A Point of View

views and opinions in this post do not reflect that of warcraftpets.com, and are solely held by the author of this blog.

the thread in which a blue poster confirms that the razzashi hatchling will still be available post-shattering of azeroth is now 10 pages long and is likely to continue to grow.

you would think that the many pages were posts of thankful and grateful responses that this baby raptor will not be permanently going away, but after reading through a few pages, i've found that most are more upset than happy with this news.

there seem to be three major sides to this story: those who took the chance that the hatchling would disappear and put their gold on it, those who feel taking advantage (monetarily) of the pet's potential removal is greedy/wrong therefore those who sought to make a profit "got what they deserved", and those who find it unfair that the pet will make its way back into the game while the mounts from the same zone will not (at this time).

i'm not going to defend or argue any of the above, as each group of believers has their own valid points, but i must voice my disappointment in the general wow community.

blizzard is under no obligation to even mention the changes/plans for vanity items, and when they do, they receive such a strong backlash such as this.

i can only hope that most of the negative comments left on that thread were not from the pet collecting community, as i'd like to continue to believe that we are a group of mature, patient, understanding, and compassionate people. if we can spend hours to months and years farming one set of mobs or waiting for that one special drop, we should be able to apply all of that patience and understanding to this situation too.

i also hope that blizzard is not deterred or discouraged by the negative response, and will continue to keep us informed about future companion pets and their plans for them. it's not every day that pet collecting receives such special attention and consideration such as this. it would be much easier for blizzard to just do away with something as trivial as a vanity pet, yet they are keeping it in the game. plus they are making an effort to let us know about the changes ahead of time. yes, blizzard releases the pay-to-pet items and there are also "free" in-game pet rewards, but when compared to the popularity of raiding, pvp, and mount collecting, pet collecting is still somewhat of the underdog.

i'm sure that those who feel wronged in this particular situation will see much of this post as a kiss-up to blizzard. if i were in the same shoes, i would think so too. defend blizzard's actions? a gigantic corporation that bleeds its users dry of money and then stabs them in the back like this?! terrible customer service! what a joke! or something like that. while i don't agree with all of blizzard's past actions (or lack thereof in some cases...), in this particular situation i cannot confidently condemn them.

after some thought and imagining myself in their shoes, i've concluded that the way blizzard handled this was the best they could do. from an objective standpoint, they announced something they felt would ease the transition from one phase into another, not to mention they also stated that nothing was set in stone yet and they would continue to work on finding a resolution. perhaps it wasn't said clear enough or loud enough, but in the end that disclaimer was made.

had blizzard blatantly said that the pet would be gone forever with no hope or chance of making a return, then i could definitely understand the anger and the need to call out blizzard as behaving unethically. but they didn't say that, and they treated all of this as delicately as they could. it's one thing to name names from a logical and technical point of view. it's another to call someone out from a mainly emotional state of mind.

as for the mount(s) vs. the pet, blizzard has openly commented that they normally do not make a conscious effort to find a place for vanity items that may not fit into the game anymore. perhaps the pet just happened to be small enough and easy enough to make room for, while the mounts are more difficult to reinsert into the game world. is it right or wrong for them to seemingly disregard the mounts and instead give so much attention to the razzashi hatchling? i can't comment on that since i don't know all the details or the technical aspect of game design. however, i'm sure that if they could, blizzard would find a way to maintain all vanity items and keep them available even as the game changes. some things just aren't reasonable or realistic though.

we've all been through the highs and lows and have had our own personal disagreements with blizzard's choices and actions. we're entitled to our opinions, emotions, and have the right to voice them. however, let's remember that the initial knee-jerk reaction to this situation will pass, and keep in mind the bigger picture. the razzashi hatchling will still be available after azeroth's destruction, and this is great news for current collectors and especially for future pet collectors.