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Friday, October 13, 2006
Epic flying mount, just 8000 gold
The beta for Burning Crusade has started. I assume there is a NDA, but there is a lot of information leaking. Among them I found this forum entry with the cost of the riding skill needed for normal and epic flying mounts. The expert riding skill (225) costs 2,000 gold, and the artisan riding skill (300) costs 5,000 gold. And of course you will have to have paid 100 gold for the apprentice riding skill (75) and 1000 gold for the journeyman riding skill (150) before you can learn the higher skills. Learning riding to 300 to be able to ride an epic flying mount thus costs 8,100 gold base cost. And that only buys you the skill, you still will need to either buy or quest for the flying mount that goes with it. Note that all these are *base* prices, you usually get a 10% rebate for being honored with your faction. Currently there is also a 10% rebate for being at least rank 3 in PvP, but it isn't sure whether we will lose that one after the expansion totally remodels the PvP honor system.
If a normal flying mount is sufficient for you, you only pay 3,100 gold base cost, or 2,790 gold after the 10% rebate. If you already have a riding skill of 150, from having bought an epic mount before the patch 1.12.1, or from buying the riding skill now, you will "only" need to spend 1,800 gold after rebate for the skill necessary to fly the normal flying mount. But even that is far more than the average WoW player is likely to have. And as at least the normal flying mount is needed to access certain zones and dungeons in the Burning Crusade, lots of people will have a lot of farming to do for cash. While you can probably earn more gold per hour at level 70 than currently at level 60, farming 1,800 gold will still take many hours. And I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people will "outsource" that farming, and buy the gold from professional gold farmers. I don't know if there are any publicly traded gold farming companies, but now would be the time to buy shares in them.
- posted by Tobold @ 1:32 PM Permanent Link
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No NDA ;-)
http://blue.cardplace.com/newcache/us/32319992.htm
Greetings, Jens
http://blue.cardplace.com/newcache/us/32319992.htm
Greetings, Jens
# posted by 
: 13/10/06 14:21
: 13/10/06 14:21
A couple of comments. There's no NDA in place, so we're seeing a ton of info coming through now that the closed beta has begun.
Secondly, I think Blizzard have the upper hand in the 'gold war' at the moment, after the recent bans. Obviously this can (and probably will) change, but as long as no serious dupes or exploits are found, Blizzard have a decent chance of keeping gold bought externally an expensive commodity. Check the price of IGE gold, it's shot up.
Thirdly, while I like the 'achievement value' a high price brings the flying mounts, am I the only one who thinks the gold required is out of line with what can be earned in a reasonable time?
I have an epic mount, and that was in my view an unreasonable effort to get. The jump in loot value from, say 40-60 is actually NOT that high, comparatively, so I hold out little hope for what can be acquired at 70. I think unless there is a quantitative leap in what mobs drop, these costs will be utterly prohibitive to casual players.
When I think of what might be a fair level of gold to spend on mounts, I'd calculate what average players acquire naturally through normal play (quests, occasional grind, occasional instances) on the way to 70. I'd then add on a third or so, to add some elemenent of achievement. Basically, an average player should not have to commit to weeks/months of grind, they should acquire the lions share of the necessary sum almost unnoticed.
Even the cost of the base flying mount seems nuts to me, when so many of the level 60 playerbase have not had the time to grind for epic standard mounts.
Secondly, I think Blizzard have the upper hand in the 'gold war' at the moment, after the recent bans. Obviously this can (and probably will) change, but as long as no serious dupes or exploits are found, Blizzard have a decent chance of keeping gold bought externally an expensive commodity. Check the price of IGE gold, it's shot up.
Thirdly, while I like the 'achievement value' a high price brings the flying mounts, am I the only one who thinks the gold required is out of line with what can be earned in a reasonable time?
I have an epic mount, and that was in my view an unreasonable effort to get. The jump in loot value from, say 40-60 is actually NOT that high, comparatively, so I hold out little hope for what can be acquired at 70. I think unless there is a quantitative leap in what mobs drop, these costs will be utterly prohibitive to casual players.
