Black market...

[Makoes]

black market
n.
1. The illegal business of buying or selling goods or currency in violation of restrictions such as price controls or rationing.
2. A place where these illegal operations are carried on.

I dont think Black Markets are ment to be cheap...
I can see this as a good way actually of downsizing the high amounts of gold that some players have, then again, if you know how to work the AH, its not that hard to get more gold.

[Slickrock]

[Slickrock]

One other think I'd pay dearly for...

[MaximumOverdrive]

If only...if only...

[Kalliope]

I'll take Illidan as a pet!

....

What? I like the PJs.

Oh Vol'jin, you silly!

[Andine]

One other think I'd pay dearly for...

Ooh, that's a nice gun. Where's it from? Removed or something that you post it here?

[Snowy]

The very last auction on the Daily Blink's picture is exactly how I feel about this.

[Meggers]

The very last auction on the Daily Blink's picture is exactly how I feel about this.

What if the winner is a person that's been screwed by RNG all this time and has been farming it? I'd say they earned it.

[Kalliope]

The very last auction on the Daily Blink's picture is exactly how I feel about this.

What if the winner is a person that's been screwed by RNG all this time and has been farming it? I'd say they earned it.

Agreed. If it was the original bear mount icon, then there would be an argument for the "they didn't earn it" complaint. RNG is RNG. Ability is something else.

Amending this to note that I know people who did earn bear mounts too,but who don't actually have them due to losing the rolls. So even that example is open for debate.

[Sesamee]

This seems like such a fun addition to the game. There needs to be gold sinks like this in the game to give people an incentive to earn gold above and beyond subsistence amounts. I can't wait to see what shows up on my server.

[Royi]

Also the uniqueness of Ashes, or any mount like that, has just been thrown out of the window since anyone with the time to make enough gold to afford it can have it now, instead of putting in lots of time and effort into farming the actual thing

Wait whats the difference here now? Spend lots of time farming gold vs spend lots of time farming instances.....

Isn't it the same? You're spending time farming something with a goal in mind. This is a way players can opt out of the crappy RNG that some people face (2500+ casts in pools and still no Sea Turtle) and allows them to get something they've been especially wanting heavily.

Some people are better are solo farming TK for the mount to drop, others are better solo farming the AH. Both should have rewards. Having Ashes more accesible after 4-5 years of being a raid drop doesn't cheapen anything for me.

RNG sucks sometimes, I always wanted that Zulian Tiger on my hunter, but after soloing the tiger boss probably 50 times before the ZG raid was taken out, I never got him

I did however get the Raven Lord after 10 attempts. But I would trade the Raven Lord anyday for the Tiger. Now giving me a chance to grind up 50k gold or whatever the price would go to to get that Tiger again? Priceless

Agreed. If it was the original bear mount icon, then there would be an argument for the "they didn't earn it" complaint. RNG is RNG. Ability is something else.

Amending this to note that I know people who did earn bear mounts too,but who don't actually have them due to losing the rolls. So even that example is open for debate.

Well said Kalli

I think mounts like the Plauged Proto Drake, Ironbound Proto, Invincible, etc ~ those are about "earning" them.

Mounts like Ashes, Raven Lord, The basic Red Handmaiden drake from DW, etc ~ mounts based on RNG and luck with the rolls... those aren't earned. Those are granted via luck and RNG. You can farm it over and over again, but with bad RNG all your efforts could be in vain.

[Makoes]

Another thing to keep in mind though is how many different items will be found in the black market? will they all be on the AH all the time? what about the RNG for what IS on the AH and when?

It's not like everything is being handed to the players on a silver platter, up for all to grab right away. Even IF one of these hard to get mounts is up, there is no guarantee that you will get it. Its all bids, no buy outs, so you still need a bit of luck to get something [popular] on the Black market. Also, isnt this a neutral type AH? So not only competing with your own faction but also the other faction.

I for one am hoping that the black market will make available all the "Retired" mounts at some point or another. It would be nice to have a chance at aquiring something missed for varius reasons.

[Ziarre]

To note, Invincible and Mimiron's Head are simply RNG rolls since the end of Wrath. They're not neccessarily about 'earning' anymore...aside from the work involved in getting enough people that know what the hell they're doing.

[Meggers]

IDK, i say the people that have "earned" things have feats and titles to show for it. That doesn't mean they need to have shiney mounts/armor as well. -shrug-

[Kalliope]

IDK, i say the people that have "earned" things have feats and titles to show for it. That doesn't mean they need to have shiney mounts/armor as well. -shrug-

They don't for the old bear runs.

[Ziarre]

Yeah, old bear runs were before achievements (and I think titles, something makes me think they're mostly tied to achievements) were even implemented.

[Royi]

IDK, i say the people that have "earned" things have feats and titles to show for it. That doesn't mean they need to have shiney mounts/armor as well. -shrug-

They don't for the old bear runs.

Too bad I never took those groups up for the paid ZA 10 man's for the bear. I think they would usually be 6-8k on my server at the time (you would pay a guild that much to run with and collect the mount)

Totally worth it in hindsight (made it where you really didn't earn it, i'm sure some of players out there with those bears paid their way to it)

[Kalliope]

Yeah, old bear runs were before achievements (and I think titles, something makes me think they're mostly tied to achievements) were even implemented.

Yeah, there was only the feat of strength attached to getting the mount. :/ Which is why I feel bad for those who didn't get them!

[Meggers]

I wasn't active due to IRL issues for the old bears, same with the retired naxx drakes. Woop, missed out on getting shit. :/

[Snowy]

... I was making a joke guys. Hence the smiley at the end. Jesus christ. -___-;

I really don't give a shit anymore who gets what mount for whatever reason. I'm not one of these people that hates the sight of various mounts just because they're popular and likes other mounts more just cause they're rare, or gets annoyed at the sudden increase in Ashes of Al'ar sitting in Orgrimmar, etc. I care how I get *my* mounts and that's it. I'd be pissed off if they removed the original way to get the Ashes, for example, and shoved it on the black market then instead, but since this apparently isn't happening, people can buy whatever they want if it makes them feel good or if they simply want the mount or something. I think the only mounts I personally would ever buy off it though would be TCG mounts, since I'm not rich and can't afford to spend real money on mounts. (Blizz Store aside, but I've only bought one of them myself anyway.) Just... I think people need to stop taking things too seriously sometimes/looking into so much detail.

The black market is there simply as a goldsink since it's obvious now that a lot of players have too much gold and nothing to do with it.