please keep in mind that there's never any guarantee that someone will purchase what you put up for sale in the auction house, or how much they'll pay for it. Also, it's important to note that we take a firm stance against buying gold from outside sources because in most cases, the gold these companies offer has been stolen from compromised accounts.

"While some players might be able to acquire some extra gold by putting the Guardian Cub in the auction house, that's preferable to players contributing to the gold-selling black market and account theft."

Does this signal a bigger change for World of Warcraft? Are free-to-play-style micro-transactions finally creeping in?

"It's too early to say how we'll handle future Pet Store pets," Blizzard added. "We made this change in response to feedback from players looking for alternate ways to get the Pet Store pets, and we're always looking into other opportunities for improvement. We're interested in hearing what players think of the Guardian Cub when it launches, and we hope you'll have fun with this new flying friend."
MMO behemoth World of Warcraft is now free to play up to level 20.

As reported by PC Gamer, set up a trial account and you can play for free until you hit level 20. There's no limit on the number of characters you can create.

Should you then decide to open your wallet, you can unlock the full game and The Burning Crusade expansion for your local equivalent of $20.

Existing subscribers who don't already own The Burning Crusade add-on should find that it has automatically been added to their account free of charge. Developer Blizzard recently unleashed update 4.2 on its audience, which adds in the new Firelands raid, a new epic quest and a host of other bits and bobs.