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Topic of the Week 5/19 - Riding Skill & Mounts
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Post by
Arideni
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Welcome to this week's
"Topic of the Week,"
mediated by yours truly. Our topic this week is all about riding skill & mounts -- what are they, where do you get them, & what's your favorite?
Historically, mounts were expensive & trainers charged a small fee to teach one how to ride. For example, at level 40 a trainer would charge 20 gold for lessons & the actual mount was 80 gold. The total cost for a level 60 was about 1000 gold. Players could also trade mounts back & forth to each other or sell the mounts to other players if they bought the wrong one. This was because the mounts were "bind on use" -- meaning they only became soulbound when a player first called upon the mount.
That all changed in September 2006. Riding skill was introduced & the costs of learning to ride & buy a mount were reversed. The emphasis was to be put on learning to ride a creature effectively as opposed to the value of a creature. To go hand-in-hand with this, mounts were changed to be "bind on pickup." With the advent of The Burning Crusade, riding skill costs were lowered for epic mounts & epic "flying" mounts were introduced.
There are four types of riding skill which correlate with the types of mounts available. They are ground mounts (L40), epic mounts (L60), flying mounts (L70), & epic flying mounts (L70). It has been hinted that the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King (WLK), may offer a service or new type of riding skill & mount which allows for a passenger system (nothing is confirmed).
No doubt most players know that Humans ride horses, Trolls ride raptors, and
Aridenis ride dragons
Gnomes ride robots. So, how does one learn this riding skill & get a fancy new mount? At levels 40 & 60, players need to go back to their hometown & find the stables. Searching the database for any of the mounts available to one's race will yield the trainer & location.
But what about those really rare mounts? You know, like that
ghostly tiger
? There are some mounts which can be had from the Trading Card Game (TCG). Another example of this would be the
Riding Turtle
.
Let's talk about our favorite mounts, why they're our favorites, & any tips or advice for people looking to get their own mount. For those of you who just can't decide what you want, check out this site:
Warcraft Mounts
.
A modified mantra from the automobile world,
"What does your mount say about you?"
-----
For a complete history of the TOTW series, click
here
.
Post by
132319
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95950
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Post by
Gnub
I became oddly in love with the Winterspring Frostsaber, which I now have on 2 characters - my old main (Holy Paladin at the time), and my new main (Elemental Shaman).
I simply love it :)
Post by
Sandos
I like Night Elf mounts, because they have an elegant yet tough look. On Horde side, I really like the black war raptor, because it's a frickin' dinosaur.
On the other side, can't we put talbuks to a good use and turn them into
spicy hot talbuk
?
Post by
109094
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Post by
Uricidea
I became interested in the Black War Steed (
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=1824
) during my 1st visit to Champions Hall. I had just purchased the Black Stallion (
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=2411
) and I became interested in having an Epic mount that gave the appearance that I just put armor on my old pony. I found this kinda fun. It made me feel like the grind I put myself through in the BG's was worth the effort short of getting my s1 Gear. I had way more than enough Marks to afford the Mount and the gear, and it allowed me to show off some of my BG experience.
When I was able to get a Flying mount I was happy to see the Ebon Gryphon (
http://www.wowhead.com/?item=25471
) was available. This fit in nicely with the growing stable of mounts I had acquired. (I have a set of brown Horses 40, and 60 for good measure) I had been wanting to fly a Gryphon ever since I took my first flight from Westvale back to Stormwind. Getting the Flyer was the only reason I have made my permanent residence in Shatt. Flying is truly heroic, to me at least.
The lure of ever better items throughout the game is what drives me on. Gathering enough gold to get my Epic Flyer is a daunting task, but knowing that I was able to get this far keeps me plugging away. My only wish is that by the time I can afford the epic flyer, there is an Ebon version to keep my stable straight.
Post by
Celdhyrean
Being a NE druid, epic flight form can't be beaten in terms of practicality all around Outland : the instant cast really makes a difference in how you fly (and causes craters when playing alts).
I do have a netherdrake and epic griffon (they where required for some of the Netherwing dailies at the beginning) but never use them.
As for Azeroth mount, i'm still quite happy with my tiger and do not wish to find another mount.
Well, more precisely the only mount that would really interrest me is the UD mount :/ And the only way i could get one would be to farm Strat UD for the über-rare Baron Rivendare mount, which is too much work really (and too luck related). Also it would conflict quite a bit with the "nature loving druid" image... (not that i'd pass on it if i had the chance)
Post by
Dhazy
I love my X-51 Nether-Rocket X-TREME.
It reflects me because... I'm explosive and I'm X-TREME???
I got it about a week ago from my third WoW TCG packet ever opened. I'd pick it over a Spectral Tiger any day.
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83344
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115147
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121748
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Post by
omglaserzpewpew
I've been building a collection of mounts ever since I hit lvl 40 and realized how ridiculous my male Dreanai Paladin looked on a horse. Since then, it has been my goal to get a mount that
really
looks fantastic and awe inspiring (the AV ram mount? not so much.... a phenomenal waste of marks). I just bought my epic flying mount last night, and today I started the reputation grind for a Netherdrake. I've been trying to get the raptor mount from ZG, but finding groups for old-world content is difficult; fortunately, I've been somewhat successful at luring plenty of lvl 60 people itching for raid experience.
Rare mounts are more exciting to me than any set of armor or weapon could ever be. I am utilitarian as far as my gear goes - I don't can't what it looks like. But my mounts are how I really like to show off.
Post by
Arideni
As hinted on earlier, I ride a Veridian Netherdrake, which I obtained shortly after they were implemented about a year ago. It is probably the one, single-most thing I am proud of. I went around a month being one of two people on my side of the faction with a non-Onyx flyer.
The true fun was in getting the mount, as I got to work hand-in-hand with my adversaries (read: the other faction). I play on a very high-tension PVP server, but there's nothing like building reputation through the bond formed between players working toward a common goal, breaking the factional barrier yet again.
What stories do the rest of you have about your mounts? Any particular reason you may have chosen one mount over another?
Post by
121748
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Post by
Arideni
Tell me mooooore about your mount(s)!
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154182
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115147
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Post by
Tolnuk
I gotta say, as a Troll, I liked being on a dinosaur. At first.
Then I saw the Undead epic mount and told myself "Woah... I need that". I was only halfway through honored, at level 59. Needless to say that... I leveled 'til 61 just to grind the remaining 28k rep I needed to get my skeletal horsie. I went all the way from Deathknell (Yes, you get full rep even though you do quests 60 levels later!) to the Bulwark, did many of the dungeon quests in UC... And I finally had my 570g (490g for the skill, 80g for the mount) and my exalted rep with UC.
He's green, he's called "Thunder" (So no, Urdnot, you're not the only one who named his mount :P), and he's my most prized belonging on WoW, and I believe he will always be. I spent so much time on this reputation, while people said to me "Get the red one from BGs, it'll be easier!", but I refused on continued on my helpless grind... And it's worth it. Galopping through Zangarmarsh without the bumping a raptor gives you (Smooth rides ftw), with the trail of epic green fume behind you... It's the most marvelous feeling I've had playing this game so far.
Post by
153532
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