The Guardian Cub Heading into the Blizzard Archive

Originally Posted by finskee

I seriously doubt that you're giving anyone the benefit of a doubt. We are currently discussing another possibility, actually. If you care enough you can join us.

I believe the first one I mentioned is the same one you're arguing. More or less. That being they're pulling it because they no longer want the side effects of RMT (particularly when the RM portion is from stolen CCs). They could be doing it "for the good of the game" but as others have argued they've mostly designed the need to buy gold out of the game anyway. And I have a hard time seeing how anyone can think Bliz does anything magnanimously anymore.

I think the much simpler reason to pull an infinitely suppliable digital item is to create scarcity and a spike of demand. =/

Originally Posted by elyina

Threads like this is where the real fanboys who would defend blizzard if they started the Fourth Reich really come out of the woodwork. This is indefensible. This is to recover some of the money they've lost from the massive sub loss because of their content drought. I dropped my sub to pick up FFXIV, game is years ahead of WoW and with things like this happening, it looks like I won't be coming back anytime soon.

If it requires the fanboys then yes that is when I will be there, standing up for the game I love, against a bunch of weird people who spam the mmo-champ forums with lies in an effort to discredit me. I suggest you bring a real argument instead of attempting slander. <3

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Originally Posted by Saucerian

I believe the first one I mentioned is the same one you're arguing. More or less. That being they're pulling it because they no longer want the side effects of RMT (particularly when the RM portion is from stolen CCs). They could be doing it "for the good of the game" but as others have argued they've mostly designed the need to buy gold out of the game anyway. And I have a hard time seeing how anyone can think Bliz does anything magnanimously anymore.

I think the much simpler reason to pull an infinitely suppliable digital item is to create scarcity and a spike of demand. =/

When they removed the auction house from D3, what were the reasons?

And yes they could do something like this again, not saying they won't, or that this won't create a spike either, I'm just saying that clearly this is a sign they did not need this extra income at this time, and the removal is good for the game at this time.

I see what your doing there Blizzard! Trying to get players to buy something before it goes!

Originally Posted by finskee

Frozenbeef has seen through the fog, and found the answer. Now ask yourself, why was it that I couldn't see that?

I think I was too busy eating grass and throwing money at my screen.

Originally Posted by Casomir

I see what your doing there Blizzard! Trying to get players to buy something before it goes!

Sorry for random comment but THIS guy has the best avatar on mmo-champ.

What's sad is that people will actually fall for this terrible marketing and buy it... then Blizzard will continue doing crap like this.

We need money guys
Ok... threaten our customers with this pet, tell them it's gonna vanish soon..
Great idea!

Originally Posted by Thelxi

I think I was too busy eating grass and throwing money at my screen.

Somehow you think this is a tactic that works? Trying to make me feel guilty by telling me you're a cow who throws things at screens?

Its been know for a really really long time that you can sell it for gold. So removing it would have happened earlier

Blizzard should add a purchasable second pet slot, so that you can have two pets out at once. Of course, you'll need to separately acquire pets for the second pet slot...

Originally Posted by finskee

When they removed the auction house from D3, what were the reasons?

And yes they could do something like this again, not saying they won't, or that this won't create a spike either, I'm just saying that clearly this is a sign they did not need this extra income at this time, and the removal is good for the game at this time.

I think the reason for that was to save the brand. The RMAH affected everything about the game, from how gear and loot drops were designed to how people played, and it was horrible.

But I admit I feel there was goodwill there too. I'm happy they did it and it was the main reason I bought and enjoyed RoS.

With the cub, though, it's one cosmetic pet that everyone who wanted it probably got years ago. I'd guess whatever detrimental effect it has on the game is negligible at this point.

Originally Posted by Rekuja

What's sad is that people will actually fall for this terrible marketing and buy it... then Blizzard will continue doing crap like this.

Which, if you realize because it's the Guardian Cub, didn't work.

A bunch of starry-eyed players bought up a lot of these at release to make gold, only to make chump change on the return when they flooded the market with them. The amount of real world dollars I spent to acquire this pet was a big fat zero.

Originally Posted by ringpriest

Blizzard should add a purchasable second pet slot, so that you can have two pets out at once. Of course, you'll need to separately acquire pets for the second pet slot...

Hey ringpriest, been awhile. So that's probably coming someday. It's a nice idea, but I doubt they'll make you learn every pet again. So how's life?

Originally Posted by finskee

Somehow you think this is a tactic that works? Trying to make me feel guilty by telling me you're a cow who throws things at screens?

I was thinking more along the lines of a sheep.

Originally Posted by ascensyon

This isn't Reboot (the show) where you got lil' sprites "digital beings" sucking off the internet juice in limbo. It's a 3d model stored on a hard-drive of practically infinite space and on top of it the people that do own it already still have to access it (i think since i don't if it's all stored on the client then only authorized for us by bnet).

So no this is clearly just a money making scheme.

Never wondered about how many people actually think the computer beings are "real" beings using HD and RAM space as long as they exist.
I think it's not a small number.

Originally Posted by Saucerian

With the cub, though, it's one cosmetic pet that everyone who wanted it probably got years ago. I'd guess whatever detrimental effect it has on the game is negligible at this point.

Why leave it in the game as a talking point then, when you yourself just said it had run its course? Seems like this particular experiment has ended, and they're moving on to things like 90 boost that are helpers to getting to end-game, an actual perceived value. Many people would say that is worse, but I personally feel that the cub was worse because although it was completely cosmetic, it affected the ingame economy. I think they might agree about this, but I'm full of hope aren't I? Yes I am.

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Originally Posted by Thelxi

I was thinking more along the lines of a sheep.

Oh silly me, how horribly wrong I was, to have called you a cow. You're a sheep!

Originally Posted by finskee

Putting it up on the store: a money-making scheme. Removing it from the store is the end of that money making scheme. And we should be very happy to have this particular scheme gone from the game.

Ummm...no...Announcing that something will be removed from the store is usually a test to see how much sales increase, if it's by a lot, they'll do it again with other digital items. Notice, they didn't say it'd be gone forever, they said it'd head into "hibernation" in the Blizzard archives, which means it'll probably come back at a later date. But really, this is just a test to see how any sales they get, and I believe this is the first time they've tried this. That's how it works, I've seen it done countless times before.

This is eventually the start of limited time availability items, this item will go away for a little while, then an announcement will be made that it is either coming back, or it's coming back for a limited time, and they'll see how much sales they get from doing that as well.

It's a business, treat it as such.

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.

The community is nothing but complaints... bah.

Retiring the old way of selling gold on store to prepare for direct gold selling on the store.

Coming Summer 2015: The Guardian Cub returns to be Blizzard Store for two weeks only! Pre-order yours now for only $25.99!