https://www.cybersport.ru/games/articles/realno-li-zarabatyvat-na-world-of-warcraft-v-2021-godu

With the release of each update, the number of players on WoW servers increases. Many are entering WoW for the first time, while others are returning after a long break. Due to the constant accumulation of gold from one add-on to another, beginners cannot equal the capital with constantly playing users. They can either spend a colossal amount of time on the game, or donate.

Blizzard Official Currency Rates

Blizzard is aware of the snowball problem and has even tried to solve it – with its own benefit, of course. Since 2015, the in-game store has tokens that can be bought for real money and sold at the auction for gold. The legal path is attractive for players from those countries where for violation of the user agreement and illegal purchase and sale transactions can be unimaginably cut off by law, for example, in Korea. With the advent of Blizzard Tokens shared her opinion about selling gold in any other way:

However, the rate at which Blizzard allows you to buy and sell tokens is quite low. At the time of publication of the article, a user from the CIS pays for a token ₽1,400. For this he receives a little more than 164 thousand gold in World of Warcraft. Yes, the rate is floating, there are times (usually near the end of the add-ons) when you can get up to 300 thousand in-game currency for a token, but the illegal market also reacts to demand and lowers prices at the right time.

The problem with tokens is that they are not beneficial to anyone. A player who spends real money on a token expects to receive a lot of gold. On large “proven” exchanges with good reviews, for ₽1,400 it can earn twice as much, and on some popular servers – even three times. I checked over a dozen sites that illegally sell gold in WoW, and I couldn’t find one where the rate was similar to what Blizzard is posting. This is understandable – otherwise they would all have died out.

Gold sellers vary, but most sites work with regular players. Selling pure currency is not the most profitable activity in WoW: it is difficult to get it and there is a constant shortage, but no one complains about demand either. This is easy to check – the seller’s profile always indicates how much he can offer you at the moment. I watched the dynamics: most often the declared amount decreases in the next few hours.

To sell in-game currency, you need to earn it in some way. The most common ways to convert time to gold:

• account hacking and theft;
• gathering and profession (often associated with bot farming);
• resale and games at auction;
• sale of in-game services.

Air Trading – Paid Services in WoW

Both in life and in WoW, we are willing to pay to be better than others, or at least feel that way. The system of achievements and ranks in WoW encourages more successful players to sell services to those who cannot reach the top of the ladder on their own. Yes, this is a normal boost, just like any other multiplayer game.

WoW sells literally everything. Achievements, mounts, rank in the arena, daily, leveling up, passing raids, equipment, pets, and even the services of healers or tanks. It is not possible to shoot alone everywhere. You will be able to match the “two” in the arena of the “newborn” player in WoW, but finding clients and ensuring a stable result will not be as easy as it seems at first glance.

It would seem that more than half a million rubles for a character’s equipment – will there be a demand for such services? I cannot provide conclusive evidence, so take my word for it: yes, such services are purchased. World of Warcraft is quite an old game, in it there are gamers who have made a fortune in 15 years and are ready to spend … Usually such people do not have free time, so they are willing to pay.

It is worth counting: ₽500 thousand – is that a lot? Above the character, 20 people from the raid team will be busy for several weeks. Four weeks later, with a bit of luck, he’ll get the best gear. Each of the participants will require a personal reward, and simple mathematics will lead us to the following formula: Divide ₽500 thousand by 20, we get ₽25 thousand in about a month. Not as juicy as it seemed at first glance, although still not bad.

The trade chats of major cities in WoW are packed with offers to the eyeballs. Blizzard has recently banned the use of bots for this, but each booster team usually has a responsible herald who rips a character’s throat 24/7 without illegal programs.

It should be noted that not all advertisements for the sale of in-game services are illegal. Trading places in raids and dungeons for gold is allowed. So guilds and players can earn gold to conquer the next content or buy expensive mounts. It is a violation of the license agreement to exchange gold for real money through intermediaries. It is very difficult to identify illegal immigrants among service sellers, Blizzard can only catch them one at a time and clear the reputation with a healing bahnhammer.

How profitable is it to sell services?

The cost of closing a raid at the beginning of the content can reach hundreds of thousands of rubles. At the time of publication of this article, the Mythic raid of Nafria’s Castle had only 44 guilds closed in the world. Getting into the Hall of Fame is a very rare and valuable achievement that all collectors are after. Each raid squad has 20 people, and for a guild that has already dealt with the final boss Sir Denatrius, selling one seat is not only a challenge, but also bread.

The realistic price of a campaign against one (first and “easy” by the standards of experienced fighters) boss is ₽15 thousand. It grows with each subsequent enemy. Now the murder of the epochal Denatriy, the last boss, not only costs cosmically, but is not sold at all in Russian-language realms – only in the West. Some weirdos deliberately transfer accounts to the server, where they can be sold a rare service, thereby attracting the attention of Blizzard.

