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Blizzard store pets and more on sale
Have you've been wanting a Lil' Ragnaros at your side to make cooking in Halfhill more convenient? Did it recently occur to you that having the Pandaren Monk companion pet next to your playable pandaren monk would be amazingly cute? If so, you might want to check out the latest sale at the Blizzard store. Following up last week's sale on mounts, Blizzard has announced that most Blizzard store pets will be 50% off until Jan. 1, 2013. (The sale is good for you too, EU players.) The new Cinder Kitten is not on sale, since funds collected from Cinder Kitten purchases are still being donated to the American Red Cross for Superstorm Sandy Relief. The Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling plush toys aren't on sale either, even though they accompany redeemable digital pets. That leaves the following pets on sale. Soul of the Aspects Guardian Cub Cenarion Hatchling Moonkin Hatchling Lil' K.T. Lil' XT Lil' Ragnaros Pandaren Monk And if you happened to miss Blizzard's Black Friday sale late last month, the World of Warcraft Battle Chest is on sale again, along with the two latest expansions, Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria.
WoW on Sale: From Vanilla to Cataclysm for $30
The Blizzard Store is having a sale for this week only: The BattleChest (which includes vanilla WoW and The Burning Crusade), Wrath of the Lich King, and Cataclysm are $10 each. These prices are for either the boxed games or the digital downloads. For those of you in the EU region, the European Blizzard Store has them each on sale for EUR 10,00. Blizzard did something similar just before the release of Cataclysm. Severely reducing the barrier to entry for the coming expansion was obviously a success. So if you are trying to get friends and/or family to join you in Mists of Pandaria (or want another account), now's the time to do it. The sale ends July 9.
World of Warcraft Monopoly now available at the Blizzard Store
The World of Warcraft Monopoly Collector's Edition is now available at the Blizzard Store for $39.95. This Monopoly set comes with tokens chosen by fans, bills featuring your favorite World of Warcraft heroes, and Azerothian real estate. For example, in the places of Boardwalk and Park Place are Orgrimmar and Stormwind, respectively. The official World of Warcraft blog goes into more detail. If you'd like to see the full contents of the board game before you make your purchase, check out Joystiq's unboxing image gallery. While WoW Monopoly is a new addition to the Blizzard store, it has been available at retailers since May 18, 2012. Note that your Battle.net Balance (where Diablo III Real-Money Auction House proceeds go) cannot be used to purchase anything at the Blizzard Store at this time. But if you've been waiting to buy the World of Warcraft Monopoly Collector's Edition direct from Blizzard, now is your chance.
Soul of the Aspects pet added to the Blizzard Store
If you purchased a Heart of the Aspects mount a couple of months ago and wished you had a tiny, baby version of it to slap on a leash and drag around with you wherever you go, you're in luck! Blizzard has just added the Soul of the Aspects vanity pet to the Blizzard Store for $10 USD. European players can pick up their pet over on the European Blizzard store as well. As your newest faithful companion pet, the Soul of the Aspects flies by your side through the skies of Azeroth, celebrating your adventures together with aerial summersaults and twisting corkscrews. The Blizzard store states that every character on your World of Warcraft account will receive this pet, so we can be fairly certain that it cannot be bought, sold, or traded in-game for gold.
Heart of the Aspects mount now available for $25
While patch 4.3 was on the PTR, dataminers discovered a pretty slick-looking mount in the game files: the Heart of the Aspects. We all speculated as to how players might receive it, and today we found our answer. You can buy it from the Blizzard Store for $25, adding it to your stable of real-money mounts alongside the Celestial Steed and Winged Guardian. Update: Blizzard has released their official announcement.
