Gold Economy
Gold is a special form of in-game currency which is usually purchased with actual money. Unlike credits (the primary currency of World of Tanks), gold is usually very difficult to earn in the game without spending money.
Gold is considered premium currency, and it is used to buy either special in-game goods or is used as a substitute for credits. Gold is not transferable from one account to another, even if they are on the same server. Wargaming accounts are unified, which means the same account shares the same gold and free experience in World of Tanks and World of Warplanes. For example, gold acquired in World of Warplanes can be used in either World of Tanks. For World of Warships there is a different currency called Doubloons. They work the same as gold, but only work for World of Warships. This article will explain in detail how to acquire gold and what it can be used for.
Acquiring Gold
Warning
Players, websites, and third party sources will advertise opportunities to buy cheap gold. These are scams, your credit card information can be abused, your can lose your WarGaming account and all your progress in every game, and frankly, it's cheating at the game . . . and no one likes or respects cheaters. WarGaming, its partners, and its products are the only legitimate ways to acquire gold for World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, or World of Warships. Never give your account or financial information to a website or organization that is not WarGaming or one of its legitimate partners in return for gold or any other in-game goods.
Purchasing
Gold can be bought directly from Wargaming and is automatically added to your game account upon purchase. WarGaming accepts a number of different purchase methods, including electronic cards, SMS, Paypal, and other online payment services.
Gold can be bought on its own or as part of a combo deal. Generally, gold has a lower unit price (the amount of gold you get per unit of real money) when bought in bulk or as part of a combo deal. To see the current prices for gold, visit the gold section of your respective server's gift shop:
Amount of Gold in Euros:
- 30,500 Gold=99,99€
- 14,500 Gold=49,99€
- 10,000 Gold=35,79€
- 7,500 Gold=27,45€
- 5,500 Gold=19,99€
- 2,500 Gold=9,95€
- 1000 Gold=4,25€
Earning
Gold is usually purchased, however there are ways to earn it in-game without having to pay money for it. Clan Wars is one way to earn gold. Clans which hold territories on the clan wars map receive gold for holding these territories. The clan's leadership can then chose how to distribute this gold among the clan's members.
European players have the opportunity to earn gold in Electronic Sports League (ESL) Events.
Lastly, certain missions and events will yield gold if completed. To find out more about current events running on your server, visit your respective server's news page:
Spending Gold
In-Game Goods
Gold can be used to buy a number of in-game goods and items. Originally, many of these items were only purchasable with gold, though now they can be bought with credits (although they are usually quite expensive).
Premium Tanks
Gold can be used to purchase certain premium tanks. These are fully upgraded, single-configuration vehicles which can accept any crew member of their class and nation without a proficiency penalty. Premium tanks come with a number of inherent benefits, including increased credit generation, increased experience generation, and elite status. Premium tanks are often used for grinding credits or training up crews.
Most premium tanks can be bought with gold, however this is not the case for all of them. Some are only purchasable through the store and not in-game for gold (WarGaming will often release new premium tanks to the store in one patch and add them for gold purchase in the game in the next major patch). Some can only be bought at certain times (for example, the KV-5), and others are only purchasable in limited quantities through retailers endorsed by WarGaming. Some premium tanks are not purchasable at all, and can only be earned as rewards.
It is strongly advised to test out any premium tank on the regular testserver before buying it.
Premium Ammo
Gold can optionally be used to buy premium ammo (also known as "Gold Rounds" or "Premium Rounds"). This ammo usually has enhanced capabilities compared to its standard counterparts, and usually comes in the form of APCR or HEAT on direct-fire vehicles, and premium HE and HEAT on indirect-fire vehicles. Premium ammo can be purchased with credits, although the credit price is usually much more expensive than that of regular rounds. Premium ammo is expensive regardless of whatever purchase method is used, and using it indiscriminately can be very costly.
