In World of Warcraft, there are more details about paying for game time with real money: This way, players will be able to buy game time with gold even without an account. Blizzard bases the price on WoW gold sellers.
Yesterday, we reported that WoW is introducing the “game time token” system, which is also known from WildStar, EVE Online, or ArcheAge.
In an interview with Venture Beat, lead designer Ian Hazzikostas reveals more details about how the tokens will work, the coins that can be redeemed for 30 days of play:
- The token will be sold in the auction house for a “fixed price”; there are no auction house fees for buyers or sellers, and no auction in the traditional sense.
- The price is not set by players but rather by Blizzard’s system – depending on supply and demand, the token price will rise or fall.
- The tokens, or coins, are soulbound and can only be posted in the auction house or, if bought there, be used by the buyer. It is not possible to trade or destroy them.
The price is based on gold sellers, and the coin takes the auction out of the “auction house”
- The initial price is based on what gold sellers offer, and then supply and demand take over. Yes, Blizzard looks at the bad guys.
- At the moment a player posts a token, they already know how much gold they will get: namely, what the system indicates at that moment. And they only receive that gold, even if the item is “sold for more” later. This way, “artificial” new gold enters or disappears from the system. That’s acceptable for Blizzard. It should not be like a regular auction where players post a token and no one buys it, forcing them to re-list it or something – instead, the tokens are sold “in order” and adjust, without any action from the player, to the current price, without disadvantage to the poster.
The system is expected to arrive soon
- Anyone with enough gold can also reactivate an expired account directly from the character selection screen by buying such a token. They do not need to be in the game with an active account. This is not possible with most other MMOs that have this system. It seems our author Nico was right with his thesis about the veteran system, as he predicted something similar.
- The system is expected to arrive soon, with a mini-patch first on the test server and then as quickly as possible in the live version of World of Warcraft.
- There is a strong awareness of the potential risks of such a program; they have not forgotten about the real money auction house in Diablo 3, and they anticipate attempts to exploit the new system. Therefore, they are monitoring it closely and want to prevent potential abuses in the design phase.
- Yes, they borrowed the idea from EVE Online, which was a pioneer in this area, and Blizzard also paid close attention when WildStar tried this with CREDDs. Blizzard monitors what other games do, thinks about whether it fits their own game, and considers how they can adapt it for their own players’ benefit.
- It may happen that the system affects other areas – the impression should not be given that players can buy the best items in the game for “real money.” That is something they want to avoid at all costs. Therefore, they will take another look at the black market auction house. Such a thing could theoretically be possible there after the introduction of the system.
