Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsCelestial Steed mount and Lil' XT pet to be sold on the Blizzard store
by Adam Holisky 
Apr 15th 2010 at 9:50AM
We don't know any details. That's all there is to say on that. So any speculation about price, functionality, etc... it's all just that. Speculation.
We do know, however, that this is the first mount being sold at the store; and the first useful in-game item you can directly buy with real world money (if you don't count the mounts from the WoW TCG game).
Video of the steed after the break.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 11)
orlochavez Apr 15th 2010 12:36PM
"WoW players try to force on the internet"?!?!?
Like there's some sort of discussion in-game about which WoW term we're going to try and make happen next? XYZ didn't come from WoW. Neither did "do want" or a number of memes. I don't like them any more than you do, but get your facts straight. The internet does plenty of pushing of memes on it's own with or without WoW players.
Nicknin10do Apr 15th 2010 9:58AM
Kinda not liking how this is going now.
A really cool looking mount that anybody can get?
Think it's gonna be more rare to see someone WITHOUT it.
Barinthos Apr 15th 2010 10:16AM
Since when does "cool" go hand in hand with "rare"?
The mount itself is awesome, regardless of if everyone can get it.
Erzfiend Apr 15th 2010 10:42AM
So I'm guessing you're the guy who thinks something is cool the less people know about it/or have something right? "Keep it in the underground?"
Puh-lease.
The mount is cool, whether 1 person has it or 1 million people have it. Sure, it may not be as "special" or whatever since anybody can get it, but if that's such an issue for you, go try and get Ashes of Al'ar or something.
That being said, I will probably be buying this mount when it comes out.
wow1234asd Apr 15th 2010 10:57AM
i'd hazard a guess here, and say that blizzard was stuck with a product on their hands and couldn't move it (two in-game designed accessories that took some effort to make).
because the intended outlet shut it's doors (wow tcg secrets of ulduar expansion distributor/publisher), the only way to put these items in peoples hands and still make a little cash was the pet store option
i was definitely going to be picking up both, whether they came from a booster pack, or a online shoppette
Res Apr 15th 2010 10:57AM
Bet you tore up all your old Ke$ha posters when she went mainstream and left her underground roots.
Jon Apr 15th 2010 11:59AM
Who the Hell is Kesha? Must still be underground?
F0REM4N Apr 15th 2010 12:05PM
You just admitted to having Ke$ha posters? /facepalm
Shizukera Apr 15th 2010 12:17PM
Blizzard is giving something super-shiny to people who don't have access to a guild capable of killing hardmode Arthas, who can't get the insane pvp achievements, or for whatever reason can't complete the holiday stuff. If that bothers you, if you can only enjoy an awesome-looking item if it's ~uber rare~, then no one's forcing you to buy it. :)
Also, you're forgetting that there will be lots of people who won't buy the mount on principle or just can't afford it. It's not like every single account on the planet will have this thing. Rare? No. As common as your basic level 20 mount? Probably not.
tl;dr - If you want uber rare, go try to get the Ashes or the Baron's mount while the rest of us enjoy our shiny, shiny sparkle pony. ;)
Seraph Apr 15th 2010 9:59AM
I'm really not sure how comfortable I am with Blizz moving to put something useful ingame for real money. I know people whined about moving to micro-transactions when the pets came out, but this seems like a much larger step to me, potentially saving a player the cost of an epic mount.
Not that it's much, but it's something.
That said, if I have the cash I'll probably buy the damn thing because I'm a mount whore.
jealouspirate Apr 15th 2010 10:03AM
Not just saving the cost of an epic mount, but if I remember correctly this mount travels at 310% speed. That's a big upgrade from the regular epic mounts, and currently 310% mounts are either very difficult to obtain, very rare or take a long time to get.
N-train Apr 15th 2010 10:10AM
Don't be too worked up, while yes someone who just bought epic flying could go throw 25 bucks in and get this mount with no effort, it's not like there aren't other extremely-obtainable epic flyers out there (bronze drake I'm looking at you), or one could always buy the Kirin Tor vendor mounts, which really aren't very expensive with the exalted bonus.
So yes, I can understand frustration, but it isn't like they're offering something that isn't a vanity item that players really cannot work without, sure the thing looks really cool, but in the end its just a mount skin.