Premium Consumables
Gold can be used to buy premium consumables, which offer increased benefits compared to their non-premium counterparts. Like premium ammo, premium consumables are also purchasable with credits for a large amount of credits. Also like premium ammo, inefficient use of premium consumables can prove to be very expensive.
Permanent Camouflage Pattern
Gold can be used to buy permanent camouflage patterns for a tank. These camouflage patterns not only change the appearance of the tank, but also increase its camouflage values and make it more difficult to spot. Camouflage patterns are purchasable for credits, but only for temporary periods of time and must be re-bought every time they expire. Currently, the only way to buy permanent camouflage for a tank is with gold.
Utility
Aside from purchasing in-game goods, gold has a number of other uses in-game.
Premium Account
Gold is used to buy time during which the user's account is upgraded to a premium account. A premium account yields 50% more credits and 50% more experience per battle. Because the credit and experience bonuses of premium accounts are percent-based, the yields increase with good game outcomes. This can allow good players who are regularly able to do well in games to vastly shorten the time needed for them to earn new vehicles or modules or grind out credits.
Like the gold itself, premium time usually has a better unit price (premium time per gold spent) when bought in bulk. It is also occasionally packaged in the shop with combo deals and is sometimes put on discount. Below is a table of the regular premium time prices.
| Gold Cost | Length | Length (days) | Gold per Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24,000 | 12 Months | 360 | 66.7 |
| 13,500 | 6 Months | 180 | 75 |
| 2,500 | 1 Month | 30 | 83.3 |
| 1,250 | 1 Week | 7 | 178.6 |
| 650 | 3 Days | 3 | 216.7 |
| 250 | 1 Day | 1 | 250 |
Dismounting Equipment
Complex equipment which is mounted to a tank is not normally removable. Players who wish to remove it must either destroy the equipment (and lose any money spent on it) or pay a small fee of ten gold to remove it. Once removed, complex equipment can be mounted to another tank or sold for a percentage of its original price.
Converting to Credits
Players have the option to convert gold to credits at a rate of 400 credits for every unit of gold converted. This rate may be changed temporarily for certain events and promotions. Generally, converting gold to credits is not thought of as an efficient use of gold (since credits can be farmed with premium tanks), but it is useful for quickly getting credits when under a time constraint.
Convert Experience to Free Experience
Tanks reach elite status when all their modules and subordinate tanks are researched. With elite status, they gain the option to either have all the experience earned in battle sent to the lowest proficiency crew member (known as accelerated training), or have the experience accumulated as undistributed experience. Undistributed experience can then be converted to free experience at a rate of 25 XP converted per unit of gold. This free experience can then be spent on anything the player chooses. Since all premium vehicles come with elite status and are subject to experience multiplier bonuses, using free experience conversion is an efficient (albeit, expensive) way for players to use their premium tanks to speed up or skip difficult tank and module grinds.
Crew Training
When training new crew members or retraining old ones, players have a number of options as to how to retrain the crew (balancing price vs experience trained). The most efficient method of crew training is through the tank academy, which charges 200 gold per crew member but allows the crew members to start of with (if training anew) or retain (if retraining) 100% experience.
The same is true for dropping crew skills. If gold is spent to drop a crew member's skills, none of that crew member's experience will be lost in the process.
Garage Expansions
Players can pay 300 gold to increase the size of their garage by one slot. This price is often discounted during events and promotions, and certain premium tank packages in the WarGaming shop come with garage slots.
Barracks Enlargment
Players can pay 300 gold to increase the size of their barracks by sixteen slots. This will allow players to hold more crew members not in tanks without having to dismiss others to make room.
Other Functions
Clan creation
Players can pay 2,500 gold or 1,000,000 credits to create their own clan. This is a one time fee, but some optional features may come with additional cost (e.g. 500 gold to enable a clan emblem on member tanks).
Change Username
Once every fourteen days, players can chose to change their username for a fee of 2,500 gold.
