Blizzard welches on riding skill promise
Patch 1.12.1 hit the servers today, as you probably already know, and it looks like the hearthing-when-DC "fix" (our raid leader disappeared from our AQ20 raid this evening, too, and reappeared in Grom'Gol) wasn't the only thing that didn't work out quite right.In our coverage of the mount changes, we noted that Blizzard had promised that owning an epic mount would grant you the required Journeyman riding skill to ride it-- that if players had the mount in their inventory when the patch hit, they would automatically get the skill. But the worst has happened-- it looks like a few players logged in with epic mounts in their inventories, but weren't given the appropriate riding skill, something that could cost them hundreds of gold to fix.
And here's the kicker-- the reason those players weren't awarded the skills is because the two riding skills require levels 40 and 60 to achieve. That is, if you were 59 and had the epic mount in your possession, you still didn't get the skill, even though Blizzard promised you would (they didn't mention the level requirement originally, but their official announcement has changed to include that important info).
So did Blizzard welch on their promise of providing riding skill to those with the mounts to use it? Blue poster Batta pulls a copout (IMHO) and says that the original announcement was posted on the Test Realm forums (it was), and so players should have been aware that the rules might change. But again, something this important could end up costing players hundreds of gold-- Blue should have been more specific before people started spending or saving. At this time, Blizzard has no plans to reimburse anyone who had the mount in their inventory but didn't get the required skill-- looks like if you're one of the unlucky few, it's 800g out of your pocket.






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ghostle Sep 27th 2006 1:43AM
I feel bad for the people that payed for the old epic mounts and now how to pay for epic ridership, ouch, the gold sellers will be happy
Kinless Sep 27th 2006 2:22AM
I was just about to say what Ghostle said. True enough. So now if you *could* get an epic mount via Alterac Valley faction, and you've bought it already, you're going to have buy the "Epic Riding Skill" as well. So my level 53 Orc derives no benefit from this. (And has no need to get too much faction before 60, other than a TUF to upgrade his Ice Barbed Spear, and an Immoveable Object.) Who's got 800g to spare? (All the twinks in the 10-19 category with Crusafer/Life Stealing/Fiery enchants aside.) A gold sellers dream come true.
bane2571 Sep 27th 2006 2:30AM
I'm sorry, what? People are annoyed because they bought something before they ,under any circumstances, could use it and now can't miraculously use it?
So you're saying a level 1 that happened to have 1000G the day before the patch should now be cruising around at +100% speed? Sure, sounds good to me.
Sigh, far too much sarcasm, wednesday at the end of the workday is bad.
dri Sep 27th 2006 2:34AM
This rise an interesting question about warlock and paladin epic mounts. I'm pally and have never spoken to any faction's mount/ridingskill vendor. Do I have the epic riding skill or am I smoked not purchasing the ram riding skill?
Hellstorm_INC Sep 27th 2006 5:10AM
I agree with bane2571. Even with everything that was "promised," people can't honestly believe that they're going to get a skill that they're not even high enough level for. I honestly don't feel bad for anyone who thought they were going to be able to cheat the system. The best that could happen is if you planned it smartly by buying the mount WHEN YOU HAD the faction and lvl. Otherwise, yer SOL and that's not really Blizzard's problem.
Tigraine Sep 27th 2006 6:31AM
Ever thought about the lvl 59 guys who did PvP because they didn't want to level to 60 where the equipment competition was mutch harder?
A Rank 11 Player could own 4 epicmounts for cheap 400 gold he may have borrowed from his guild.
Doing the step to 60 in PvP just hardens things. You get T2 Equipped guys beating the shit out of you.. If you don't want to be raiding but still do PvP.. playing at lvl 59 PvP is your only viable option.
And.. I AM FUCKED..
As a warlock I never bought that damn riding skill, and now I could missed my chance :( .. currently our servers are undergoing maintenance.. Hopefully blizzard won't roll out the patch today in Europe
Jeff Sep 27th 2006 2:32PM
I play a lvl 60 warlock, have my epic dreadstead, and was awarded the 150 riding skill. And because of that, I was able to purchase my AV mount for a whopping 8g.
Therizo Sep 27th 2006 8:49AM
Rank 11 PVP mounts only require level 75 skill, as they're usable at level 40. I've had to explain this to hysterical non-readers in my guild all day long. Please read the notes on the official forums about this. I'd also like to echo the sentiment that, for a mount and skill that requires level 60, no reasonable person should've expected to suddenly get that skill at 59. And no, by the ToS, blizz doesn't even have to give you patch notes ahead of time, much less explain in NEARLY as much detail as they did of the changes. Read your documentation, be reasonable, and quit whining.
Psyclerk Sep 27th 2006 9:47AM
My understanding is that warlocks and paladins get the riding skill as part of their mount quests (both level 40 and level 60 flavors). And since it is just "Riding" rather than riding a specific type of mount, those two classes can get any other mount they please, as long as they have the faction rep.
And I'm with those who think it's foolish to buy an epic mount for someone who is not yet 60. What's the point? Too much inventory space? Gold burning a hole in your pocket?
The only way you could "cheat" the system was to take a character to level 40, buy the riding skill but no mount pre-patch, then buy the cheap mount post-patch. I did this with two characters and saved 106g, enough to buy a mount for another character that hasn't quite made it to 40 later on.
Kester Sep 27th 2006 11:41AM
To follow up to Psyclerk there is another way to "cheat" the system like that. Well, tehre was. Get somebody to buy another factions mount and give it to you while they were still BoE. Buy your faction riding skill and then after the patch you ended up with the general riding skill and another faction's mount. Hey presto, human on a tiger.
Though the word "cheat" is not the right one (at least I don't think so or I wouldn't have done it). Its just taking advantage of the changes in system.
Brawnstar Sep 27th 2006 12:15PM
The information about level 59s owning epic mounts and the problems with the new mount skill system was a known issue for weeks. Everyone who plays this game has internet access, so it's not difficult to read post on the WoW forums or by reading WoW Insider articles and get educated about the game you play.
Unkle Sep 27th 2006 12:48PM
What retards when and got an epic mount when they weren't even 60, thinking they would be able to ride it after the patch?
They deserve to lose the gold.
Keeper of the Dumplings Sep 27th 2006 2:19PM
I have been grinding toward rank 11 for a while now, this week will be my last week before finally hitting it, so the patch came at the best possible time for me, instead of having to fork over 90 gold for the 1 mount I wanted, I can now just pay 32 gold for all 4 of the rank 11 mounts, since you no longer need exalted reputation with other factions to use them.
But thats gonna hurt my bag space :(
And they are already full of dumplings!
http://murlocdumplings.com/
Robert Sep 27th 2006 8:31PM
ok i do feel sorry for the people that lost all that money, but
@bane2571 you could have an epic mount AND RIDE IT at lvl 53 if you were rank 11 in pvp, some people get rank 11 at lvl 59 get that pvp mount, and was riding it, the problem is they only payed 90g for that mount anyhow so i dont know why there crying. cause now they pay the full 1000 and they pvp so much they dont want to grind out 900g, but i think it is a dumb system but it makes it easy to have multiple mounts. i know its dumb but everyone has this fantasy that they are bad asses when they can out play you in a video game, so they wanna look there best. so now instead of spending 900 g to buy a mount that you think you like but doesnt quite look right to you, now you can buy the other one. also as i mentioned on another msg, this makes it more fair for the guys that dont get the mount drop, instead of saving you 900 gold its only saving you 100.
pre discounts ofcourse.