So you have a pile of Neverwinter Gold sitting on your character. You look around and wonder whether the effort has been worth it - all the selling of green items and the relentless collection of copper during your travels. You ask aloud: "What can I buy with Neverwinter Gold?"

Basic Mounts
One of the best things you can purchase exclusively with Neverwinter Gold is a mount. Don't scoff this cheapest mount. It will increase your run speed by half, cutting down your travel time on foot. And you do not need to shell out cash for Astral Diamonds to get one. Of course, you can splurge on the cash shop currency for even faster, flashier mounts, or shop for upgrades that will make your mount a cut above the basic. But again, you will need to shell out cash.

For the vast majority of free players, these Gold-bought mounts provide unquestionable utility by letting you run past a majority of the enemies that would otherwise be able to engage you on foot. Basic mounts are also very, very affordable and require little to no grinding. You can save up for these by simply doing the normal quests and never forgetting to turn in the extra items for copper and silver. Before you know it, you will have saved up for a basic mount.

Injury Kits and Potions
High-level Neverwinter adventurers also know a little secret: Gold can save your life in the endgame levels. You can spend Gold on ever-useful injury kits and potions which will serve as your survival essentials for grueling epic dungeon runs. Epic dungeons are populated by hard-hitting elite mobs that hit for tens of thousands of damage. Death and damage are a constant threat, and injury kits and potions will help every adventurer get through the whole ordeal.

Some players even find themselves buying injury kits and potions at such a fast rate that they begin to develop Gold grinding methods to sustain their runs. The shift in Gold spending can be startling; one minute you are twiddling your thumbs at the steadily accumulating Gold, then the next you are budgeting it so that it does not get depleted by your hectic dungeon crawling. So start saving early for Neverwinter Gold by diligently vendoring items and looting enemies.

Pass it On to Lowbies
You already have a mount and have a large enough stash of Neverwinter Gold that you can do dungeons without ever having to grind again. What to do with this overflowing amount of wealth? Consider putting on your generosity hat and passing on your Gold to your low-level characters or other players who are just starting out.

What to you is a useless pile of currency can be a godsend for your lowbies and beginner friends. They can spend Neverwinter Gold on leveling weapons and armor that will make their progression hassle-free, and also encourage them to keep on going till the end. It never hurts to have another endgame alt to play when you get bored with your main, and you will quickly gain a loyal band of friends and dungeon mates for your generosity.

Details are now trickling in on the currency system for Neverwinter, the D&D-inspired mmorpg from developer Cryptic Studios. Based on beta previews, Neverwinter will have a cash shop currency called Zen, a gear and auction house currency called Astral Diamonds, on top of the standard gold currency for buying NPC vendor items.

Neverwinter also seems to have a fairly fluid currency system, meaning players will be able to purchase certain currency and exchange them for another.

Zen
For instance, Zen can be purchased and then converted to Astral Diamonds. "You can buy Zen from the Neverwinter site and use it to buy items in the Zen store or trade for Astral Diamonds, which can be used in the auction house," confirmed Massively.com senior editor Shawn Schuster after playing in the beta.

"Currency is interesting and reminds me a bit of Guild Wars 2," he added, referring to a similar system in the ArenaNet title where players could buy Gems and use the Gems to purchase at the cash shop or to trade them in for gold.

Zen is the same cash shop currency used across all games under publisher Perfect World. Cash shop items typically sold in Perfect World games include cosmetic enhancements, accessories, in-game pets and mounts -- and will likely be the case for Neverwinter as well.

Astral Diamonds
Astral Diamonds, meanwhile, can be obtained either through Zen conversion or through refinement of Rough Astral Diamonds found in the game.

Cryptic Studios CEO Jack Emmert further defined Astral Diamonds as a type of currency used in-game to purchase gear and to bid in the auction house,

"Astral Diamonds are what we've dubbed a "time currency" (similar to Dilithium in Star Trek Online or Questionite in Champions Online). Typically, a player can earn Astral Diamonds by doing certain types of quests and missions. And, usually, this content is time limited so a player can only repeat this type of gameplay so often," said Emmert.

Those who want to begin their adventures with a fat stack of Astral Diamonds from the get-go can order the Neverwinter Starter Packs. Only the two more expensive packs will receive free Astral Diamonds:

Hero of the North Founder's Pack - $200 - 750,000 Astral Diamonds
Guardian of Neverwinter Pack - $560 - 125,000 Astral Diamonds
Neverwinter Starter Kit - $20 - 0 Astral Diamonds

Emmert assured fans who do not purchase the starter packs that they will not be gimped. "Isn't that pay to win? I need to buy one of these "Starter Packs" to get the gear I want? No, no. Not at all -- that's the beauty of this system."

"In-game, a player can earn Astral Diamonds from completing content (usually somewhat harder than normal quests, but not necessarily "1337"). No one needs to purchase Astral Diamonds... Ever. Play as you'd like and get everything desirable that way."

"Gold" Currency
Massively.com's Schuster also noted that there is a "normal gold-based in-game currency for purchasing items from NPCs." We imagine this will be earned through looting mobs and completing the normal missions. It is also possible that special missions will reward both gold and Astral Diamonds.

Glory and Tokens
Neverwinter will also make use of a Glory currency earned via PvP participation and can be spent on "special gear," said Massively.com's Schuster.

He added that Ardent and Celestial tokens will be earned as players visit altars, and that "these tokens can be used to purchase consumables and collectibles that can be traded for high-end gear."