Game 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.

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 theBattle.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.