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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: The price of flight
by Amanda Dean 
Mar 21st 2008 at 8:00AM
As recently reported, Kharmen EU Talnivarr has reportedly paid 20,000 gold for the Amani War Bear. Kharmen reportedly raised the cash for the enormous land epic ride on her which raised questions about how much gold grinding would trigger a gold farming alert.
The 20,000 price tag seems pretty outrageous considering I'm still puttering along, like many others, on my regular Windriders on all of my 70s. If the Artisan Riding Skill were important to me, I'd make more of an effort to save the 5,000 gold for the mount, but I find it to be low on my priority list. There is no indication that the cost of epic flight will be reduced in the future.
The cost is high, but achievable, especially with daily quests available for easy gold. I've known plenty of players who have been much keener than I am on getting fancy flying mounts. They grind and save for weeks or months, and proudly announce their epic acquisitions. I'm sure there are a lot of other people who take the easy way out by buying the gold to pay for the skill.
Do you believe that the cost of epic flying mounts leads to gold buying?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Economy, Breakfast Topics, Making money, Mounts
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 6)
jrodman Mar 21st 2008 5:31PM
I agree with your perspective that the net effect of gold buyers on the economy is probably not that large. It's still an inflationary effect, presuming gold farmers bot-farm the gold. Of course blizzard claims the gold is mostly acquired by taking it from other players.
Either way, it seems like buying wow gold harms other people. If inflationary it harms the whole faction's economy (and thus other players) in a way that is very minor per person, or it harms a few people who have had their gold raided by gold sellers in a very direct and significant fashion.
Not trying to judge your actions, just saying it's tricky ground to tread.
Diabla Mar 21st 2008 7:57PM
@Manatank
God I. HATE. that. On several occasions, I've had that happen to me. The most annoying to me though is the bombing dailies. I've had a jerks hover around me and other slowbies as we're making our way to eggs/bomb stacks then swoop over and bomb them just as we'd get in range. The Ogri'la is most annoying b/c i can't move b/f the cannons go off in my face. Quite the game apparently.. -_-
Im saving for my epic now, so I won't have to worry about it much longer thank goodness. Yes, you on the fancy epic/netherdrake can toot back and forth at more than 2x my speed, but don't do things like that. That's really messed up...
Xeren Mar 21st 2008 9:17PM
Haha, the reason you don't see any sort of inflation happening is because it has already happened- the gold price of everything is already inflated, as there are people like you out there buying gold all the time.
It's pretty simple economics-- if tomorrow Blizzard banned every single gold seller, eventually there would be less gold chasing the same amount of equipment, weapons, etc, and the average price of things, that was previously inflated by having more gold chasing it, would go down.
Taxis Mar 21st 2008 9:28AM
I am sorry. Some people say its easy to raise 5000 gold, but I have to disagree. Grinding is monotonous and totally takes the fun out of the game. The only reasons I don't have an epic flyer is because I refuse to pay for gold, and I don't want to play a game that makes me feel like I am working.
Super Guest Man 9000 Mar 21st 2008 9:53AM
If you don't like grinding then you're probably playing the wrong game. Nearly everything in WoW is a grind in one way or another.
Dailys are a good source of constant income. Better than grinding for, say, primals and selling those.
nospam4chris Mar 21st 2008 1:08PM
No offense but you probably just don't know how to make gold. You can do a few quick daily quests each day and make about 100g in about 1/2 an hour or so. If you have any gathering professions at all use them and use the AH. Seriously without doing daily quests I could easily make a couple hundred gold in a few hours if I put any effort into it at all. If you have ANY quests, especially solo...DO THEM!!!! I made over 2k gold in less then a week just finishing up quests in netherstorm and SMV.
Charn Mar 21st 2008 9:29AM
I have two level 70s and they both have epic flying mounts. The first, my hunter, got it just because I could and I like to complete everything I can in game. Plus, the Netherdrakes where just cool when they came out and I got mine will there still was not many that had it. My warrior got it because she is an eng and I wanted the eng mount. Should I ever get around to grinding more of my alts to 70 I prob will not by epic flying for them. I think it is worth it but just do not want to make that grind anymore. My tone my change come 2.4 and more dailies but i think it is time to start saving gold for stuff in WotLK. I have heard rumor that the rep patterns in that one are going to be very very expensive. Having those means more to me than flying faster.
jedco Mar 21st 2008 9:38AM
I have nearly 300 days /played and gold is still a mystery to me. I spend my time PvP'ing or raiding rather than collecting gold. Just like the real world, some of us just aren't cut out to be rich. The world needs ditch diggers, too.