World of Warcraft holiday sale is crazy
If you thought $50 for the entirety of World of Warcraft during GameStop's Black Friday sale was good, Blizzard is about to do you one better. From now until Dec. 19, the entirety of World of Warcraft is on sale for a grand total of $35 on the Blizzard store. In addition, the Celestial Steed (aka Sparkle Pony aka Glitter Stallion) and the Pandaren Monk pet are on sale, too. This is how the prices break down: WoW: Battle Chest for $5 (reg. $19.99) Wrath of the Lich King for $10 (reg. $39.99) Cataclysm for $20 (reg. $39.99) Celestial Steed for $10 (reg. $25) Pandaren Monk for $5 (reg. $10) If you planned on pulling any friends into Azeroth this holiday season, there really is no better time to do it. If you don't want to go all-in, you can introduce friends and family to the base game for just $5 -- and if you want to dangle a carrot on the end of that stick, buy them a Celestial Steed to work toward. A $15 dollar investment, all told. Also? You should totally tell them about WoW Insider. A little birdie told me that due to popular demand, we're currently revamping our leveling guides. Talk about timing.
Blizzard releases Cenarion Hatchling pet for Japan earthquake relief
Blizzard has just released a new pet at the pet store called the Cenarion Hatchling, a baby version of the hippogryph that once was only available as part of the old WoW TCG. A full 100% of the proceeds generated by this pet purchase will go to help the American Red Cross's Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami relief efforts, compared to the 50% from previous pets like the Pandaren Monk. The donation process will be ongoing through July 31.
Insanely low prices for WoW, BC, and Wrath for a limited time
The Blizzard holiday sale for World of Warcraft in the US and EU regions has been announced, and the cost of giving WoW for the holidays is rock-bottom low. The original World of Warcraft, now with extra Shattering, is only $5. The Burning Crusade is now also only $5, and Wrath of the Lich King only sets you back $10. Upgrading WoW has never been cheaper, so if you'd like to give the gift of World of Warcraft to yourself or someone else, now is definitely the time. To quickly recap -- the Blizzard US and EU stores now have: World of Warcraft at $5 / €5 The Burning Crusade at $5 / €5 Wrath of the Lich King at $10 / €10 World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Lil' Ragnaros and Moonkin Hatchling pets preview
Blizzard is previewing the two pets that will be offered this month in the Blizzard Store: Lil' Ragnaros and the Moonkin Hatchling. Lil' Ragnaros, pictured above, will not be associated with a charity. As reported before, however, a portion of the proceeds from the Moonkin Hatchling will be going to a charity that has yet to be named. Blizzard has not announced when these pets will be available to purchase or for how much. If they keep the same pricing as last year, however, the pets will be $10.00 (EUR 10,00) each. The full announcement by Blizzard and action shots of the hatchling are after the break.
Morhaime says moonkin hatchling available this month
Yes, that's right. During the ATVI earnings report conference call today, Mike Morhaime, president of Blizzard Entertainment, announced that the Moonkin Hatchling will be available for purchase later this month, as he had already stated at BlizzCon. In addition, 50 percent of the proceeds from the sale will go to charity. The last time Blizzard did something similar, it raised $1.1 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Can the hatchling possibly dethrone the Pandaren Monk as the most adorable charity money generator? Gregg's speculation on whether or not we'd see more charity pets seems confirmed. Were you already planning on picking one up, and if not, does this news make it any more likely?
BlizzCon 2010: Moonkin Hatchling mini-pet going on sale in November
There has been some data-mining in the past couple weeks which found mention of a Moonkin Hatchling in the beta game files. During the BlizzCon opening ceremonies, Mike Morhaime (Blizzard CEO) announced that this new vanity pet will be available for sale from the Blizzard store coming in November. We still don't have any idea how adorable this pet will look, but if it's anything like the other hatchling pets the cuteness will be epic. They also announced that their Pandaren Monk pet when it donated all proceeds to charity when it was first available made $1.1 million for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. We're curious if this is a sign of more charity vanity pets to come in the future as that will make a serious impact for almost any cause. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 48-hour presale now active
Blizzard is offering those who bought BlizzCon 2010 tickets, even DirecTV virtual tickets, the opportunity to buy exclusive BlizzCon merchandise online for 48 hours this weekend. This sale was delayed until Sunday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m. PST. As of now, we can confirm that this sale is now active. You can buy the items by going to the Blizzard Store and selecting More Products. Good luck getting your items! Edit: Only Battle.net accounts that were used to purchase tickets are able to see the sale. Virtual ticket sales are on Wednesday.