When I think of what might be a fair level of gold to spend on mounts, I'd calculate what average players acquire naturally through normal play (quests, occasional grind, occasional instances) on the way to 70. I'd then add on a third or so, to add some elemenent of achievement. Basically, an average player should not have to commit to weeks/months of grind, they should acquire the lions share of the necessary sum almost unnoticed.
Even the cost of the base flying mount seems nuts to me, when so many of the level 60 playerbase have not had the time to grind for epic standard mounts.
Even the cost of the base flying mount seems nuts to me, when so many of the level 60 playerbase have not had the time to grind for epic standard mounts.
I totally agree. Especially if you think that now you can't skip the epic standard mount any more.
Checking the gold price on IGE is an interesting idea. I wonder if there is a website with the "Dow Jones Index" of WoW gold prices over time.
And I agree on the achievement value being disproportionate. Gold in any case is a less good measure of achievement than experience points, or reputation or honor points, because gold is a commodity. The level 19 character with crusader on his weapon in WSG doesn't impress you with his achievement, he just gives off a slightly bad odor of twinkiness. And if you see somebody completely geared up in bind on equip epics, you automatically think the guy bought the gold and got his gear from the auction house, and don't consider that an achievement.
I totally agree. Especially if you think that now you can't skip the epic standard mount any more.
Checking the gold price on IGE is an interesting idea. I wonder if there is a website with the "Dow Jones Index" of WoW gold prices over time.
And I agree on the achievement value being disproportionate. Gold in any case is a less good measure of achievement than experience points, or reputation or honor points, because gold is a commodity. The level 19 character with crusader on his weapon in WSG doesn't impress you with his achievement, he just gives off a slightly bad odor of twinkiness. And if you see somebody completely geared up in bind on equip epics, you automatically think the guy bought the gold and got his gear from the auction house, and don't consider that an achievement.
Not sure your numbers are completely correct. I heard the 225 riding skill is 800 gold (the mount itself being 100 gold) which puts it right in line with epic mount costs. The 5000 gold for the 300 skill is incredibly cost prohibitive, but it's also completely unnecessary right now.
Add in the fact that you can't even train these skills until you hit level 70, and the fact that it's reported that from level 60-67 just doing normal questing that players are finding themselves with ~900 gold banked that they didn't have before, and the base flying mount seems to be at an acceptable range.
Add in the fact that you can't even train these skills until you hit level 70, and the fact that it's reported that from level 60-67 just doing normal questing that players are finding themselves with ~900 gold banked that they didn't have before, and the base flying mount seems to be at an acceptable range.
"Checking the gold price on IGE is an interesting idea. I wonder if there is a website with the "Dow Jones Index" of WoW gold prices over time."
I've mentioned this in another discussion thread, anecdotal evidence suggested at the time that Everquest plat prices were most strongly related to the existence and exploitation of dupe bugs. Automated gathering and human farming had a lesser effect, constrained as these are by higher account costs and time. I believe there may even have been some academic work done on the subject, I'll try to dig out some links.
Looking at gold prices on the main sites, I'd guess that no such dupe exists (yet) for WoW. We'll know when it comes - prices will plummet.
I've mentioned this in another discussion thread, anecdotal evidence suggested at the time that Everquest plat prices were most strongly related to the existence and exploitation of dupe bugs. Automated gathering and human farming had a lesser effect, constrained as these are by higher account costs and time. I believe there may even have been some academic work done on the subject, I'll try to dig out some links.
Looking at gold prices on the main sites, I'd guess that no such dupe exists (yet) for WoW. We'll know when it comes - prices will plummet.
My grind for the epic mount began last week, and I must say, owning an epic mount means one of three things: it means either the player has spent 3 days of game time grinding(unless they get lucky with an epic world drop), they bought gold from one of the many gold sites, or they have been playing for quite some time. My boss at work has no problem with me grinding in my downtime which is a good thing because otherwise, I would never have spent that much time just to acquire a bigger kitty that runs faster, I probably would have just spent a few bucks on the 500 gold I needed to bridge the gap.
