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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Will you buy the TCG mounts now they're no longer BoP?
by Lesley Smith 
Jul 28th 2009 at 8:00AM
Earlier in the week, we mentioned that mounts from the WoW Trading Card Game are no longer Bind on Pickup. Do you hear that ever-advancing noise? That thunderous roar? That's the sound of a million collectors cheering their little hearts out. Ever the boon and bane of the die-hard mount addict, these cards have been known to fetch a pretty price on eBay and have been the subject of recent scams. Indeed as the owner of El Pollo Grande, the Big Battle Bear (aka The Red Bearon) and both forms of the X-51 Nether Rocket, I can relate. I really want the infamous Spectral Tiger and now, for the right sum of gold, it seems like I could have a chance.
So I wonder, constant readers, does this change mean you will finally be able to get your hands on a mount without paying top dollar on an auction website? How much exactly, while we're at it, would you be willing to pay with in-game gold for a mount? Why do you think Blizzard have implemented this system? Is it just another gold sink or the answer to many players' prayers?
So I wonder, constant readers, does this change mean you will finally be able to get your hands on a mount without paying top dollar on an auction website? How much exactly, while we're at it, would you be willing to pay with in-game gold for a mount? Why do you think Blizzard have implemented this system? Is it just another gold sink or the answer to many players' prayers?
Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!Filed under: Patches, Blizzard, Economy, Breakfast Topics, Mounts
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 5)
Neirin Jul 28th 2009 5:27PM
While gold sellers might stand to benefit some, I think the loss of income from not being able to scam people will more than off-set any additional income.
Lohr Jul 28th 2009 9:03AM
Why do dummies think this changes the VALUE of the card? If the card sells for $1,000, and gold BUYERS pay people $5 per 1,000, do the math and you can pretty quickly figure out that nobody is going to buy this for in-game gold.
All they're doing, is creating a scenario where some scammer trying to sell the code, SHOULD hear (but won't): Hey, go get the tiger from the goblin-guy and we'l trade in-game rather than typing a code.
So all you geeks with $8/hour jobs, better start putting in some overtime if you want to see the mount.
Jierda Jul 28th 2009 9:04AM
They MIGHT make it so the cards become slightly more common, to stop people running around with INSANE amounts of gold by getting lucky buying a packet of TCG cards
Ringo Flinthammer Jul 28th 2009 10:55AM
Do dailies every day, and once you've gotten a few well-known big ticket items, you will end up with insane amounts of cash yourself.
If all you do are the Argent Tournament dailies, by the time you have all the loot available, you will be able to buy multiple tundra mammoths.
Alia Jul 28th 2009 9:05AM
I doubt they'll ever drop to a price I'll pay. I've just spent 12.5K on the chopper (have engineering and could build it myself) and I'm considering the 18K huge mammoth from Mei Francis, but that's just about the limit I'll pay for anything atm and these mounts are gonna cost way more than that.
Mep Jul 28th 2009 9:07AM
Absolutely
sophierach Jul 28th 2009 9:11AM
I think
sophierach Jul 28th 2009 9:12AM
I think that the prices will be sky high and it won't solve the problem of there being fewer and fewer of these mounts available.
Only a certain amount are/were produced and as these get eaten up by people activating them there are fewer to go around.
It isn't in my opinion, even something for me to get excited about, because, despite the fact I am an avid mount collector, I would still never have the gold available to spend on these, or the real life money to buy them off eBay anyway.
I barely managed a sandbox tiger.
Firestyle Jul 28th 2009 9:20AM
If the average rate for in-game gold buying is $6.95/1000g and the average mount cost for spectral tiger on eBay is $900 - then can we expect this mount to cost 129,496g in game. It's black market economics and may not hold true - but it's an estimate. The spectral tiger mount won't see the AH - it'll never make it.
Unless....Bliz seeds some in-game.
trollied Jul 28th 2009 9:28AM
I'm lucky enough to have both the rocket & spectral tiger on my main.
I have a chicken card sitting on my desk in front of me. I'm going to put it on the AH on my realm for 200k gold for 48 hours (when 3.2 hits, obviously), just for fun. If it sells, I'll laugh. If not, I'll equip it.
I collect the cards by the box- I'll get another one some day.
People tend to forget that the Spectral Tiger cards are now out of print, so they'll get rarer & rarer as time passes.
McRaider Jul 28th 2009 9:35AM
Still waiting for the actual prices... Deciding then.
function buy_mount(event, pUnit)
if (price_mount) < 5000g
then
pUnit:Buy
else if (price_mount) > 5000g
then
pUnit:Laugh_and_leave
end
end
that might have some flaws in it. Haven't done LUA for a long time :P
trollied Jul 28th 2009 10:10AM
There are 2 Spectral Tigers on EBay at the moment. The cheapest is £800.
They're incredibly rare now, as the cards are out of print. If you do see one on your realm, it'll be >200k gold. Don't get your hopes up though.
McRaider Jul 30th 2009 9:16AM
I thought that the gold max is ~21k, so 200k would be a bit impossible :P
Wither Jul 28th 2009 9:36AM
Hypothetically, if I were ever to get a Spectral Tiger, I would say I won it in a competition. I would feel a complete idiot if people knew how much I spent for it, just for me to parade around in it trying to "show off", it destroys the point of getting it. The biggest reason to get it is to impress other people - would you pay $900 if it was a change to your computer's local model and no-one else could see it?
Once available in the AH, I could buy it there instead and still claim I won it... but now the lie is less convincing (as I'm sure the seller would have spammed the trade channels prior). If people suspected you paid thousands of gold for the mount, more people would be laughing at you then people admiring the mount.
Ringo Flinthammer Jul 28th 2009 10:57AM
The biggest reason for you would be to show it off. For others, having something rare and cool is a reward all on its own. (No one's really excited about the Blizzcon 2007 murloc suit otherwise, for instance, since you can't do anything but ride around out of combat in it and dance.)
Wither Jul 28th 2009 1:20PM
So you're saying you would pay $900 (or the equivalent in gold) for a mount if no-one else could see it? Wow, just wow.
freeway8989 Jul 28th 2009 9:23PM
Definition of a tool: Paying upwards of a thousand dollars on an intangible piece of graphics for the purposes of showing it off to other people who could care less.
Rai Jul 28th 2009 9:37AM
No, because people will sell them for more gold than the server owns.
Cyrus Jul 28th 2009 9:38AM
Will I buy one? Maybe eventually, I guess, but definitely not any time soon. I think I've got all the low-hanging fruit on mounts - all mounts sold by alliance factions, by the Kurenai, by the Netherwing, by the Skyguard, by the Shadowmoon Valley vendor, all but the one or two most expensive mounts sold by Northrend vendors, all the non-red AQ40 mounts and half a dozen more from here and there.
I have all that, and I still only have 77 or so, more than 20 short of the 100 mount achievement. So buying a TCG mount will not be worth the cost (and it'll be a massive cost, no doubt) until after I've farmed the mounts that drop from bosses, some PvP mounts and the AT mounts. In other words, not any time soon.
Firestyle Jul 28th 2009 9:41AM
It is very easy for Bliz to create and distribute these mount cards electronically and get them directly into player's hands. In fact, it is the only way. Were they to create more in the card packs, then they would also be placed on eBay - which is not what Bliz intended when they introduced them.
It would be very easy for Bliz to seed these mounts in game now - mounts that never existed as cards and could never have been placed on eBay. A GM could just place one periodically in the AH at bid and no one would ever know.