A staggering €85,000 has been spent by the pros in World of Warcraft – and then lost. Is it Pay2Win?
The “World First Race” in World of Warcraft was one of the longer ones with patch 9.2. The Jailer and the other bosses of the Sepulcher of the First Ones proved to be particularly tough. After many long nights, Echo secured the victory, while other guilds were left high and dry, including the professional guild Team Liquid. They threw in the towel and took a break after it became clear that they could not win. The costs were quite hefty.
The professional guild spent well over half a billion gold on the race.
How much did Team Liquid spend? According to member Veyloris, Team Liquid’s costs totaled a staggering 723 million gold pieces.
245 million were spent on trading and exchanging equipment.
215 million went for the direct purchase of “Bind on Equip” items.
In total, 723 million gold was spent – and Liquid now has a debt of nearly 535 million gold.
What about the missing gold amount? Veyloris lists only some cost items, so not all entries on this long bill are known.
The remaining 263 million gold pieces are likely to have been invested in various things. For one, all raiders need a lot of flasks and buff food – with over 1,000 attempts with 20 people each, that adds up to a significant amount of gold. The repair costs are also likely to fall somewhere between 25 million and 35 million gold.
Another portion may have gone towards “PvP boosts.” It is common for professional guilds to have experienced PvP players boost them at the start of a season to have a better chance of getting strong gear from the reward chamber in Oribos in the first weeks. This is likely also a three-digit million amount.
How much is all this gold worth? In World of Warcraft, gold has a real value since you can buy gold with real money using the “WoW Token.” Even though Team Liquid may not rely on WoW Tokens, an amount of 723 million gold coins at the current US rate of the token equates to about 4,600 WoW Tokens.
These 4,600 WoW Tokens would be worth $93,000 (€84,900)!
Despite these gold expenses, it ultimately wasn’t enough to secure the “World First” title, although the race was extremely exciting for long stretches.
Veyloris emphasizes that this value is not necessarily final, as Liquid is still trying to defeat the Jailer – but no longer as the first guild in the world.
How will they make back the gold? For regular WoW players, such a sum may seem astronomical, but Team Liquid should have little trouble recouping the borrowed gold in the coming months. Professional guilds are in a relatively comfortable position, offering a range of services for gold. They charge other players later through the Mythic raid or particularly tough “M+” dungeons to earn that gold back. Buyers stand to gain mounts and achievements as rewards – in addition to fairly strong gear.
Such amounts of gold often spark discussions about whether World of Warcraft is not “Pay2Win.” However, one should never lose sight of the fact that gold has always played a larger role in the races – and in the case of the “World First Race,” it’s worth nothing without the skill of the players.
What do you think about this?
