Do you think Blizzard returning very rare TCG / promotional mounts is okay?

[OwenBurton]

Recently, Blizzard released one of the oldest TCG mounts 100% for free, as long as you link your gaming account to Amazon Prime:
https://www.wowhead.com/news/earn-th...-gaming-332215
https://gaming.amazon.com/big-bear-b...=SM_WOW02_CRWN

The issue is though, Big Battle Bear is typically sold for $300 to $400 at the very least (that is like almost 2 years of gaming time).
https://www.wowtcgloot.com/big_battle_bear.htm


This is kind of like the Tyrael's Charger mount, which was unobtainable for years, but then sold for $25 last Christmas. This kind of reminds me of how Jagex went with RuneScape, but maybe that's different somehow? Do you guys think these things are good moves by Blizzard or not?

[Throwme]

Do you guys think these things are good moves by Blizzard or not?

Screw the players selling (and buying) these things for ridiculous prices. Let's have them more available, not less.

[Nerph-]

I have certain TCG items I got lucky getting in boosters and whatnot, like the red and blue rocket. They sell for quite a bit nowadays I think.

Anyway I couldn't care less if Blizzard added them to Twitch Prime or as a drop. They're pixels in a game. I think buying these in-game items for the amounts they sell for is ridiculous.

[Twdft]

The issue is though, Big Battle Bear is typically sold for $300 to $400 at the very least (that is like almost 2 years of gaming time).

The card with the code to redeem a bear is sold for that much. Which will still be worth something.

Suddenly giving away free bear trading cards would be a dick move, just the ingame bear I don't see a problem.

[Lochton]

Yes, it is 100% okay as long as it is available to everyone with a simple method.

Twitch Drops, Prime Gaming (Sub or Trial), Black Market Auction, or the Trading Post.

As a once TCG collector, I do not mind at all - as for the ones taking the defense of the people on eBay, tough luck! eBay sales has no use for Blizzard, or the average player, what money is lost through eBay is their issue, not Blizzard. To Blizzard, they could technically be losing money on not using the TCG items. .

[FelPlague]

Reminder, this started in wod with the riding turtle.

[Gimlix]

Biggest disgusting thing they did in recent times, actual collectors being fcked over so anyone can have them. Gives me 0 motivation to ever go for something unique again.
Still got my Swift Spectral Tiger, but waiting for them to just screw me over for some promotion to watch some nobody on twitch for 4 hours for the 11.0 launch or something.

Blizzard isn't pulling any new players this way, just screwing over the ones they got. Let's remove even more of the last bit of mount uniqueness we have in this game.

- - - Updated - - -

Reminder, this started in wod with the riding turtle.

I remember how i angry i was for getting the turtle the TcG code way just for anyone to fish it up, but prefer that over twitch or prime drop any day of the week.

[Richardbro]

Many of these mounts and pets lost value a long time ago in MoP and WoD when they were mega duped. You could buy them then for 100-500k gold.

And besides, any mounts or items bought with money being available again is fine, these items are not earned through skill or in game feats. If blizzard was giving away glad mounts or mythic raid boss mounts then there would be an issue.

[Kurrelurre]

Many of these mounts and pets lost value a long time ago in MoP and WoD when they were mega duped. You could buy them then for 100-500k gold.

And besides, any mounts or items bought with money being available again is fine, these items are not earned through skill or in game feats. If blizzard was giving away glad mounts or mythic raid boss mounts then there would be an issue.

Agree. But can we please have Epic Shirt!

[Frostfred]

As someone who likes collecting stuff, but wouldn't want to spend extra money outside of the game for it, I'm all for it. I can understand the frustration of some people, though, that spent the money in the past.

[Ryzeth]

I have the rooster and the spectral tiger. Paid inordinate amounts of gold for them.


I'd be perfectly happy if others could have them at a far more reasonable price. Other people having rare items doesn't affect me at all, or my enjoyment of the game. If it makes others happy, then go for it.

[Aucald]

Blizzard isn't really responsible for, or answerable to, parallel economies developed around a long-defunct TCG or unassociated promotions from ages past. If the availability of once rare TCG/promotional mounts ends up killing those economies, it's not really their problem nor their responsibility at the end of the day. Rarity/scarcity is not a promised attribute when it comes to entirely digital goods - and it would behoove all players not to get into the mindset that a currently rare digital good will always be rare. Enjoy a parallel economy while it exists, knowing that at any time it could vanish.

[threads]

i got alot of the tcg mounts in cata and mop. spectral tiger, rocket, etc. dont really care if they add them for free at this point. theres like 1000 other mounts now so nothing really seems that special anymore anyway.

[SinR]

I kinda don't care.

I wouldn't be mad if they added the Blizzcon Bear mount to the game as some kind of promotional thingy, or any of the other Blizzcon goodies from years past (including the Murloc Suit).

[thunderdragon2]

hope they add the big blizzard bear at some point, they should just give us a box on the trading post that gives a random uncollected mount for 1k coins each month at this point imo

ive got about 130 mounts left collect and the bulk of them are promotion and pvp mounts....

[Eosia]

Blizzard isn't really responsible for, or answerable to, parallel economies developed around a long-defunct TCG or unassociated promotions from ages past. If the availability of once rare TCG/promotional mounts ends up killing those economies, it's not really their problem nor their responsibility at the end of the day. Rarity/scarcity is not a promised attribute when it comes to entirely digital goods - and it would behoove all players not to get into the mindset that a currently rare digital good will always be rare. Enjoy a parallel economy while it exists, knowing that at any time it could vanish.

Not only that, Blizzard only benefited financially from the licensing fees it received from the TCG publisher. It sees $0 from these large secondary sales. So it is financially incentivized to keep doing this. They could easily put the Spectral Tiger mount in the store for $25 and make more money per second off that than a single sale would go for now on eBay or wherever. But they haven't... they've made them available at no extra cost to subscribers so they're still receiving $0 for each one that is distributed.

I paid quite a bit for a Rhino Mount card back during Wrath. It's my default ground mount on me account-wide mounting macro. This was back during a time where I used to have my PvP Stealth Rhino pet that I would use to knock people off Lumbermill in AB or just fling people off the edge of the map in Eye of the Storm. So I wanted the mount too. I forget what I paid for it, but if next week Blizzard puts it on Twitch Loot or Prime Gaming Loot, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I got my money's worth of enjoyment out of it and other people being able to ride around on a rhino now has absolutely no effect on me.

Even the most recent loot card(s) from TCG are now a decade old. So if you've paid the moeny for it, it's up to you to determine if you've gotten the enjoyment of having it for that long. Also, you paid to guarantee you get one. There's no guarantee that Blizzard will ever put them all on, or the one you may want like the Spectral Tigers or the giant chicken. It's a gamble.

[craigw]

if they doing TCG cards for free, i want blizzcon mounts for free as well. both required you to not play the game to get the mount. so why not?

[Lodreh]

Kinda wished this was a poll... most people are either for it or meh about it.

[Tiwack]

It's about time, I think it's great, most players never had a shot at tcg loot other than from a 3rd party resalesite with outrageous pricepoints attached + none of this old promotional stuff released with "once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity" or the like + if you don't care or don't like the bear in question atm, just don't spend your money on it, it's that simple.

[Luck4]

I have a mixed opinion about it because there are always these PVP mounts every season that none but Gladiators can get, so if Blizzard is planning to make everything more accessible then Gladiator mounts shouldn't be exclusive anymore either.

Same thing regarding Raid/KSM mounts.