Blizzard has gone on record many times in the past few years explaining that WoW is still plenty profitable and there is no need to reevaluate the subscription model. One part of the game that the company is less thrilled with is the third-party gold market. Since the game’s launch, gold farmers have been turning a real-world profit by selling in-game currency in exchange for real world dollars (on whatever your country’s currency of choice is). Most of that gold comes from hacked accounts and Blizzard has tried to fight this trend with increased security and secondary password authenticators. The developer has finally had enough and is ready to take the fight to the Gold-selling marketplace by opening up their own storefront.

Blizzard’s plan is simple. The company will attempt to eliminate the demand for a third-party Gold vendor by offering the chance to buy Gold in-game (sort of). Players will be able to buy WoW Tokens (worth 30 days of gameplay) from Blizzard. These Tokens can then be sold on the auction house for in-game currency. Alternatively, players can save up in-game Gold and buy Tokens from the AH to save some real-world money. Lead game designer Ion Hazzikostas spoke to IGN about the new feature…

The new option may appear to be Blizzard dipping its toes in the free-to-play waters, but the developer insists that this change is all about fighting the third-party Gold market. The company has been unable to shut down the Gold shops in the past and is attempting to find solutions from newer MMOs (like Wildstar’s C.R.E.D.D. model).

One important detail that is hard to determine at this time is how much the Tokens will sell for in the Auction House. The WoW community will determine the Gold worth of the Tokens and the value will likely vary a bit from realm to realm. Until the change is implemented and we see what players are willing to spend, it’s hard to guess how will this experiment will work.

Do you plan to dodge the subscription fee by cashing in some Gold for a Token in the AH? Do you plan to make some in-game Gold by buying a few Tokens? Let us know in the comments.

World of Warcraft  is available now for PC and Mac.

Source: IGN