World of Warcraft Sets Troubling Precedent With Trading Post Reward

World of Warcraft just set a dangerous precedent by putting Ash’adar, Harbinger of Dawn, the first free reward from the Trading Post, in the cash shop for a limited time. This has led World of Warcraft fans to fear the Trading Post is transforming into a FOMO nightmare due to monetization and exclusivity.

The Trading Post is a World of Warcraft feature introduced early last year that gives players a list of monthly tasks they can complete to obtain currency used to purchase cosmetics from a rotating catalog. If they complete enough tasks each period, they also earn a free reward, such as Ash’adar, Harbinger of Dawn, a color-changing cat mount that was given away during its inaugural month.

Recently, World of Warcraft made Ash’adar available again for the first time since February 2023 – but not in the way many players were hoping. From now through April 1, fans can pick up Ash’adar in the in-game store for a whopping $25, after which it will leave the cash shop indefinitely. This has players worried that free Trading Post rewards will only return as limited-time cash shop deals from now on, transforming the previously free cosmetics into exclusive, monetized incentives.

Items from the Trading Post catalogs have already begun returning in later months, but Ash’adar is the first time players have seen a free reward made available again after the fact. Many fans were hoping World of Warcraft would make these prestige items available via future Trading Post catalogs or through other means, but Ash’adar’s time-limited cash shop run suggests a more problematic solution.

World of Warcraft has a bad history with FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out. This phenomenon is often abused by live service games to incentivize fans to play the game in certain ways or make additional purchases to obtain exclusive cosmetics or other items. While it has gotten better at avoiding FOMO with some recent WoW Prime Gaming rewards and Twitch drops, Ash’adar returning as another time-limited cash shop