Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Black Market Auction House - What's For Sale?

Wowhead News has more information on MoP's Black Market Auction House. Check out their post for all the details on where it's located, the costs, etc.

What I'm more interested in are the possible items sold on the BMAH. I spy with my little eye some rare pets!

Remember that this system may still be incomplete and might not be set in stone yet. What's previewed on the beta might not be the final version. And yes, I feel this warning is warranted since some might get a bit miffed about a few of the items being sold on the BMAH.

General Pets For Sale
So far Breanni looks like she's found a supplier for most of the Argent Tournament pets. She's also selling some (might not be all) of the pets that can also be found from the random dungeon Call to Arms reward bag, Satchel of Exotic Mysteries.

I'm not entirely sure collectors are going to be all that willing to drop 10,000 gold on either grouping of pets, though.

The way I see it is that mainly seasoned players will have an excessive amount of gold to spend, but these older collectors will either already have these pets or are more savvy and can manage to acquire the Argent Tournie pets and miscellaneous companions through other (cheaper) means.

Newer collectors will probably find the BMAH prices too high and stick with the Neutral AH or even the basic AH for these two categories of pets.

Some collectors will take the traditional route and farm for these pets on their own.

This is all just speculation, though, and I'm sure some will be quite thankful that they won't have to travel all the way to Icecrown every day to complete the tournament dailies. Server prices vary as well, so who knows? Maybe the BMAH will be cheaper than the Neutral or regular AH on some servers.

Still, 10,000 gold for an Obsidian Hatchling? Breanni really overpriced that one. :P I don't know how much effort it takes for some players to get to Dalaran these days, but it can't be 10k gold's worth!

TCG Pets
I've gone over the basic list of possible pets found on the BMAH, so let's discuss what might be the more controversial list: TCG pets.

At the moment there are only three TCG pets that might be sold on the BMAH, but they're especially rare. THESE companions would be worth the 10-20k gold (starting price), for sure.
- Dragon Kite
- Hippogryph Hatchling
- Bananas
What makes me concerned about the sale of these rare TCG pets is that some collectors spent quite a bit of real life money to acquire them. Will they feel somewhat cheated? Would they have dropped X amount of cash on the pets if they had known they would some day be able to purchase them in-game for gold?

On the other hand, many collectors who wouldn't normally have a chance at the rarer TCG pets finally have a shot at acquiring them.

Now it's just a matter of how fast you can reach the gold cap, as there is no buyout option or bidding cap (that I'm aware of). This might mean the winner will ultimately be who can bid the max amount of gold the quickest.

Also remember that the pets for sale on the BMAH will be on a possibly random rotation, so it could take months before a TCG pet pops up. It might not even be the one you're looking to buy. Collectors will be playing with the odds here, and there's no guarantee they will win.

It's the same with many auctions in real life, however there's a higher chance for a definite win when dealing with sales on Ebay or other websites. At a higher cost, of course.

I suppose it's the best compromise if you think about it that way. You can either take your chances in-game with the RNG of a specific TCG pet showing up for sale and attempt to be the fastest to bid PLUS be the highest bidder, OR you can spend real life money for a card on Ebay but feel slightly more confident that you'll win it.

In the end, I don't think the BMAH will make or break pet collecting. It will make a few pets slightly more accessible, but it's in no way a guaranteed or efficient source for companions. Collectors will still be trucking along in the same way that we've been collecting for years and years - hunting, grinding, and waiting. Oh, and can't forget capturing come MoP! :)

4 comments:

  1. I have all of the TCG pets, and the ones they are offering here are not the expensive ones. All 3 could have been purchased when they hit for under $40. (That's how much I got each of mine for.) I even bought 3 of the Hatchling.

    Do I care?

    Not a bit. I have had years of people asking me about my pets, and running around with them. Even if they listed the super expensive ones, like the Soul Trader or the Spectral Kitten, I wouldn't mind. I still got mine first, it's still been a blast to have them, and I don't have to spend my hard earned gold on it.

    I don't care if everyone else has a pet, as long as *I* have that pet.

    Also, I support bringing these pets (and even the mounts) back into the game this way. It lowers the bar for people who didn't play back when the TCG launched or didn't know about the TCG. Makes it kind of fair. Though, I think the BMAH will be harder than me shelling out $40 on ebay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Ember: Wow, $40 for a Dragon Kite would make me tear up with joy! They're currently priced at about $100+ these days.

      I definitely agree that the BMAH will help level the playing field and open up the option for players to finally get a hold of (TCG) pets they would otherwise normally not have access to.

      As long as the BMAH doesn't become a significant source for existing and especially NEW pets, it seems like a good idea.

      I still think that selling a vendor pet for 10k gold is a bit overkill. Then again, I guess there might be some players who would rather shell out a huge amount of gold than take time out of their day to travel to a vendor to buy a pet for 50 gold. To each their own!

      Delete
  2. I also have most of the tgc loot pets and wouldn't care if they hit them on the BMAH. The way I see it, if more people sink their money in pets I already have, it's less competition I'll have later when one I Really want pops up.

    And regarding obtainable pets in the BMAH... Think of it like this, on beta people are max out bidding on stuff. Once this hits live it won't be like that at all. People aren't going to shell out what you are seeing because it is only beta. Yes, some items will go high, but in the end people aren't going to shell out all their gold on one pet unless it is the literal last pet needed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Stacye: Good point about it being beta! No limit to how much you can bid might encourage buying in-game currency once this feature goes live, though. We'll have to wait and see how this impacts the market.

      Delete

Creative Commons License
Perks N Peeves by Quintessence is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.