Finally got enough gold saved up for when Patch 3.1.0 hits so I can purchase my Dual Spec. I will probably continue to save up gold just in case the cost is actually more than 1000g. I was making my daily rounds around Ironforge, going from AH to mailbox to Bank to etc, signing on different alts and whatnot. Then I realized that Dual Spec isn’t going to be much different with many other gold sinks players buy.

There are still quite a bit of complaints about the cost of Dual Spec, but how come there isn’t any complaints about others? Players are looking at Dual Spec as a necessity, but it really isn’t. It is a convenience. You don’t NEED it to play the game. You are not going to fall behind the crowd if you don’t purchase Dual Spec.

Purchasing Dual Spec won’t be much different than purchasing a new Guild Charter for extra bank space, or upgrading to Artisan Riding skill for an Epic Flying Mount. Let’s take a look at all these other gold sinks and see how they compare to Dual Spec currently.

Inventory Space

Inventory space is something all players want, but don’t necessarily need. You could always manage with what you have, but you always want more. The easiest and cheapest way is to purchase the extra bank slots for your character. I could have sworn they were a lot more expensive before, but currently, it will cost you a total of around 110 gold to purchase 6 extra bag slots for your bank. This isn’t including the cost of a bag for each slot.

Some players go even further and made Bank Alts, or characters who’s sole purpose is to hold extra items for your main character. And for those characters, have purchased all their bank slots also, and have upgraded all their bags too. I personally have 2 bank alts holding various mats, potions, elixirs, food, etc.

Would you spend 1,200 gold for 2 extra inventory space? If someone asked you that, you would think that is an insane amount of gold to spend for only 2 extra space! But in reality, many many players have done this already, and most like you too. If you are one of those players who never have any open inventory space like me, then you may have already purchased a ["Gigantique" Bag] just to have that extra 2 inventory space.

OK, even if you aren’t as bad as me, and have only upgraded to 20 Slot bags, the cost of going from 18 Slot to 20 Slot still cost you a bit of gold. The cost of the mats for [Frostweave Bag] go for around 125g, and sell for around that on the AH. Replacing all 11 bags will cost you well over 1,200 gold.

Some players take it even further, and create an alt Guild for the use of the Guild Bank. The guild bank has 6 purchasable bank tabs, which have 98 inventory space each. It costs 100g for the first tab, 125g for the 2nd, 500g for the 3rd, 1000g for the 4th, 2500g for the 5th, and 5000g for the 6th tab. The total cost for all 6 tabs is 9,350 gold. I myself have an alt guild bank with 3 slots.

One word: Convenience. Is all this extra inventory space necessary? Nope. Players will spend thousands of gold just for the convenience of be able to hold extra amount of items.

Transportation

There are many ways to get around in the World of Warcraft. Sure you can just run to every zone by foot, but that isn’t enough for pretty much every single player. So when you were able to purchase your first mount, you were super excited, and would gladly pay the 35g for the skill. That is not including the cost of the mount. You can now go 60% faster! That still isn’t fast enough for you though. When you hit 60, you spent another 600g to be able to ride mounts that go 100% faster.

When you hit 70, you were able to purchase mounts that are able to fly. The riding skill you needed to purchase cost you 800g, and the mounts you buy can only fly and run on the ground at 60% speed. Of course players aren’t satisfied with that speed, and had to upgrade to Artisan Riding skill for the price of 5,000g. I already talked about some of this before.

As a Mage, I never had a problem of getting from one Capital to another. For all the other unfortunate classes, they ask for our help. Players have paid me 5g to get ported from Stormwind to Ironforge. They could have just taken the tram for FREE, but would rather spend time whispering Mages for a portal, instead of riding over to the tram for a free ride.

Do me a favor if you are a non-Mage. Go into your Achievement tab, and click on Statistics. Then go to where it tells you how many Portals you have taken total. What is it? You can cut that number in half if you do a lot of dungeons/raids where Portals at the end are normal. Take your number, and multiply it by the average amount you pay/tip a Mage. How much did you spend? And that is only counting Portals you have taken AFTER the Achievement system was implemented.

Would you spend 8,500 gold for an extra Hearthstone to Dalaran? Again, if you were just suddenly asked that without knowing the context, you would think that nobody would take that offer. The thing is many players have already purchase their [Signet of the Kirin Tor] or their class equivalent. Sure it is also a decent ring, but there are other rings which are better. You’re pretty much paying 8,500 gold for the extra Hearthstone.

Is all this gold spend on traveling needed? Not all of it, but the reason you pay that much is again, for convenience.

Vanity Items

Vanity items include non-combat pets, titles, toys, or exotic mounts you find all around Azeroth. They have little to no impact on your character, and are purely for looks. Players still go after them.

Many players (me included) aren’t happy with just being “insert name here”. You need a title to go with it. Would you spend 1,000g for a unique title? Many of you already have for the title: “of the Shattered Sun” by completing the [A Magnanimous Benefactor] quest. Many of you have even spend countless amount of time farming rep, or purchasing items to rep with various factions for titles.

Would you spend 250g for the power to annoy the heck out of people? Then you probably already have purchased a [Toy Train Set]. Now would you pay double that gold for the ability to slap that person who dropped one down? A lot of you would (I know I would), but sadly you can’t. Next patch though, you can purchase a [Wind-Up Train Wrecker] for 250g that will destroy any train sets dropped down. I would definitely purchase a train wrecker next patch.

Any player should be content with just one of each type of mount. 1 regular ground mount, 1 epic ground mount, 1 regular flying mount, and 1 epic flying mount. But are you? Nope! I can almost guarantee that you didn’t stop at just 1. Why do you need more than one of each? You don’t! But you have all these extra mounts to be different, or have some variety.

[Cenerion War Hippograph] for 2,000g, [Reins of the Red Drake] for 2,000g, or [Reins of the Grand Ice Mammoth] for 10,000g. Why buy these mounts when your current mounts do the same thing at the fraction of the price?

Would you spend 20,000 gold to be able to carry passengers on your mount? Again it sounds exaggerated but there are quite a few players out there who have already purchased their [Reins of the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] or spend around the same amount for their [Mechano-hog]. I have not taken this plunge… yet.

Dual Spec

Would you spend 1,200 gold for 2 extra inventory space? Would you spend 8,500 gold for an extra Hearthstone to Dalaran? Would you spend 250g for the power to annoy the heck out of people (or stop the annoyance)? Would you spend 20,000 gold to be able to carry passengers on your mount?

After looking at each of those questions, then looking at Duel Spec. “Would you spend 1,000g to be able to swap between 2 specs?” doesn’t seem too bad now does it?

Dual Spec will make its way into the World of Warcraft as one of those “you don’t need but will buy eventually” things, much like upgrading your inventory space or upgrading your mounts.

Related Posts:

• Is Dual Spec Worth 1000g?
• PTR Patch 3.1.0 – New Features
• My Dual Specs