6-month Phoenix Bundle?

[ro9ue]

https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/bliz...r-sale-is-here

World of Warcraft

25% off Shadowlands
30% off certain Game Services (Race Change, Faction Change, etc.)
50% off Sprite Darter’s Wings, select mounts, pets, digital deluxe bundles, and toys
NEW: 6-Month Subscription Phoenix Bundle
NEW: Radiant Bundle

Might be these:
https://www.wowhead.com/news/two-enc...replume-320844

6mo bundle not currently on the store but it's listed in the article so might be coming?

[Varodoc]

Interesting, would this not imply that the next expansion will heavily feature the Thalassian elves? Since they are aesthetically and thematically connected to the phoenix creature. Would this also not imply that Quel'Thalas might be updated and become the new levelling hub of the next expansion?

An expansion based around Thalassian elves, now that's easy billions for Blizzard. I really hope this is another case like the WoD arcane tiger that foreshadows content about the future expansion.

[rhorle]

Interesting, would this not imply that the next expansion will heavily feature the Thalassian elves? Since they are aesthetically and thematically connected to the phoenix creature. Would this also not imply that Quel'Thalas might be updated and become the new levelling hub of the next expansion?

Have you never seen a 6-month mount promotion before? I ask because they haven't followed the theme of an expansion and have just been whatever Blizzard wanted to create. It is why we have rats, bulls, flying ships, mechanical dragons, and whatever else.

[justandulas]

right on que, here's another 6 month sub mount.

At this point, we should just accept this as the new norm every 6 months. this will never stop now, and this is forever a part of WoW's future.

is it that big of a deal? Not really and some will make a lot more of this than it is, but it is transparently greedy that they try to rope people in for the lifetime of the patch (if we're lucky) like clockwork, which doesn't really endorse a lot of faith in their own product

[Varodoc]

Have you never seen a 6-month mount promotion before? I ask because they haven't followed the theme of an expansion and have just been whatever Blizzard wanted to create. It is why we have rats, bulls, flying ships, mechanical dragons, and whatever else.

What you are saying is irrelevant because they are still store mounts, they aren't a different type of mount. You get them for free if you have the 6 months subscription, but for everyone else they are store mounts.

So for example if I were to make a comparison with other store mounts, I could compare these to the aforementioned arcane tiger from WoD, or the butterfly dragon from MoP that foreshadowed the flying mount that the AU Draenei utilize.

By the way wasn't the Sylverian Dreamer mount a reward for the 6 months subscription? This mount foreshadows Shadowlands as this type of dragon is found in Ardenweald.

[Lady Atia]

Oh please please please! I can't wait for a HD phoenix, both Alar's Ash and Rukhmar show their age already. Lets hope they look good!!!

[ro9ue]

Have you never seen a 6-month mount promotion before? I ask because they haven't followed the theme of an expansion and have just been whatever Blizzard wanted to create. It is why we have rats, bulls, flying ships, mechanical dragons, and whatever else.

I think other than the Chinese New Year animals, the others have been sort of related to current / upcoming content. Maybe a few mounts they created during development but didn't know where to fit them in. So they ended up on the store or used for a promo.

- Heart of the Aspects being a serpent dragon prior to Mists of Pandaria
- Mystic Runesaber prior to Legion / Suramar
- Fae Dragon prior to WoD / Shadowmoon Valley had a ton of Fae Dragons
- Metal Dragon around the time of Mechagon
- Pirate Ghost Ship during BFA with Freehold / Pirate content

Not sure if there are more examples.

[Raetary]

Have you never seen a 6-month mount promotion before? I ask because they haven't followed the theme of an expansion and have just been whatever Blizzard wanted to create. It is why we have rats, bulls, flying ships, mechanical dragons, and whatever else.

They use new models for the store mounts which most end up as mobs and NPCs in content updates.

Enchanted Fey Dragon before warlords
Luminous Starseeker before Argus
Mystic Runesaber before Legion
Steamscale Incinerator Before Mechagon.
Sylverian Dreamer Before SL
Vulpine Familar before SL

While they don't directly indicate an expanion or patch theme, they sure as hell can indicate what kinda creatures we may be dealing with in the future, which includes zone theme.

[hipolnalrt]

The fact that there's no model for the phoenix heavily implies that they're hiding its appearance on purpose. Could be somehow related to future content. But like the above examples, the mount is never really about the story or substance of future content - its more just within the same setting. A phoenix could mean lots of things, but it could also mean nothing.

[Varodoc]

Is there a place on Azeroth where there is an abundance of phoenixes and which places great cultural importance on this kind of creature (to the point that it's literally their national symbol)? Is there an area that would particularly benefit from a shiny new phoenix model? Hmm.

[ro9ue]

Is there a place on Azeroth where there is an abundance of phoenixes and which places great cultural importance on this kind of creature (to the point that it's literally their national symbol)? Is there an area that would particularly benefit from a shiny new phoenix model? Hmm.

Two potential things imo:

Elf stuff:
Phoenixes generally seem to be associated with elves, particularly blood mages like Kael'Thas. The descriptions of the two datamined phoenixes say blue and orange. Maybe Night Elf / Blood Elf... Night Warrior Elune Tyrande vs Blood Kael/good Sylvanas?

Light/Void stuff:
There's also the Arakkoa one made of light. And some dark phoenixes in WoD... and Light / Void is heavily speculated on as a potential future conflict. You have the Brokers which probably tie into the Draenor / Outland Ethereals + Alleria = Void. Then Turalyon on the throne of light, when Anduin comes back as a tainted dude... plus Yrel out there.

