I would like to address the fact that this mount, despite Blizzard’s claims to the contrary, has been seemingly unobtainable from the Black Market Auction House since the July 2021 hotfix went live.
With the most recent decision to make a multitude of TCG collectibles available for the player base once more, I would really love to see more items added back to the game that were removed at random. Endorsing artificial scarcity for either purely cosmetic items (that aren’t tied to a challenge), or items with helpful in-game functionality such as the Grand Expedition Yak or the Brutosaur, makes any removal of such items a morally questionable practice when the game already has a paid subscription and yearly expansion cost, as it suggests that immensely useful in-game services will be withheld from any and all future players and those who might not have been playing the expansion that the item was introduced in.
This is a problem because Blizzard isn’t being truthful about the subject. Their support page for the Brutosaur reads that the item was moved to the Black Market, but seeing as it hasn’t appeared there for more than a year - across any realm at all - and from what I have read is also a fiercely contested item in boosting communities, even a regular player who has been waiting to bid 10 million gold on it may have to wait for several years to acquire an item that is advertised by Blizzard as obtainable within the game through normal means.
I see no issue with seasonal cosmetics or mounts being removed if unique challenges have to be completed from directly within the game for them (these challenges being Legion Mage Tower skins, seasonal KSM and PVP mounts and other forms of such content). However, when the method of acquisition for a cosmetic item or an item that adds functionality is that it simply needs to be paid for with either gold or real currency, then there is no fair reason for why it would require direct removal.
Suggestions on how to resolve this issue:
Permanently return the mount to its original vendor for 10 million gold, so that any players who have bought it from the Black Market before July 2021 do not have to feel as if their efforts or previous investments were wasted.
Reintroduce the mount by adding an opportunity to acquire it through multiple long-term challenges with a reasonable difficulty ceiling. Alternatively, if you decide that these challenges must not be based in mechanical skill, require players to achieve a certain amount of gold made from auction house sales (e. g. 15, 20, 25 million gold) as the basis for an achievement that will grant this mount.
Add the mount to a seasonal vendor that remains active for a given amount of time (perhaps one week a year or even a day per year only, simply to give players the chance to buy it when Black Market spawns are so volatile and potentially bugged, in addition to the Black Market being scanned unceasingly by boosting communities). This idea would also work well for Battle for Azeroth Timewalking, as any Timewalking event comes with a vendor that only appears during the week that the event is active in.
Place the mount on the in-game shop to combat third party sales from boosting communities that control entire markets and dominate realms, in the same way that you are now discouraging third party sales of TCG items to combat the effects that these sales have on the game and the degenerate gameplay that this promotes.
I fully believe that the game will be healthier for returning an item that so many feel as if they have missed out on when the single requirement for it was to gather gold. It will also breed less resentment against those that are able to make use of the convenience of a mobile Auction House mount, and it will no longer restrict players to the volatility of the Black Market Auction House, as camping it daily for years only to potentially lose the bid to third party sellers is too much of a time investment and disappointment to burden players with.
If there is any CM willing to forward these suggestions to the team, it would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading and happy gaming.
I agree with you, i can’t think of any other time in WoW where a mount purchased from a vendor was removed with the end of that current expansion.
2 million gold Bloodfang Cocoon spider mount was not removed after legion.
Transmog Yak wasn’t removed after MoP.
Repair mount wasn’t removed after WotLK.
Yes me two i just want them to put back during BFA timewalking to his vendor or for cap gold
Just freaking add it back to vendor and problem solved. And fire the guy who thought it was good idea to remove it from game - he literally spit in face of players who didn’t have gold/time on BfA to get it.
I’d just start off by saying: What a pleasure to read such a well written post.
With the Feldrake being handed out for free now, it seems Blizzard intends to move away from artificial scarcity, like you said.
I always thought the removal of the Mighty Caravan Brutosaur was a mistake, especially when it offered such an immensely unique ability of having a portable AH. The price tag ensured it was something a lot of people couldn’t buy, but rather pursue with a tangible and awesome upgrade at the finish line, on top of also being another gold sink to battle gold inflation.
Imo this mount definitely needs to be added back as a vendor purchase, not a BMAH rarity. I’d add it back at the same price it was at during BFA, but if the price tag was bigger I’d be fine with that too.
