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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsRiding Crop in flux
by Eliah Hecht 
Sep 2nd 2008 at 4:00PM
There was a brief period of time, reflected in some spells mined from the data files, when the Crop was going to be an item that would be right-clicked to enchant your mount with extra speed. This led to many people complaining that they would now have to buy one Crop per mount. Anyway, now that mounts are going to be learned instead of kept in the inventory, this doesn't work anymore, apparently. So Blizz is still undecided on what precisely to do with it. It does seem certain that it won't stick around in its current trinket form, and virtually certain that it won't disappear entirely, but everything else is up in the air. What do you think they should do?
Filed under: Items, Mounts, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 5)
Kawalski Sep 5th 2008 6:03PM
This is what I believe the best option would be. Not because it would be super awesome and cheap and easy like the Passive Ability idea, but because it requires thought and effort without being tedious like gear swapping.
Todd Sep 2nd 2008 4:10PM
I am all in favor of having this "item" removed from inventory in some fashion. Even if this changes from being a trinket, I still don't want to have it "in inventory" in order to have the affect. Why not just have a new slot added to the Mounts tab, in which right clicking the crop will merely place it into this new slot. The Carrot can be replaced with a higher graded item, etc.
gamergrl Sep 2nd 2008 4:14PM
Make it a passive ability that goes into your spell book.
kitty3572 Sep 2nd 2008 4:14PM
or make the mats a bit more intensive/expensive and give it "charges" such as 5 charges that are applied to a specific mount.. that should cover the average player.
Saelorn Sep 2nd 2008 4:15PM
It modifies your spells (under the new formula that mounts are all spells to be learned), so logic would make it a glyph, probably a minor one.
Of course, that's terrifically unfair, since "everyone" has one now and it is easier to switch out trinkets than we presume it will be for glyphs.
I believe the most likely course if for them to just fold the speed increase into base mount speed.
Drakkenfyre Sep 2nd 2008 5:58PM
That would be kind of pointless then. The point of a speed increasing item is an upgrade. If you just increase all mounts base speed by the same amount, everyone goes faster, but it removes the whole "upgrade" point, and removes all of the speed increasing items/enchants from the game, and that means less items/enchants for players to create/sell.
A spell that applies to all of your mounts seems a bit much, like other people said, that would be a "buy it once and forget it" thing, and would leave people out after most people got one. They wouldn't sell very good. I like the idea of each mount having 1 trinket slot that can only be used for a speed increasing trinket. That way you can swap it around to different mounts, and if you want to buy one for each mount you can. Or if you don't, you can deal with swapping them around.
Geamo Sep 2nd 2008 4:17PM
Make it like a recipie...
You buy it once and then you have it trained on your character at all times.
Simple.
mtsadowski Sep 2nd 2008 4:19PM
Love the paladin Crusader aura. 20% for your party is better than the 10%
jon davis Sep 2nd 2008 4:21PM
Convert the trinket into a learnable ability as the previous poster stated, but allow leatherworkers to continue to make and sell them the same way. How hard is that?
Rhamius Sep 2nd 2008 8:34PM
Why were players complaining about the possibility of having to obtain a new Riding Crop for each mount? That method fits the existing game's mechanics perfectly. It's not as if you can take gems/enchants off of your old gear and put it on your new gear. Even for a casual WoW player, I'll admit -- that's just plain lazy...
BillDoor Sep 2nd 2008 4:23PM
And make Skybreaker's Whip give 15% while you're at it :)
Kyle Sep 2nd 2008 4:27PM
I'm liking that "collar" idea. Could also create different types of trinket type items for pets, including the 10% inscrease, there could be one for stealth(to run thru mobs in PvE without aggro) or not so beneficial but fun ones like a collar that increases mount size. Something like that would make use of my multiple mounts i have access to, each having its own special ability.
Jewbanks Sep 2nd 2008 4:29PM
I havent got one cuz i hate changing my trinkets out, even with a macro.. i always forget too then get annoyed. The change to it will make me want one
Beli Sep 2nd 2008 4:29PM
/agree with both options presented above. It can be a learnable passive talent - right click the item and it goes in your spellbook forever. On the other hand, i think having a trinket slot on your pets tab for your pets is another great idea. You could use the riding crop there, or swap it out for other mount-specific trinkets. Increase run speed, increase health/mana regen, decrease chance to dismount on hit, class specific ones that could allow the casting of certain spells while mounted (bubble yourself or others while mounted, for example)
Atheira Sep 2nd 2008 4:32PM
Have it convertible via Inscription. Inscriptionist provides the parchment paper, the Leatherworker the crop, inscribe the parchment and then it could be learned as a passive ability. Would work just like enchanting/inscription synergy does, but the crop can only be made by Leatherworkers and scribed onto the parchment by them.
Anyone that currently has a crop will "already have completed that process" and can go ahead and learn it.
We have mounts, and TBC introduced flying mounts, Wrath has multi-passenger mounts, and maybe in the future we could be seeing our mounts as viable combat mounts? So maybe start a spellbook for it?
Plenty of different options and ideas, it would be kind of cool to see a Blue start a poll on the idea and put it in the hands of the community. a) Passive ability such as the Tauren racial, Cultivation. b) Change the materials and make it a mount enchantment c) Leave it as a trinket. d) Failoc desides...
Baluki Sep 2nd 2008 4:31PM
I'm not sure what Blizz wants to accomplish with this. They're usually in favor of requiring you to make a choice like this as a trade-off: nobody NEEDS to go 10% faster.
That said, I'd sure like it to be a learnable ability. Maybe they could add an "abilities" tab to the mount window, and add a few more skills to learn. Some ideas: Swimming (allow your mount to swim for 3 seconds or so, which would help you get across streams without dismounting while still having the slowdown effect), Fast Mount (decrease mount "casting" time), maybe some limited mounted combat abilities.
gtog Sep 2nd 2008 4:35PM
They should leave the crop as it is. If you can't manage putting your crop in it's space and removing it when done, you don't deserve it's bonus, or loss of another trinkets bonus. Pretty soon people will complain about having to equip and un-equip their fishing pole because they were jumped by a gopher and didn't have time to switch to a weapon. I like the idea of mounts and pets not being in my bag, but leave my crop alone.
Amaxe Sep 2nd 2008 10:09PM
If they want to still make it craftable by LW and don't want it in the trinket spot, a passive ability learned when you buy a riding crop and right click it is the best way to go
Corsayre Sep 2nd 2008 4:36PM
Well....aren't mounts tabbed in WOTLK? So, why not create a Socket section for the crop, or carrot, or whatever....But, unlike Gems, have these with the ability to unsocket. In this way, the trinket would still be viable, it would not take up bag space, and would be able to differentiate from an ability vs an itm enhancement.
Jason Sep 2nd 2008 4:40PM
I like the idea of making it a passive ability, perhaps make the Carrot on a Stick a level 1 version of the ability and the Riding Crop a level 2 version. There's also the mithril spurs and riding enchant to gloves to consider.
I don't like the minor glyph idea as glyph slots will be dear, but that would probably be the easiest solution.