Dev Watercooler - Stat Updates for Warlords of Draenor

Warlords Dark Portal, June 3 Hotfixes, Blue Tweets, Azeroth Choppers, Final Boss #45

The Guardian Cub Heading into the Blizzard Archive
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker)
In approximately two weeks (no sooner than June 18), the titanically cute Guardian Cub will vanish from the Battle.net Shop and head into hiberation in the Blizzard Archive. If you’ve been thinking about adopting this in-game pet, now’s your chance before it's no longer available for purchase.


To pick up this pet or learn more about how it differs from other purchasable companions, visit the Battle.net Shop here.
This article was originally published in forum thread: The Guardian Cub Heading into the Blizzard Archive started by chaud View original post
Comments 140 Comments
  1. IRunSoFarAway's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by finskee View Post
    I'll admit it is a business, which I have no problem doing, if you admit that you just stated it was business as usual, even though you also admitted it is the first time they've done this. Being a business has broad implications, taking things away from them that they have come to expect is not something that is going to always increase demand as much as increase complaining. This will create some controversy, they must feel it is worth it for some reason, and I doubt it is only to make money, which is what you propose.

    Remember this is the first time they've retired something on the store, and it is the only item that can be sold ingame, that is a huge part of this story. Also, if they wanted to increase demand for any item in the game they could do it at any time for any reason, for example, they could make lil'rag the most valuable pet in the game, then charge 20 dollars more for it than any other pet, and then say you can only buy it on the second tuesday of every other month, and that would make lil'rag far more valuable, and increase their pocket books.
    My post was about business strategy in general, and that Blizzard is now testing this out, I thought this was quite evident and obvious, but, apparently not. Businesses have to change what they're doing and come up with new ways to make money, they're testing the waters by doing this. Just as they test many other things, whether it's selling virtual pets, mounts, cosmetic items, putting up real money auction houses, in-game XP boosts for money, whatever the case, the first one is always a test to see how it's received.

    Though your example is quite flawed to start with...How do they make lil'rag the most valuable pet in the game in the first place? Forget the part where they THEN charge 20 dollars more for it, and make it so it's only sold on certain days. If that did those things when it was released, sure, maybe it would be.

    Like I said before, the pet will be back in due time, and it'll be for sale as a "this week only" limited time item. It's just a test, it's as simple as that, nothing more, nothing less.
  1. finskee's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by IRunSoFarAway View Post
    My post was about business strategy in general, and that Blizzard is now testing this out, I thought this was quite evident and obvious, but, apparently not. Businesses have to change what they're doing and come up with new ways to make money, they're testing the waters by doing this. Just as they test many other things, whether it's selling virtual pets, mounts, cosmetic items, putting up real money auction houses, in-game XP boosts for money, whatever the case, the first one is always a test to see how it's received.
    Basically the way I see this is you're assuming they are doing it as a test to see how much money they can make from removing something from the game, as in, to find out what happens to the ingame value. But for all you know they're going to put this on the BMAH or in loot-bags or something, so it is a huge assumption, based on your perception that everything they do is to make money. I'm pointing out that not everything they do is just to make money. I think that is also 'obvious', unless you just don't want to see it.

    Though your example is quite flawed to start with...How do they make lil'rag the most valuable pet in the game in the first place? Forget the part where they THEN charge 20 dollars more for it, and make it so it's only sold on certain days. If that did those things when it was released, sure, maybe it would be.
    The way to do this is by making it completely OP, (obviously it's already slightly OP that's why I used it as an examplet here), so that a pet battler feels he must have it to compete. Then once they do that, they could raise the price. If they did everything just for greed, and not thinking about gameplay, they would do stuff like that.

    Another example is they could make it so the guardian cub gives +2% to exp rate, so that would increase sales of the pet. Removing it from sale is a pretty weak way to make it sell more, if you keep in mind all the ways they have to create perceived value for an item.

    Like I said before, the pet will be back in due time, and it'll be for sale as a "this week only" limited time item. It's just a test, it's as simple as that, nothing more, nothing less.
    Yes, ok. Like all TCG card pets are just limited time retirements also? This is not really a fun conversation. You have seen the future and I must accept it, basically.
  1. lokinrond713's Avatar
    Cute. Theyre going disney on us, storing it and bringing it out to drive up demand. I guess thats what they get for making it tradeable and rl moneyable.
  1. finskee's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by elyina View Post
    Finksee are you a blizz employee or apologist? I'm legitimately curious. No point in not just putting you on the ignore list now, you're either a "creative marketer" or delusional.

    This move is pretty clearly to recoup some losses from the large amount of people unsubbing from the content drought.
    Well, you probably won't believe this if you can't even imagine it, but I'm just a 44 year old nerd who's been playing video games his whole life, and sees things much differently than you. Call me a fanboy, or an apologist, or whatever you want, I don't really care. It's called shaming though, and you have to find someone who is ashamed of being a Blizzard Advocate first before it will ever work. And obviously, ignoring me doesn't mean I (or others like me) don't exist.

