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Orc Peon Face Coin

Copper coins with the face of a peon.

Money is any number of copper (Copper), silver (Silver), and gold pieces (Gold), or a combination of each. A player's current total is shown at the bottom right of their open backpack window.

Using money[]

Money can be spent at vendor NPCs, can be trades, or mailed to other players. It is also used to pay for a flight from a flight master, to bid on items in the Auction House, and used as a deposit when listing auctions.

Money has many other uses, such as buying additional bag, Bank or stable slots, training Skills, etc.

Types of coins[]

  • Copper coins – c Also known as copper pieces or c.
  • Silver coins – s Also known as silver pieces or s.
  • Gold coins – g Also known as gold pieces or g.

"Coin" as a term can also refer to the currency of World of Warcraft, though its use is mostly limited to quest-givers giving monetary rewards to players.

Obtaining money[]

Gold Coins

Gold coins

Players can obtain money by looting dead mobs, completing quests, selling items to vendor NPCs, via trade or mail from other players, or by selling an item at the auction house. When money used as deposit for listing auctions, the player loses the deposit if the item doesn't sell, or if the auction is cancelled, but any failed bids are returned via mail.

The accumulation of wealth within World of Warcraft is almost as complex a science as it is in the real-world, and their are many opinions on the best methods.

Gold limit[]

The gold cap is 214,748g 36s 47c (or 231-1c), because Blizzard stores a player's money as a signed 32-bit integer. Screenshots of players reaching the gold limit have been taken on both American and German servers.

Conversion rates[]

  • 100c = 1s
  • 100s = 1g
  • 10,000c = 1g

NOTE: A Player can never have more than 99c — once 100c is reached, it will automatically change to 1s in the silver column. The same is true when 99s 99c are collected, the addition of one more copper, will automatically change to 1g. There is no higher currency than gold coins, so a player may have more than 99g 99s 99c.

Technical considerations[]

The amount of money on a server is not constant. From a technical point of view, money can be "created" (ie, added to the player economy) and "destroyed" (removed from the player economy).

Money is "created" when:

  • A player loots money from a mob or chest.
  • A player sells an item to a vendor.
  • A player completes a quest with a monetary reward.
  • A character joins that realm or moves to that realm via transfer.
  • A player at the maximum level completes a quest with an experience reward component. The experience would be converted to money at 6c per experience point, and so a quest that would normally grant 10,000 exp would instead give the player 6g.
  • A player gets Honor points that exceed the maximum allowed amount, and therefore is converted to money.

Money is "destroyed" when:

  • A player buys an item from a vendor or a skill from a trainer or takes a taxi flight.
  • A player pays a deposit / cut to the Auction House.
  • A player pays for repairs.
  • A player pays to reset their talents.
  • A player completes a quest that has a monetary requirement (not so common).
  • A player deletes a character (or otherwise stops using it).

Money is also traded between players in exchange for items and services, but this does not itself affect the amount of money in circulation.

While leveling a character from 1 to 60, a player naturally "creates" hundreds of gold, though much of it is "destroyed/spent" by repair costs, training costs and personal spending.

Since a character starts with no money, it is clear that a perfectly new server has no money in circulation. As the server ages, money will be "created" at a greater rate, as players kill Mobs that drop more money, and complete quests with larger rewards. However, the amount of money "destroyed" also increases with age. Players obtain better gear which has higher repair cost. More players raid which means more total repairs, as raiding increases the average player's chance of death. Older servers also see an increased significant one-time destruction's of money as people buy increased riding skills and expensive mounts.

Deflation[]

There is also economic deflation on many realms since gold farmers and bots have a dramatic effect on the local realm economy by selling items at reduced price on the Auction House. This is equally annoying to players as it means their own item value decreases over time.

Economy summary[]

The World of Warcraft:Classic economy will always fluctuate and large events, like the opening of Ahn'Qiraj, will potentially have an effect. The best advice to any player worried about an economic decline on their realm, is not to buy any gold from gold-sellers, as this negatively impacts the server's economy. Also, be sure to price auctions based on market-value and not just by guessing.

Although it is technically against the ToS to affect other's gameplay in a negative way (including the economy), it's generally accepted that under-pricing doesn't count as it doesn't affect the average wealth of players on your realm. It's also generally accepted that under-pricing is very annoying, since other players will find it difficult to sell items at the correct price, and it may even lower the value of the item you're selling. Slight under-pricing (up to around 10% of market value off) is acceptable, however. Although little is known about the actual average player's wealth, there is much speculation about it and wherever you look you'll find a different figure. Blizzard has yet to publish anything regarding the economic status of any of the servers in any country.


Quest Avail 16x16For lore, or modern information about this topic, visit this article on WoWWiki icon stampWoWWiki (click here).

References[]

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