Sneak Peek: Guardian Cub Tradable Pet
A new pet is coming to a Blizzard Store near you and ... you can trade it and sell it at the auction house!
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Coming soon to a Pet Store near you: the new and titanically cute Guardian Cub companion. You’ve soared across Azeroth on the majestic Winged Guardian. Soon, you'll be able to purchase a pint-sized Guardian of the Titans sidekick to accompany you on your adventures.


Stunning good looks and adorable, supersized eyes aren’t all this new pet has going for it. The Guardian Cub is also the Pet Store's first tradable pet, meaning it can be swapped between characters in-game or given as a gift to guildmates, friends, family, or that special someone -- no adoption papers necessary. Due to his finicky nature, each Guardian Cub will only give its allegiance to one owner, meaning it’s a one-time-use pet that permanently binds to a single character. Be sure to choose a master wisely.

Look for the Guardian Cub to arrive in the Blizzard Store in the weeks ahead -- in the meantime, we've prepped a mini-FAQ to explain how this flying friend will differ from other Pet Store companions.

Q: How does the Guardian Cub pet work? How is it different from other Pet Store pets?

Unlike the other Pet Store companions, the Guardian Cub is a tradable, one-time-use pet that permanently binds to a single character upon use. When you purchase the Guardian Cub from the online store, the character you designate will receive a bind-on-use item to carry in his or her inventory. You can either use the item yourself to permanently add the pet to your character's collection (consuming the item in the process), or -- after a brief initial cooldown period -- you can trade the item to another player so he or she can add it to one of their character's collections. Note that once the pet has been added to a character's Companions list, it can no longer be traded, so make sure you're giving the cub a happy home.


Q: Will I be able to carry more than one Guardian Cub at a time?

While a character can only have one Guardian Cub in his or her Companions list, you can have as many in your inventory as you like. Please note that Guardian Cub items do not stack, so each one will take up a bag or bank slot.


Q: How much will the Guardian Cub cost in the Pet Store?

The Guardian Cub will be priced the same as the other Pet Store pets ($10 USD). All sales of the Guardian Cub are final -- no refunds will be given once a purchase is made.


Q: Why did you decide to make the Guardian Cub tradable?

Since the introduction of the Pet Store, many players have been asking for ways to get the companions we offer there without having to spend real-world cash. By making the Guardian Cub tradable (much like the BoE mounts from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game), players interested in the new pet will have fun, alternative in-game ways to get one. In addition to trading the pet, players can give the Guardian Cub as a gift to another character for a special occasion; guild leaders can use them to reward members for a job well done; and so on. We also hope this change will help reduce the number of incidents of scamming via trading for invalid pet codes.


Q: Could I put the Guardian Cub up on the auction house to try to make some gold if I wanted to?

While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we’re ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services. However, please keep in mind that there's never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they'll pay for it. Also, it’s important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts. (You can read more about our stance here.) While some players might be able to acquire some extra gold by putting the Guardian Cub in the auction house, that’s preferable to players contributing to the gold-selling “black market” and account theft.


Q: Are you changing the other available Pet Store pets (e.g. Lil' Ragnaros, the Pandaren Monk) to work this way?

No, the other available Pet Store pets will continue to work as they always have.


Q: What about future Pet Store pets?

It's too early to say how we'll handle future Pet Store pets. We made this change in response to feedback from players looking for alternate ways to get the Pet Store pets, and we're always looking into other opportunities for improvement. We're interested in hearing what players think of the Guardian Cub when it launches, and we hope you'll have fun with this new flying friend.
This article was originally published in forum thread: Sneak Peek: Guardian Cub Tradable Pet started by Boubouille View original post
Comments 729 Comments
  1. Joels's Avatar
    and so it begins.. starts with pets then works its way up to mounts and soon it'll be armor/mount dyes and then armor itself. All while wow is still $15 a month..
  1. Blackmist's Avatar
    Blizzard gold store open for business...Wish they'd implement a way so I can get some real money for my gold. I'll never get round to spending it all before GW2 gets released...
  1. mmocb2ea88a996's Avatar
    So this is the way they intend to break the community to money for in-game gold transactions...
  1. mmocced9c7d33d's Avatar
    I think it's cute! Nice idea too, haters gonna hate...
  1. Calene's Avatar
    What this is comming to... its just a way to sell gold really, they dont even try to disguise it lol
    Wrong. Blizzard is not selling gold. They are selling an item which can be sold for gold at the AH. No gold is coming from Blizzard with this item.

    The economy won't change at all with this new item. Some players will earn a few thousands gold while some people will spend thousands of gold. Blizzard may as well have added this item to be obtained in game - and made it trade-able with same results.

    ---------- Post added 2011-10-10 at 07:18 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Joels View Post
    and so it begins.. starts with pets then works its way up to mounts and soon it'll be armor/mount dyes and then armor itself. All while wow is still $15 a month..
    It have stayed with services, pets and mounts for a while now. Most other free to play games does not even sell armour for real money, I really doubt Blizzard will be one of the first to do so in a MMORPG.
  1. DoctorDoomkin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Attsey View Post
    You have missed the point.....by about 10 miles.
    How exactly? Or are you clueless about the fact TCG mounts have been sellable on the AH for a long time now, and that they still haven't been a great way to sell due to the costs?

