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General Celestial Steed Mount thread:
Nadia
Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
new celestial steed will be sold in blizzard store
update - store link
http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000942
25.00 US and is Bound to account (all characters can use)
info from the link
http://www.mmo-champion.com/news-2/celestial-steed-and-lil%27xt-to-be-sold-in-the-blizzard-store/
According to the Blizzard store, the Lil' XT companion pet and the Celestial Steed mounts will be available from the Blizzard Store! This is the first time Blizzard sells a mount through the Blizzard store, we don't have the price yet but we can assume we'll hear about it very soon.
The Celestial Steed seems to scale depending on your existing mounts. If you already have a 310% flying mount, the celestial steed will be a 310% as well. If you don't, it will just be a regular 280% flying mount. (or 150% if you never bought the epic flying skill)
[Mod Edit]
Comments
Waiting to buy T11...
Hopefully Blizz wont go that far! Hopefully...
RIP Orc Choppa
This is the first step on altering the gameplay according to each ones money in real life.
Even if this is just a small step, since the mount will only travel at the speed one already has. Its a start to some weeks or months from now Blizzard can make another small jump on some other items.
Im expecting to see new heirlooms up to lvl 85 soon in this store...
Not in the least bit surprised.
Waiting for the "yeah, but..." posts.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
You guys are acting like it gives someone an advantage. Its no faster than the fastest mount you own. Cosmetic fluff only. Put the tin foil hats down. You still can't pay for subscription time with ISK, I mean gold, yet.
I could be mistaken, but couldn't you get a mount via their trading cards as well? If that's the case, then this just seems like a more direct route of that and, as many seem to be ok with, merely a "fluff" item. That said, it doesn't seem very surprising after they started selling a few pets directly, that they would expand things a bit. The previous sales must have been successful to warrant an expansion of the shop.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
I don't think Blizzard would be stupid enough to put up items that actually affect gameplay, to be honest.
"If all you can say is... "It's awful, it's not innovative, it's ugly, it's blah.." Then you're an unimaginative and unpolished excuse for human life" -eburn
It used to be that you got 'fluff' items from - oh - playing the game.
Every item put in the cash shop could have been a quest reward or achievement bonus.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Please explain how this mount alters anything to do with gameplay besides transportation, not to mention numerous mounts of equal speed can be earned/bought in-game with in-game currency. Like others have said, this is another fluff item that is purely optional, no reason to panic.
You still can...
Not these ones.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I don't understand some people. So what, 2 or 3 fluff items in the game have to be bought with real money, the rest can be earned or bought in-game, and you start whining? Get a grip, if your life or game experience is affected so negatively by such an insignificant feature, you are too emotionally invested in the game in the first place.
A little off topic but personally I feel this is one thing CCP have done right with EVE Online. While I never spend a dime in any game store I think it should be mandatory for developers to offer a way to pay for your subscription with in-game currency.
Somebody has to pay money to the developers/publishers to get the timecard/etc which others pay for with in-game currency. I think it serves everyone well. Devs get their money, ppl with money and no time sell timecards to those with lots of time and no money and recieve in-game currency in return - everyone wins.
Of course as CCP learned it's very open to abuse but now they have regulated it to the greatest extent possible, it's only unscrupulous ppl who are not using the official system. So if a cheater gets burned they turn around and say, well you didn't go through the proper channels and you got burned too bad for you.
Back to the horse, I agree with those who say 'cosmetic fluff' should be available in game. Sell all the playtime you want i don't care, but if i'm paying you directly or through a proxy I want my whole game and I don't give a rat's ass that you only made 1 billion dollars profit last year instead of the 1.2 you could make selling a few horses in an online store.
You know what I don't understand? People who are fine with getting less and less for their money. I also don't understand people who are fine with a game treating people who spend more money better.
How many items have to be diverted to the cash shop to convince you that you are getting less value than you used to?
Will you object if game-changing items go in, or will there be another "yeah, but...".
