GoldBound — Zone-Locked WoW Token Challenge Helper (English-only)

GoldBound turns the “Gold-Bound” style challenge into a playable ruleset you can run in retail WoW.
It tracks and enforces the key rules (zone locking, no direct trading, AH buy-blocks, etc.), shows a clean overlay with your progress, and includes a zone guide (rares/chest tips) you can open from a minimap button or via slash commands.

Attribution: The idea and spirit of this challenge are inspired by Pathalerix and their “Gold Bound” content. This addon is a fan-made implementation and not affiliated with or endorsed by Blizzard.
Authorship: The code was generated and assembled by an AI assistant (GPT-5 Thinking) with your guidance and testing.

What the addon does

Core challenge logic

• Zone-lock system: Start the run in your current zone. You’re only allowed to play inside unlocked zones.

• Neighbor unlocks by Token: After you buy a WoW Token with gold, the addon marks you eligible to roll a new zone. Rolling selects a neighboring zone from your current allowed set (uses a built-in neighbor/adjacency map), then adds it to your allowed list.

• Capitals as city exceptions: Capitals (e.g., Stormwind/Orgrimmar) are handled as children of their parent zones. Access is treated correctly so capitals don’t behave like standalone zones.

• Corridor handling: Some travel corridors (e.g., Blackrock Mountain) are permitted only if both connected zones are unlocked.

• Violation alert: If you step into a non-allowed zone, you get a clear warning popup.

Guards & rule enforcement

• Direct trade blocked: Opening the trade window with players closes immediately.

• Auction House buy/bid blocked: You can still sell (list auctions), but can’t buy/bid via the default AH UI.

• Player mail send blocked: Sending items/gold to other players via the mailbox UI is disabled (reading is fine).

• Summons declined while zone-locked (prevents rule-skipping teleportation).

• Pause toggle: Temporarily disable all guards if you must (e.g., emergencies/testing).

Progress overlay (compact and unobtrusive)

• Always-visible info frame (movable, resizable via scale):

  • Current zone (normalized to the parent zone)

  • Allowed zones (comma-separated)

  • Your gold (with coin icons)

  • Tokens bought (count)

  • Roll ready (yes/no)

  • Live WoW Token price (via API)

• Font size & UI scale adjustable in options.

Zone Guide (with database)

• A zone guide window with:

  • Farming notes

  • Notable rares

  • Common chest hints

• Guide database (GoldBoundGuideDB) stored as SavedVariables:

  • Ships with curated entries for many starter/leveling zones.

  • Includes a generic fallback for all neighbors in the adjacency graph.

  • You can extend or tweak your own guide entries without editing the addon files.

Minimap button

• Uses the bundled GoldBound icon, sits outside the minimap ring, and is draggable.

• Left-click: Open Guide (for your current zone).
  Right-click: Toggle the overlay.
  Shift+Left-click: Open options.

Options & QoL

• Options panel (Interface → AddOns or /gb options):

  • Font size

  • UI scale

  • Pause challenge

• Export (/gb export): Copy your status in one line (allowed zones, token price, current zone, tokens bought).

• Auto-detects your current zone; sub-zones/starting areas auto-normalize to the real parent zone.

How rolling & token detection works

• The addon watches your gold changes and the live token market price.

• If your gold drops around the current token price (within a safe margin), the addon counts it as a token purchased and flags Roll Ready.

• Use /gb roll to unlock a random neighboring zone (based on the adjacency database).

Slash commands

• /gb start or /gb — start the challenge in your current zone

• /gb reset — reset progress and start over

• /gb roll — unlock a random neighboring zone (when roll-ready)

• /gb show / /gb hide — show/hide the overlay

• /gb price — refresh token price

• /gb guide [optional zone name/id] — open the zone guide (auto-detects current zone if omitted)

• /gb font <10–24> — set overlay font size

• /gb scale <0.8–1.4> — set overlay scale

• /gb options — open options panel

• /gb export — copy a shareable progress line

• /gb pause — toggle guards on/off

Technical notes

• Game version: Retail 11.2.0 (Interface 110200).

• SavedVariables: GoldBoundDB, GoldBoundGuideDB.

• Files of interest:

  • Zones.lua — adjacency graph, city exceptions, corridors, normalization helpers

  • Core.lua — event handling, token/roll logic, slash commands

  • Guards.lua — trade/AH/mail/summon restrictions

  • UI.lua — overlay

  • GuideDB.lua — guide database defaults + SavedVariables init

  • Guide_UI.lua — guide window renderer

  • Options.lua — settings UI

  • Minimap.lua — minimap button logic

  • Export_UI.lua — export window

Credits & attribution

• Concept & inspiration: Pathalerix — Thank you for the awesome “Gold Bound” idea and content that motivated this addon.

• Code author: GPT-5 Thinking (AI), built collaboratively with your feedback, testing, and direction.

• Not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment. World of Warcraft® and related trademarks are property of Blizzard.