Removing items from the game removes content. Wow removes waaaaay too many rewards permanently. For example, there is no point removing elite pvp gladiator transmog, if pvpers get a title, a mount, “fun?”, and good items during the season. It’s incredible, how the least played game mode has visually the most appealing rewards in the entire game… Not trying to sound entitled though, but with boosting, etc. being a thing, do pvpers really need 4 different types of rewards, that get removed from the game?
Same goes for the brutosaur mount. Why did it even get removed to begin with? To rush people buying wow tokens? Wtf?
Too bad that:
Blizzard.
Do.
Not.
Care.
About anything written in these forums.
Which is why we got that Community Council. You should try nagging one of those representatives, and it might be taken up officially in the council. But we all know Blizzard is only responding to 1/10 of the topics created there, and I can’t see them caring about this one either.
Which again is how much Blizzard care.
Blizzard walk across the world of Azeroth like a Godzilla and destroys any legacy content they step upon without a care in the world.
It does seem strange that these were kept in the game when the Brutosaur wasn’t. Their convenience is brilliant, but they don’t connect you to a whole other network of players that provides instant access to the entire realm’s market. For that reason alone, those that can now summon the mount for personal use are unfairly privileged because they can do so unimpededly.
I agree that this must somehow be added back to a vendor, even if only seasonally or temporarily.
Your comment made a very trying day much better.
Thank you. I had concerns over whether it was presented well enough to not be received poorly.
I also think that the only solution going forward is to add it back to a vendor in some capacity. While I am prepared to check the BMAH daily for many years to come, I would consider it an unfair advantage to have over other players once I do acquire the mount, mainly because others are accessing the same product for the same price without being offered the same functionality.
Lol. Indeed, since PVP has and always will be an afterthought in this game and, as a regular activity, entertains only a minority of the player base, it strikes me as comical that there are so many limited time rewards. Perhaps that is to further entice players to the game mode, but so riddled with problems as it has been in the past, I don’t see it gaining in popularity until skill expression is valued more highly than gear.
How would one go about drawing the Community Council’s attention to topics such as these? I wasn’t able to find a dedicated subforum, although I might be blind.
What a moronic suggestion. This would ruin the prestige of the mount and is a slap in the face of everyone who went trough the effort of collecting 10 mil gold and camping the BMAH day and night…
JK just add it back to the vendor, the decision to remove it was stupid in the first place and it came out of no where.
I think it should still be available. I really don’t understand the logic in removing it. With the auction house changes it’s really handy to be able to pop gathered things on as you play.
I was fortunate my account was active when they announced they were removing it. I stopped doing content that ate gold in repair costs and managed to save enough gold to buy it just before it was removed. But, I don’t see why people shouldn’t still be able to buy it. I’d like to see it brought back.
The trick is to keep bumping this topic every 2-3 days now, let people give their input etc.
If you can keep that up for a few months then perhaps Blizzard will see this and act.
This is exactly what I did requesting Sha of Anger world boss to spawn at a fixed location with instakill protection. It took a few months, but eventually the change was implemented.
Sadly, I can’t find you the topic to prove it, since it seems older topics have been purged, but it was posted from my alt Glory-Kazzak.
Hopefully Blizzard shows this suggestion some love eventually. Don’t give up!
Those older mounts were added when making money wasn’t an important and huge focus for a company and when the in-game shop wasn’t anything like it is today and with no WoW token.
And as expansions went on they were easy to buy with gold.
The 5 million mount was a lot more difficult to achieve for a good chunk of the player base and if they had kept it available, it wouldn’t have mattered as much then because eventually the player could save enough and buy it, even if it took them the whole of the next expansion.
But in a modern world of trying to get as much money as possible from customers, keeping that mount in-game would have been a terrible business decision.
By having it removed at the end of that expansion it becomes a great money maker from customers (WoW Token sales) because of the Fomo.
When I first saw the mount I thought it would be lovely just to ride around the jungle of Zulzadar on my Horde characters.
I looked forward to being able to gradually save up and work towards it with alts over a long time, without being forced to do nothing else for months on end.
Blizzard spoiled that long term game objective by being greedy goblins and using it to reinforce FOMO and increase token sales.
Thing is, the impatient would STILL have bought tokens to get it sooner.
Would really like it back. I’ve returned later in BFA after a few years break, and I didn’t want to only make gold. Thought it’s a good long term objective, until I learned that it’s being removed.
Bringing back with BFA TW would be a joy.
I don’t think it’s going to entirely remove the prestige of having one for the current holders, since it would still cost quite a sum I think.
Your comment made a very trying day much better.
I had concerns over whether it was presented well enough to not be received poorly.