warcraft earn the WoW token through gold. Conversely, players who would like a bit of gold but do not want to farm can buy a WoW token for real money and then offer it for gold in the game. This is a system that has been viewed critically since its inception.
Now the WoW token has reached a new peak – at least in America. A bug was partly responsible, but also the fact that hardly anyone needs gold right now.
Why was the price so high now? The fact that the price on the US realms temporarily rose to over 400,000 gold is likely due to several factors.
The first factor is that the demand for gold in World of Warcraft is currently very low. The current patch has been “played through” and aside from a few players getting boosts, hardly anyone needs gold.
The second important factor is that there was a bug yesterday for a few hours. New WoW tokens could not be infused into the system because listing in the auction house ended with an error message. Since the demand remained the same, but due to the error fewer WoW tokens circulated, the price briefly spiked to over 400,000 gold pieces.
When do prices rise? Typically, gold prices for the WoW token always rise just before and after the release of a new game on Battle.net. This is because the WoW tokens purchased with gold can also be converted into Battle.net balance. For example, anyone wanting a skin in Overwatch 2 or a Battle Pass in Diablo IV can indirectly purchase it with WoW gold.
At the same time, the price steadily increases when there is no need for large amounts of gold in World of Warcraft – such as currently in Dragonflight. Gold is currently only marginally important for covering daily expenses. There are no particularly large purchases at the moment.
In times of Shadowlands, it was different. Players were encouraged to buy new legendary items every few months – which often cost several hundred thousand gold.
“It’s better to work”
This is how the community reacts: Under the post in the WoW subreddit, the peak price of the WoW token is being discussed.
A bit cynically, rowlga sees it:
“It always goes just above what I have saved when my subscription runs out.”
Absolutelynobody54 points out a fact that probably applies to most:
“It’s better to work a few hours than to grind for a whole month [for the gold].”
Indeed, in most countries, it has almost always been more lucrative to spend a few hours of real work time to buy the WoW subscription or the gold via a WoW token. After all, for most WoW fans, it is likely much easier and faster to earn €20 than farming six-figure gold amounts in the game.
Only a few very successful auction house masters are probably excluded from this – and even they are likely to earn less on average per hour.
However, a side effect of the high gold price for the WoW token is that the purchase of illegal gold becomes less attractive. Because if you get so much gold for selling the WoW token, illegal gold becomes less tempting – especially since there is no risk of getting your account banned when buying and selling the WoW token.
In the meantime, the price of the WoW token has dropped again on the US realms. In Europe, it remains at 390,000 gold – however, the EU price is usually always slightly above the American price.
Do you use the WoW token to get gold? Or do you pay your subscription with the token?
If you want, you can currently spend 50 euros for the BlizzCon – even though it is free.
