Guardian Cub pet now available for purchase
by Anne Stickney 
Nov 1st 2011 at 4:15PM
The Winged Guardian Cub, a source of contention and discussion since it was announced, is now available for purchase on the Blizzard Pet Store. Unlike previous pets, the cub is not account-wide; when you purchase the cub, the store will ask you to pick an account and character to deliver the pet to. Pets are sent via in-game mail from Breanni and are locked to your character for 24 hours. After that day is up, the pet becomes tradeable for anyone that wishes to do so, and you can sell the pet on the Auction House for gold at that time.
I have to admit, for being such a source of derision, the little guy is terribly cute -- especially when he breaks into idle animations, batting random moths around with unbridled glee. Whether you're looking to sell the pets on the Auction House, trade them to a friend, or simply learn them for your own, you can pick them up for $10 at the Blizzard Pet Store now.
I have to admit, for being such a source of derision, the little guy is terribly cute -- especially when he breaks into idle animations, batting random moths around with unbridled glee. Whether you're looking to sell the pets on the Auction House, trade them to a friend, or simply learn them for your own, you can pick them up for $10 at the Blizzard Pet Store now.
Filed under: Blizzard, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
emberdione Nov 1st 2011 4:19PM
MMO champ is showing that the pets are locked for 24 hours.
Just curious, but is anyone here planning on selling one, and if so, how much are you going to charge?
It's definitely an interesting study in economics we are about to get to watch.
Shinae Nov 1st 2011 4:32PM
I'm guessing that, while some people will try to get more, they'll actually sell for about the same as the Argent Tournament pets.
llcjay2003 Nov 1st 2011 4:33PM
The fact that we are going to be able to use all of our pets on all characters soon(ish) diminishes the value a bit. People with patience will buy one and wait as opposed to buying more.
As for the people buying these with the intent to sell, yes, it will be interesting indeed. I would love to see how many are being bought by gold sellers. I would guess that they are buying a few and testing the waters before they go all out.
xvkarbear Nov 1st 2011 4:36PM
I was going to undercut by a significant amount of whoever has the lowest auction up.
I'm sure that makes me sound like a horrible person.. but the cool thing of an item like this is that it's value is whatever I feel it is. How much gold is $10 worth to me? Probably less then it's worth to someone else.
How much would I buy it for? I wouldn't spend more then 1,000g on one.. and even then I feel like that's too much. But I don't buy pets off the AH. That might change come MoP and pet battles, though.
Thundrcrackr Nov 1st 2011 5:03PM
I bet the AH will be so flooded with these the first few days that they'll sell for dirt cheap. Sellers will eventually dry up as they realize they aren't worth it, but so will buyers as more and more people have it.
I'm thinking 1-2k at first and eventually settling around 300-500g.
nomoreprinces Nov 1st 2011 5:32PM
@llcjay2003
Blizz said that most, not all, pets will be account-wide for the pet battles. I get the impression that with that this pet won't be account-wide for pet battles along with any pet that's available at the Blizzard Store. It goes against things they've said in the past about not wanting to force players into buying stuff to get an edge.
emberdione Nov 1st 2011 5:59PM
Nothing but speculation here:
I think 1-2k is low. I would expect after the initial boom and bust they will even out to about 5k. Otherwise, it's not worth the $10 and you won't have a supply, which will cause the price to rise. Also 5k is about the price for the rarer pets. Which you would assume people would already have, but they still sell well every time I get a random drop one.
But I don't see it going much over 5k, at least not once it evens out. Consider that 5k is the price of 310 speed, and if people would pay $10 for that. (I am guessing they would, unless they already have it.) The amount of time it takes to earn 5k versus the amount of time it takes to earn $10 aren't even close. People are going to want to take the shortcut. But if it falls any lower, then it's like, eh, I can just do dailies for a bit or farm up some Twilight Jasmine and be fine.
Also the initial supply will fluctuate wildly as people try to "buy" their way to things they want but can't afford (epics, mounts, etc.) but then stop buying and start undercutting as the market floods.
This makes me so glad I make my money from selling Mysterious Fortune cards.
Starlin Nov 1st 2011 7:13PM
I would hope that people would be willing to make these more valuable than the gold sold by illegitimate efforts.
So if the gold sellers on your server are charging $10 for 5K, then pay slightly more than that to get gold to a legitimate source.
Dude Nov 1st 2011 8:11PM
!0k gold for 10 bucks?
Seems a reasonable conversion to me.
Scuac Nov 3rd 2011 2:13AM
Anecdotal: On my server today it started slow, with only 3 listings at 25k and I believe on of those sold. By the time mine got off CD there were about 10 in the AH and the price had dropped to about 10k, but people were undercutting continuously, don't think any sold during that drop period. I finally sold mine for 9.5k, and the price seems to have stabilized somewhere between 10k and 9k. It was very interesting to follow all this in the AH.
Kureel Nov 1st 2011 4:20PM
How much gold are these going for?
emberdione Nov 1st 2011 4:21PM
None yet. Tomorrow (when they unbind) we will find out.
Wellsee Nov 1st 2011 4:20PM
Mine says it unbinds in 24 hours, not 1.
Anne Stickney Nov 1st 2011 4:22PM
Corrected!
Shinae Nov 1st 2011 4:22PM
Meh, the wind rider cub is much cuter.
llcjay2003 Nov 1st 2011 4:30PM
They appear to use the same model, at least for the face. However, I must agree that the Wind Rider is adorableness incarnate. It was hilarious to get that pet by buying the plush. The plush was so cute that my wife was overcome by the cuteness and did not care about how much I spent on it.
rogue Nov 1st 2011 4:24PM
Hmm, bought one but it's not in my mailbox yet. (Was logged out for hours prior to purchase.) Guess it'll show up soon....?
Anne Stickney Nov 1st 2011 4:27PM
It can take anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours to show up - mine showed up around 15 minutes after I purchased it.
jfofla Nov 1st 2011 4:26PM
I expect them to sell for 10k gold.
Fweet Nov 1st 2011 5:46PM
I expect them to sell for 10g.
Or 10,000,000g.
...somewhere in that range, depending on your server's economy and current population of suckers.