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It has been a long, long time since I last played World of Warcraft. Back when fast land mounts were 1000 gold training and You had to "run the gauntlet" as we called it in my former guild to get between Night Elf starting lands and the rest of the alliance starting lands...

Basically, back before Burning Crusade had even been released. But that's enough reminiscing for now.

My question is this: Was the money drop rate nerfed since then? I realize things change over time. Especially over the course of nearly 3 expansions now... But I seem to recall being able to go down to Silithis, running just west of town, and killing the humanoid enemies there for anywhere from 1 to 5 gold each. I just went back there to build up a bit of money (I gave all my gold away before I quit last time), and was quite disappointed by the results.

So, was it nerfed since then, or is my memory just being wishful?

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You might change your title to something like "Was World of Warcraft Gold Drops nerfed" -- your title is somewhat overly broad ;) (And yes, I realize this is very old, but I opened it from a link on the sidebar expecting qq.) – Christopher Schmidt Oct 10 '10 at 14:51
Sorry to disappoint you. No qq here. :P However, that is a better title. Thanks for the idea! – Aeo Oct 11 '10 at 22:47
On a side note: Tomorrow has extended downtime as the first major update leading to Cataclysm is being pushed, with lots of major class mechanic changes. – user2974 Oct 12 '10 at 5:04

3 Answers

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I don't think money rates have been nerfed in general. Although, I think some mobs in various places (including Silithus) have been made non-elite, when they were formally elite, and as such, their drop values have probably been lowered. It does depend on which mobs you're referring to, and I think that, for the most part, things are the same.

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5  
Yup. The expansions have pretty much left the old-world untouched. I can't recall any non-raid mobs dropping gold at all (maybe 20-30 silver, max) in classic. The economy has exploded on so many different levels, though, that farming mobs is not the way to make money -- daily quests and quests-for-gold are much better. – Raven Dreamer♦ Aug 22 '10 at 4:19
I do recall them being elite and much, much more difficult to kill than they are currently. Between your answer and lexu's, I think I see where the money drain is now. Thanks, all. – Aeo Aug 22 '10 at 12:22
up vote 2 down vote

Small correction: while the other answers are right that money rates have not changed generally, there have been various cases where specific mobs had their monetary drops nerfed after changes to the level cap spoiled the balance between risk and reward.

For example, the original level 60 version of Onyxia originally dropped around 180 gold, but this was changed to 50 much later when she had become soloable. Similarly, the the Ghostly Philanthropists in Karazhan dropped ~12 gold when the content was current, but now drop no gold at all. This tends to happen any time outdated content becomes a target for high level players because the rewards outshine the difficulty, so the same thing could certainly have happened to the mobs the questioner is asking about.

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up vote 1 down vote

Not sure this is what happened:

When you are at the exp cap (used to be level 60, then 70 now it's 80 and 'soon' 85, you would be awarded gold instead of exp.

Is your char at level 80, or are you lower?

EDIT:

  • I stand corrected (see comments) quests give gold, not exp, when you are at the current max level.
  • Monster (drops) stay the same ..
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I am still at 60, and I do recall what you are saying about exp being turned into gold. I only just got the BC expansion and started playing again yesterday. Maybe that's part of it. – Aeo Aug 22 '10 at 12:19
I don't believe that exp gets turned into gold for mob kills. – McKay Aug 22 '10 at 16:53
1  
@McKay, correct - you only get quest experience that exceeds the cap, turned into an equivalent level of gold. Not mobs. – Cyclops Aug 22 '10 at 21:32

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