Blizzard added a gold reward for healers in Solo Shuffle (PvP), and most players only found out because someone posted about it on Reddit. There was no official announcement or anything of the sort; the info just appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
Field Medic’s Hazard Payout boxes now reward around 500 gold as well as an occasional Augment Rune, which is likely an incentive to get more healers to queue in retail World of Warcraft.
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Void-Touched Augment Rune is arguably the better part of the reward since it has market value, though prices are already expected to drop as supply increases. One player reported pulling an all-nighter and walking away with around 30k gold just from grinding games in Restoration spec. So it adds up if you play a lot, even if each individual reward feels small.
Is 500 Gold Enough?
Most players think 500 gold is nowhere near enough to change behavior. You can make that in a couple of mining nodes, and professions can easily net you 50k or more per hour. Beneath the Reddit post, one player stated that it barely covers repairs.
The more interesting argument, though, is from players who do not want to farm professions at all. If you enjoy healing and just want a bit of passive income while playing, this really helps. It is not life-changing gold, but it means you are not losing money by choosing PvP over gathering.
Will It Truly Result in More Healers Joining the Queue?
That is the big question. The general feeling around this right now is that gold is not why healers avoid Solo Shuffle. The real issues are gameplay-related topics such as the fact that healing feels less fun than it used to, as many abilities have been stripped away over the years, and the format (PvP) heavily favors DPS in terms of enjoyment.
A few players were also quick to point out that if the reward was closer to 3k to 5k per game, it might actually move the needle. At 500 gold, however, it is a nice bonus for healers already queuing, but probably not enough to convince anyone new to pick up the role.
In any case, this is at least something, and it is worth waiting and checking if queue times actually improve. If you are already healing Solo Shuffle, a bit of extra gold never hurts.
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