BlizzCon 48-hour presale delayed due to site issues
Blizzard is offering those who bought BlizzCon 2010 tickets, even DirecTV virtual tickets, the opportunity to buy exclusive BlizzCon merchandise online for 48 hours this weekend -- or at least they were supposed to, hours ago. Right now, the store is completely busted and no one is able to access the exclusive items. Blizzard is on the case, according to a forum post, but there's no ETA on when people will actually be able to make purchases. UPDATE: Blizzard has updated the original post saying that the sale will begin Sunday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m. PST.
Anti-Aliased: Shut up people, come buy my horse
So last week's little diversion into Net Neutrality (and me apparently being a right wing liberal jackhole) was fun, but this week brings me back on track with things happening in the gaming world. And, lucky for me, there's been a spot of news yesterday that's just caught my attention -- World of Warcraft's new Celestial Steed. Microtransaction discussions are nothing new in my column. From Cryptic to Free Realms, I've been all over the different payment structures that games implement. But, no matter the topic, one thing seems to stay the same: people really, really, really dislike microtransactions overall. The comments on these columns, and pretty much any other article we write on microtransactions, tend to end with angry commenters spewing their dissatisfaction. And you know what? Good for them. If that's their opinion, then totally go for it! But, what I really hate more than anything else is when people have double standards. It seems that people really hate microtransactions, yet Blizzard's newest buyable mount doesn't have people quitting the game left and right. In fact, it seems everyone is cramming in to buy one!
Queue for Celestial Steed and Lil' XT is above 140,000
The picture it says it all... If there was any doubt in the popularity of the new items, this is all you need. For virtual items to be going so fast and furious is unheard of. But here we have it. The most that WoW.com has seen is the number reach around 70,000. It could be more or less when you get in-line to buy one. Edit at 4:45 p.m. EDT: It's now above 80,000, which is nearly 10 times OVER 9000. Edit at 7:30 p.m. EDT: The queue is now above 140,000. Coverage of the new purchasable in-game mount and pet today: Initial Blizzard Store Discovery Mount available to be purchased Poll: Selling the Celestial Steed is... WoW.com will be giving away a few Celestial Steeds and Lil' XTs soon. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for the post!
n00bz now pwnable... err, purchasable from Blizzard store
Originally previewed at BlizzCon 2009, the new collectible n00bz figures are now in the Blizzard online store. These are small, customizable action figures that are available in either a blank version or in a variety of pre-painted models from murlocs to ghouls and even Ragnaros himself. Blizzard has said they'll slowly be releasing more of these little guys as time goes on and has already offered a limited-edition n00b this past BlizzCon of Raynor from StarCraft. So, check out the n00bz and send us your pictures of them in strange places, or grab some blank n00bz and paint up your own. If you're looking for some ideas, here is a gallery of some custom n00bz that were on display at BlizzCon this past year. %Gallery-70857%
WoW.com's April Fools Round-up
April Fools! Or at least it was yesterday. Some love the pranks, some find the pranks boring, some wish to see the pranks fall down a dark, dark hole, never to return, possibly to be eaten by a grue. Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, we've gathered a short list of Blizzard and WoW-related pranks across the web: Blizzard Pranks World of Warcraft EPEEN: New from Blizzard, the Equipment Potency EquivalencE Number system! WoW Armory Tuskarr Invasion: Folks checking out the armory may have noticed their characters transformed to tuskarr, their achievements reported as 'cheesed,' and a whole lot of gear ninjaed and summarily vendored Battle.net Matchmaking Service: Battle.net decides to play eHarmony and place lonely gamers with suitable partners Battle.net Neural Interface: New from the Blizzard Store, the Neural Interface promises a lifelike gaming experience Blizzard Mobile Games: Up for 2010 from Blizzard Mobile Games are Blackthorne 2: Thorne Harder, and Queen's Quest! Diablo Gamer