The World of Warcraft economy will be changing drastically with the upcoming World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion. Recently, we wrote on the Black Market Auction House changes and how Blizzard will be limiting players from using it by making it require a level 60 character.
We also have discussed the Gallywix ban waves that went out earlier in the year, removing an organization massive enough to have dictated much of the economy. From services to in-game items, the Gallywix ban wave removed so much from the economy that players can still feel repercussions.
But today, we’re discussing another direct change that Blizzard is having on the economy. Namely, this change affects the raw gold farming community.
If you’re unfamiliar, raw gold farming is exactly that – farming gold itself from item drops rather than farming materials or items to sell, or selling some other product or service like carries, taxi services for players without flying, power-leveling and the like.
Primarily, this is done through soloing old raids, which provides countless gear drops. There are plenty of other places – Freehold is an extremely popular location to do such, for example – but the tactic remains the same: get items, vendor items, get gold.
However, Blizzard has implemented a solid hit to this tactic to earn gold. With the upcoming Shadowlands patch, the amount of gold that old dungeons and raids yield will be drastically reduced – in some cases, by as much as being cut in half!
Wowhead provided a solid write-up and graph, which you can find here. Blackrock Foundry, for example, has its gold reward for vendoring items reduced from 1,890 gold all the way down to 890, a 52.91% decrease.
Dragon Soul, Heart of Fear, and Trial of the Grand Crusader see decreases, though smaller percentages. In that order, the reduction is 41.87%, 34.74%, and 42.92%. These changes are not including the gold that the boss itself drops, which remains unreduced; this change only considers the money earned from vendoring the drops of the bosses.
A big part of this is likely due to the level squish. As older items are having their item level reduced drastically, the vendors find them worth a smaller amount, only rewarding players with much less. However, regardless of the reason, it’s a massive hit.
Many are saying that this is Blizzard’s way of trying to push players towards buying more tokens. As gold will be harder to earn, players are more likely to spend their real money on buying a token to earn quick gold, ensuring that they have enough for whatever they need.
Others, however, are concerned that this may push players more towards out-of-game illegal practices, such as buying the gold from third-party companies or gold scammers. While it can’t be confirmed, there’s a high chance that such practices will become much more frequent as a result of this lowered income.