Carl Mar 21st 2008 9:53AM
5K is a lot of gold, and yeah I do think it encourages buying gold in those players who are lazy...
The epic flying mount is only worth it because my normal flying mount is slower than my winterspring frostsaber (with riding crop and carrot). Granted I can fly over mobs and travel from point to point in a straight line but it's still slower.
Tseran Mar 21st 2008 10:03AM
I have a total of three level 70's all with epic flyers. I do not power raid, I would be what you consider a dedicated player. I raid a couple days a week, the rest of the time is my own. My first epic flyer took about 3 weeks of farming. There were no dailies, and I was stuck with that horrible gryphon till I got the chance to chase after a Netherdrake. My second took only a week to get, with help from my first. The third was opposite faction, so had no help, and took 2 weeks.
All three of those characters also have their netherdrakes (that questline alone will get you about 1500g throughout it, so it is well worth doing once you get your epic) and I have to say, getting the gold for the epic flyer: easy. Value of the epic flyer: high. Encouragement to buy gold: ZERO. Even if you only played a couple hours a night at the most, you can still get your epic flyer, you just have to have the right professions.
Yes, it is nice to have your frozen shadoweave set, my lock has hers. And I still got that while grinding for the mount. Here are my tips for making gold to have an epic flyer:
1. Have one gathering profession that is essentially 'useless' to you that you can sell the items gathered from it. For example, tailors only require cloth, so have mining as your secondary. Mining is the best one, since gems are always in demand, and usually pretty high at least until 2.4 comes out.
2. Sell everything you get that is green or blue unless it is a significant upgrade. If that means vendoring it, do it. Enchanters have a hard time doing this, I know, but it is needed.
3. Do every little quest you can find, even lower level BC ones. Not only do you get gold, but you also get items which can then be sold.
4. When deciding to farm creatures for gold/drops pick the Zaxxis in Netherstorm. Why? Badges for Consortium rep, which gives you better gems to turn around and sell. Ethereum Prison Keys which also give you rep and also sell pretty well. Good amount of gold and decent rate of blues and greens. Fairly easy mobs to kill even in large numbers.
eeriestelk Mar 21st 2008 10:05AM
I'm a 70 looking to get Engineering maxed out. My FIRST flying mount (800 gold) is still a stretch goal for me.
I tend to be philanthropic with my guild and friends. So instead of grinding for gold on my own, I will help them get that stack of thorium or Heavy leather. I'll run across Azeroth to help with an Elite that has been resulting in multiple deaths and frustration of a bud.
I figure I play long enough and I will get the mounts, I have actually saved 500 gold towards that now. However, I started an alt and I am working on JC and may end up buying a crapload of gems instead.
No, big, it's about choice and the way you play. 3k for a flying mount would be great! 5k seems like a long ways off.
Mihn Mar 21st 2008 10:07AM
I harvested chests in Mana Tombs for 4 days straight, 16-20 hours total to get the last 2k gold for my epic flier.
It was stupid and pointless and I missed out on a lot of other guild things because of it. I don't know how many times I wanted to buy the gold because i died to a bad pull or bad luck. I enjoy my flier, but, only because, it was a necessity to compete in a gathering skill, to, get more gold. Gold helps me re-spec 3x a week, gold helps me buy flasks for raiding. Gold allows me to buy enchants for upgrades I get.
Before I knuckled down and farmed the gold, I was trying to do it via dailies, it would have taken me approx. 20 days to do it that way, 20 days in where I wouldn't be able to:
A. Buy flasks (I have one char)
B. Re-spec
C. Buy any enchants for any upgrades i get.
If I spent any gold on the above items, I set myself back days, sometimes months. (curse you Talon of Aszshara and your need for mongoose!).
Artisan riding needed to be cheaper from the beginning. 2700 maybe. 5200 gold was too ridiculous an amount for a casual player (oh man, he said the C word).
zappo Mar 21st 2008 12:13PM
No offense dude, but you really need to look at what you're doing. Respec 3 times a week is insane. There is a reason it costs money and a reason it costs more money every time you do it - it is to discourage people from casually doing it. The thinking that someone COULD do it nearly every day, but that would be crazy and cost tons of gold. Think about that for a minute.
There really isn't any complaint to be had here. There are a lot of people who are casual who will get epic mounts and never get the Talon of Aszshara (well me actually). You can PvP for hours, you can raid for hours, you can farm for hours - you can't do everything and be casual. This is simply reality. I would like to visit every country in the world but simply put I don't have enough money to do so, and it's virtually impossible with having a job and only living for so long.
