| The demand for strategies on how to effectively | | | | burger'...much cheaper than many other strategy |
| make gold on World of Warcraft is very high. | | | | guides, yet is continuously updated. The author |
| Players are paying hundreds of real dollars to buy | | | | claims he just wanted to recover some costs for |
| thousands of online gold. Gold-selling advertisers | | | | web-hosting and his time, not retire to the |
| spend big bucks to drive traffic to their sites, but | | | | Caribbean. |
| selling gold wrecks the in-game economy. Not to | | | | But the competition for gold guides is so high |
| mention it's a violation of the Terms of Service | | | | now, and few of them contain 'new' information. |
| and End-User License Agreement of the game, | | | | They all contain the same tips, for the most part. |
| and can result in having the player account | | | | Some are 'beefier' than others, but that just |
| banned. | | | | means that the guides are filled with strategies |
| Because of the need for gold-making strategies, | | | | that are not as good. There are really only a few |
| various gold guides have been created. These | | | | best practices. So, in the spirit of getting the |
| guides are the response to the illegal gold trade, | | | | information in the hands of the players |
| and usually contain valid, useful information on how | | | | reasonably, MakeWoWGold is providing a free |
| to LEGALLY make gold in the game. The prices | | | | username/password right on its main page. |
| of the guides vary wildly, from as little as $5 to | | | | This is the first time a Warcraft Gold Guide that |
| as much as $50. | | | | once charged a fee is being offered for free. And |
| On the expensive end of the spectrum, the | | | | while the site is not perfect, and is not huge, the |
| guides tend to be thick and pretty. But often the | | | | core content is solid and worth a read. It covers |
| thickness comes in the form of filler. A 4-page list | | | | the basics of Auction House sales, mobs to kill, |
| of what vendors sell what rare recipes is an easy | | | | Professions, etc. Its focus is educational...teaching |
| way to 'bulk up' a guide, even though the value it | | | | players HOW to think about making gold, in |
| offers is miniscule. Some guides make liberal use | | | | addition to the basic "go here and kill X". There is |
| of graphics to increase their size without adding | | | | a "Myth" section which helps correct some |
| value. | | | | wrong-headed thinking that many players have |
| Even though the expensive guides may be more | | | | about making gold. |
| fluff than they are worth, the content is usually | | | | One of the advantages to having a cheap, or |
| still pretty good. The high-end guides have an | | | | even free wow gold guide is that most of the |
| obligation to keep their guides updated, which is | | | | expensive guides offer money-back guarantees. |
| necessary considering the number of changes | | | | So, if you read the free guide, and learn a bunch |
| that Blizzard has implemented in the game. Some | | | | of strategies, then buy an expensive guide and it |
| of the cheaper guides will sometimes offer | | | | has mainly the same strategies, you can get a |
| out-dated advice, such as farming Scarlet | | | | refund for the expensive guide...with a clean |
| Monestary cemetary for green and blue drops to | | | | conscience, since it did not really teach you |
| disenchant. (Blizzard nerfed that place a year ago, | | | | anything new. So if you think that those |
| and the mobs only drop copper, but I still see | | | | expensive guides really do have a secret that a |
| guides that recommend that as a gold-making | | | | free guide does not, you are a little safer to try |
| strategy). | | | | them out since you have a legitimate reason to |
| The exception to that rule about cheap sites is It | | | | ask for a refund if there is really very little new |
| was always priced 'for the price of a | | | | information. |