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. mmoc6cb2bbf8b0's Avatar
    This might have been said before, but even then it needs to be said again. This pet will NOT add any new gold to the economy. A person will buy this with real money, and sell it for gold. This is NOT the same as Gold selling, it is very different. All it does is move money around the server. In fact, as this is a legal way of in some way procuring gold, this will undercut the gold sellers, which may even reduce their farming which IS jacking up gold inflation.
    Really guys, you're all smarter than this, don't jump to conclusions. I love you really.
  1. Blackout15's Avatar
    "real-world cash" made me lol.
  1. mmathes339's Avatar
    1) its ugly. 2) its an even bigger cash grab than the other pets. Honestly, I see why they would not make them tradable if every toon you ever make gets one. U could just make toons, get pets, farm gold and delete the toon and do it over and over and over again. But 10 bucks for 1 pet on 1 toon? REALLY??? If it was 2 bucks it would be ok, but full price for not even half the product? *gets out his big rubber FAIL! stamp and plants it on the side of the blizz building* EPIC FAIL!!!!
  1. Stevecjr's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Andelormon View Post
    Some people can not afford the pets from the Pet Store, but can get them from the AH. The issues will be those that post them up for 15,000g plus on the AH cause they spend $50.00 to get a bunch of them and take advantage of the first few hours.
    Except the fact that there will be a crap load on the ah driving the price down.
  1. cleaude's Avatar
    Seems like a small step toward the EVE model, where you can trade gametime ingame. I'm thinking they're doing this to test how it's received, if it's a failure - who cares, it's just a pet, it'll die down eventually. If it's a success, that opens a lot of possibilities, both economically for Blizzard as well as in combating illegal gold trading/hacking etc. What I like about the system is that it sort of allows gold buying, but doesn't really allow gold selling. I mean what are you going to do, buy the pet for gold and offer it to someone for real money? Don't think many people would buy that, skam risk is way too high if a safe alternative exists. By allowing players to trade this sort of thing, you're giving gold sellers the competition of the entire community, and believe me, there are lots of people with a shitload of gold and nothing to spend it on, it might actually put the gold sellers out of business.
  1. Riavan's Avatar
    Everything blizzard posted then was a cover for "we're turning F2P whilst still having a subscription".
  1. Kisuro's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by mmathes339 View Post
    But 10 bucks for 1 pet on 1 toon? REALLY??? If it was 2 bucks it would be ok, but full price for not even half the product? *gets out his big rubber FAIL! stamp and plants it on the side of the blizz building* EPIC FAIL!!!!
    What's funny is that this is an actual reason to rage, and yet people focus on the dumb "Blizzard is selling gold" argument, overlooking the actual issue.
  1. asharia's Avatar
    first gold buying service from Blizzard
  1. Pann's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by badshots View Post
    Rip Chinese Gold Farmers
    This will do absolutely nothing to the Gold Farmers. Based on the adverts from Gold Sellers I have seen tonight the average rate seems to be about €7 per 10000g, in order to compete with this rate the pet would have to sell for about 13k putting it in the price range of the Hyacinth Macaw which will remain much rarer.

    Players who are willing to pay such an amount for a pet are few and far between and the supply of this pet will be plentiful compared to the rare pets command such fees. I would expect that this will settle at a similar price to the Argent Tournaments, roughly 3-5k, this is simply far too low to put a dent in Gold Farmers' sales.

    Obviously many will accept a lower rate of gold per € rather than risk their account being banned, but coupled with the fact you have to wait for this sell on the AH (which could be several days compared to instant delivery from a farmer) I doubt the average gold buyer will accept such a poor return for their money.

