Blizzard considers tradable game-time tokens for World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor

Blizzard has revealed some of its World of Warcraft plans for 2015, including an expansion of the Legendary quest line (complete with Legendary follower), improvements and additions to Garrisons, more focus on eSports via War Games skirmishes, and ongoing upgrades to character models. Perhaps the most interesting idea, however, is the possible addition of tradable tokens that can be used to pay for game time.

It's still in the exploratory stage, but the system sounds like it would function very similarly to EVE Online's "plex," an in-game item representing 30 days of game time that can be purchased or traded, and that makes large-scale EVE battles so wonderfully interesting by introducing an element of risk beyond that of normal games: A player with a hold full of plex faces potentially significant real-money losses if his ship is destroyed. It's doubtful that Blizzard would let things go that far, but it said players have expressed an interest in seeing something similar in WoW.

"Our current thought on this is that it would give players a way to use their surplus gold to cover some of their subscription cost, while giving players who might have less play time an option for acquiring gold from other players through a legit and secure system," Community Manager Micah "Bashiok" Whipple wrote. "We agree it could be a good fit for the game, and we look forward to any feedback you have as we continue to look into this feature."

Bashiok also noted that the World of Warcraft 6.1 patch, which will include some of the changes listed in the post, will be up on the Public Test Realm soon.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.