What
is Money?
Money is one of the most basic concepts in the World of Warcraft and
will be introduced to players almost from the start of their WoW
careers. Much like money in real life, money in WoW is what makes each
individual server go round. The more money a player has the
“richer”, players lacking in the monetary
department are considered to be “poor”.
Money in the World of Warcraft comes in three separate units of
measurement; Copper, Silver, and Gold. Players rarely type out the full
name for each unit of money, choosing instead to use one letter
abbreviations. Copper is represented by a c, Silver by an s, and Gold
by a g. So instead of seeing 40 Gold, 20 Silver, and 12 Copper in game
it is more likely to appear as 40g, 20s, 12c. Understanding these
abbreviations will not only save you time, but will also help you avoid
mistakes when buying and selling items later on.
Gold is the largest monetary unit, with Silver in the middle,
and Copper bringing up the rear as the smallest unit of money.
Conversion rates are as follows:
100 Copper = 1 Silver
100 Silver = 1 Gold
As you gain more and more money you will notice that it is
automatically converted to the highest unit possible, a feature which
most will wish they had access to in the real world. This means that
once you reach one of the above conversion points your money will
instantly be made into the next highest unit. For example if you gain
99s, then pick up one more it will be converted into 1 Gold. Since this
is an built in feature and cannot be turned off players will never be
able to obtain more than 99 Silver, or 99 Copper. The only unit exempt
from this is Gold since it is the highest unit, once reached it cannot
be converted into anything else.
How Can I Get More?
Money in World of Warcraft can come from many different places
including (but not limited to):
- Completing Quests
- Looting Mobs
- Selling Items on the Auction
House - Selling Items to a Vendor
- Tips for Services
- Trade With Other Players
Acquiring wealth in the World of
Warcraft can be as simple as systematically killing mobs to loot or as
complex as farming herbs, creating items with the herbs, and then
placing the created items on the Auction House. There is no wrong way
to make money, and how it is done is determined by the individual
preferences of the player.
Please visit the helpful links below for some gold making tips, or
simply do a Google search and it should pop tons of results. Beware
gold making guides that require you to purchase them before reading.
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/73576" target="_blank">Gold
Farming in Wrath of the Lich King
href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/wow/guides/5-gold-farming-techniques"
target="_blank">Top 5 Gold Farming Techiniques
How Much Can I Have?
Like most good things there is a limit to how much gold you can have in
game. The maximum amount a single player can have at any given time is
214,748g, 36s, 48c. This is an enormous sum of money, and as such
should not pose much of a problem for any normal player. A screenshot
was recently posted on the official forums showing a player
with the max amount of gold. Check out the post and screenshot
href="http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=2366683204&sid=1"
target="_blank">here.
If you do manage to personally achieve this lofty goal, then mad props
go to you, and um….can I has some golds?
What Can I Do With It?
Now that you have
collected some money, it’s only natural
that you want to spend it. Spending your money can be done in at least
as many ways as you can collect it including (but not limited to):
- Repair Costs
- Auction House Items
- Tipping for Services
- Purchasing Additional Bank
Slots
Players may also choose to save their money for emergencies, or that
one special item that they are just dying to have. Think
href="http://www.wowhead.com/item=44235" target="_blank">Traveler’s
Tundra Mammoth.
Where Does It Come From, and
Where Does It Go?
Money in the World of Warcraft could be said to grow on trees, or more
accurately it grows from a void of nothingness. There is no set amount
of money preloaded into the game, or limit to how much can be produced,
it simply pops in an out of existence based on the actions of players.
Killing and looting a mob, selling an item to a vendor, or complete a
quest and gold will be created for you to receive your reward. On the
other hand, paying a repair bill, give a cut of your money to the
Auction House, or purchase an item from the vendor and the money you
sent is gone. I like to pretend the lost money goes to the same place
missing socks vanish to. Not all money is doomed to be banished to the
realm of missing socks though, money that is used for trade between
players remains in normal circulation.
How Does Money Affect the
Economy?
The in game World of Warcraft economy is like a living thing, it is
constantly changing and varies slightly from server to server. Money is
used to purchase almost everything you could possibly need in World of
Warcraft making it in essence the very thing that feeds the beast.
In World of Warcraft money does indeed talk.
Much like real life your server economy will work on a system of supply
and demand. Hard to obtain items that have a high demand will have the
highest price. While easy to get items in with little demand will have
the lowest prices. The amount of gold the average player has or can
hope to achieve also plays a factor in the prices of items. The more
gold players are able to make, the higher item prices will soar. In
Classic WoW players were lucky to collect 2,000g and the prices during
those times reflected this, being significantly lower than the prices
we see today where having 10,000g and up is not uncommon.
Players themselves can also affect the prices of goods by undercutting
(putting up the same item for a reduced price) current prices. For
example, if Flasks of the Frost Wyrm are selling for 40g, and someone
begins placing them consistently in the Auction House for 35g it is
likely that in order to sell their Flasks the other sellers will
eventually drop their prices to match the 35g. Undercutting is usually
frowned upon by most players, and is a risking game, as you could
hamper your own money making if you reduce the price too much.
Should I Buy Money?
The gold selling business is booming, and is advertised almost
everywhere in game and out. It can be tempting to buy some extra cash
to get yourself ahead, but should you really do it? The short answer is
no, you should never, under any circumstances buy gold. The long answer
is that buying gold is shady business, and against the Blizzard Terms
of Service. Buying gold can result in your account being banned and
your characters lost forever. While the risk may be low, it’s
simply not worth taking the chance.
Not to mention when buying money from these gold sellers you never know
exactly what other shady dealing they are a part of. They also may
dabble in the art of hacking accounts or other such sordid affairs. So
be smart, and make your money the good old fashioned way, through hard
work, and just say ‘No” to Gold Sellers.
This information should give you a basic idea of what money in World of
Warcraft is all about. Head back to the main page to find more helpful information for players new to the game.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.
