I can't up vote this sentiment enough. The gold selling part of it, whether it is or not.. I can just ignore. I've never bought gold, and I refuse to buy pets on the AH over... really, 5k unless they're one I want -really- badly. But it worries me they'll go this trend with other pets in the future too, and one thing I extolled to friends who hesitated over the fact that WoW had the online pet store was "Yeah, but they go to every character you have or will EVER have. You're not screwed out of a pet just because you decide to switch mains. So they're completely worth the 10 dollars to me." I can't USE that on this pet, and now I'm worried Blizzard will keep it up. So despite the fact I honestly actually like the pet and would have totally gotten it in the old way... I won't be buying it on the AH NOR will I be buying it from the store. For those who are uncomfortable with how they're doing it, buying it on the AH only encourages another player to go buy more and make gold. So in this case, we have to vote with our gold AND our actual cash.