It’s the 20th Anniversary of World of Warcraft, and Blizzard’s long-standing fantasy MMORPG is celebrating with, among other things, an extremely luxe mount. Say hello to the Gilded Brutosaur, which will cost you $90. That’s more than Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, or roughly the equivalent of six months of subscription game time.
“Celebrate camaraderie between the Alliance and the Horde with the awe-inspiring Trader’s Gilded Brutosaur, adorned with a 20th Anniversary themed harness encrusted with gems representing World of Warcraft’s expansions,” reads Blizzard’s official description. “Brave the world of Azeroth on this magnificent Zandalari beast with Morten and Killia, bringing the auction house and the mail to you on the go!”
Some players are excited since it offers both Auction House and Mail features on the go. Others are less than impressed. “That’s disgusting,” wrote the Pandaren Mage Ishayo on the forum page. “I can’t believe you’re selling an AH mount for more than Diablo 4. It’s mental.” “I’m sorry, this is disgusting,” echoed the Blood Elf Demon Hunter Samashnz. “Don’t want it, don’t buy it, but the fact it’s £60 is so egregious and greedy. I can’t believe it lol.”
Aside from the price, some of the controversy stems from the fact that the Gilded Brutosaur is essentially a re-issue of a similar mount from 2018 with the Battle for Azeroth expansion. Instead of costing real money, that mount required 5 million gold at the time, which in some ways made it even more expensive. Players either had to spend tons of time farming gold or pay roughly $15 per 150,000 gold, making the mount actually cost $500 all those years ago.
As a result, some World of Warcraft players are actually pissed that Gilded Brutosaur isn’t more expensive. What seemed like a special limited-time thing they earned years ago is now available to everyone for the low-low price of almost a Benjamin. Considering the recent years of spiked inflation, maybe it’s not such a bad deal after all. Certainly not for Blizzard. Some WoW mounts have allegedly made more money for the company than entire StarCraft expansions.