With that line of thinking, Pay to win is fine to you.
Because that's something i honestly want to know from the people who argue with me over this topc:
If Blizzard sold actual Loot via the store, would this be a red line to you or would you apply the same arguments?
Because any argument that isn't "it's just cosmetic" can also be applied to pay to win as well.
Ignoring the small detail that WoW is indirectly Pay to Win already due to WoW Token and Boost services.
Considering there was a point where WoW has existed just fine without the shop, i'd say it was.
Also, bear in mind that Artists that worked on that mount could have worked on a lot of other art related projects for the base game.
And 8.3 isn't a patch brimming with loads of new art.
I am not going to give Blizzard the benefit of the doubt that these mounts are exclusively done by people hired for store mounts.
Why? Because they are a big business out to make a lot of money.
Taking a bit of the top off the base product and selling it for big profit as "feature" is a pretty standard business strategy.
They could do it without issue and still have a massive profit, so it's not like these are exclusive.
But if you let them just get away with it, they obviously choose the option of greater profit.
You might as well be a collector of things you like.
There are most certainly people who just look at a new patch, check out the new mounts / collectibles, get those and then unsub again.
And i think people should argue to get the best for their money and not just be indifferent to an ever increasing monetization.
Ever considered that the people who are always subbed aren't the target audience of that offer?
I mean, "Play the patch" has become a common theme for Blizzard, that exists because there are seemingly a lot of players who come back for a major patch, then drop the game until the next one.
If you get these to sub for 6 months instead of ~3, you make a profit, because someone who usually only subbed for 3 months, now subbed for 6 months.
The additional three months are now your mount revenue.
Even people who sub for three months, buy the mount via the store are getting off cheaper than someone taking the offer and only playing for 3 months.