Would removing the wow token be better for the health of the game?

[Kralljin]

If you want to place any relevance on the economy for character progression (thinking off Professions in Vanilla / TBC), then the game is better off without the WoW Token.

Beyond that, it barely matters.

[Azerox]

WoW will become more pay2win in the future.
Even now you can buy everything.
Nothing has value anymore.
I see you on a Mythic mount? You probably bought it.

[Kumorii]

Dunno, it's healthy for my wallet at least.

[kranur]

@OP No. If the wow token gets removed, the gold sellers will be back at large. It will essentially change nothing except bringing the risk to get scammed back.

[Rotted]

Not at all, the amount of bot spamming selling gold has massively dropped since its been implemented.

Also on the lower pop servers where literally a couple of people dominate the AH, it's a nice feature to have

[Kralljin]

Just look at what happened in WoWC. They put an instance cap, etc to try to combat botting after it got so rampant because China introduced the WoW Token. When China introduced it, the price of gold in China tanked and now all those Chinese botters (who want to make more money or need a ROI on their investment) came to NA/EU (specifically WoWC).

Assuming that botting is an issue exclusive to WoW Classic, shows that you haven't kept track of the situation.

Hundreds of bots are doing BOTanica, people on the chinese servers reported that the game is basically pseudo fucked because people are using bots to generate money, then offer boosts and bully people that aren't buying boosts.

https://www.wowhead.com/news=316097/...in-chinese-wow

This exists *despite* the WoW Token.

[dcc626]

The difference here is, it was at least against the rules and Blizzard attempted to stop it. I know people that tried to buy gold in TBC and were banned, and that thought of losing your account was enough to stop most people doing it.

With the WoW token and Blizzard's current stance, you can legitimately buy the best gear in the game with real life money. It has run rampant because it is effectively pay to win, that is completely allowed and there is no fear of repercussions.

if it was enough to stop most people from doing it there would not have been such a large business in selling it. and there was (and still is) a huge amount of ways to buy gold.

[Lightning-]

I know a LOT of people that play only because of the token. Some say it's stupid to pay every month and farm 50+ hours per month for the token. Some have just a lot of gold. It's good to have more players in the game. So the positives outweight the negatives IMO.

[Twdft]

Define "health of the game".

If you mean all kinds of boosting are bad for the game... boosting is done since vanilla. My raid carried guests through BWL and they gave us flasks.

What's the difference in paying someone for gathering herbs and ore (buying herbs from the AH is exactly that) and paying someone to carry you through a raid? Both are gold in exchange for another players time and skill. A gatherer doesn't have to spam chat but that's it.

[CalamityHeart]

As someone who buys WoW Tokens with gold and has turned it into not only game time, but enough Blizzard balance to buy all three tiers of the Shadowlands pre-order without spending a cent out of pocket... yeah. Pretty healthy, if you ask me. I absolutely love it.

As for the other side of the coin, buying WoW Tokens with real money and converting it into gold... It's a scam. I can't fathom it any other way. At this point in the game at least, at the end of the expansion, spending $15 on about 100k gold is an absolute scam. One that I don't partake in, and so as far as I'm actively aware at any point in time while I'm playing the game, only the good side of the coin exists. I don't want nor need carries, nor do I particularly care that others do. I have zero need nor interest in getting quick gold when I can easily make enough gold to stay afloat on gametime without too much time commitment per month.

Is it healthy for the game? Maybe? At the very least, to the extent that I choose to acknowledge the Token, I strongly approve, and would not like to see it removed, thanks.

[Elias01]

I know a LOT of people that play only because of the token. Some say it's stupid to pay every month and farm 50+ hours per month for the token. Some have just a lot of gold. It's good to have more players in the game. So the positives outweight the negatives IMO.

There is far more negattives than posittives. Lot of people what claims they play becouse of token mostly just lie in order to defend token existence. But if Blizzard would remove it they would complain, maybe like unsub for month or two and in moment anger will be gone they will sub again with real money. Nobady will quit their guild, friends and game they enyoj becouse they cant pay for it with gold. Its made up myth to justify token existence.

[babyback]

WoW token is better for the health of the game. More people can play this way.

