Cheats-Area.com

   You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that it's a lot more cheaper (though equally unlawful) to buy Gold for the European version of World of Warcraft, than for the US version. Nevertheless, it took GamerPrice.com a whole lot of "research" and the help of some students from the University of Sheffield, to conclude that "European gold" is generally 8 times cheaper than "US gold" if you buy it from the usual third-party gold farmers vendors. Here are their facts and figures:
"The average USD value for 1000g (Alliance side) on the US realms was $255.25. Horde gold was slightly more expensive, averaging $263.79. This gives us an overall average cost of $259.52 per 1000 gold on the American servers.

However, the European average for the same 1000 gold was just $31.78 for Alliance players and an even lower $30.72 for the Horde. That's an overall average price of $31.17 per 1000 gold."    The study isn't just about WoW gold prices, however, but also about the reason that led to this drastic unbalance. They argue that it's not because of the "farming companies" - since they are basically the same ones farming on both the EU and US realms. And it's not due to a difference in the total number of EU / US realms either - because they are roughly equal (185 EU realms vs. 166 US realms).

   Eventually, they come to the conclusion that it's a LOT easier to farm gold on a European realm, than it is on a US realm... In other words, gold farmers can thrive in peace on the European realms, thus being able to sell the gold many times cheaper... In other words (and this is where it starts to hurt), Blizzard's European service is way too negligent in dealing with gold famers.
"What this means is that Blizzard is policing its American realms far, far more rigorously than it is policing its European realms. The figures are so very different, that they suggest an extreme imbalance, even extreme negligence on behalf of Blizzard Europe.

(...) Almost definitely, this means that some very unfair advantages are being used, with farmers likely using bots and cheats on a regular basis to great effect - relatively unchecked."    That would certainly explain why there are so many bots roaming free on the European servers, and why Blizzard doesn't seem to ban them, despite the vast number of reports being sent by fair players. And with the release of The Burning Crusade this Monday - and a certain boost of new players - things are bound to get even worse. Unless Blizzard finally decides to do something about it!

   (Thanks Ted for the tip)