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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzard introduces tradable "Guardian Cub" companion pet, purchasable through the Blizzard Store
by Adam Holisky 
Oct 10th 2011 at 12:11PM
Yes, you heard that right.
The pet will cost $10, and you can trade it to other people in game for whatever in-game currency or items you want.
The full Blizzard FAQ after the break.
Guardian Cub FAQ
Q: How does the Guardian Cub pet work? How is it different from other Pet Store pets?
Unlike the other Pet Store companions, the Guardian Cub is a tradable, one-time-use pet that permanently binds to a single character upon use. When you purchase the Guardian Cub from the online store, the character you designate will receive a bind-on-use item to carry in his or her inventory. You can either use the item yourself to permanently add the pet to your character's collection (consuming the item in the process), or -- after a brief initial cooldown period -- you can trade the item to another player so he or she can add it to one of their character's collections. Note that once the pet has been added to a character's Companions list, it can no longer be traded, so make sure you're giving the cub a happy home.
Q: Will I be able to carry more than one Guardian Cub at a time?
While a character can only have one Guardian Cub in his or her Companions list, you can have as many in your inventory as you like. Please note that Guardian Cub items do not stack, so each one will take up a bag or bank slot.
Q: How much will the Guardian Cub cost in the Pet Store?
The Guardian Cub will be priced the same as the other Pet Store pets ($10 USD). All sales of the Guardian Cub are final -- no refunds will be given once a purchase is made.
Q: Why did you decide to make the Guardian Cub tradable?
Since the introduction of the Pet Store, many players have been asking for ways to get the companions we offer there without having to spend real-world cash. By making the Guardian Cub tradable (much like the BoE mounts from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game), players interested in the new pet will have fun, alternative in-game ways to get one. In addition to trading the pet, players can give the Guardian Cub as a gift to another character for a special occasion; guild leaders can use them to reward members for a job well done; and so on. We also hope this change will help reduce the number of incidents of scamming via trading for invalid pet codes.
Q: Could I put the Guardian Cub up on the auction house to try to make some gold if I wanted to?
While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we're ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services. However, please keep in mind that there's never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they'll pay for it. Also, it's important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts. (You can read more about our stance here.) While some players might be able to acquire some extra gold by putting the Guardian Cub in the auction house, that's preferable to players contributing to the gold-selling "black market" and account theft.
Q: Are you changing the other available Pet Store pets (e.g. Lil' Ragnaros, the Pandaren Monk) to work this way?
No, the other available Pet Store pets will continue to work as they always have.
Q: What about future Pet Store pets?
It's too early to say how we'll handle future Pet Store pets. We made this change in response to feedback from players looking for alternate ways to get the Pet Store pets, and we're always looking into other opportunities for improvement. We're interested in hearing what players think of the Guardian Cub when it launches, and we hope you'll have fun with this new flying friend.
Unlike the other Pet Store companions, the Guardian Cub is a tradable, one-time-use pet that permanently binds to a single character upon use. When you purchase the Guardian Cub from the online store, the character you designate will receive a bind-on-use item to carry in his or her inventory. You can either use the item yourself to permanently add the pet to your character's collection (consuming the item in the process), or -- after a brief initial cooldown period -- you can trade the item to another player so he or she can add it to one of their character's collections. Note that once the pet has been added to a character's Companions list, it can no longer be traded, so make sure you're giving the cub a happy home.
Q: Will I be able to carry more than one Guardian Cub at a time?
While a character can only have one Guardian Cub in his or her Companions list, you can have as many in your inventory as you like. Please note that Guardian Cub items do not stack, so each one will take up a bag or bank slot.
Q: How much will the Guardian Cub cost in the Pet Store?
The Guardian Cub will be priced the same as the other Pet Store pets ($10 USD). All sales of the Guardian Cub are final -- no refunds will be given once a purchase is made.
Q: Why did you decide to make the Guardian Cub tradable?
Since the introduction of the Pet Store, many players have been asking for ways to get the companions we offer there without having to spend real-world cash. By making the Guardian Cub tradable (much like the BoE mounts from the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game), players interested in the new pet will have fun, alternative in-game ways to get one. In addition to trading the pet, players can give the Guardian Cub as a gift to another character for a special occasion; guild leaders can use them to reward members for a job well done; and so on. We also hope this change will help reduce the number of incidents of scamming via trading for invalid pet codes.
