WoW Token Prices Have Been on a Roller Coaster So Far

Blizzard this week introduced the long-awaited ability to extend your World of Warcraft subscription with the use of in-game gold. And in the first few days of availability, the price of the WoW Token has fluctuated dramatically.

When they launched on Tuesday, Tokens went on sale for $20. With one in hand, players were able to list them on the in-game auction house, where the price is dictated by a system tracking supply-and-demand, rather than the usual process of bidding or buying at a price chosen by the seller.

That price started at 30,000 gold and quickly increased, passing 31,000 gold on North American servers, according to a website tracking Token sales. From there, the price plummeted, going as low as 20,370 gold on Wednesday--a drop of roughly 35 percent. Since then, the price went back up to almost 27,000 gold, before steadily dropping to where it sits as of this writing, 24,195 gold.

Variations are to be expected, but it'll be interesting to see where the price goes from here and whether Tokens will be affordable for the average player.

Besides allowing players to subscribe to WoW without directly spending any money, Tokens also combat third-party gold sellers. Websites that sell gold for real-world money are one of the primary reasons accounts are so frequently hacked and in-game spam is so commonplace.

Blizzard explained last month that it's hoping that allowing players to buy Tokens with real-world money and then sell them for gold will "help make World of Warcraft a safer and more enjoyable game for all of our players."