One of the many new things in the Burning Crusade that isn't really a feature or documented anywhere is the amount of gold being brought into the game. Before the Burning Crusade an average quest at high levels (56+) would possible bring in a gold piece or two. Once you hit level 60 with the experience to gold conversion you could find and complete quests that would give you 4-6 gold.

With the release of the Burning Crusade, quests that reward with with a constant stream of gold are not uncommon. The average level 60 quest seems to reward you with about 4-6 gold plus experience, by the mid 60's 6-10 is not that uncommon. At level 70 when the experience to gold conversion kicks in again it goes up even more.

Aside from the quests it is not uncommon to see a gold and change on a MOB. In instances (even low level 60 ones like the Hellfire Ramparts and Blood Furnace) it is not uncommon to make 20+ gold in a 1/2 to hour run. If you go out someplace to grind you can make significantly more quite easily.

What do we need all this gold for? The only item that you really need gold for is you flying mount and riding ability at level 70. For a non-epic flying mount you are looking at just under a 1000 gold, and for an epic one just under 5,000 gold. Do you need all of gold in the Burning Crusade to get your mount? No. In beta I played through from level 60-70 without even looking for gold or saving all that hard. I spent 400+ gold several times on items and did not sell that many things off. Yet when I reached level 70 I have 1400 gold still in the bank and was able to purchase my mount easily.

Having more gold in the game brings some pretty big bonuses along with it to many players. The most obvious is that many players will not always feel so poor all the time (this is a 2 edged sword though to be discussed later) as they will always be able to get more money quickly. It should be very easy for any player to get 50+ gold in an average night of playing at level 65 or higher.

Even a stack of grays get over a gold!

The second big bonus to having more gold in the game is that everyone will be able to afford their epic mount and a flying mount with relative ease. There should not be complaints from players about how hard it is to get their money together to buy their mounts.

Another big issue for most players, especially raiders is that they are always struggling to get money to repair with. Raiders see this all the time when they are learning a new raid and wipe many times per night before learning each new encounter. It is not uncommon for raiding guilds to have to take a few days off to go farm to get money for consumables and repairs before being able to go back to a new raid instance. With the ease of getting gold, it could cut down their farming time significantly, allowing them do do the fun part of the game.

Lastly, since gold is so easy to get, maybe, just maybe, it will mean the end of gold farmers and the secondary market! This one in an ideal world could be the best fact of all about more gold in the game. I don't think it has a realistic chance of happening though due to some of the down sides of more gold in the game, as shown in the next section.

Now onto the bad points of more gold being introduced, and there are several. The biggest one, and possible the deal breaker to me is inflation. Inflation is already rampant on many servers, just go and check out the low level BoE items that are the best for PvP for any class. It's not uncommon to find a level 19 blue BoE weapon on sale for 50-100G or more on many servers. How does a new level 19 get 100g, other than having a high level character pay for them or buy illegal secondary market gold. While this is fine for players leveling their second, third, forth or twenty-third character on a server, it wrecks the game for new players.

A level 64 quest for 10G PLUS a wicked item!

What happens now that players have easy access to even more gold? How high will prices go? Will it totally destroy the auction house economy and make even more players resort to the secondary market? I sure hope not.

With prices of everything going up since players have more money it will also mean that Twinks will get harder to compete against. While their gear will remain the same, fewer players will be abel to compete for that gear and purchase is, creating an even bigger gap than there is now.

Lastly, I like seeing a difference between players. With more money in the game and it being far easier to get there will be less difference between players. For example, EVERYONE will have an epic mount, flying mount, etc, etc... While some players whine and complain that they don't have it, it's only fair to have some with and some without, if everyone has everything the same, what makes anyone special?

I have to tell the truth, I really liked all the gold and how fast it rolled in without even trying in the beta. I wasn't that worried initially but the more time I have had to think about it, the more the negative aspects weigh on my mind. At the high levels you started to see everyone having everything that could be bought, simply because money wasn't that big of a deal. Everyone was also able to immediately get a mount. It seemed to take some of the reward out of it.

Remember and easy game to win is not a game that you will enjoy playing for long, and it just felt like an easy win. Think back to the joy that came with your first mount at level 40 (Warlocks and Paladins excluded). You had to scrimp and save and make sacrifices to get that mount. Many people didn't even manage it by 40, but took up to 45 to gather the funds for a mount. When you did get it though, there was a sense of accomplishment and reward. I still remember getting my first mount. Getting a 1000 gold in the Outlands for my flying mount was not even a concern, I did it without any effort. While I was excited about the flying mount, I did not have the same sence of reward, and much of that came form the lack of challenge.

The other thing that really worries me is the inflation that is going to occur at low levels. If everyone with a level 70 can afford to send their low level twinks 1000 gold to equip themselves, will any player new to the game ever be able to afford any gear in the auction house? It could completely kill the influx of players if they are going to be so far behind with no way to catch up.

The Messiah has spoken, now its you turn...

VOTE IN OUR POLL!

The extra gold added in TBC, is it a good thing?

* I like feeling like I have the Midas touch. Leave the gold in the game!
* I could go either way, I see both sides but will wait for the release dust to settle before picking my side.
* I despise all the negative things that more gold brings, get rid of it!
* I don't care.

VOTE HERE