Blizzard Added the Infamous World of Warcraft Horse into Diablo IV (and Some Other Inspired Cosmetics)

With World of Warcraft‘s The War Within expansion set to release on August 26, 2024 (August 22 for Early Access), it makes a lot of sense that Diablo IV would have some kind of crossover. Blizzard Entertainment IPs aren’t a stranger to these kinds of collaborations. If you purchased Diablo IV‘s priciest edition then you would get an exclusive mount in World of Warcraft. So seeing the Celestial Steed appear in Diablo IV isn’t the craziest thing I’ve seen.

It’s just incredible that it’s shown up in yet another Blizzard game. While grinding through dungeons in World of Warcraft I was chatting with a friend who had played the MMORPG since it’s inception. They told me about the controversy surrounding this specific horse (dubbed the Sparklepony by the community at large), and that it was one of Blizzard’s first MTX (microtransactions) in the game. They had a good laugh when I mentioned how much it costed in Diablo IV, which is a whopping $25. Originally the mount cost somewhere around $15 in World of Warcraft, and has now appeared at the T&W Trading post.

If you’re unfamiliar with the history of this horse, well, a lot of consumers believe that it killed StarCraft. There have been some suggestions that this mount outsold StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty, which is incredible to consider, but also deeply depressing.

But The Celestial Steed isn’t the only thing that’s made it over into Diablo IV. Outfits inspired by Kael’Thas, Varian Wrynn, Sylvanas Windrunner, and The War Within‘s antagonist Xal’atath have made it into the shop as well. Seeing any kind of Blood Elf related cosmetic has me frothing at the mouth (I have come to understand what kind of World of Warcraft player I am, and that’s one that has unintentionally exclusively only played some flavor of Elf), so I used what free currency I had accumulated and purchased the Kael’Thas cosmetic for the Sorcerer. I liked the glowing eyes and strange headpiece that came with it, and have decided this is my look for Season 5. Having just enough currency left over from that purchase, I dipped into my reserves and purchased the Xal’atath cosmetic for the Necromancer. I don’t know, I guess I’m just a sucker for floating orbs.

Weirdly enough, this is the kind of crossover I want to see in Blizzard games. Mostly because, with the exception of Overwatch (StarCraft doesn’t count, it’s dead in the ground at this point) all of Blizzard’s games kind of adhere to the same design philosophy of massive shoulder armor and the developer’s established portfolio of creating on a rule of cool that should have gone out of style in the mid-00’s, but hasn’t. And I appreciate Blizzard’s dedication to sticking to what makes a lot of their designs unique in a cool, but corny, way.

I will be clear and say that I wasn’t always partial to Blizzard’s designs. I loved Warcraft III, but not for it’s visuals. And I was turned off to World of Warcraft for the longest time because of it’s overexaggerated designs. But now I see the appeal. Concerning the Diablo series, I loved how toned down it was, even if a lot of designs were ramped up significantly by Diablo III. (Which is a guilty pleasure of mine.)

And I guess I can appreciate them also putting that star-studded steed into Diablo IV as well. There’s some kind of bitter irony to it all. I’m curious as to how many people will buy this horse for a second time, and if Blizzard Entertainment is aware of it’s infamy.

Diablo IV is available on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the Vessel of Hatred expansion release date is October 8, 2024.