How Does Money Work in Wow (Gold)

Posted by Markco at 8:00 AM

The key to becoming a good auctioneer in the world of warcraft is taking an understanding of how the different economic components in this fictional world all interact with one another and then apply analytical reasoning to this environment. Many players try to jump into discovering strategies and trying out strategies without understanding how all the pieces fit together. Same goes for pvp and pve, and it's this lack of foundational knowledge which leads to "noob" mistakes that seem perfectly rational at the time. Everyone is at a different point in the process of developing gold making strategies and so I tend to write for the largest audience: those in the middle who grasp the fundamental concepts but fail at organization and implementation. However, it is important to take a step back once in a while and provide valuable starter information.

Let's begin with how money moves in world of warcraft. Players accumulate new wealth (money that has never previously been owned before) by slaying mo nsters and completing quests. Money is lost through purchases from NPC's and repairs/spells. The game is designed so that players will easily gather more money than they spend interacting with the game world. The way that players get rich in world of warcraft is by getting other players to give them excess gold. To earn another player's gold you must offer items or a service which they value and do not want to provide for themselves due to time and/or limitations of access. An example service would be a mage teleporting a group to a major city, a player slaughtering all the monsters in a dungeon for a lower level character, or a blacksmith building a set of armor for pvp. Obviously the more professions you obtain (2 major professions per character is the limit) the more services and opportunities for making gold you posses.

This is why I stress leveling characters in order to increase your options. Keep in mind that max level professions have far more ways to make gold than one which is not maxed out yet. Your professions and character's abilities are how you provide the services, but you must also understand the two ways in which you can offer them to other players: Trade chat and the Auction house. By building an understanding of how both the trade chat and auction house function as well as how other players can impact your dealings on these mediums you will be better equipped to manage how you sell your services.

For me, making gold is the same mindset I have for making money in real life with my blogs: Provide a service people want and they will pay you for it. So how do you take what I've discussed today and apply rational analytical thought to start making gold with your characters? The answer is the same answer to the following question: What services do other players want and can you provide them?

As you answer that question, think back to how the different parts of world of warcraft interact and figure out where the following actors fall into play: the farmers, the crafters, the trade chat sellers, the auction house campers, the noobie levelers, the pvp nuts, the pve nuts, etc. Start asking yourself more and more questions and with each answer you'll slowly be building a business model for your characters.

Here is an example of this at work: What Netherweave Bags Teach Us about the Auction House