You can't experience every aspect of the game easily, and even less so for a casual gamer. Just be happy that you are experiencing end game content instead of grinding and worry less about the fact that your flying mount isn't as fast. And seriously, stop respeccing so often.
Diabla Mar 21st 2008 8:01PM
His first line said that he got his epic already.. You kinda chewed his ass for nothing lol
Tolyre Mar 21st 2008 10:13AM
Yeah I am not sure why people have such a hard time with acquiring gold, Blizz couldn't have made it any easier, by the time I hit 70 I skipped buying a regular mount and just bought the epic, with money left over. That being said I never bought armor or weapons, if it didn't drop I didn't have it. I ignore dailies like the plague, the Gold/Hour is just pathetic on most of them. I don't spend a lifetime in game either, I ahve a wife and two daughters who I dig hanging out with so my /played is lower than most of my guildies. As someone said above, setting goals, and being smart = no need to buy gold.
Ahoni Mar 21st 2008 10:15AM
WTB new posts on WoWInsider
bloodlight Mar 21st 2008 12:55PM
Does the cost of an epic flier encourage gold buying? absolutely.
It all a matter of why people play the game. For some its the staus of having the mount (usually all done out in PVP epics).
For some it about maximizing return on time. But fro most I suspect it purely about having fun. The epic flier allows them more fun in the limited time the have to play, and the grind to build the gold reserves simply is not for for them.
when you have job the demands 60 hours a week as many salary jobs do, a family that requires there time too, and you end up playing a coupe hours at a time 2 or 3 nights a week, spending al the time grinding make wow just a second job and burn out and quiting playing real fast. During the few hours he has on, he want to run instances with his friends, maybe run a queat or two for gear or rep. The epic lets him do much more of that and waste for less of his limited time in transit. And so he spends what to him seems a small amount of real cash on the insanely large (to him) amount of gold for the simple purpose of maximizing the amount of fun he can have.
If i wanted to buy the gold i know the amount for an epic is well with in my standard entertainment budgest, and gives long lasting enjoyment rather than say going out the a fancy dinner fo the same cost.
hpavc Mar 21st 2008 10:38AM
I doubt it was purchased gold.
Time is money friend ... grinding something for days of /played is worth a lot of real money to people to some its not and the /played is easily come by.
Jeff Mar 22nd 2008 2:20AM
there is absolutely ZERO difference between a WoW player buying gold online & a magic player going to a card shop & dumping $500 into a deck. and will the guy with the $500 deck win every game against a $15 deck? absolutely not. have card shops ruined magic? not at all. if anything they've strengthened the game & helped put wizards of the coast above their competition. personally, i was VERY surprised when i first started playing WoW & found out that Blizzard wasn't already selling gold themselves. little cards in wal-mart right next to the subscription cards. $5 for a card with a code you put in somewhere & get 50 gold or something along those lines. they could easily make a killing & i wouldn't be surprised to see them do it in the next 5 years. i also wouldn't be surprised to hear all the elitist jerks bitch about it, but hey, that's their problem.
Mirina Mar 21st 2008 10:48AM
If all you do is sign in and do your dailies, it can be achieved at a slow, yet steady, pace. If you have a little bit of free time, finish up those quests you didn't do after you hit 70. I had BEM to finish up, and I hadn't even set foot into Netherstorm or STV. By finishing up those 2 quest zones, I was 2K ahead in just a couple weekends. Doing the cooking daily, instance dailies, and then the regular dailies paid well. IMO, it's just about making the best use of your time when you're on. I already have my epic flyer, but I still have to fund my raiding/JC/Alch, so if I have time during the day I sit in Org and offer to craft for people. In the evenings I get on to do raiding 4 nights a week--which is REALLY expensive when learning new fights. But my guildies get on to do their fishing/dailies/whatever so they have their pots/food/flasks/gold to raid that night.
It CAN be done--it just depends on how badly you want it, which will determine how much time you put into it. Prime example, I wanted my Drake (randomly decided I wanted to do this) really bad to replace my flyer--so I spent 1 week doing Netherwing dailies. I got the gold, the rep, and 2 days early (I was running notes of calculations about what I had to do to trim the time off), the mount. I put my mind to it, altered my sleep schedule a bit, etc, but I got it. Same goes for anything in the game. You want it bad enough, you'll do whatever it takes to get it.