Spot on. At this points where I don’t have much to do I game other than farming mounts and stuff I can pay my subscription with gold. Otherwise I’d probably cancel it.

[Kralljin]

Take away the WoW token and it'll get worse because the price of gold *will* go up.

You're not wrong, i think however as long as the WoW Token exists, putting any sort of "effort" (or rather relevance) into economy related aspects (=professions) will be always overshadowed by "just buy some WoW tokens".

Which (used) to be a large aspect of WoW in the past, i've interacted more with profession in those 10 months of Classic than in the last 5 years on Retail.

If you mean all kinds of boosting are bad for the game... boosting is done since vanilla. My raid carried guests through BWL and they gave us flasks.

Compare that to the what's been happening on Retail for months, Trade chat is pretty much full of boosting spammers.

Allowing people to boost others for ingame goods is something that was a niche activity, but with the WoW Tokens, CRZ, etc.., it has become so much more mainstream to boost and buy boosting services.

Not to mention, you can be fairly certain that most of these boosting communities have some connection to RMT, because i strongly doubt that people put this much effort into the organization of these boosting communities just to play WoW for free.

[Suzan-Shaman]

Some people will quit playing if the WoW token were to be removed, I know I will quit and so will my husband. Don't think removing it will be good for the game. I farmed a lot of gold over the years just so I don't have to spend real money anymore.

[Nnyco]

The amount of boosts would still be the same, blizz just removed the chinese middle man.

[razorpax]

The token means I can play for the cost of 5k a day

[Thelxi]

Absolutely but we are so far past the point of that being even a remote possibility lol.

[Azerox]

The amount of boosts would still be the same, blizz just removed the chinese middle man.

And they probably love it.

[Nnyco]

And they probably love it.

I mean of course, they get the money themself rather than some douchebags who very likely hacked some accounts to steal that gold in the first place.

[Kralljin]

I disagree. Professions and the economy changed with WoD before the WoW token.

Professions have been pretty much dying since Wotlk, so yeah, WoD wasn't exactly a culprit here besides the Garrison.

But the same thing is going on in WoWC? DMT? 5g for the buff. SM clear? 5g a run.

It's similiar, at the very least:
1.People buying those boosts farmed the gold themselves (and thus interacted with economy)
2.People are actually using the trade chat for something else than just buying boosts

I have no doubt that every raid clear in Classic is also being sold for gold because flasks/lotus are expensive.

And then what?
You get nothing out of it unless you buy loot as well and buying loot is nonexistant because loot is far too rare and guilds obviously want the good loot for themselves.

I don't know what you play in retail or why you aren't interacting with professions in retail.

Because they can barely make anything of use.

You got a handful of pots, Vantus runes / scrolls and Drums, that's it.
In Classic, Engineering consumables (or on use items) are extremely relevant, you also have far more pots that are relevant (such Free Action or Limited Invu).

Not to mention that you can also make tons of gold with recipe itself, found the recipe for Elixir of greater arcane power? Congratz, you're rich now.
If you're the alchemist, you gotta sit down ask yourself whether the recipe is worth buying and then need to actually craft those elixirs for that investment to pay off.

Just think about how many people are making money if someone decides to craft the Lionheart Helmet.
You have a Miner supplying the Arcane crystals / bars / Blue Sapphire.
You have a Alchemist making those Arcanite bars.
Someone who farmed the Claws.
You have the BS taking a cut for the recipe.

I don't think anything on retail involves that many professions which is this relevant to character progression.

Enchanters can just make money by having rare recipes, such as +15 / 25 Agility.

Those rare items such as Bloodvines and Arcane Crystals also keep the gathering professions relevant, on Retail you only have Anchor weed, which is just the equivalent of Black lotus.

If you're still playing in phase 6, please tell me how much you're interacting with professions then because that's more the equivalent of 8.3.

I didn't compare it to 8.3, i compared to them to Retail of the past 5 years.
I care about for a single day each patch about professions in BfA, to craft the newest level of those BoP craftables, then ignore them.

If you really want to die on that hill, compare the relevance of Professions from early Classic with early BfA, then come back and tell me they're equivalent.

Oh and by the way, T3 requires crafting Materials, not just the Token.