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. Idoru's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Attsey View Post
    Selling gold regardless of how its gathered is simply not allowed. Blizzard will argue they are selling the pet but they know it will be sold and used to get in game gold.
    There's no criminal law against selling gold.

    Blizzard are (legally) free to do what they want with their property.
  1. Eggwolls's Avatar
    So I pay $10 like the other Pet Store pets, but only one character gets it versus the other pets that are BoA? Shouldn't this pet be cheaper then?
  1. Ryme's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Aethicus View Post
    It's not selling gold and it won't hurt the economy. It's no different than if player A decided to give player B 20k for no reason. That doesn't hurt the economy what-so-ever. You all just want something to complain about. Quit crying.
    Just like to destroy this argument as it's getting on my nerves. When you buy gold online, the person you buy it from almost certainly didn't generate the gold out of thin air, they almost certainly acquired it from hacked accounts. In this regard, you're not generating gold when you buy it from them, you're simply moving it from Player A to player B. The exact same way buying this pet and selling it on the AH will work.
  1. Jerakal's Avatar
    Ahh, fanboys. Once I was like you, once I would defend a company's actions to the bitter end. But then I learned, that regardless of how good or fun a game may be, shady business is shady business. Maybe someday, you too will admit to yourselves that Blizzard cares more about your money than you.
  1. david0925's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerakal View Post
    Ahh, fanboys. Once I was like you, once I would defend a company's actions to the bitter end. But then I learned, that regardless of how good or fun a game may be, shady business is shady business. Maybe someday, you too will admit to yourselves that Blizzard cares more about your money than you.
    They do care about money more than anything, nobody is going to argue with that.

    Thinking this is going to make gold-selling the hottest business in town is delusional, however.

    They'll only break even for the month if there are 3 pet buyers for every 2 nerdraging quitter for the principle/justice.
  1. Ryme's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Idoru View Post
    People are going to buy gold no matter what.
    Which doesn't condone legalising it it any way. Just because a lot of people do something that's harmful and against terms or law doesn't mean the only effective solution is simply say "Well, if we make it legal, then it won't be an issue!".
  1. Nefastus's Avatar
    Is this serious? Paying 10 dollars for a pet that is limited to just one of our chars while all the others are given to all chars made and future ones for the same price?Did they lose their minds?
  1. Balir's Avatar
    This is the start of the slippery slope to a Diablo 3 style AH.
  1. Idoru's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowdream View Post
    Which doesn't condone legalising it it any way. Just because a lot of people do something that's harmful and against terms or law doesn't mean the only effective solution is simply say "Well, if we make it legal, then it won't be an issue!".
    I think that, after almost 7 years, if there was an effective solution against gold sellers they would have found it.
  1. mmoca73f6106a6's Avatar
    Lol, blizzard is ruining this game
  1. mmoc6427d98424's Avatar
    Another money grab by Blizzard. Well at least players are funding Blizzard instead of Chinese slave gold farmers. I kinda support this. It's like giving condoms to teenagers. You know they will slip and have sex anyway... At least they do it safely...

    ---------- Post added 2011-10-10 at 07:49 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Shadowdream View Post
    Which doesn't condone legalising it it any way. Just because a lot of people do something that's harmful and against terms or law doesn't mean the only effective solution is simply say "Well, if we make it legal, then it won't be an issue!".
    At least the money goes for the company that makes the game... They can hire more people and give out faster patches and more content, and eventually WoW will be free to play.
  1. Hammahtime's Avatar
    Blizzard's new cash cow.....charging for every pet you want on each of your characters.
    <p>
    • 1 Guardian Cub - $10
    • 10 Guardian Cubs per server for each account - Priceless!
  1. Rioo's Avatar
    So Blizzard have started selling gold now. Cool story.
  1. Hurwyn's Avatar
    Damn glad I got out of this game when I did. Activision is tearing this game a new one.
  1. mmoc6427d98424's Avatar
    Bashiok completely lost his mind with this blue post:

    "TCG Loot card mounts like the Spectral Tiger have been BoE for a long time now (since patch 3.2), and that was and continues to be well-received, (...)"

    Because a freaking card is completely different from buying directly the pet from your store!

    "Our goal with the Guardian Cub is to provide alternative ways for players who don't want to spend real money to add these pets to their collection."

    They could have just added the freaking pet to a vendor for say... 20k gold. There is no alternative here, someone has to buy the pet from Blizzard store and sell it in the AH. Who's Blizzard thinks they're fooling with this change?
  1. Aethilus's Avatar
    Buying the pet from Blizzard and then selling the pet to another player for gold *is not*, one more time for clarity *IS NOT* the same as buying gold from Blizzard. Getting money from another player does not generate gold into the economy, it just makes your personal pockets bulge a little more at the cost of gold that came from someone else.

    The things that make economy go down are things that produce too much gold that didn't previously exist in the economy. These include dailies, guild challenges, mob drops (old raids, aka Magtheridon's that everyone was getting 500 gold a week from for each of their characters for too long, but has now been nerfed to 50 gold), among some other sources.

    Gold is only *removed* from the economy by costs that do *not* give the money to another player. These costs include Repairs, Auction House Fees, Failed Auctions Deposits, and a few others.

    tl;dr This is not Blizzard selling gold.
  1. Thallidomaniac's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bombkirby View Post
    Wow people are totally overreacting. Like really. Threatening to quit? Extreme profanity? Slandering the companies name? I think yall are overly upset over nothing. How does this even effect you?? It just cuts down on the number of people who are illegally selling pet store stuff.
    It's not really overreacting. Overreacting would be things such as threatening a lawsuit against Blizzard, threatening suicide, or threatening murder of Blizzard employees.
  1. mmoc1eac56a8df's Avatar
    Didnt they say they would never sell anything that would give someone an ingame advantage?
  1. mmoca914917702's Avatar
    So this is what you've been doing with our money blizzard? I want to see class changes, I want my favourite specs survival and beastmaster to be buffed to a competetive level in PVE. WHERE IS THE HUNTER CLASS CHANGES??? Instead your using our money to develop stupid mini pets so you can create get rich quick schemes and become goldsellers! You better get your shit together soon or you WILL lose another customer.
  1. Rukh's Avatar
    Welp, I guess there goes another blizzard promise. There is no denying that being able to spend real money to get gold is purchasing in-game advantage for real money. What promises do you think they'll break next?

    And if you think this won't effect you, think about this. Someone really really wants that armor that is overpriced in the auction house. Do they not buy it because it's too expensive thus lowering demand? Nope. Now some people will buy pets to sell and use the money to buy that armor, meaning that it now sells at that price. Meaning that now, things are more expensive for YOU. Yes, this change will effect the economy, yes it will effect you.

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