What gold is spent on
Gold has uses at every stage, and a strong map farmer earns plenty. A cap on how much you can hold is designed but not yet enforced (The gold cap).
The sinks, roughly in order of when you meet them
| Service | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Learn a spell | Grows with the spell's level | One-time (Learning spells) |
| Spell rank-up | Grows with rank and spell level | The main sink in the campaign (Spell ranks) |
| Tier 1 glyph | Grows with the spell's level | Bought in the spells window (Glyphs) |
| Passive respec | 5 per level per point (at least 50), free to level 20 | (Passive points and respec) |
| Normal base in a hub shop | 120 per base level | Campaign only (Vendors) |
| Scroll of Wisdom / Portal Scroll | 100 / 200 | Fixed prices |
| Rune upgrade | Grows with rune level | (Runes) |
| Map device | Planned, not charged yet | (coming soon; The map device) |
| Extra Writ | 100,000 or 15 Tokens | (Pinnacles and Writs) |
| Gold bench | 200 per item level | Phase 2 (coming soon) |
| Stash tabs 7 and up | 5,000 times the tab number squared | General tabs only (Depot and stash) |
Why so many? Each service ties gold to a different part of your power curve, so you keep making choices: spend now on a rank, or save for a Writ.
Related: Gold, The orb economy.