WoW Forever beta has a Black Market Auction House: where it is and what it sells

Beta testers have found a system nobody expected in a Classic-style game: a Black Market Auction House. It first appeared in Mists of Pandaria, and now it has turned up on the World of Warcraft: Forever beta servers, run by a goblin agent in one of the new zones.

Icy Veins showed the way there in a short video, and wrote up the items and prices it saw over a few days of checking the listings:

• Video: Black Market Auction House in World of Warcraft: Forever by Icy Veins Gaming on YouTube (3 minutes; footage by Anshlun)
• Article: WoW Forever Just Landed One of Retail’s More Controversial Systems on Icy Veins

Where to find it

The Black Market is in Powderfuse Port, the goblin town on the eastern edge of the Riverglades, one of the four new zones in Forever. Look for Madam Swyndle, the agent who runs the auctions.

Powderfuse is a new faction in the beta data: a branch of the Steamwheedle Cartel, described as a home for sailors and back-alley dealers on the eastern sea routes. So a black market fits right in. Powderfuse Port is also one of the new flight points in the Riverglades, which makes it easy to come back and check the listings. Our beta changes list has the other new flight points and zones.

How it works

This is not the normal auction house. There is no buyout: you bid, other players can outbid you, and the item goes to whoever has the highest bid when the auction ends. In retail WoW the listings rotate, and the Black Market was added mainly to take gold out of the economy. The prices on the Forever beta point the same way.

What is up for bid, and the starting prices

These are the listings and starting bids Icy Veins reported from the beta:

Item type	Examples seen	Starting bid
Companion pets	Disgusting Oozeling, Cat Carrier (Black Tabby)	100g
Trading card game items	Tabard of Frost, Tabard of Flame, Carved Ogre Idol	100g
Tier 0 armor	Any slot seen so far	400g
Rare mounts	Deathcharger’s Reins	3,000g

Those are starting bids. With several players bidding, the final prices will be higher.

What it means for players

• Rare items without the grind. The Deathcharger from Baron Rivendare in Stratholme is famous for its tiny drop chance. Here anyone with enough gold can buy one. Tier 0 pieces are normally farmed in dungeons, and buying them saves a lot of runs.
• The trading card game rewards come back. TCG items like the Tabard of Flame and the Carved Ogre Idol were never obtainable in the game itself, so this may be the only in-game way to get them.
• Gold matters more. In the original game, a few hundred gold was a lot for most players. A 3,000g starting bid means Forever expects much more gold to be around, or wants a big gold sink for the players who make it. If you want to be ready, see our WoW Forever gold guide.

This is the beta, so the items, prices and even the system itself can still change before launch. We will update this story if Blizzard says more about it.