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Frankly, I've been hoping that Blizzard would start selling mounts. I'm not a raider or PvPer, which is about the only way to get anything even remotely exotic. Damned near impossible for a soloer. I wouldn't mind springing for both of these.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
How are you getting less & less for your money? All players pay $14.99 and have equal rights and access to all the same game content and mechanics. The store items are fluff, I don't spend money on them because they don't appeal to me and they don't add or take away anything from my game experience. Getting mad because other people have the option to buy them and if they do (which to you signifies they have more money), is the same as getting mad at the guy across the street with a set of rims on his car. You both have the option to commute from point A to point B just the same, but his car might look nicer while doing so. Are you gonna be upset that he had the option to add to the appearance of his vehicle for more money and he did?
Give your head a shake for a second and think about what your saying. Blizzard introducing items in the store that would affect character stats, power, access to in-game areas, anything that would grant you an IN-GAME advantage over other players for real money is a totally different concept from adding a couple of fluff items. If that ever happens, yes I will be opposed to that as I'm sure many other players would be, but until then, don't look too much into a couple of items that serve no other purpose than to cater to in-game vanity.
Personally, it doesn't bother me, but would it make a difference, and this is purely hypothetical, if someone who bought one of these mounts could turn around and put it on the auction house? This would thin the line between those who spend RL money and those who get the item in game.
Otherwise, you can argue value, but that is subjective to many. Some people see this as a "value added" service in that they feel they get their money's worth with the current and planned content while others see this as getting less value since this object is not introduced via in game effort.
Still, as I said earlier, the previous attempts at item sales must have been successful enough to motivate Blizzard to move forward with more. In the end, the paying customers get what they want for the most part.
-mklinic
"Do something right, no one remembers.
Do something wrong, no one forgets"
-from No One Remembers by In Strict Confidence
We all knew it. Blizzard is just about the quick $ and doesn't care ab out quality anylonger.
@people who are going to buy this stuff: you should all be banned from gaming FOREVER. Its mindless freaks like you that let companies like Activision continuing what they're doing best -->destroying games for gamers.
The real nerds aren't hardcore or oldschool players the real nerd a stupid mindless F2P zombies paying money for stuff like that.
We need a MMORPG Cataclysm asap, finish the dark age of MMORPGS now!
"Everything you're bitching about is wrong. People don't have the time to invest in corpse runs, impossible zones, or long winded quests. Sometimes, they just want to pop on and play."
"Then maybe MMORPGs aren't for you."
So, because Blizzard didn't care enough to provide "exotic" items for the activities you like to do in the game, you will fix that lack of content by buying the new mount exactly from the ones that haven't provided you with "exotic" mounts.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
In this case the amount of 'less and less' is so insignificant for the majority of people that it is the equivalent of not picking up a penny from the sidewalk. We could complain and boycott the game over this but we rather put our energy into something productive. There are a ton of pets and mounts in the game I will never get so who cares about some of them being even less obtainable.
So, as long as it doesn't affect you - anything is fair game? That's a very selfish attitude. I don't even play the game anymore, but it still stinks for those who do. Think about where it will lead, and decide if it is still okay.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
I don't play WOW so no big deal, but I am firmly against anything being sold in cash shops that cannot be obtained by every player in the game who choses not to.
I know others disagree and say its no big deal, they're cosmetic only, but that's not the point, for my 14.99 I want access to 100% of the game's content and items (even if some I'll never see because I'd have to conquer dungeon boss 323 to actually get it on a .0005% drop rate)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Like I said earlier, the inability to earn, but rather have to buy a couple of trivial items that serve no other purpose than in-game flash and ego flaunting, seem to have really taken an emotional toll on you and you are reading into this way deeper than any rational individual would.
[Mod Edit]
not gonna waste energy raging over something that may or may not happen (like selling weapons and gear)
other then than that i still don't see anything wrong with these types of things being sold, no big deal.
"The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
- Lewis Thomas
Yep, that's pretty much it. People like me have railed against Blizzard's design philosophy for years and it hasn't affected the game one bit. They don't care. That leaves us with two choices. We can either quit the game altogether or try to make the game more enjoyable with the options we're given. I have no interest in spending insane amounts of time in the company of idiots running the same content over and over in the off chance that I might win a roll for something worthwhile.
It amuses me greatly to see players squatting on their epic mounts in Dalaran like they've discovered the cure for cancer or something, completely oblivious to the fact that their "skill" had nothing to do with gaining their prize. It's all massive amounts of time being with a gang of others combined with an even more massive amount of sheer luck. I'm in a game to unwind and escape reality for a little while. I don't play to work.
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift