Wrath Money Sink Found: Dalaran teleport rings for 8000 gold
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jul 29th 2008 at 6:00AM
Here's a brand new find fresh from the Kirin Tor capital of Dalaran on the Wrath Beta servers. We've been wondering for a while what type of money sinks Blizzard might implement in wrath, and we've found one, to the tune of 8000 gold coins: A set of melee and caster rings that not only deliver some pretty sweet stats, but also have a free teleport to Dalaran on use to the tune of an hour cooldown.
The rings are sold by Tiffany Cartier, the Jewelcrafting supply vendor in Dalaran, who hangs out next to the jewelcrafting trainer. They come in both melee and caster versions, and seem to have pretty solid stats. Still, the main draw is the teleport, and it seems very likely that it will be on a separate cooldown from the Hearthstone. That means that for a paltry sum, you too can feel somewhat like a Mage once an hour.
It's also worth noting that Tiffany herself is on the Kirin Tor faction. That means that if you care to do a bit of grinding before you spend your dough, you'll be able to haggle the price down to 6400 gold -- still far above the price of Burning Crusade's major money sink.
This is certainly a useful and clever way for Blizzard to siphon money out of the economy once we all hit 80 and start doing all our Argent Crusade dailies, and it makes me sort of glad I didn't blow all my money on the Gigantique bag craze. Of course, now I need to figure out where I'm going to find the gold to buy one for all my alts.
Thanks to Kurai for the tip, and Alex for heading to Dalaran for screenshots.
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Expansions, Factions, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Dominace Jul 29th 2008 6:08AM
Does it trigger the Hearth Stone to cooldown? If not, then I might consider buying it. Unless Dalaran doesn't have an Inn to set your hearth stone to.
Dringo Jul 29th 2008 8:07AM
I bet it will - i doubt they give anyone a second hs...
Esk Jul 29th 2008 6:36AM
These rings will be bought by the people with too much gold and nothing to do with it.. (like those who are buying Gigantique bags atm).
Biggest gold dump will be the epic flyer, which should cost around 25000 gold.
Before TBC an epic mount was 800-1000g (if I remember correctly it started as 1000g and was nerfed to 800g later, not so sure though). The TBC epic mount skill costs 5000g, so 5x times the old value. If blizz follow the same pattern, the WotLK epic skill will cost 5x times the current skill, thus 25000g. Good luck farming!!
Also, if my gold scale assumption is correct, this 8000g ring is equivalent to 1500g of TBC, which is not that much to pay for having an extra teleport :)
Kryptonls Jul 29th 2008 6:50AM
Nice post ;)
The ring seems expensive to us all now, but that's because we're not yet earning money from the NPCs or mobs that exist in Wrath. When we do, 8k will be a small price to pay.
Juneau Jul 29th 2008 6:51AM
Why would they bring out a new mount skill level? Do you want a flying mount that's even faster than what we already have?!
But yeah, I don't think 8000g (or 6400g) will be that much come level 80.
Blackthorn Jul 29th 2008 7:02AM
Blizz has already said that the current epic flight is too fast for their tastes and that they definitely wont be making a faster skill...ever.
BUT they have mentioned passinger mounts that can be used to carry multiple players at once, which sounds like a new skill rank to me.
There may still be a large cash sink, but instead of faster speed it would grant the ability to cart others around.
El Hunter Jul 29th 2008 7:14AM
Well I like the idea of using this ring instead of a HS, so I free space on my bags.
Also, even if it burns the HS cooldown, is good to have a second teleport to a different location.
Xino Jul 29th 2008 7:43AM
They actually did say they were planning to give players a way to make their flying mounts as fast as the armored netherdrakes so poster #2 might have something there but I doubt it will be anywhere that expensive.
happydays Aug 3rd 2008 8:15AM
Y so... SRS?
Dinnerbone Jul 29th 2008 6:09AM
Whoah, 8k? Hmm...
I personally think these aren't going to be worth it; I can't speak for the stats mind, but the teleport thing... Mages have free teleports, so they won't want it. Shammies get Astral Recall, so they most likely won't want it. Any inscriber also gets the 15 minute hearth scroll, so they won't be needing it either...
PeeWee Jul 29th 2008 7:46AM
It's nice to have two locations. One for Astral Recall/HS and one for the ring.
darkra Jul 29th 2008 6:13AM
With Scroll of Recall been a low level inscription recipe, with a 15 minute cooldown, I doubt those with be effective money sinks
grofer Jul 29th 2008 7:20AM
agreed. with how craptastic engineering is I rather switch to Inscription and get my 15 minute hearth instead of buying that ring, unless I get absolutely drowned in gold until then.
SilentDave Jul 29th 2008 6:16AM
hmm, if Dalaran has an Inn or there is an Inn close to Dalaran then that means I've saved 8k gold. I would consider those stats on the rings pretty much normal for a level 80 item considering they're epic quality
So ya gotta ask yourself - is it worth 8k for a teleport option?.
yeah we know things may/will change.
TobiasX Jul 29th 2008 6:18AM
I expect to comfort a lot of raiders when they replace this ring with either a Tier7 or Tier8 drop.
Nice try Bliz, but you'll need to do better than this. I expect the Northrend flying to be the real money sink.
Blackthorn Jul 29th 2008 6:45AM
It's already been revealed (last week on this very blog) that northrend flying will not cost anything. It will be a lvl 77 quest in Sholzar Basin that will reward you gold for doing it.
Zep Jul 29th 2008 12:27PM
Nice try, but it's confirmed that northrend flying is the reward of a quest chain that costs no money.
TobiasX Jul 30th 2008 3:58AM
The point still stands that we'll probably replace this ring with something from Tier7 or Tier8; so if there's an inn in Dalaran its becomes a pretty bad gold sink.
Solitare-sp Jul 29th 2008 6:20AM
An extra HS for 8000g??...hmm not sure thats worth it. I assume there will a version of portals from Dalaran to the main cities (and shattrath?) anyway. (and there must be an inn in Dalaran surely)
With careful planning, i've nether really had to worry about HS being on cooldowns and being stuck....The only time my char is in Azoth is to do Kara/Zul Aman (in which case I don't worry about HS as I'm there for more than an hour), or on Isle QD, in which case theres the quest which gives you that teleport back...
Kurai Jul 29th 2008 6:19PM
Woo Hoo my tip made it onto wow insider!