WoW To Start Offering In-Game Tokens For Subscriptions Starting April 7th

Beginning tomorrow, April 7, World of Warcraft players will be able to play the MMO without paying real-world money, provided they have enough in-game gold.
This will be made possible through the introduction of the World of Warcraft Token, a new in-game item that was announced back in March.

The Token will be available in the Americas region (North America, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand) on April 7 at around 10 AM PDT. Players can buy it for $20 USD/$25 AUD from the in-game shop and then list in on the Auction House. Alternatively, at the start of the program, Tokens will also be available in the auction house at a starting price of 30,000 gold.

The manner in which Tokens are sold is a bit different than regular items. When listing it on the auction house, sellers will be quoted a sale price based on supply and demand. If the seller finds the price acceptable, it'll be listed for sale, and that amount will be sent to his or her mailbox once the sale is complete. Buyers, on the other hand, will be purchasing the Token outright--there won't be a bidding process.

Tokens can then be redeemed for 30 days of game time. This doesn't exactly make WoW a free-to-play game, but it does provide players with a new, highly desirable way to spend all of that gold they may have amassed.

Blizzard will also place some limitations on Token buying, though the developer explained that it may change things up later on.

"To start, we'll be limiting the number of Token purchases to 10 within a 30-day period, but this limit may be adjusted over time," the developer said on its website. "While Tokens will be available immediately from the Shop, please note that there may be a delay before Tokens put up for sale on the Auction House become available for purchase with gold."

Basically, the new Token system effectively lets you buy in-game gold without resorting to doing so through a sketchy third-party site. Blizzard's official wording is that the Token allows players to "simply and securely exchange gold and game time between each other."

Once a Token has been sold, it becomes Soulbound, preventing it from being sold again. This is presumably done in order to prevent players from taking advantage of the marketplace by buying low and selling high.

Availability details for the World of Warcraft Token for other regions will be announced later. For lots more on the game's new Token system, check out Blizzard's detailed FAQ on the subject.

Our Opinion

This is very interesting concept the Blizzard is doing. I think this move will bring players in that don't want to spend real money but have the gold to buy the tokens for more game time. It is also interesting in the fact that this is just a form of gold farming, someone is spending real money for an in game item for game currency.

One of my biggest concerns is how this will effect the community economy, I will be interested to see how it works out in the long run. Gold will now have an easy way to get a lot quickly so that a low player can get the best armor just for having more real money.

I tend to back off on games with this type of economic system. I want to play a game where everyone is given the same opportunity and one must work hard and fight for a better status. Games like WoW and Runescape at least are giving players everything at the start or a chance to buy their way up. Time will tell what is in store for WoW and other games that take this concept. Personally I would like a MMO where I have to work my way to the top not buy it.