Get your bear mount before Wrath
by Eliah Hecht 
May 12th 2008 at 2:30PM
You know that awesome Amani War Bear? The one that has been sold for 20,000 gold? Well, you'd better work on getting it as soon as possible if you want one, because when Wrath of the Lich King comes out, it will no longer be attainable. Currently you get it as a reward for a time-based challenge in the ten-man raid Zul'Aman: free all four prisoners in time, get bear.Tigole just posted in the official forums that upon Wrath's release, the bear will be replaced with "a very good, epic item," basically to preserve the prestige of having gotten the bear at its intended difficult level. He says they plan on doing a similar thing with the "Hand of A'dal" and "Champion of the Naaru" titles as well. I can understand this move -- it would probably be trivial to get the bear with a raid full of level 80s. And there is still a fair amount of time before Wrath comes out.
However, it makes me sad to see something become impossible to get. I think it would be a better solution if they made it so the bear could only be attained by a raid containing no members above level 70, personally. As Zach pointed out to me, the change that they're proposing now means that no Death Knight will ever be on a bear mount, and that's just sad. Unless, that is, they introduce a polar bear mount in Northrend -- did somebody say panserbjørne?
If this is one of your goals before Wrath, don't forget to check out WoW Insider's complete guide on how to get your own Amani War Bear.
Update: Chances look good for a bear in Northrend. Tigole said: "Polar Bear sound cool?"
Filed under: News items, Mounts, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
JParris May 12th 2008 2:34PM
Given that they now have a skeletal system in place to make bear mounts of any sort, I'll be HIGHLY disappointed if there is not some sort of armored polar bear mount in Wrath. D:
Welki May 12th 2008 2:37PM
Nice Golden Compass reference!
Armored bears ftw!
Dessux May 12th 2008 2:37PM
Dead Bear would be awesome too! Could you imagine a plate clad imba looking Death Knight astride a giant Skeletal Bear
ninjasuperspy May 12th 2008 2:55PM
Man, just when I thought that playing a Death Knight couldn't be any more like a black metal album cover, people go and raise the bar.
tanek May 12th 2008 2:59PM
Hmm. I thought I'd read that the "Champion of the Naaru" title thing was going to be that you can not get it after you hit 71, not that it is completely unavailable after Wrath.
I, too, like that kind of solution more than just removing something altogether.
peaglemancer May 12th 2008 3:11PM
Champion of the Naaru should have been removed after they nerfed Mag for the 50th time, totally meaningless now imo.
Magikot May 12th 2008 3:04PM
There really isn't _that_ much time until Wrath's release.
I work for Hollywood Video and we have Wrath's scheduled release as Nov. 03, '08. That's just under 6 months to go. For a lot of casuals like myself that don't have time to look for a raid or group to run the timed event, these next 6 months are going to go by very fast.
Eliah Hecht May 12th 2008 3:05PM
Most retailers just make up a release date when they put things like this in their systems. I wouldn't take it as anything more than a guess.
Figboot May 12th 2008 3:08PM
Um...I'd prefer to have someone from GameStop tell me they received a release date, thank you.
Dave May 12th 2008 3:58PM
why? So they can hold your money for 4 months as a "pre-order" and then deny anyone who refuses to participate in the absurd preorder process a copy of the game when it actually does ship?
No thanks!
I'll wait for a Blizzard ship date thanks. Then I'll walk into a BestBuy on release date and pick up a collector's edition. Just like I do for every game, because BestBuy wants to sell me things, and GameStop wants to abuse my money.
ivan256 May 12th 2008 4:16PM
Why? Those guys will make up anything to sell a pre-order...
I wouldn't believe a word out of their mouths unless I knew it to be true already.
Angus May 12th 2008 3:18PM
I'm kinda bummed I can't get the Argent Dawn tabard. I wanted my Blood Elf Tankadin to have it. :(
Unless you are a Scarab Lord or similar you aren't getting that mount.
There are other items which are impossible to get. I'm kinda upset over it because I know people that would go through the old content to get it if they could.
I also want Thunderfury, I doubt I will ever get that.
Strahl May 12th 2008 4:37PM
You can still get argent dawn tabards. They're given at special events, like pre BC when the dark portal was being opened as a kick off event to the expansion. They already said they were doing a kick off event for Wrath, so I'm sure you'll be able to get that tabard again. :)
Requinix May 12th 2008 3:52PM
Blizzard is making a lot of mistakes removing content in WoLK, they have already stated on the Wrath Forums that they will be completeing destroying and removing 40 man Naxx from the Game, making T3 and the Origional Coruppted Ashrbringer, and the level 60 Legendary Weapon Ateish IMPOSSIBLE to every get again. Get them while you can.
Procris May 12th 2008 4:35PM
I think replacing the bear with an item is pretty good idea. Still i really don't see the logic in removing the player titles. At lvl 80 i can easily see a group of 10 people being able to do some of the content and in all honesty Blizzard should reward people to going back to older content, not punishing it.
Its a sad day when content is removed. It shouldn't happen.
MechChef May 12th 2008 5:22PM
While a bear-mount would be a reason continue to run ZA post BC, I guess it would suddenly become too easy. I mean, there are plenty of easy ones to get. Like the Riding Talbuk. So I'd hate to see it removed. But how about a rep-based variant of it that people could buy? The same model, but different colors.
Sven E. May 12th 2008 5:37PM
There are more bears than green raptors, tigers and talbuks, these days.
Daniel Whitcomb May 12th 2008 6:29PM
Tigole had me at Polar Bear.
If I can get a plain old unarmored Polar Bear mount in Northrend, all is forgiven.
Drago Dracini May 12th 2008 6:38PM
So long as they add a armored polar bear instead in Northrend I'll be fine with not getting this thing. Cause I cant get geared fast enough to go Zul.
Dean May 12th 2008 9:44PM
If they're adding in all these shiny new Bear models, please, please, please, please, please can we have a new Bear form? Those new inscriptions should allow for it.
Seeing the new bear models in ZA was just depressing when we Druids have been stuck with the same one since level 10...