Now the closure of the heroic mode of “Castle of Nafriya” is no longer difficult for experienced guilds, some are gaining five or seven clients per wound. The price of the service is appropriate, and some sellers are not shy about anything at all. This was the first seller in the chat, from whom I decided to ask about the price, and he immediately wrote the price in rubles. Security “at the level”.

The prices for the title of gladiator in the arena are also high. In addition, you will have to transfer your account to a third party, and you never know if he will later decide to use it for personal purposes.

At lower ranks, the vevers who agree to beat the noob in the “three” are forced to play against strong fighters, having a weak link in the team. The profit here is much greater than in raiding: it is much more pleasant to divide the loot into two, not 20 people.

Selling services for the passage of epoch-making keys is the golden mean of boosting in terms of price and content complexity. Because of this, there is competition among sellers, which means dumping and luring away paying customers. Some groups not only provide comfortable passage, but also select equipment according to the class of the buyer. Many players “bite” on such a counter, because it is very pleasant to earn not only achievement and high-level loot from a weekly chest, but also to get an item here and now.

It turns out that in order to be competitive in the market, a group of four people (the fifth slot will be occupied by the buyer) needs to have several characters on the account with different types of armor – armor, chain mail, leather and fabric. And, what a trifle, to be able to play on all these characters in order to complete the most difficult dungeons four together, without relying on the damage from the buyer.

Quick money on the sale of an account

Perhaps the fastest way to earn a round sum on your account is by selling your personal account. If you’ve played since “real classics”, knocked out Invincible in “The Lich King”, attended old BlizzCon or liked to earn achievements, the cost of a profile can reach several tens of thousands of rubles.

The disadvantages of such earnings are obvious. Firstly, there is one account, respectively, and there will be one “salary”. Secondly, the buyer will most likely be banned, which means that you will hiccup more than once while you will be remembered with obscene ditties – and this is in the most favorable scenario. If the account was very rare and expensive, it is quite possible to run into a principled buyer who decides to “figure it out on the IP” of the would-be seller.

Some players steal accounts by guessing passwords or calculating old and inactive profiles that don’t have two-factor authentication. I believe that only a very stupid person will be led to buy an account for less than the cost of the final World of Warcraft expansion. Although, judging by the number of offers on the stock exchanges, the goof is still not a mammoth.

Legal ways – difficult and long

There are legal ways to make real money with World of Warcraft, but these are not directly related to the in-game economy. People who are willing to spend a lot of time on MMORPGs, have charisma, are able to teach other people, or just play very well can try their hand at streaming, blogging or coaching.

Streaming World of Warcraft is quite difficult. In an MMORPG, actions are chaotic and most often do not have an end result over a long distance – a minute ago the streamer did a quest in the Womb, immediately switched to a story mission, and then went into a raid, where he repeats the same combination of spells for several hours. The casual viewer stays on such a broadcast only if he likes the host himself.

The streamer, in turn, will have to either develop the skills of a clown and toastmaster, or be content with low views. Exceptions can be professional players from large guilds or the gods of the arena – they have something to show without clowning.

Yes, World of Warcraft is one of the most watched games in the world, making it to the top 10 on Twitch in 2023. However, most of the views are gained by Western streamers with a huge audience, whales of the genre – Asmongold, Sodapoppin, Hydra and others. A large share of the overall viewability is taken by the guild progress races at the start of the add-ons, where most of the viewers come to the Complexity Limit and Method streams, Russian-speaking users visit Exorse, and hundreds of people remain, smearing the viewer’s attention on other channels in a thin layer.

It is easier for bloggers on YouTube in terms of adapting the viewer to content, but preparing broadcasts is much more difficult. Still, the pre-recorded WoW videos are more organic. The author takes a narrow topic, for example, about earning money by collecting in Ardenveld, and shares useful information. The user interested in the topic rates the product itself, and if it is done well, the response will be stronger.

There are also pitfalls here: the demand for WoW video is small, and there are a lot of offers. There is competition even in the Russian-speaking segment of YouTube. At the same time, the game itself has long been beyond the brackets of trends, and even high-profile releases of add-ons do not put it on a par with CS: GO, Dota 2 or any novelty in the industry in terms of search results. You will either have to be Wanga and guess what will be popular in the near future, react to patches before they are released, shoot trash content and shout into the camera … or be content with several thousand views from adequate players.

On average, an active World of Warcraft blogger with 100 thousand followers will gain 10-15 thousand views on a video. This is enough for small advertising integrations, but there is no talk about “mountains of gold” – goblins will not have enough. But you still have to live up to a hundred thousand fans, this path can take several years. Who knows what will happen to online in World of Warcraft during this time?

If you answer the directly posed question in the title, then the answer will be unequivocal: “Yes”. However, most of the really profitable pursuits are scams. Please be aware that exchanging in-game currency for real money directly to your card and not to your Battle.net Wallet is prohibited by Blizzard rules. Sooner or later, you will get a ban and a taste of bitterness from the fact that the game is no longer fun. I’m not a mommy, I’m not going to read morality, but I’ll still advise you to find a normal job. Look around – even the gaming industry has tons of really interesting jobs.