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World of Warcraft opens in-game shop

You can now buy pets and mounts with real money in-game as well as through the external webstore on Battle.net.

Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
2 min read

You can now buy pets and mounts with real money in-game as well as through the external webstore on Battle.net.

Sparklepony, AKA the Celestial Steed, one of the mounts available for purchase. (Credit: Blizzard)

There are plenty of pets and mounts you can obtain in World of Warcraft just by playing the game, but if you wanted something a little more fancy, you've had to buy them through the Battle.net shop. Now you don't have to exit the game to score yourself a sparklepony thanks to the introduction of an in-game, microtransaction-based shop.

Just like any pets or mounts you buy in the Battle.net shop, all real-money purchases are shared across all the World of Warcraft characters you have on your Battle.net account (present and future). Buying in the in-game shop has another advantage, too: purchases will be sent directly to your inventory instead of your mailbox (unless your inventory is full) so you can start using them straight away.

What the in-game shop looks like. XTS is simply a test currency and is not indicative of actual prices. (Credit: Blizzard)

To help promote the launch of the new shop, Blizzard is throwing a 50 per cent off sale on selected pets and mounts, both in-game and on Battle.net — so if US$25 was a little too much for the Armored Bloodwing, now's your chance to snap it (and other mounts) up for US$12.50. Selected pets are going for US$5 instead of their usual price of US$10.

One thing we like about Blizzard's purchasable content is that it's purely cosmetic — if offers nothing you can't get in-game functionality-wise, but offers something a bit prettier for those who feel like spending the money.

Head here to check out the sale details, here to see what content is available for purchase in-game, and update to the latest WoW patch to get access to the shop.