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 paloalto View Post
    Buying pets, selling pets, buying weapon. Everybody sing with me,

    "Obsidium cleaaaaaver, Obsidium cleaaaaaaaver, just $20 at your localllll Blizzard store."
    Yeah, that song flopped bigtime on the billboards.
    People like you have been singing this song since character transfers were introduced. And we still can't buy weapons and armor for cash.
  1. Frozenbeef's Avatar
    so now only one of your characters gets the pet? so it's value is only 1/22 of my other blizz store pets? 0o
  1. Jagstang's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by det View Post
    Hm..why do people scream bloody murder about this, when TCG cards would be on trade for up to 600 dollars. Apparently it is okay for you guys that People not affiliated with the game make money out of it but not Blizzard? oh yeah..and here is to the ones who always cry "Blizzzard never listens to the fans"...."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. - Hmmm seems they listen, but you guys might not like it. Ah well...lets see how it works out in game. The shitstorm on forums vs reality.
    You really don't understand the difference? Really? Honestly for realz?
  1. jimlow's Avatar
    I don't collect pets so I don't think I will buy this.
  1. Jagstang's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Baikalsan View Post
    You can buy the TCG stuff on ebay and sell it on the auction house...........yea.............HUGE difference..........NOT
    Oh, so you can purchase the TCG rare items directly from Blizzard? I didn't know that.
  1. paloalto's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Idoru View Post
    Yeah, that song flopped bigtime on the billboards.
    People like you have been singing this song since character transfers were introduced. And we still can't buy weapons and armor for cash.
    No, but you can now buy pet, sell bet and buy weapons and armor. Without the chance or high prices of TCG cards. Everybody sing with me,

    "Buy to winnnnnnn, buy to winnnnnnn."

    ---

    I see it now: "Mists of Pandaria: 3/5 tier available for just $30! Visit the Blizzard store, all items BoE."
  1. mmocbeba583bd0's Avatar
    Blizzard is cashing out. Less and less content, more and more extras to purchase. Now gold selling made legal and pet can't even be used on all characters on same account, unlike other store pets.
  1. xskarma's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by piripixy View Post
    10 euro --> 20.000 gold.It's better than goldseller's price.
    I'd jump at anything below 30k to be honest. I can sell rare pets for 20-25k easily on my server, this one should be even more expensive, costing real money, and thus normally being rare. Though initial market might be somewhat mroe forgiving, with people trying to cash in and, being unexperienced on the pet market, charging too little OR getting caught in an undercutting situation where 2-3 people drive the price down.

    As for the implications of buying gold in this way, meh, people that wanted to do this always did fnid a way, now there is a legal way to do it, even if it is slightly risky too, in a way.
  1. Eis's Avatar
    This is crossing a dangerous line. Even though they're not allowing you to directly buy items like BoE epics for money, they're indirectly allowing it now. Buy pet -> Sell on AH -> Buy gear. Kinda shitty. I'm really starting to be one of those "Fucking Activision..." grouches. Because real Blizzard understands why this isn't a great idea.
  1. mmocd6ad878d9b's Avatar
    10 us for SINGLE USE pet thats mix between cub model with added disco lion skin? Wait what? -.-
  1. Kegler's Avatar
    Legal gold buying indeed
  1. Frozenbeef's Avatar
    players: "free to play with premium options is the future!" *blizzard adds premium features ontop of the subscription*
  1. Martyn 470's Avatar
    How stupid are half the people posting here? Seriously OMG THEY ALLOWED GOLD BUYING, ECONOMY IS SCREWED, You guys realise it could sell for something like 100g ?


    and because of that, not many people may buy it to sell via AH. 20k gold is £10, this pet is £10, So the pets going to sell for 20k gold on every server? somehow i dont think so.
  1. Expectations's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by paloalto View Post
    It does harm the game. In a game where players depend on the economy of their servers to not only be able to keep up with gold sinks, avoidable inflation like this will harm it. This is just the first step.
    The only way it harms the game is that you don't have to rely on professions to make gold. I assume that is what the QQ is about
  1. TheEaterofSouls's Avatar
    Im not really sure this is a good idea to post on a site like this. I feel it will just cause a whole influx of turmoil and ranting on the foms.ru But that just me. So let the hours, hours of D3 comparing and pointless rantng begin...... Did I mention pointless. :/
  1. Eliot123's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by durenas View Post
    The value of real money is a built-in deflation insulator(if that makes sense). It will stabilize to the point where nobody will plunk down 10 dollars just to sell for a measly 1k. I would expect it to vary between 10k-20k-ish. Nobody's obliged to sell for less than they think it's worth. If the price is too low, people will just hang onto it until the price rises again.
    You don't know people on my server @_@
  1. GhostInTheFog's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eis View Post
    This is crossing a dangerous line. Even though they're not allowing you to directly buy items like BoE epics for money, they're indirectly allowing it now. Buy pet -> Sell on AH -> Buy gear. Kinda shitty. I'm really starting to be one of those "Fucking Activision..." grouches. Because real Blizzard understands why this isn't a great idea.
    I think people are over estimating how much these things are going to sell for in game. There's going to be a lot of supply and not enough demand. Maybe not right away and some people might get rich off these things in the beginning but it's going to pass.
  1. Jagstang's Avatar
    I can't wait for the next expansion of Pandaturd Island.

    "Panda Hero Class can only be unlocked from the Character Store, for the low price of $29.99. Panda Hero Class will be BoE and can be traded, or sold on your server!"
  1. xemega's Avatar
    We will have big economical ( in game ) problems with this
  1. Bombkirby's Avatar
    Everyone realizes we've been able to buy TGC loot cards and then sell the prizes (only if they are BoU/BoE) in game right? This isn't really anything new. =P

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