    Oh and might I add, I never wanted an item in the store that you could sell for gold in game, so I'm quite happy it is going away.
  1. Facepalmer3's Avatar
    I noticed they used the word "hibernation" so, that implies it's not permanently going away. The most immediate thing that comes to mind is well a marketing ploy. So sad! It seems the marketing department is taking over the company's direction.
  1. Jazzycakes's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Pool of the Dead View Post
    Angry at Blizzard for not even hinting that it may go away at some point and then just axing it completely. To have something in a normal supply which then runs to zero for no reason is what I am angry about.
    "In approximately two weeks (no sooner than June 18)"

    The normal supply you are probably on about is the AH, in which neither of us were quick enough to read the news about prior to others engorging the supply to reap the price later. I'll probably find myself heading to the Blizz store to pick up one for myself...
  1. Grizzelbar's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by finskee View Post
    @grizzlebar: As I said word for word last page: This was an experiment that fortunately for all of us failed. They decided they don't need the money they could get from items that you can sell in game. Unfortunately, the loss is a little pet from the store. What we have gained by the removal of this item far outweighs the small loss. Besides that, they have given fair warning, so no one who really wants that pet should not have it at this point. Why are you so bummed about this? I don't get it?
    Because it is digital. There is no reason whatsoever to remove it like this, other than to artificially drive sales. No company or sane person would decide that they do not need the money, we all need them. But doing such moves is pretty, well, pathetic. But whatever, this is just a personal opinion of mine. It's not like they are not known for removing stuff from WoW (quests, skills, drop items, flying lol).
  1. finskee's Avatar
    @grizzlebar: well i tried. I can't really explain it 3 more times it won't matter. Here's what I say to you: if you choose to believe that removing a pet from the store is a pathetic cash grab, then who am I to try to change your viewpoint? So this is how this will go down. Me stating "I never wanted this thing you could sell for gold in game it was a bad idea", and you stating "There is no reason whatsoever to remove it, other than to drive sales". merry mergle to u.
  1. mmocfd328e0b6e's Avatar
    A pure example: they give a sh*t about the content nowadays. Just want all of your savings.
    The problem is not they want to make profit, the problem is how they do this....
    Blizzard will be like a bank small people hate them, rich people love them.
  1. Ryme's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tenjen View Post
    what? why do this with a digital product?
    Because it beats the cash cow one last time for Blizzard.
  1. mmocbd02567a48's Avatar
    Love how everyones first reaction is "omfg money grabbers!".

    The reason the Guardian Cub is being removed is because it's caused nothing but trouble for Blizzard since they implemented it. How many times have you seen people complain that their Cub has gone missing, only to find it was originally bought with a stolen CC or a CC that used a chargeback.

    Would not surprise me if it returned as a RAF reward or just an ordinary non-tradeable store pet.
  1. Coleslaw's Avatar
    Cheapest one on Sargeras is now 15k
  1. Pacster's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by quikbunny View Post
    Love how everyones first reaction is "omfg money grabbers!".

    The reason the Guardian Cub is being removed is because it's caused nothing but trouble for Blizzard since they implemented it. How many times have you seen people complain that their Cub has gone missing, only to find it was originally bought with a stolen CC or a CC that used a chargeback.

    Would not surprise me if it returned as a RAF reward or just an ordinary non-tradeable store pet.
    You are plain wrong. A number of other store pets can be bought and gifted with stolen credit cards and chargebacks. The only thing that was different is that you can trade the cub via AH which then made it impossible tor Blizz to delete it(cause the buyer from the AH could be innocent. Whatever you buy from AH is your's...counts for all the duped pets on the AH right now too.). So it's definitely not about people complaining....cause that won't change due to the other pets that still make fraud possible.
  1. Daveon's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by thejm View Post
    More like, "This ugly little companion didn't sell enough for the 4 hours of work we put into it, so lets pressure people to buy it by making it rare!"
    This is part of the reason why people complain, they have absolutely NO CLUE about how much work it takes to create anything in the game. This pet alone probably took a minimum of 120 man hours, and probably a lot more than that. The pet had a different model (no it doesn't share a model with the mount, you can see it is different), different skin, and unique animations. It also had to be put into the database, verified, tested, someone had to come up with its pet battle stats, which had to be checked for balance. There was probably a minimum of 5 people involved in creating this pet, and again, likely more than that.

    If it was purely a copy and reskin of something that had already existed, it MIGHT have only taken 8-16 hours to produce.
  1. cityguy193's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Daveon View Post
    This pet alone probably took a minimum of 120 man hours, and probably a lot more than that.
    Thanks for the laugh. Really caught be off guard there.
  1. lokinrond713's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by cityguy193 View Post
    Thanks for the laugh. Really caught be off guard there.
    The best part? Got nothing to do w/ this, just buthurt bliz fanboy
  1. ReleaseDay's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Raugnaut View Post
    Huh, thats a first, and surprising. I wonder why they are discontinueing it, to cause a sudden rush of last minute sales?
    exactly that
  1. MouseD's Avatar
    This is the same thing they said years ago about the older RAF mounts....guess what all those Older so called retired RAF mounts are back in the game again.....never believe Blizzard anymore ....they lie more then the govt does anymore.
  1. mmoc1eef06546d's Avatar
    "sudden rush in sales" but they LOSE money longterm...
  1. Amleth's Avatar
    I wonder what this will do to the crazy cat lady achievement? Will they add another cat to replace this one, or leave it as is?

Site Navigation