The Chinese World of Warcraft gets stylish mounts that we don’t have. But maybe we should be glad about that.
That there is an in-game shop in World of Warcraft where you can buy items like transmog sets and mounts for real money, such as the most expensive and best mount, has been a point of discussion since its introduction. Some believe that such things have no place in an MMORPG with purchase and subscription costs, while others have accepted it with a shrug.
But regardless of what one might think of the system – it is still significantly better than what is offered in the Chinese World of Warcraft. There are exclusive contents, but they are extremely expensive.
What is there in China in WoW? Anyone who wants special rewards in World of Warcraft in China cannot simply purchase some of them in the shop. Instead, you first have to exchange real money for an in-game currency, with which you can then buy “Pulls” or “Lootboxes”. These can contain a variety of rewards, and some of them are only available in the Chinese version of WoW.
Mounts that you can hope for starting at €130
How expensive is it? A single “Pull”, which means opening a “Lootbox”, costs between 80 and 90 Euro cents. The colleagues from wowhead estimate that you would have to spend approximately between €130 and €260 to get both rewards with a very high probability.
- One of the mounts is a Deathwing mount accompanied by two smaller dragons. The whelps serve as NPCs with special services. One whelp acts as a vendor where you can repair, the other functions as a mailbox.
- The second mount is a “Steel Panther”, with the special feature that it can be customized in many ways. You can change the color, as well as the equipment. If you want, you can choose a fire-breathing exhaust or a large music box with speakers.
Will something like this come to us? That is rather unlikely. In the rest of the world, Blizzard – at least for World of Warcraft – has so far refrained from purchasable Lootboxes, which are traditionally more associated with pure free-to-play games here.
In the Asian region, gacha mechanics are even more widespread than in the West and are generally more accepted. Especially here in Europe, there has been a discussion about “Lootboxes” for years, and whether these should not be classified as gambling. Initial legislative changes have already ensured that the exact chances of receiving a reward must be clearly stated.
However, it is rather unlikely that World of Warcraft will bring such systems from China to the rest of the world. On the one hand, acceptance is lower here, and on the other hand, World of Warcraft is operated in China by NetEase, which often makes fundamentally different decisions than the rest of the American operators of the game.
These mounts are not the only special ones, as they are only available in a game mode that exists exclusively in China. As compensation for the years without WoW the Chinese have now received a “Titan Reforged” version of WoW and thus get a taste of what a “Classic+” could look like.