Also, I believe it scales to your highest mount level, so if you only have a 280 (like most people), then that's what it goes at.
dcisko Apr 15th 2010 10:17AM
Well, yer basic 280% flying mount runs 100g before faction discounts, so it's not like you're saving a big chunk of gold. If it gave you the skill training, that would be a whole different story.
What I've read is that the mount adapts to your best flight speed, so it'll only give you 310% if you already have a 310% mount. (That's the way druid flight form works, too.) So no special bonus there, either.
It is all kinds of awesome, however. For me the worry is about having a real-dollar mount that pwns the hardmode mounts.
Ravasha Apr 15th 2010 10:18AM
No, it scales with your riding skill and will only be 310% when you already have a 310% mount.
Pam Apr 15th 2010 10:19AM
*Wonders if they are gonna do that with costumes/overlays*
relmatos Apr 15th 2010 10:31AM
when the companions were announced, some people complained about the way it was going.
they got downratted and other people responded by saying that "blizzard would never start selling anything useful in game".
Now blizzard is selling something useful in gam and the responses have switched to "it's not something very useful in game".
I agree. I really do not like the way this is going. Nothing should be purchaseable from outside the game.
Moonkinmaniac Apr 15th 2010 10:51AM
Just wait until it gets like perfect world and they start selling NOT mounts and pets,but chances at them like gambling or something. Then bag space comes along and potions... Then outfits. Its a slippery slope, I hope Blizz doesn't get too greedy. No ones too big to fail and new mmo's are popping up like daises lately.
Vandersveldt Apr 15th 2010 10:57AM
"I hope Blizz doesn't get too greedy".
Um... yeah... this isn't Blizz's work. This is Activision-Blizzard's work. By which I mean Bobby Kotick is in charge, and making the decisions. Good luck expecting him to "not get too greedy"
Kerriodos Apr 15th 2010 11:34AM
@Moonkinmaniac
I don't know if you've ever studied logic or rhetoric, but there's a logical fallacy based around the 'slippery slope' argument. Basically what it boils down to is that saying anything is a "slippery slope" more or less makes your argument invalid.
@ Everyone Else
That aside, this is no way a "slippery slope" anyways. People are looking at it and seeing "THEY'RE SELLING MOUNTS!" when what they should be seeing is that they're selling looks. This is not in any way circumventing in-game mechanics. You can get mounts without spending in game gold as is, and frankly if you're worried about people buying something for real money that they could get from two heroics worth of gold in game (that being a flying mount) anyways, you've got some pretty twisted priorities.
If they were saying "You can drop four thousand in-game gold, OR $35 US Dollars for epic flying training," then I'd agree, but that's not the case at all. This is a vanity item. You buy it if you wanna ride a sweet-looking horse instead of a drake/windrider/gryphon/proto-drake/etc, just the same as you buy a Lil' KT if you want to have it follow you around instead of Penguin/Dog/Dragon/Cockroach/etc. They do not help in combat, or let you farm faster; they make you look shiny standing in front of the Dalaran bank. That. Is. It.
The other aspect you need to all look at is that these microtransactions could actually have a direct financial impact on you--positively. If microtransactions for vanity items work out well enough, it is perfectly within reason that subscription fees could be slightly reduced.
No, no, hear me out here. I'm not a crazy. Think about it; cheaper/free-to-play, already insanely popular... That's just going to draw in more customers who were initially hesitant/put off by the monthly fee. Those customers get hooked, they become additional audience to sell vanity items to (and lets face it, from the outside of WoW you'd think it's crazy to buy that sort of thing, but once you're hooked your tune could easily change). It could be a sound business decision, especially since Blizzard recently said their biggest issue with new subscribers is keeping them past trial. Not unreasonable to think that some people didn't continue because they couldn't afford $15 a month.
Regardless of all that, Blizzard is a pretty savvy company--and despite claims otherwise, still has full autonomy since Activision-Blizzard is the new name for their old owners merged with a publisher (Activision), not a changing of hands (To take autonomy from the most-profitable North American developer there is? When they're making you more money constantly ANYWAYS? No one, no matter what you've heard, in position to do something so monumentally stupid IS THAT monumentally stupid or they never would have got there in the first place. Period.) They understand that while microtransactions are a viable payment method in the current MMO climate, their loyal-if-whiny playerbase is overwhelmingly against it. Everyone needs to stop crying wolf, the sky is not falling. Or something.
Artigrius Apr 15th 2010 12:08PM
@kerriodos I love it when somebody posts what i was going to say (albeit more eloquently) Saves me the trouble.