“Player Protection & WoW Tokens: A Costly Lesson from In-Game Service Scams”
Hello everyone,
I wanted to share a recent, frustrating experience and offer some constructive feedback on how player protections could be improved for the in-game service economy that Blizzard supports.
Recently, I was scammed out of 2,500,000 gold while trying to purchase a mythic raid carry—a service traded for gold, which is permitted by the rules. I reported the players, and I’m very grateful to the GMs who took swift action against their accounts.
However, my primary concern is the lack of protection for the victim. I was informed that the gold could not be restored, which I understand is the current policy. The issue is that this wasn’t just in-game currency; it represented a significant real-world financial investment through the WoW Token system.
Let’s break down the real cost:
A WoW Token is €20 and converts to roughly 350,000 gold .
My loss of 2,500,000 gold equates to over 7 tokens, costing me approximately €143 .
That amount of money could have paid for almost a full year of game time.
Since Blizzard has created and endorsed a system where players can convert real money into gold to purchase in-game services, there’s an implicit trust that this ecosystem should be safe. When that trust is broken by scammers, the financial and emotional cost to the player is immense. Simply banning the scammer, while necessary, doesn’t address the harm done to the victim who engaged with a sanctioned system in good faith.
I believe there’s a need for a more robust system to protect these transactions. Perhaps an official in-game trading UI for services, similar to the auction house, or a temporary escrow system where gold is held until the service is complete.
I love this game and am happy to support it financially. I just hope Blizzard will consider implementing stronger safeguards to protect the investments of its players.
Which is deemed an unsupported transaction by the rules* which is different from permission or endorsement. Further confirmed some year back.
That you used WoW tokens to do this matters not really. There are plenty of games like EvE where if you would transport unsecured PLEX and were to be blown up that’s on you.
In WoW you decided to trust entire strangers with 2.5m in WoW tokens with a carry. Quite unfortunate you got scammed, but Blizzard did investigate and take action.
I don’t think they restored gold for boost scams even in the past so they follow this policy pretty much for a long time atleast.
As I said in the past:
If Blizzard wanted to, they would’ve added in or adjusted to the trade interface ingame.
They however did not. As boosting is not a “tradeable” commodity and terms can change or be vague. For example, what if you only want 1(+) boss(es), 1(+ specific) item(s) or an achievement(s)? Who would become the arbiter if something were to fail due RNG but the boosting party still wants gold for their “effort”?
I think your suggestion needs to be fleshed out more and do add it through the ingame feedback panel too when you did.
I’m amazed that you don’t see that you are part of the problem.
Spending 143 EUR to buy tokens in order to buy a boost is absolute anti-game behaviour.
If Blizzard ever implements an interface for buying these “services”, that will be my cue to uninstall this game from my PC forever.
My only advice for you is learn how to play the game, find some friends, find a guild, do Mythic raiding organically through a progression. That’s how this game is meant to be played.
Thank you for the detailed and thoughtful response. You’ve raised some very important points that get to the heart of this issue, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain them.
You are absolutely right to highlight this distinction. My argument is that this very policy of “permitted, but unsupported” is what creates a dangerous environment for players. It essentially creates a gray market where scams are common, and victims have no recourse. My feedback is aimed at asking Blizzard to re-evaluate whether this “unsupported” stance is still appropriate, especially now that the WoW Token directly links real money to this ecosystem.
From a policy standpoint, I understand that gold is gold. However, from a player perspective, it matters immensely. When a player makes a multi-hundred dollar investment through Blizzard’s own shop to participate in an activity Blizzard allows, the expectation of security is naturally higher. The current system asks players to carry all of the risk for a transaction that Blizzard profits from at the point of the Token sale.
This is a fantastic point, and you’ve correctly identified the biggest challenge. My suggestion for a UI isn’t a final blueprint, but a starting point for discussion. Perhaps such a system could initially be limited to services with clear, non-RNG-based outcomes:
Completing a specific achievement.
Full clearing a raid (e.g., 8/8 bosses killed).
Timed Mythic+ key completion.
