Blizzard Is Selling Another Mount, What’s The Big Damn Deal?

Last April, Blizzard began selling the Celestial Steed mount in their online store for $25 and moments after the first one was purchased, Azeroth caught fire and imploded, disappearing forever and killing millions of kittens and puppies in the process. Oh wait, that didn’t happen at all. But if you remember anything about the controversy and how pissed off and offended so many people were, you may wonder how did the game ever survive such an atrocity? In fact, it survived it quite well. No one wiped an entire raid because they owned a sparkle pony. Battlegrounds were not decided by how many Celestial Steed owners were on each side. The new mount owners saw the exact same prices on the AH as the non-new mount owners. CRAZY!!

Now it’s a year later and Blizzard is selling another mount for another $25 and I can’t help but ponder… what’s the big damn deal? Why are people upset all over again? It’s not a tiny, single bit different than it was a year ago so why must we rehash all the bitching? I did not get upset about all the talk the first time this happened because it was new and new things frighten people. But it’s not new anymore, we’ve already experienced this. Is there simply nothing else to talk about? Have we grown tired of complaining about druids having an unfair advantage in herbalism thanks to flight form? Because I’d love to continue hearing about that one for the next 6 months.

Do I sound bitter? It’s because I am. And that’s very unusual for me. I’ll tell you what triggered this, it’s the same thing that always gets me riled up – the lack of logic. I am open-minded and non-confrontational to a fault. It actually makes me a doormat for people who love to treat people like shit. Even when I don’t agree with it, I can almost always visualize the thought path someone has taken to arrive at their current state of mind. I’m sympathetic and compassionate and I don’t want anyone to dislike me ever. So when someone says something I don’t agree with I simply put myself in their shoes and rationalize it all out so that I can say “I understand where you’re coming from”. I usually want to say “even though you’re wrong” at the end of that sentence, but I don’t. That’s what makes me such a good friend. But when there is no logical path (apparent to me) it just immediately frustrates me. The first time everyone bitched about mounts being offered for sale for cash I could follow the multiple paths of thought that made people so upset about it. Now that it’s the EXACT SAME THING and people are upset all over again… they’ve lost me. It’s no longer logical.

Let me give you an example of how something can be illogical to me. Let’s say one day I invite my friend Kim to go to the beach with me. Kim says “I can’t, I’m scared of the sun”. Instead of instantly laughing at her, I pause and think to myself “what would make Kim scared of the sun? Maybe she’s a vampire… that would explain why she’s so pale. Maybe she knows someone who spontaneously combusted as a result of being in direct sunlight. Maybe she’s never been out in the sun before and doesn’t know it’s harmless”. I like to consider all of the angles. My next step is to ask her “Kim, why are you scared of the sun?” Her response is that she’s never been out in the sun before and she thinks it may hurt her. Okay, let’s skip ahead to a few days later for whatever random reason, Kim has been forced to step out into direct sunlight and she realizes nothing happened to her as a result. Since this is just an attempt at providing you with an example, we are going to pretend that sunburns do not exist. Kim now realizes that even though she thought it was scary, the sun has not actually hurt her at all. Every day for the next year, Kim spends at least a few minutes in the sunlight. Then one day there is news that a new sun is coming. Suddenly Kim’s scared to go out in the sun again. Why? There’s no logical path that can be followed now. She’s already had it proven to her that the sun will not harm her in any way. If it’s the same distance and the same heat, what possible difference could it make that it may be a different color?

So now you know I suck at examples (I am aware that was seriously lame) but surely you understand the point I’m trying to make. The point is… the new mount is the same as the old mount so shut up about it. Now I am one of those people who loves the fact I can buy mounts for $25. It’s an instant mount for all of my low level toons without having to grind rep or spend in-game gold. Especially useful if you have some baby toons on different servers and no established cash on those servers. I bought the Celestial Steed the first day it was available and I will be buying the Winged Guardian sometime in the next month or so hopefully. I understand some people don’t agree with it and I respect their opinion. That’s not what this post is about. This post is because the debate and the bitching should be over with. After it faded away following last April’s introduction of the first ever purchasable mount, it should have stayed faded away. Am I the only one who thinks it makes no sense to start it all back up again?

Just for fun, here’s a screenshot of Horde trade chat concerning the new mount: