Neth hints at the next gold sink
by Amanda Miller 
Jul 15th 2008 at 5:15PM
In jest, Nethaera put forth the following:
Animal rescue centers will be set up by D.E.H.T.A (Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals) and the movement to rid the world of Nessingwary will need funding! Save the penguins! Save the world!
Considering what a pain the Nessingwary quests can be, it's almost sad that he gets to continue recruiting for the butchering of beasts. Still, at least there will actually be penguins to "save!"
She also hinted at some of the actual possibilities for our next big purchases. Inscription will be the next trade skill, which will likely see many players dropping other professions and paying to level it, as well as all players shelling out hard-earned gold in order to purchase inscriptions on a regular basis.
Similarly, many players will start a Death Knight alt, and use their mains to finance its gearing, enchanting, inscribing, professions, and other expenses.
Neth also suggested that new mounts might be a factor, although we've already been told that Northrend mount attunement will be affordable. She also mentioned that the new hairstyles might find you parting with some of your gold.
Already, in preparation for WotLK, we are seeing more reasons to spend, spend, spend. With Haris Pilton finally live as of this afternoon, players will be flocking to purchase her 22-slot bags (1200g a pop) and other wares. Will you be saving up for Wrath, or decking out your characters with new bags?
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Expansions, Mounts, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King, Inscription
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Brad Justice Jul 15th 2008 5:21PM
"Will you be saving up for Wrath, or decking out your characters with new bags?"
I'll be waiting till wrath so I can make 22-slot bags for 20g in mats.
Radiophonic Jul 15th 2008 6:33PM
Pure win :)
DavidC Jul 15th 2008 6:44PM
Dream on ...
Currently: 16 slot - 6g, 18 slot - 50g, 20 slot - 400g.
Those prices are going to drop, but not that much. More importantly, gold will be easier to acquire so the 400g is probably going to be around 200g in today's effort, maybe a bit less.
The 22 slot bag will be much more expensive in time/materials then the 20 slot bag currently is. Blizzard just set the benchmark ... it's not going to change radically once the expansion comes out.
Snuzzle Jul 15th 2008 7:24PM
@ DavidC
Do you remember what the biggest bag was in Vanilla WoW? Remember how much a Mooncloth Bag used to cost? Let alone a Bottomless Bag?
Now, how much is a Netherweave Bag? Imbued Netherweave? How about all them quest rewards, how you can get a 20 slotter easy by just hitching a ride into a ZA where the bear boss is dead?
Yeah... Brad Justice is right. I can almost guarantee that 22-slotters will be much more common and easily available in WotLK, just like 16/18 slotters became more easily available in TBC.
dan Jul 15th 2008 7:27PM
David C's nailed it.
Sonmerlong Jul 18th 2008 10:30AM
We have a guild Hunter and a guild Boomkin that have both already put a 22 slot bag into every possible spot(character and bank).
The hunter still has 20k gold left over.
The boomkin still has around 17k.
No these bags are not for everyone (not for me, i is poo), but a lot of people are buying them.
Vanifae Jul 15th 2008 5:26PM
I plan on purchasing two bags today and then banking the rest. Thank goodness I got my SR gear for Mother Sharahz.
Nothing else to spend on now.
Dave Williams Jul 16th 2008 5:32AM
It's not a gold sink if you're just moving money to other players. That's not how economies work. A true gold sink removes money from the game world - a player buying something from an NPC or being charged for a service (AH fees, respecs, etc.). Paying for mats to level up a profession or paying someone for a cool inscription only shuffles the gold around.
Zamboni Jul 16th 2008 2:18PM
It shuffles it around until it hits one of the hoarders. The extra gold has allowed players to amass more money than they can spend, which was much more difficult to do earlier in the game. I'm curious what percentage of the gold in circulation is sitting in the vaults of people who have 50K to 100K parked in the bank.
If that money gets passed to vendors on fluff, then it's gone. If it gets passed out to other players, then it could cause a serious inflationary spike as it returns to circulation.
drew Jul 15th 2008 5:45PM
Money paid to other players for inscription isn't really a gold sink though. The money stays in the economy, unlike the training/mount costs for epic flyers.
jbodar Jul 15th 2008 5:55PM
Good point. Same with paying to level new professions. You're buying all your mats at AH. Only a small percentage gets lost to the AH cut. That's not a gold sink, just a redistribution of wealth.
darian Jul 15th 2008 6:41PM
They could always fudge things like with alchemy.
Alchemy appears to avoid being a gold sink because, again, you're just giving money to other players. Except, those other players are spending 1.6-2g per 5 potions/elixirs. While this isn't as huge a sink as others, it does take a little off the top.
Enchanting similarly has a hidden cost in the form of the net worth of the items being DE'd. The amount of gold kept out of the system can range from 2g to even 18g depending on item quality, slot and iLevel. That can be significant as well.
So Inscription could potentially be a gold sink, it all comes down to the manufacturing cost. If it's like Alchemy or Enchanting, the sink is there. If it's more like Jewelcrafting then it wouldn't be.
deviationer Jul 15th 2008 5:41PM
I raided for 8 months straight, got burned out, quit for 3-4 months, DE all of my tanking gear (prot warrior) switched to arms/fury and now I'm just farming gold, working on a priest alt, and playing around. My goal is to have 10,000G saved before wrath. Which is pretty easy.
Will be going back to prot in early 70's or at 80 since tanking is my thing in WoW.
Anthony Jul 15th 2008 5:46PM
Well, I still have a couple epic flyers to buy before the expansion so I probably won't have more than a few hundred when it hits. The guild however is stocking up so that we can jump on any resist gear come raiding at lvl 80, I'll prob throw some towards that fund. No sense blowing it now on something that will be outdated come expansion.
Umm.. Jul 15th 2008 5:48PM
Primal mooncloth bags cost around 600g on my server - at the time it seemed expensive prior to the explosion of dailies... but for 2 extra slots and purple writing only you will see, you are paying an additional 600g.
I'll stick with 20 slot bags thanks.
dan Jul 15th 2008 6:17PM
Yep. On my server you can get 3 primal mooncloth bags for the price of one haris pilton bag. Assuming you're upgrading from 18-slotters you're getting more slots in the deal for the cost. Support your local tailors.
Zee Jul 15th 2008 6:01PM
same as 7... 20 slot bags are enough for me... free from a friend... gg blizz on time wasted on thinking of that endeavor
peaglemancer Jul 15th 2008 6:17PM
Just because you can't rationalize it doesn't mean Blizzard have wasted their time. You don't represent everyone's point of view FYI.
hal Jul 15th 2008 6:13PM
I think the gold sink in wrath will be the siege vehicles for lake winterspring (i thought i saw a mention of prices on the slides from WWI), and/or mounts that allow you to carry passengers (though these may be the same thing, or different - i.e. siege vehicles only in lake winterspring).
dan Jul 15th 2008 6:17PM
...and you do know Neth is NOT joking about DEHTA right? There's screenshots involving them at the wotlk wiki site.