For more complex, RNG-based trades, you’re right that it would be much harder to implement. But even a simple system covering the most common services would be a massive improvement over the zero-protection system we have now.
Thank you again for pushing the conversation forward. You’ve given me a lot to think about for when I submit the feedback in-game.
I respect that you feel strongly about organic progression, and for many players, that is absolutely the best way to experience the game.
However, my feedback isn’t a debate on the philosophy of boosting. The reality is this:
Blizzard sells the WoW Token, allowing players to buy gold with real money.
Blizzard’s rules explicitly permit trading that gold for in-game services.
Because Blizzard has created and profits from this entire economic loop, I believe they have a duty to protect the players participating in it. My suggestion for a secure interface is about preventing fraud within the existing, officially permitted rules. It’s not about changing how you or anyone else chooses to play the game.
Its blizzard trying to benefit from a system while at the same time washing their hands of it.
All parties here are terrible imo.
The scammers suck, blizz sucks, sellers suck (but they are just playing by the rules laid out) and buyers suck too. Earn it how it was intended or do without.
Exactly! You’ve summed it up perfectly. A “boost finder” is precisely what the game needs.
You’re absolutely right that Blizzard’s responsibility increases the moment they sell WoW Tokens for real money. An official, secure system like the one you described would not only protect players from scams but, as you said, would also be a huge quality-of-life improvement by cutting down on the endless spam in chat channels.
It really feels like a win-win solution. Thanks for the support!
You’ve absolutely nailed the core problem in your first sentence: “Its blizzard trying to benefit from a system while at the same time washing their hands of it.”
That’s exactly it. That contradiction is the entire reason I made this post.
While I understand the frustration with the whole boosting scene, my point is that as long as Blizzard is actively profiting from it via the WoW Token, they can’t just “wash their hands” of the consequences. If they’re going to support this economy, they have a responsibility to make it safe for the players who are playing by the rules they laid out.
My suggestion for a secure system is a direct solution to the problem you identified. It would force them to take accountability for the market they’ve created.
That’s a reasonable suggestion that many players try, but it unfortunately doesn’t solve the core problem. The issue is a lack of trust on both sides. A scammer can still take the first half and run, leaving the buyer with a loss. Conversely, many legitimate boosting groups require full payment upfront because they’ve been scammed by buyers who leave without paying the second half.
A player-made workaround like that still relies entirely on trusting a stranger. The system needs a real, trustless solution.
I think it’s important to make a clear distinction here. My suggestion is about creating a secure player-to-player trade system for gold. I am not, under any circumstances, suggesting that Blizzard should sell raid items or achievements directly for real money in the cash shop. I agree that would be terrible for the game.
The system I’m proposing keeps the entire transaction inside the game’s economy: players perform a service for other players in exchange for gold. This is already happening. My only request is for a safe way to conduct that trade so that players aren’t scammed out of gold that often comes from a real-money WoW Token purchase.
It’s not about changing what is being traded, but about changing how it’s traded to make it secure.
Blizz TOLERATES the boosting and other services in their game because they don’t want to spend resources on it to root it out, and they probabbly get some cuts from it, one way or another. Pretty much the only support you can expect from them is an automatically generated template email telling you that you are respnisble for your own actions, aka “I wash my hands”.
i am of different view .you should not be able to buy carries in a subscription based game .if you dont have the skill you either learn one or be content with what you have .
why would blizzard waste their resources as the poster above me rightly pointed out .they are after wow token purchases and for their matter it ends right there . rest of the burden to keep yourself safe from scam will always fall on your own shoulder.
there is . if somebody uses it as 30 days gametime then it is 7 euros more money for blizzard on lowest sub price offered . that is in no way a small cut if you count all the wow tokens being bought and sold.
and why would they waste their resources on it ,when even far more serious issues in the game and payment methods dont get solved since they either laid off the gm and customer service or sold it off to far off 3rd party company customer service which has not been performing well .
How is bad RNG that of the customer’s concern? If you sell a service, just state in the terms what is the price of bad RNG happens. Not a rocket science.
might as well add everything to the ingame shop and you can buy whatever it is you wanted from the raid.