Drowning in Timeless Coins
I've been happily completing the daily over on the Timeless Isle every day -- it's an easy 50 valor points, after all. And while farming the 20 elite mobs needed for the quest, of course I've been hopping from rare mob to rare mob in search of pets or interesting toys. In the meantime, I've piled up a lot of Timeless Coins. I mean, a ridiculous number. I'd noticed people complaining that they had all these Timeless Coins, but I didn't really understand the problem. I mean, they aren't sitting in your bags taking up space in your inventory, they're just ... there. Incorporeal currency.
But it's slowly begun to sink in that there's a legitimate problem with the Timeless Isle and its bizarre form of currency -- namely that the only place you can spend that currency is on the Timeless Isle itself. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy buying trinkets and unusual things, but at the same time, if all those Timeless Coins pictured above were actually gold in my bank, I'd be ecstatic. Instead, I'm slightly nonplussed and wondering what the heck to do with all these incorporeal things I've gathered.
The Grumpy Elf pointed out this peculiar issue in a recent post, making note that you can purchase a Burden of Eternity for 50,000 coins. Yet for many players, that really isn't much of an investment. With more and more of the Siege of Orgrimmar being opened on both Flex and LFR difficulty as the weeks go by, Timeless Isle gear isn't really as much of a necessity. Yes, it's nice for alts, but you can't transfer Burdens of Eternity to alts, unfortunately. And as he pointed out, alts that are in need of the gear that Burdens require aren't apt to be doing the kind of farming required to get thousands upon thousands of coins over the course of a few days -- if it's an alt, it's undergeared. That's why you'd want the Burdens for the alt, after all.
And he's got a point with suggesting that the Burdens be made Bind-on-Account. All of the amazing gear is Bind-on-Account already, shouldn't it make sense that the items needed to upgrade said gear be Bind-on-Account as well? What's the purpose to making them soulbound, when most players that at least dabble in raiding have no need for them at all? Why not let us shuffle them to alts, where they would be most useful?
But that doesn't really address the issue with having a giant pile of Timeless Coins. The Grumpy Elf has some suggestions on that front, however. You can purchase Mogu Runes of Fate from Mistweaver Ai for 1000 Timeless Coins apiece. Those runes can then be used for bonus rolls in Throne of Thunder LFR, giving you a chance at both loot and gold. Loot can then be disenchanted or vendored, and if you're really lucky, you might end up with one of the battle pets that still sells for a decent amount of gold as well.
On the one hand, I like this idea. It's a solid idea, and a good way to turn those extra Timeless coins into gold. On the other ... it requires me to run Throne of Thunder on LFR once a week. As a DPS, this means sitting in the queue for an undetermined length of time before I even get into the place. And that doesn't work for me. I've stopped running LFR altogether because I didn't really need the gear, I can get plenty of valor elsewhere -- like say, on the Timeless Isle -- and I just don't have the time to dedicate to simply sitting there waiting for a queue to pop.
Here's my issue with Timeless Coins: I can't really spend them on anything that will do anything worthwhile for my character. I can't use them to repair my gear. I can't use them to buy potions, flasks, or raid materials. I can't use them to get enchants, or purchase gems. I can use them to buy a handful of toys, a pet, and a mount, and that's about where they stop being really useful for me. So they pile up in that tab, the number growing larger by the day, and I sit and stare at it and get increasingly frustrated with it.
Why? Because I'm earning all this currency that isn't doing me any particular amount of good. There isn't really a lot of gold to be made on the Timeless Isle, unless you're lucky enough to get one of those rare pets that can later be sold for a profit. There certainly aren't that many quests that offer gold as a reward, and the various creatures roaming the Isle don't drop it with any kind of frequency, either. And there's just something slightly off about spending hours farming things, and not really getting anything substantial for it in return. I earned those Timeless Coins, but they don't really do anything for me. So what's the point in having them to begin with?
While the Timeless Isle is a really good place to gear your alts, pick up some achievements, and maybe find a rare mount, or a pet or two, its life span is incredibly limited for the average player. Once you've gotten all you can get from the Isle, there's little reason to go back. If you want to make gold in a reasonable amount of time, you may as well go back to the Isle of Thunder and do the daily quests there, or find a key for the solo treasure room scenario. If you don't happen to have dozens of alts kicking around, there's little use for all the Bind-on-Account gear you pick up.
And although I like The Grumpy Elf's suggestion of exchanging coins for gold via Mogu Runes of Fate and the Throne of Thunder LFR, it doesn't quite work for me. I don't want to spend my time farming things to exchange for more things to spend more time farming for things that will eventually get me gold. I'd much rather simply farm for the gold in the first place. What do you guys think about the Timeless Isle? Do you have Timeless Coins piling up in your currency tab? Do you have a different method for getting the biggest bang for your buck out of the Timeless Isle? Have you stopped visiting it entirely? Leave your comments below -- and while you're at it, do check out The Grumpy Elf's thoughts on the subject.
