After 4 years and 2 expansions, WoW Classic has now received the notorious WoW Token in Europe and America. Fans did not take this well. However, Blizzard states: in the fight against bots, this measure is necessary. And it won’t have a big impact anyway.
This is what Blizzard has done:
- Recently, it has become possible to officially buy gold in WoW WotLK Classic. This is allowed by Blizzard via the “WoW Token”.
- Players can buy the token for real money and then sell it for gold in the auction house. Buyers can exchange it for game time. Price is determined by supply and demand.
- The change is received almost entirely negatively. Now the company defends itself, stating that the fight against bots is part of the explanation.
This is what Blizzard says now: In a detailed post in the forum, community manager Kaivax explains that the step to the WoW Token was not an easy one. The team resisted the introduction for a long time.
However, WoW and WoW Classic are overrun with bots that farm gold and illegally sell it for real money to players, so-called “RMT” (for “Real Money Trade”). This problem has accompanied WoW Classic since its release.
Recently, Blizzard banned 120,000 accounts in WotLK Classic, and the forum post mentions nearly 250,000 more Battle.net accounts. The token makes farming less lucrative for bot providers and has little impact anyway, Kaivax explains:
In Wrath Classic, your weekly activities are mostly self-sustaining. […] Completing your weekly raid, a few dungeons or dailies gives even the most diligent and well-prepared players more gold than they need to maintain.
In Classic and Burning Crusade, gold was an even bigger issue. There, a token was unthinkable. Kaivax says that Classic is meant to convey the feeling of the past, not to be a 1:1 copy of what used to be. While the constant grinding in the endgame was necessary back then, it feels more “out of place” today. In Wrath, the problem is not as severe.
Kaivax admits that the fight against bots and trade cannot be won – yet the team continues to fight. The token is just a tool for this battle. However, there are always new technologies from fraudsters to circumvent Blizzard’s measures.
The release of WotLK was quite overrun – apparently, thousands of bots have snuck in among the players:
“We don’t want this; it doesn’t fit Classic”
The reactions in the forum remain negative. Kaivax’s post receives strong criticism. The Classic community does not want any changes to Classic, although there are already too many of them.
Some accuse Blizzard of not caring about the fans’ concerns. Total chaos reigns in the subreddit, where the rule against discussing private servers was even lifted for a short time.
While there are no real defenses of the statement, at least a few players seem to view the token less strictly. For instance, some ask if the removed dungeon finder will come back into the game or if the token can also be exchanged back into Battle.net credits. A few players apparently want to buy Diablo 4 with WoW gold.
However, the majority’s sentiment is that they do not want to play Retail but rather Classic. The token does not fit in there. However, significant changes are also on the horizon for Retail:
Will WoW lose its “€13 per month” mandatory subscription after 18 years?
