Blizzard Endorses Real Money Transactions via New BoE Pet
It’s not exactly a secret that World of Warcraft has suffered from a never ending onslaught of illegal gold sellers over the years, but perhaps Blizzard has finally found a way to minimise their impact.
A new cosmetic pet called the Guardian Cub is available for purchase for the sum of $10, and as the pet is bind-on-equip rather than the usual bind-on-account, the purchaser can essentially sell it via WoW’s auction house for in game currency. Essentially, this allows people to purchase WoW gold for real dollars, albeit in a roundabout way.
In the official FAQ for the Guardian Club, Blizzard states:
“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.”
This verge towards RMT has angered some players and delighted others, although it should be noted that the majority of World of Warcraft top tier items cannot be purchased on the auction house in any case, and must usually be attained via raiding.
