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A recent update adding the Cash Shop to WoW Classic has certainly gotten the Classic-era community talking. It was revealed on May 9, 2024, when Blizzard announced that both the Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm servers have access to a real money shop. It’s stripped down compared to the retail version of the shop, but it is nonetheless here, and likely to stay whether players like it or not.
As a long-time World of Warcraft player, this has been on my mind for the past couple of days. While, at a base level, I don’t care about the WoW Classic Cash Shop - I’m not going to shop there with any certainty, after all - I do understand what it represents. Let’s talk about it, and if it’s bad or not.
This is the opinion of just one writer - me - who has played World of Warcraft for 20 years. I do not represent all players, or all writers at Sportskeeda.
What is the WoW Classic Cash Shop adding to the game?
Compared to the retail cash shop, the WoW Classic Cash Shop is seriously stripped down. The prices are similar, if not identical, and you can find a variety of items in it. It’s important to note that none of these things give players any particular advantage. Admittedly, some of them do look very cool (such as the Dark Portal Hearthstone Animation). You can get the following types of items here:
- Mounts
- Pets
- Services (Race/Faction Change, Server Transfer)
- Pets
- Toys
- WoW Token
Many in the community, including content creators like Asmongold, have spoken their minds and find it to be a terrible idea. Despite it being another avenue to get players to spend real money in the game via the WoW Classic Cash Shop, there were quite a few defenders of it on the forums. The real question is if it’s a good or bad thing.
Is the WoW Classic Cash Shop a good or bad thing?
It’s easy to say “Just don’t purchase anything in the WoW Classic Cash Shop”. That’s what I used to tell people who complained about the regular cash shop. It’s an extension of what Blizzard used to offer on the website, or in the app: You can buy extra cosmetics, or change your character's race/faction.
If this trend continues though, players will start seeing things like Level Boosters showing up on the Classic server as well. That goes against everything those servers are supposed to represent - as does the Cash Shop in general. It’s supposed to be a way for fans to experience the game the way it originally was in its earlier days.
You can argue that the Cash Shop was introduced into the game in its own time, but that wasn’t until Patch 5.4 - during the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Right now, it doesn’t offer anything players desperately need - or at least, it doesn’t seem to at first glance.
I’ve been against the WoW Token from the very beginning. It was a way to either use in-game gold to buy a subscription, or to purchase one with real money, and sell it if you need in-game gold.
It felt like a way to try and combat Gold Selling, although it didn’t. The gold price of the WoW Token fluctuates and will eventually grow. Right now, it’s around 6.7k gold for $20. This is more expensive than the $14.99 the game typically costs for 30 days. That’s what the WoW Token is supposed to do - you can buy one in-game for gold, and pay for your subscription that way.
Otherwise, you can buy it for real money, sell it at the Auction House, and essentially, buy gold the legal way. Does this really combat Gold Selling, though? Of course, it doesn’t. In a cursory Google Search, I found websites selling 15K gold for roughly that same price. This is not to say we condone gold selling/buying - we do not - but it is there on the internet.
I don’t think it represents anything inherently villainous, but I do think it will make a mark on the economy if people start selling and buying WoW Tokens. It’s only a matter of time before that price spikes, and it stops being worth it.
When it comes down to the WoW Classic Cash Shop, it does appear to have exclusive content that you can’t get in Retail. It’s very much a FOMO generator (Fear of Missing Out) - so players spend money to feel better. At the end of the day, I don't think it adds anything positive to the game - other than more ways to spend money, I suppose.
On a personal level, it doesn't influence me to spend extra money at all - I do play on the WoW Classic servers, but I don’t spend money on the cash shop. As I said before, it’s really easy to tell yourself not to spend money, but not everyone’s wired that way. There are people who will see others buying the fancy mounts, and feel left out.
I don’t think that the WoW Classic Cash Shop was the right call. It was bound to happen, and nothing is stopping them from doing so, but on a personal level, as a fan, I’m not crazy about it. It was inevitable, even if it was an unpopular decision. It's not the end of the world, and it's not the end of Classic - but it is a decision much of the fanbase isn't happy about.