[pacotaco]

Have you never seen a 6-month mount promotion before? I ask because they haven't followed the theme of an expansion and have just been whatever Blizzard wanted to create. It is why we have rats, bulls, flying ships, mechanical dragons, and whatever else.

Not sure about that:
The Dreadwake: Kul Tiras themed.
Steamscale Incinerator: Mechagon themed.
Sylverian Dreamer: not directly tied, but the model is used in Shadowlands, probably they already had the modle and they used it for the mount, time matches.

You also have Vulpine Familiar: not a promotion, but as the Sylverian Dreamer, it's obvious that they did the same thing.

Also other store mounts follow some sort of theme (chinese zodiac, expansion theme/faction, etc.), so a new mount it's a pretty good indicator of hints at the future, specially if they don't seem to match any know and/or current theme.

[justandulas]

Phoenixes generally seem to be associated with elves, particularly blood mages like Kael'Thas.

6 month sub bonus for TBC classic? The outrage would be chernobyl levels

[Lucetia]

right on que, here's another 6 month sub mount.

At this point, we should just accept this as the new norm every 6 months. this will never stop now, and this is forever a part of WoW's future.

is it that big of a deal? Not really and some will make a lot more of this than it is, but it is transparently greedy that they try to rope people in for the lifetime of the patch (if we're lucky) like clockwork, which doesn't really endorse a lot of faith in their own product

I mean you are trying to make it sound like it is a bad thing.

It was already pretty much expected to be the norm since BFA. I mean overall there's nothing wrong with it since you can either A) Buy the mount itself or B) Take advantage of the promotion and get a free mount if you were going to sub anyway. The only people this would negatively affect is those who see it as a deal, but dislike playing WoW and will complain about the wasted time.

[hipolnalrt]

Phoenixes generally seem to be associated with elves, particularly blood mages like Kael'Thas.

There's also the Arakkoa one made of light. And some dark phoenixes in WoD...

World of Warcraft: Return to Draenor - the Returnening

[justandulas]

I mean you are trying to make it sound like it is a bad thing.

It was already pretty much expected to be the norm since BFA. I mean overall there's nothing wrong with it since you can either A) Buy the mount itself or B) Take advantage of the promotion and get a free mount if you were going to sub anyway. The only people this would negatively affect is those who see it as a deal, but dislike playing WoW and will complain about the wasted time.

I do personally feel that the 6 month mounts shouldn't exist, because those are assets that could be epic rewards in game, and WoW the last few years pretty much lacks any/all prestigious mounts/rewards in game, and it doesn't help that the store mounts genuinely look better than anything they slap in the game with maybe the lone exception being the longboi, but they sell wow tokens to encourage people to get rich off them to buy longboi so ehhhhh its not perfect.

That said, it is what it is at this point and people shouldn't be outraged anymore. It is the new norm, and tbh, i think we'll start seeing them flood into the classic side of things before long since TBC already opened the door. The old TCG items, in particular, seem like perfect targets to be added to a "classic" store.

I don't like it personally, but its not that big of a deal. About the only time it was worth making a fuss over was the original sparkle pony (which SHOULD have been a drop off algalon)

[Nemah]

It's obvious it's some kind of pay to win scheme.

[Raetary]

At this point, we should just accept this as the new norm every 6 months.

Pretty sure anyone reasonable already did.

[Varodoc]

Two potential things imo:

Elf stuff:
Phoenixes generally seem to be associated with elves, particularly blood mages like Kael'Thas. The descriptions of the two datamined phoenixes say blue and orange. Maybe Night Elf / Blood Elf... Night Warrior Elune Tyrande vs Blood Kael/good Sylvanas?

Light/Void stuff:
There's also the Arakkoa one made of light. And some dark phoenixes in WoD... and Light / Void is heavily speculated on as a potential future conflict. You have the Brokers which probably tie into the Draenor / Outland Ethereals + Alleria = Void. Then Turalyon on the throne of light, when Anduin comes back as a tainted dude... plus Yrel out there.

In the Three Sisters comic that came out shortly before BfA, the Void Lords whispered to Alleria, telling her that the throne of Quel'Thalas belonged to her by right. Throughout BfA Alleria and Magister Umbric have repeatedly mentioned how they seek to bring Quel'Thalas back into the Alliance. Recently in the book about the Eastern Kingdoms Shaw noted that Alleria is certain that Quel'Thalas will stand with the Alliance again, although it's unclear if it's just optimism or if she has actually seen it, say, in a vision. We also know that the Alliance conquered Stromgarde, which was said to be the gateway to attacking Quel'Thalas, and that Turalyon seeks to reclaim other former holdings of the Alliance. Quel'Thalas is indeed a former holding of the Alliance of Lordaeron.

The set-up is definitely there, but I can also see the set-up for a Lightbound expansion centred around AU Draenor, conquered by the Lightbound. The Arakkoa could serve as allies against the Lightbound, hence the phoenix model.

Or it can be both in one expansion. The possibilities are endless.

But let's be real, when you think of "phoenix in Warcraft", you instantly think of Kael'thas and Al'ar (who is literally known as the "Phoenix God"), not the Arakkoa.

[Raetary]

Calm your tentacle panties, the phoenixes don't necessarily mean elves.

It's a pair of mounts, one blue and the other red.
Could be anything from elves, to Night/Day themd, something SL related, BC themed or just plain nothing at all.

Not every mount is a content indicator.