Q: Could I put the Guardian Cub up on the auction house to try to make some gold if I wanted to?
While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we're ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services. However, please keep in mind that there's never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they'll pay for it. Also, it's important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts. (You can read more about our stance here.) While some players might be able to acquire some extra gold by putting the Guardian Cub in the auction house, that's preferable to players contributing to the gold-selling "black market" and account theft.
Q: Are you changing the other available Pet Store pets (e.g. Lil' Ragnaros, the Pandaren Monk) to work this way?
No, the other available Pet Store pets will continue to work as they always have.
Q: What about future Pet Store pets?
It's too early to say how we'll handle future Pet Store pets. We made this change in response to feedback from players looking for alternate ways to get the Pet Store pets, and we're always looking into other opportunities for improvement. We're interested in hearing what players think of the Guardian Cub when it launches, and we hope you'll have fun with this new flying friend.
Filed under: News items
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 11)
Boz Oct 10th 2011 1:32PM
"...we’re ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services."
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This reminds me of money laundering, only nerdier. Money laundering occurs in three stages: Placement, Layering, and Integration. In this case you want to launder your USD as Gold:
1 - Placement - Pay Blizzard $10
2 - Layering - Money is "converted" into a Guardian Cub
3 - Integration - Guardian Cub sold on the AH; USD converted.
I don't like that Blizzard is selling pets for real money, let alone selling them as BoU. Sure, it's no different than certain trading card game items, but I was never okay with those either.
All that said, at the end of the day this is unlikely to have a significant impact on the game in any way. The number of people spending real dollars for an in-game pet only to turn around and try - emphasis on try - to sell it is probably going to be very, very small. That and inflation is already so out-of-control in-game that a new pet is going to be but a tiny blip on the radar.
Verdict: Meh
Grovinofdarkhour Oct 10th 2011 1:37PM
"money laundering, only nerdier"
Don't take this the wrong way, man, but seriously, I love you.
sonatasun Oct 10th 2011 1:39PM
I don't see this as gold selling. The gold sellers offer you a set amount of in game currency for dollars. Blizzard is selling a bind on equip object for $10, not gold.
Notwithstanding that the purchaser can auction off the pet, there is no guarantee as what, if any, in game currency may be realized.
Snuzzle Oct 10th 2011 1:47PM
I agree. I don't see this as any different than the fact that the TCG stuff is "bind on use". Personally, I applaud this. It's not as if people weren't already selling the other Bliz Store pets in-game, but bfore there was no way to know if the code would actually work before you paid. This just cuts out the possibility of scamming. Good on Blizz imo.
jfofla Oct 10th 2011 2:49PM
This is a good way to introduce the brilliant RMAH from Diablo to WOW. Within a year, every game will use RMAH, it is a revolutionary idea.
Cephas Oct 10th 2011 7:11PM
The difference between this and PLEX is that PLEX actually has value:
1. Who wants it? PLEX = game time. Everyone who wants to keep playing needs to get game time somehow. The cub is totally cosmetic. The only people in the market for a cub will be pet collectors and people who for whatever reason just want to have one.
2. How much do they want? When you use a PLEX, 30 days later it's totally gone. You need to use another PLEX or buy game time. The cub is use once have forever. Some players might want two or more for alts, but that doesn't compare to an EVE player's continuous need for PLEX every month.
Anyone trying to turn $10 into WoW gold will probably be sorely disappointed by how little they end up with.
Brad Backofen Oct 10th 2011 12:19PM
Interesting. A legit way to "buy" gold.
ggohierroy@hotmail.com Oct 10th 2011 12:40PM
So if we want to destroy the gold sellers, then we should sell it for more than 10k right?
Daedalus Oct 10th 2011 12:54PM
@gohierroy:
My guess is the price will create a gold/real dollar exchange rate a bit less favorable than the illicit gold sellers; people are likely to accept a little less gold for their money in exchange for not worrying about getting your account stolen, viruses, or getting banned.
Therinor Oct 10th 2011 1:56PM
I dont know if you can consider it a legit way to buy gold, because I wonder how long it will work and how much you will get out of it.