    Undoubtedly Blizzard hopes that people will see this as way to buy gold legally and buy multiple pets to sell but anyone that thinks they will be able to make tens of thousands of gold is fooling themselves.
  1. jibbyjackjoe's Avatar
    Don't like it, don't use it! Like someone stated above, you cannot get anywhere close to decked out PVE gear with gold. You can get a good foothold, and probably get into heroic 5 mans. You can also get into heroic 5 mans with PVP gear too. At least they'll be geared correctly. I do, however, see what everyone is saying. I remember a blue stating that they have no intentions on doing this to WoW. A devious, sneaky, "thats not how its supposed to work, but if someone does it we're ok with it" work around to get the end result is still, unfortunately, the end result. WTB a REAL Blizzard Fact Checker.
  1. Mif's Avatar
    So much for "no slippery slope"...
  1. mmoca5330f99ba's Avatar
    It sounds on people like this pet will sell for hundreds a day on the auction house, but the pet market is too small for that. The only ones who will feel obliged to buy this pet are the pet-farmers who are unwilling to pay irl money for ingame progress, otherwise I really doubt anyone would consider paying a noticeable amount for this pet. Come on, it's not that cute is it? The only game-changer would be if Blizzard did this to everything in the store, but they haven't (yet). I think people are overthinking this, start worrying when they make everything in the store Binds-on-use instead.
  1. Strikesuit's Avatar
    And so it begins with RMT in WoW. To all those people who praised the Cataclysm model that drove so many people away, remember to be careful what you wish for. Blizzard's balance sheet must be taking a hit because so many players left, and now we're going to have real money buying gold. I wonder how many cubs I'd have to buy to be able to afford a new BOE...
  1. Dasn's Avatar
    how dare blizzard be a for-profit company and try to make profithow dare they
  1. mmoce6d6578c3b's Avatar
    "It’s potentially worth noting that no new gold is being introduced into the game's economy with those mounts or the new Guardian Cub pet."
    - Bashiok (blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/202477/blizzard-youve-crossed-the-line)

    This exact same reasoning will be shoved down player's throat when the Real Money AH will be extended to WoW.
    It's the next step, mark my words.
  1. cleaude's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pann View Post
    This will do absolutely nothing to the Gold Farmers. Based on the adverts from Gold Sellers I have seen tonight the average rate seems to be about €7 per 10000g, in order to compete with this rate the pet would have to sell for about 13k putting it in the price range of the Hyacinth Macaw which will remain much rarer.

    Players who are willing to pay such an amount for a pet are few and far between and the supply of this pet will be plentiful compared to the rare pets command such fees. I would expect that this will settle at a similar price to the Argent Tournaments, roughly 3-5k, this is simply far too low to put a dent in Gold Farmers' sales.
    I agree that this pet won't do much to farmers because the market is too small.

    However, what would happen if they decide that the pet was a success and go the EVE route, which means trading gametime on the AH. The market for that would be huge and there are so many people with a shitload of gold and nothing to spend it on. Put the gold sellers in competition with the entire community and you may just put them outta business.

    ---------- Post added 2011-10-10 at 11:10 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by gurv View Post
    This exact same reasoning will be shoved down player's throat when the Real Money AH will be extended to WoW.
    It's the next step, mark my words.
    ...so what?

    It's not like you can buy anything meaningful with gold and as long as no new gold is introduced, the economy remains stable. An AH like that has a lot more consequences in a game like Diablo where you can just buy everything and I honestly never understood their logic that it makes sense for Diablo, but doesn't for WoW.

    I for one would welcome such an AH, would give me an opportunity to get rid of all that useless gold piling up...
  1. Cows For Life's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Maak View Post
    It was only a matter of time before this bullshit reached WoW... Remember they announced that it would happen with Diablo III a while ago...
    They said no plans for RMAH in WoW. I guess technically that statement is still true. This is along those same lines and they keep moving further down the slope with each new "innovation".
  1. Jiggles's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dasn View Post
    how dare blizzard be a for-profit company and try to make profithow dare they
    "Try" and make a profit? That makes it sound like Blizzard is barely breaking even. No. More like "constantly come up with new ways to top past very large revenues, whether or not it might harm the game in the long term."

    But, you're right. Blizzard isn't doing anything wrong in a legal or business sense. Those aren't the only standards people use to judge companies, however. There are a lot of video game companies out there, virtually all of which want to make a profit. Nonetheless, not all game companies have followed the profits-above-all-else motto. Valve, for example. Or ArenaNet.
  1. Kaneiac's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Jiggles View Post
    "Try" and make a profit? That makes it sound like Blizzard is barely breaking even. No. More like "constantly come up with new ways to top past very large revenues, whether or not it might harm the game in the long term."

    But, you're right. Blizzard isn't doing anything wrong in a legal or business sense. Those aren't the only standards people use to judge companies, however. There are a lot of video game companies out there, virtually all of which want to make a profit. Nonetheless, not all game companies have followed the profits-above-all-else motto. Valve, for example. Or ArenaNet.
    Yeah, it's not like Valve has their cash cow TF2 where they have millions of microtransactions and hats.

    Nope. Blizzard is the devil.

    Give me a break.
  1. Cows For Life's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Martyn 470 View Post
    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.
    I like how this person is calling other people stupid.

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