Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsBattle.net Balance funds World of Warcraft game time
by Michael Gray 
Dec 9th 2011 at 7:00PM
Essentially, you have a Battle.net Balance made up of points. Adding value to your Battle.net Balance is executed through charging up. You can charge up your Battle.net Balance using debit or credit cards, or sales from Diablo III auctions. Be aware, though, that you can't convert Battle.net Balance back into cash; once you put money there, it stays there. (There is an exception in some regions using PayPal, but details are scarce on that right now.)
Some of the Battle.net details are a little fuzzy right now because Blizzard is forced to deal with a lot of regional-specific laws. For example, in some regions, it'll have to empty value from a Battle.net Balance that hasn't been accessed in three years. Which regions? We don't know yet.
The most exciting bit of this news, however, is that you'll be able to purchase World of Warcraft prepaid game time using your Battle.net Balance. So if you're pretty good at the Diablo III Auction House, you might be able to kiss your subscription fee goodbye.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
EaterOfBirds Dec 12th 2011 7:00PM
I didnt say it was :p
Bossy Dec 10th 2011 4:28AM
I see in these posts that a lot of people are NOT prepared...
You have 2 CHOICES when you put something on sale on the Diablo 3 AH: first choice is put the profits on your BattNet Account (which they talk about in this article). The second choice is to put it on a PayPal account which you should open.
Now HERE is the interesting part: after you let it put on your PayPal account (fees are deducted), ... you can put it on your bank account FOR FREE (at least if you live in EU).
I know it because I am selling Magic TG cards for the moment on ebay and all the money goes to my PayPal account( about 7% fees to put it there from ebay).
But after this, you can transfer the money to your bank accounts for FREE. At the moment I have around 130 Euro on Paypal and every 200 Euro I transfer it to my bank for free (at least that's supported here in the EU).
So I think my goal in Diablo 3 will be to try to make 15 bucks ( WOW subscription) a month when selling on Diablo 3 and if I arrive to that amount I let the rest of the D3 sales go to my PayPal account.
BUT ... I am under the impression the BattleNet shop will include many more "sales" than the present day ones. I can think of the pet shops with the upcoming pet battles and the NEW 2012 launched WOW Card game which - NO DOUBT - will have boosters to sell through this account. I even think that Card game could have a digital version à la Magic TG.
Interesting times ahead.
Ant Dec 10th 2011 6:39AM
Also, if you get the paypal debit card you can forgo the transfer process. If I have lots of cash in my paypal account I transfer it to my bank account for free (US) but it takes a little bit of time. If I just want to grab dinner with some extra PayPal cash the Debit card is where it's at.
Bossy Dec 10th 2011 4:38AM
Come to think of it.... and after I wrote the post above.
This explains a LOT of things lately ...
With THIS Diablo 3 Real Money AH it is QUITE obvious EVERYONE will at least try Diablo 3. I really begin to think that Blizzard WANTS us to play Diablo 3 too.
That's why they are so frank about subscriptions. They simply know WOW is profitable with even a 2 M subscriber base ... as long as their OLD and NEW and PRESENT player base all play for real money in a new game.
They know WOW already is 7 years old and so they REBOOST their Blizzard player base with D3 supporting free to play WOW.
What a smart move: you keep the players over a BUNCH of games ... all connected to each other.
They must have been thinking this out for years.
Smart, very smart: you could loose on WOW but you gain overall players over all CONNECTED games. You no longer depend on just one MMORPG.
Now the circle would be closed if WOW would introduce PARTS of the gear selling for real money (RMAH) too....
A WOW (Titan) RMAH where you can sell loot to make a small profit: if you think their MMO's were at its peak @ 12 M: I don't think it was at all.
warpknight6 Dec 10th 2011 11:29PM
Yeah, I agree, this is very intricately designed. Titan is almost certain to be supporting this new monetary system, indeed.
I'm just wondering if there will be enough potential buyers to keep the system from supporting anything greater than bargain basement prices.
Sure, I may be able to sell a crafted epic now for 5000g, but if there's enough people with the same idea - thinking they can get a meal's worth of money off a few epics - then selling the stuff for real money might make the same epic cost 5 cents of real money. Which is a far cry from what buying gold from a chinese gold farmer would equate to selling it for.
Interesting times ahead.