"Yes, if ppl keep running to the shop there will be less and less in game for free."

Oddly enough, the last time I got something for free in WoW was during a 10 day period a few years ago.

Now let's see, this month we had 2 pets added to the pet shop, and 4, as in twice as many, added as quest rewards.

Also, the 4th year was the 1st year we had achievements. The 5th year was the 5th year. The 6th year, well, yeah, in 4 more years it will be a landmark year.

The last time I got something free from Blizzard was just last week, when they released a massive free content patch with thousands of quests and new zones. I have absolutely no problem if they want to suck money out of people for pets and then invest it into a better game experience for everyone.

I don't suppose you've noticed, but the cash store pets are a much higher quality than pets put ingame. They have a higher poly count, more detailed texture, and at least one unique animations which had to be custom made for the pet.

Blizzard spent an extra special amount of development time on each of these pets, in ways they would not normally spend on making a anniversary pet. The reason they spend the extra development time, is so that lots of people buy them, and they can put that money back into paying more employees to improve the game.

It's all a circle, which all comes back to benefiting the players, even if you don't buy the pet yourself.