I mean, my theory is:
a) The people who love the pet or are really into pet-collecting and pay their account with a credit card might just get it that way, simply buying it with their account at the Blizz store. I am rather certain some people will prefer this over buying it for gold ingame.
b) I doubt you will get very much out of it. I am thinking of something who, I dunno, buys 10 of them and puts them on the AH. How much could those go for, how much are people willing to pay? 5K? 10? 20? (Keep in mind what I said above... a lot of people will prefer to buy from the Blizz store themselves)
Eventually, I believe the market will run dry. So even if you get a decent amount out of it (ofc, what 10 bucks is worth to you in ingame-currency is up to you), there will be a limited amount of players buying it...eventually those that want one and cant or dont want to buy from the Blizz store themselves will have theirs, and I dont know if the amount of new players coming in will guarantee that you'll always have enough people wanting to buy one.
Ofc, I might be totally wrong. Maybe there are bunches of people who have too much gold and would like another gold-sink, maybe enough for those people who will buy several to put them up.
What I DO like is that you can gift it to friends even if you don't have their email-address. Some people dont wanna give that out, and so if you know a guildie has his birthday, you can now giftwrap (maybe not) that pet and send it ingame or hand it over =)
Dodes Oct 10th 2011 12:20PM
On the one hand this is very lame because if you have alts you have to buy one for each, not like the BoA pets and Mounts there have always been. On the other hand, you will be able to buy them for gold so you can still get them for all your alts... if you are willing to pay.
Also, pay for an item with real money and sell it for gold? Pretty lame way to sell gold in-game.
Daedalus Oct 10th 2011 12:37PM
Yes and no.
If we have to have gold buying, this is definitely the way to go: by making it a commodity that you purchase, especially one that is consumed on use, Blizzard dodges the problem of inflation resulting from a massive influx of new gold.
Noyou Oct 10th 2011 1:25PM
Probably the only reason I ever bought any item from their store was that it was BoA and could be used by all my toons. This item is not only not BoA but can be sold or traded for gold :( This may officially stop me from buying anything else from the store ever, regardless if it is BoA or not. I feel like I have been slapped in the face.
djsuursoo Oct 10th 2011 1:35PM
it's not selling gold at all.
it's selling a one-use commodity that can be traded around.
there's no gold generated from buying it, when you sell in the auction house.
as the currency already exists in-world it's more of a 'gold redistribution' than a 'gold sell'.
hunh.
redistribution of wealth. in my MMO?
i can dig it(having recently redistributed almost 10k into my own pocket selling a razzashi hatchling....)
Daedalus Oct 10th 2011 1:49PM
@djsuursoo:
It's absolutely gold selling.
Read the FAQ: "While our goal is to offer players alternative ways to add a Pet Store pet to their collection, we're ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services."
It's selling gold indirectly at an undefined and fluctuating exchange rate, but it's gold selling nonetheless.
I do think it's a clever way to do it; it manages to put in gold selling without introducing huge amounts of new gold into the economy.
Luci Oct 10th 2011 3:33PM
I agree. A major selling point to me is that my main pet collector gets the pet and all my alts. That way the "collector" gets it for the collection and then some poor little alt has a nice pet just for the enjoyment without the extra money and effort.
Basil Berntsen Oct 10th 2011 12:20PM
OMGMUSTWRITEGOLDCAPPED
Krz Oct 10th 2011 12:24PM
OMGMUSTREADGOLDCAPPED
The Dewd Oct 10th 2011 12:30PM
I can't wait to see what you think this prices on this are going be, especially given all the types of people who will be selling it for oh so many different reasons.
Daedalus Oct 10th 2011 12:28PM
Yeah, there are some really interesting ramifications here.
First off, it really is selling gold under another name. (Blizzard pretty much cops to that in the FAQ.) However, it means that the real dollar price of gold would fluctuate, based on whatever people want to pay for these.
More interestingly, it puts the final verdict on gold selling in the hands of the players on a realm. If enough people on a realm didn't like the idea and refused to spend gold for the pet, the price would invariably have to fall and the amount of gold you get for $10 would decrease.
One good thing about this is that it gets around one of the biggest problems people have had with the idea of Blizzard selling gold: rampant inflation. It was pretty reasonable to assume that if Bliz let people buy gold directly, that massive infusion of gold to the economy would cause prices on everything to go up. However, this method adds no new gold; by giving the player a commodity that can be traded for gold instead, Blizzard can allow real money to wind up as gold without having to add additional gold into the equation.
I'm interested to see your take on it, Basil.