That's right, in addition to the standard gold-based auction house, World of Warcraft will have a separate auction house that uses actual money. Weapons, items, crafting components, and (in the case of the real-money auction house) gold can all be auctioned away. Selling entire characters is something Blizzard is considering, but it wasn't ready to confirm that feature just yet. There will be a single, regional WOW WoTLK Classic Gold real-money auction house for each type of supported currency. Auto-bidding and instant buyout options will also be available, and you can set your items to be buyout only.

When you're listing an item in the real-money auction house there will be a small upfront fee. World of Warcraft explained that this was so players wouldn't put every single item in the game up on the auction house and flood the marketplace with unwanted items. So what happens when you actually sell one of these items? In the case of the real-money auction house, either the money you earn can go into your Battle.net account, and you can then spend it on future listings or on Blizzard products (like your WOW WoTLK Classic subscription), or you can cash that money out through a third-party payment provider. Cashing out will incur another small fee, and you will not be able to cash out your Battle.net account.

Items you buy in either auction house will be sent to your private stash in the game, and players will be anonymous during transactions. World of Warcraft also made sure to stress that this isn't a Blizzard store. The auction houses will be stocked by players with the items and equipment they find in the game. He also added that players, just like in previous World of Warcraft games, will want to trade with each other regardless. Now, instead of having to go through a "shady" third-party service without the guarantee that you won't get ripped off, you can rest easy knowing you're guaranteed to get what you paid for.

Once the announcements were finished, we did get some time to go hands-on with the game. We decided to load up the monk character who, unlike in our previous play session, started out at level 1. Our brief adventure was ced around the village of Tristram, an old favorite with a recent World of Warcraft problem. Once we gained a few levels and unlocked our third skill slot, we settled into a combination of Deadly Reach, Lashing Tail Kick, and Breath of Heaven. Deadly Reach is a basic damage ability that buy WoTLK Classic Gold replaces your normal attack and can strike multiple enemies if they're close together. Lashing Tail Kick is a stronger attack that costs some spirit energy--the monk's energy resource--and knocks enemies back. Finally, Breath of Heaven is a great burst healing spell that can save you in a pinch.