Player buys bear mount from guild for 20,000 gold
by Mike Schramm 
Mar 20th 2008 at 3:29PM
How much would you pay to be guaranteed a Zul'Aman bear mount? Five thousand gold? Ten thousand? If you're Kharmen from the European realm of Talnivarr, you reportedly paid twice that -- according to the forum thread, Kharmen paid 20,000 gold to the guild Torment to take her into Zul'Aman and get her a bear mount from the timed event rewards.As some players in the thread are saying, the mount isn't actually that hard to get, and in fact, many guilds who can raid fast enough to get it will sell it off for much less. But the more interesting story here is just the sheer amount of money involved. Kharmen says that she farmed the money herself, which may be true, but it seems surprising that players can pass that much money around without raising some eyebrows at Blizzard. Just what does it take to become a suspected gold farmer?
At any rate, Kharmen is thrilled that she got her mount, and supposedly Torment is thrilled that they're funded at least until the expansion (unless I'm completely miscalculating the amount it takes to keep a guild raiding -- just how much money do you need for elixirs and buffs these days?). Spending 20,000 on a mount doesn't sound like anything I'll be doing anytime soon, but then raising all of that money doesn't sound that appetizing either.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MechChef Mar 20th 2008 3:35PM
This is only slightly less lame than the women who prostituted herself in exchange 5000G for an epic flyer. But then if you have that much time to make that much money, well, maybe you don't have much of a life to begin with.
PeeWee Mar 20th 2008 5:55PM
Actually, they are exactly the same, Matt.
Equally lame.
Nati Mar 20th 2008 3:36PM
I wouldn't pay a copper. Those mounts are pretty ugly. :/
Raven Lord on the other hand... :)
Zamboni Mar 20th 2008 5:28PM
Raven Lord, I would pay for (the Zul'gurub tiger would be tempting as well). At a certain point, gold becomes just another way of keeping score - once all your characters have their epic flyers and their profs are all at 375, there isn't much left to buy. Being able to hire a top guild to go in and get something for me out of an instance would be beneficial to everyone (and makes it that much less likely I'll get bored and crash the AH again).
Super Guest Man 9000 Mar 20th 2008 7:25PM
Heh, I snagged the Ravenlord mount a few weeks ago. Its awesome.
Necroz Mar 20th 2008 3:56PM
The alarming part for me is that you are more worried about Blizzard tracking gold than you are in celebrating her ability to accomplish what she wanted to in game.
You are using very little foresight or you are not really putting pen to paper and seeing that for an end game player 20,000g is something that doesn't REALLY take that long.
It turns out I really like the boringness of Mining and on good days I can yield almost 1,000g.
Srinartha Apr 28th 2008 10:38AM
Well said Necroz!
A lot of folks out there only see the game as fun from there perspective...lighten up folks, the game world is very similar to the real world in it's diversity of interests and the motivations of the people playing the game.
I honestly like to explore, grind, pick the flowers, and then I hit the auction to see if I can make some coin...Raids and PVP don't really do it for me. The real world friends don't get into it, but then I don't get their constant interest in beating up the villages for no good reason.
Different strokes, for different folks...Hazza to her for getting her mount-on if that is what flies her kite!!!!
Cheers,
Srinartha
Jack Mar 20th 2008 3:42PM
Twenty thousand? Wow. It's going for 5k on my server, and I foolishly thought that was expensive.
Rob Mar 20th 2008 3:42PM
What's amazing to me is not the cost, but the fact that the guild can 9 man ZA and do the whole timed event to boot. That's full of uberness. Things like this keep guilds who have BT on farm in the game and interested.
Greyghost Mar 20th 2008 4:33PM
My ZA group sells them for 10k a pop. And you don't have to 9 man the entire timed run to sell the mounts. You can swap the buyer in right before you pull the 4th boss. We do the swap when the third boss dies.
We have a core group of 10 people who do the timed run every time. The gold is divided equally among those 10 people. The person who sits out for the 4th boss so we can get the buyer in gets an equal share of gold.
Raaliya Mar 20th 2008 3:43PM
I'm on US - Lightning's Blade, and guilds are asking 10,000g. I thought that was pretty ludicrous, but apparently it's a steal, haha.
brittwilson Mar 20th 2008 3:44PM
20k gold is not as hard as it seems. Too much to pay mind you, but Ive already plopped down 5200 for one flying mount, have 6k in the bank, thats more than halfway there and I haven't tried to make money in months. If I went on another mining spree and AH manipulation spree, it would take me quite a bit of time, but its not impossible..... Maybe I'm just lucky though, both my ways don't require me to spend money repairing or getting lucky drops, its a increase of cash with little up front expenditures.....
Milktub Mar 20th 2008 3:53PM
I'm a mount collector. I might pay that much.
Now, time to figure out cost for paying for a raider.
A flask ... about 30g
Half a stack of buff food ... about 20g
A half stack of pots ... about 15g
A days progression repairs ... 40g
Let's round down for fun ... 100g
So that 20,000g is only paying for 200 player days, or eight nights of 25-man raids. Sort of depressing, to be honest.
shiplore Mar 20th 2008 4:00PM
Or you could wait less than a year and go 5-man it at 80.....
OverOne Jun 5th 2008 4:24AM
u wont be able to get it when u over 70.. same with current end-game titles
Oblivion Mar 20th 2008 4:01PM
20k is a ton just for a mount, but it's not that hard to come by really. It's entirely possible for someone to raise that much money (and more) without thinking "gold buyer/farmer". I have epic flying mounts on multiple characters and enough gold to buy another one if I had more level 70s. And, I don't even try to make money, it just kind of happens. If you are smart with how you play the AH and you don't hold on to mats like a lot of people do, money comes pretty quickly and painlessly. I'd be curious to see how much gold I could raise if I actually made it a focus of my time spent in-game.
That is not to say that I'd be willing to spend 20k on a bear mount. I would not. I'd pay 5k for one though. Hell, the Hippogryphs from CE cost 2k, and you'll probably get way more use out of a bear in Northrend since you can't use flying mounts there immediately.
mattarin Mar 20th 2008 4:02PM
jesus christ, i still havent recoverd after buying my blue lvl flying mount which i probably shouldn't have bought since i hardly use it.
Milktub Mar 20th 2008 5:01PM
You shouldn't use your blue-level mount very often.
It should be used to reach the TK instances, or for traveling when you aren't in a hurry, but don't want to be bothered by mobs.
Hazerduz Mar 20th 2008 6:22PM
Your kidding right, I have 5 70's, 4 of which have epic flyers. (Haven't bothered with the druid yet, no gathering prof) This isn't that shocking to me cause total spent on mounts in game for all my char is around 30k
Samael Mar 20th 2008 4:21PM
That is pretty crazy, but why would you even bring up:
"Kharmen says that she farmed the money herself, which may be true, but it seems surprising that players can pass that much money around without raising some eyebrows at Blizzard. Just what does it take to become a suspected gold farmer?"
I'm pretty sure if Blizzard did get suspicious they could try and find an insane AH buyout or some crazy trade where she received such a high amount. Or she could have really farmed it herself. Besides, it's not the gold farming thats bad, it's the gold selling. Everyone who plays WoW farms. Not all of them bot though. And Im sure bots wont pay 20KG for a mount.