Blanket and Body Pillow: Wave goodbye to the cold as best as you can while swaddled in this Diablo 'gamer blanket!' Diablo Deckard Cain GPS System: Now you can listen to Deckard drone while you drive! Other WoW-related sites El's Extreme Anglin': El reports on the latest Cataclysm feature: Aquariums! MMO-Champion/Paragon/Premonition: MMO-Champion breaks the news that Paragon will be moving to US servers come Cataclysm and merging with the US Guild Premonition. Sponsored by AXE! Nihilum: Nihilum breaks some rules and brings us screens and video from the Cataclysm alpha Wowhead: Wowhead, er, TACOhead brings news of a new in-game item, the Hellfire Kickin' Taco Supreme! Tankspot: Tankspot announces their change to Farmspot Warcraft Pets: Breanni fills us in on some new non-combat pet... er... features coming out in Cataclysm World of Raids: World of Raids reports on the new Observation Deck and Spectate features coming in Cataclysm The Guild: The Guild proudly announces its new foray into the world of animation! Curse.com: Curse.com fills us in on Cataclysm -- exclusively available for the IPad WoW.com: And of course, there's us. Our day was filled with takeover after takeover, from Twilight to Muscle March to Saturn Six -- we've decided to return to WoW news. For now... Love them or hate them, at least they're done for the year, right? Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief and start believing what we see again. Did you laugh? Did you see a clever prank we missed? Or did you hide indoors all day and fervently wait for it to all be over? Let us know -- and check out the gallery below for screenshots from the various sites listed above! %Gallery-89602%
Plushies are now available in the Blizzard Store
We first mentioned the upcoming plushies a few weeks ago. The Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling are two stuffed animals that will inevitably steal the hearts of women and children. And big, manly WoW bloggers who didn't even cry at the beginning of UP! Nope, not one single tear. That being said, we thought we'd point out that the plushies are currently available in the Blizzard Store. There's no word on what the availability is going to be like, so I highly recommend that you trot over immediately and pick up your new best friend. However, the site does say they're only available or a limited time. So really, hurry. Don't worry about us -- we've placed our order. I certainly wasn't sitting here spamming Refresh while I waited for them to become available. Nope, not at all. %Gallery-85155%
Breakfast Topic: Here, plushie plushie plushie...
My wife and daughter love their Murky and Kwurky murloc plush dolls that I got for them during last year's BlizzCon. In hindsight, I really should've gotten a Lurky plush for myself. I mean, you gotta admit, those suckers are cute! Blizzard apparently knows it, too, and they're about to release two new plushies soon with the added bonus of including a code for an in-game pet! Those wyvern cub and gryphon hatchling models have been in the game files for a while now, but we've only just found out about where to get them. Blizzard has already hinted at this kind of merchandising, noting when the Blizzard pet store was announced that plushies with codes for in-game pets would be introduced soon. I'm likely to pick up a plush wyvern or two to join our murloc brood, and I'll get the added bonus of getting an in-game pet for myself (take that, Lurky!). Do you plan to pick up a plushie, either for its real or pixel cuteness? Which one interests you? It's highly likely that Blizzard will introduce more plushies in the future -- what other stuff do you think they'll come up with? Plush Deathwing, maybe? A plushie Yogg Saron might not sell too well, I think. Future plushies should expectedly have equivalent in-game pets, so the possibilities are pretty exciting... %Poll-41543% %Gallery-85155%
New plush pets with matching in-game pets coming soon
This is brilliant. Two new plush pets are coming soon to the Blizzard Store: The Wind Rider Cub and the Gryphon Hatchling. As adorable as these toys are, they have one more thing which will make them a mandatory purchase for any pet collector. They include a code for a version of them in-game. We don't know when they are hitting the store or how much they will be. But there are several of us who will be checking frequently to find out, so we'll let you know when we do. Well, we might order ours first. %Gallery-85155%