    It's been around for a long time, and yet that STILL haven't any adverse effects on the game. Whoop-de-shit. You ride on a chicken...that does Nothing. Whoop-de-freakin-do, you got a baby boomkin. That does NOTHING.

    If this is actually LOOT, like armor and weapons, that people are 100 times more interested in than Nyan Cat, than it would be a problem. But this is not the case. You're freaking out over another In-Game Non-Combat pet that does nothin but show off your position when you're in stealth. Look at the big picture.
  1. mercutiouk's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by DoctorDoomkin View Post
    You're upset over a pet...a non-combat pet that you could get through either Gold or money...that you don't NEED to have on your character to improve him in any way, shape or form.

    Quitting over something optional that doesn't have any impact on you is probably the dumbest thing I've heard. Don't want it? Don't freakin buy it.
    The point is this IS effectively blizzard selling gold. Yes for something that doesn't impact characters relative power but still...
  1. Idoru's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Joels View Post
    and so it begins.. starts with pets then works its way up to mounts and soon it'll be armor/mount dyes and then armor itself. All while wow is still $15 a month..
    Actually, they started with a mount.

    And yes, you are still only paying $15 a month. How much has something like movie tickets gone up over the last 7 years ?
  1. mmoc0ca3d53c12's Avatar
    so this means you can actually buy gold legally? awesome..
  1. david0925's Avatar
    Blizzard is like the best troll for introducing this service. I can't stop coming back to this thread (and the other one on the official forums) now just to see how people bite the bait so eagerly.
  1. Guts's Avatar
    So we're finally able to buy gold from blizzard by selling this pet on the AH Sick.
  1. mmocdf45d98443's Avatar
    Yes Blizzard finaly admits that they want players to spend real cash for virtual cash. And ofcourse. Yet another overpriced micro-transaction system. I know enough people who will buy it straight away already!
  1. mmoc1eac56a8df's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by DoctorDoomkin View Post
    How exactly? Or are you clueless about the fact TCG mounts have been sellable on the AH for a long time now, and that they still haven't been a great way to sell due to the costs?

    It's been around for a long time, and yet that STILL haven't any adverse effects on the game. Whoop-de-shit. You ride on a chicken...that does Nothing. Whoop-de-freakin-do, you got a baby boomkin. That does NOTHING.

    If this is actually LOOT, like armor and weapons, that people are 100 times more interested in than Nyan Cat, than it would be a problem. But this is not the case. You're freaking out over another In-Game Non-Combat pet that does nothin but show off your position when you're in stealth. Look at the big picture.
    There are plenty of very good posts on this forum that explain the problem, I suggest you read them.
  1. david0925's Avatar
    best part will be the fact that people bitching the most about this service are going to be the ones to own the pet first.
  1. Callax's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Powerogue View Post
    still waiting on our Diablo-esque auction house where we can buy items for real money. >.> it's clearly inevitable at this point.
    Diablo 2 had a massive 3rd party market, so the Diablo auction house effectively killed all the gear sellers in Diablo, no way Blizzard would ever implant it in WoW though (as a real money auction house in WoW would kill more profit then it's worth).

    No, I'm not a fanboy, I've looked into buying SW:ToR (though I'm not gonna get it), and will probably get GW2 and play it alongside WoW.
  1. david0925's Avatar
    There are plenty of very good posts on this forum that explain the problem, I suggest you read them.
    Not in this thread
  1. DoctorDoomkin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by mercutiouk View Post
    The point is this IS effectively blizzard selling gold. Yes for something that doesn't impact characters relative power but still...
    No they are not. Gold still needs to be gathered. They are not adding Gold into the game like the US prints dollar bills.

    Someone still needs to get the gold and buy the pet, and the amount of gold that will sell for that pet depends on what the person will be willing to pay for.

    If 10 bucks is easier for me to get than 20,000 gold, you can bet your ass I'd be buying it with money(in the event if I am interested in buying it...which I'm not). If you only get 200 gold for the nyan cat, then good going. You spend almost a month's worth of play time on something that could be gathered in a few hours of gaming. You effectively wasted money on something stupid.
  1. surrounded's Avatar
    Mark my works, tradable mounts.
  1. mmoc34c3f2f484's Avatar
    Whilst I actively distrust Blizzard's motives these days any time real cash or any form of privacy is involved, I'm not sure the back-door gold selling claim holds up in this case - at least, not in regards to the large scale gold sellers that hack accounts and "farm" gold.

    For this to work, the gold seller would have to have a way of receiving the real money. But they don't... Blizzard receive the cash.
    The best an organised gold seller could hope for is to receive a novelty pet that has no use to them other than to sell on for more gold (that they already had in the first place).

    The only impact I see is for gold sellers is when real players who may have gone to them instead buy the pet and sell it to another real player who has a lot of gold.

    Or did I miss something? Is there some convoluted way a traditional gold seller can end up with real cash?

    Personally I don't like it anyway. It's a continuing erosion of people expectations, the ever increasing idea that there are some things that it's okay to spend "extra" cash on, blurring the lines between what is acceptable and unacceptable towards the day when P2W becomes that next tiny step.

    I used to have great respect for Blizzard, it's integrity and it's ethics regarding it's player base ... now I don't.
  1. DoctorDoomkin's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by surrounded View Post
    Mark my works, tradable mounts.
    Already happening with TCG mounts. And that still does nothing to the game.

Site Navigation