Summary
Blizzard partner and ChineseWorld of Warcraftdistributor NetEase is selling a mount bundle for about $260. ThoughWorld of Warcraftonly recently began selling the $90 Trader’s Gilded Brutosaur, NetEase has nearly tripled its high price tag with an even rarer mount.
On October 24,World of Warcraftreleased the Trader’s Gilded Brutosaur, its most expensive mount to date. Featuring a $90 price tag, this singleWorld of Warcraftmount costs as much as the Epic Edition ofThe War Within.
However, NetEase is already offering a mount that costs almost three times as much. To celebrate the MMO’s return to China, NetEase released aWoW Classicbundle containing a flying version of the Swift Spectral Tiger, along with the Imp in a Ball, Spurious Sarcophagus, andGrim CampfireWorld of Warcrafttoys. That said, this pack does not come cheap. Purchasing this bundle costs ¥1,888, the equivalent of $260, though Chinese players who already have the ground version of the Swift Spectral Tiger can pick it up for ¥588, or about $81.
NetEase’s $260 World of Warcraft mount
The four items in this bundle are all old loot rewards from the discontinuedWorld of Warcraft Trading Card Game. However, the Swift Spectral Tiger is the most expensive TCG-exclusive on the market, with a price tag that averages around $5,000. Prior to the fallout between Blizzard and NetEase, and theyear-long shutdown ofWorld of Warcraftin China, the original, ground-only Swift Spectral Tiger was made available via aBurning Crusade Classic ¥1688 bundle, which was about the same in USD at the time as this new bundle is now.
There are a handful of other ways NetEase has been celebratingWorld of Warcraft’s anniversary and return to China as well. It offered a cash prize for Chinese teams that win the race to world first forThe War Withinraids, ran an Ulduar speedrun tournament forWrath of the Lich King Classic, and released aWoWx NetEase music app collaboration and a Xal’atath voice pack for Baidu Maps, similar to theWorld of Warcraftcosmetics and Thrall sidekick for Waze. The Trader’s Gilded Brutosaur is also available for modernWoWin China for the equivalent of around $120, but the bundle also comes with 2,000 Trader’s Tender for use at the Trading Post.
World of Warcraft’s return to China has been very successful, with over 1,000,000 simultaneous players over the last few months, more than 1,000 job resumes for Blizzard China, and around 100,000 fans able to recover their accounts. With big events like these bundles and the creation of thenewWorld of WarcraftGorehowl statue, it is clear NetEase has pulled out all the stops for its players.
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World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It’s one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.