I never saw the point in spending money on gold just to buy epics from the AH, as all of the top knotch items in WOW are BOP; plus being decked out in BOE epics makes you look like a Gump, as Tobold has already pointed out. When it comes to mounts, I can fully understand why many people will purchase gold from a 3 party source, because as Nick said, many level 60's just don't have the gold reserves. WOW is designed to keep your character broke: You have to spend nearly all the gold that is acquired from questing, on your character skills; then you have to upgrade your gear by buying items from AH, or your character will be weak-especially warriors; then you have the mount.
Calculate all of the costs along the way to 60 and your character ends up in debt or wearing hobo gear. Creating a venture capitalist character-a character who has mining/skinning or herbalism/skinning- is really the only way to make more money than you spend, and if you are rolling an engineer, then you are going to be really broke as none of your items can be sold to other players.
I say kudos to the people who are buying gold to get their epic mount. I'm not going to do it, but I understand fully why you wouldn't want to stand in a field killing bears for days of game time, just to do it all over again once BC comes out.
I never saw the point in spending money on gold just to buy epics from the AH, as all of the top knotch items in WOW are BOP; plus being decked out in BOE epics makes you look like a Gump, as Tobold has already pointed out. When it comes to mounts, I can fully understand why many people will purchase gold from a 3 party source, because as Nick said, many level 60's just don't have the gold reserves. WOW is designed to keep your character broke: You have to spend nearly all the gold that is acquired from questing, on your character skills; then you have to upgrade your gear by buying items from AH, or your character will be weak-especially warriors; then you have the mount.
Calculate all of the costs along the way to 60 and your character ends up in debt or wearing hobo gear. Creating a venture capitalist character-a character who has mining/skinning or herbalism/skinning- is really the only way to make more money than you spend, and if you are rolling an engineer, then you are going to be really broke as none of your items can be sold to other players.
I say kudos to the people who are buying gold to get their epic mount. I'm not going to do it, but I understand fully why you wouldn't want to stand in a field killing bears for days of game time, just to do it all over again once BC comes out.
After doing some more research, I'm not sure the 2000 gold / 5000 gold number isn't a fake. Sorry about that. I'll let you know if I find confirmed numbers.
Looking at gold prices on the main sites, I'd guess that no such dupe exists (yet) for WoW. We'll know when it comes - prices will plummet.
I think in WoW it is the bot programs which come, and then are found out and get their owners banned, which cause the gold prices to fluctuate. But that is also just annecdotal evidence.
Looking at gold prices on the main sites, I'd guess that no such dupe exists (yet) for WoW. We'll know when it comes - prices will plummet.
I think in WoW it is the bot programs which come, and then are found out and get their owners banned, which cause the gold prices to fluctuate. But that is also just annecdotal evidence.
To give you the other (also unconfirmed) "leak" of riding skill prices: this forum claims it's 800 gold for the flying mount and 5,000 gold for the epic flying mount. So if you already have the epic ground mount, getting the normal flying mount should be relatively affordable.
I seem to recall my grind for an epic mount took a LOOOOOOng time, though no where near as long as the grind for the Cenarion Circle rep.
I'm just glad I'm a druid and get flight form for free!
I'm just glad I'm a druid and get flight form for free!
In about an hour, you can farm around 3 stacks of high-end herbs in Azshara/EPL/WPL/Winterspring. That's at least 40g per hour, which means you can make an epic mount in about 20 hours /played.
Speaking of the economy, I recommend doing a [i]lot[/i] of reading on what rare materials are needed in new patterns/recipes in TBC and which are not. There are a lot of fairly valuable materials (hi, cured rugged hide!) which are about to be worthless once the expansion hits. Want to get a leg up on that flying mount? Time to sell off your banked items that are about to be severely devalued as everybody heads to Outland and starts ignoring all the old patterns.
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