Mounts and Vanity Pets in Patch 3.0.2
by Zach Yonzon 
Oct 13th 2008 at 8:30AM
One of the coolest changes in Patch 3.0.2 is the way mounts and vanity pets work. Done as a way to save bag space, this is great news for collectors and might even spur other players to start collecting, too. On live servers, pets and mounts summoned through the use of an item. When tomorrow's patch goes live, these pets and mounts will become consumable, single-charge items that teach you a spell to summon the relevant pet or mount. The pet or mount will then disappear from your inventory. Don't panic, those simply become spells that you will be able to access through your Character panel. There's a tab there labeled 'Pets', which will contain two sub-tabs called 'Companions' and 'Mounts'. Selected pets and mounts will be previewed in the window, and you can easily drag your pet and mount spells to your hotbars. Pets are instant cast spells that can be cast while moving and activate the GCD. You can create macros and key bindings for pets and mounts just as you would any other spell.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jamie Oct 13th 2008 10:40AM
Nice screenshots to accompany the article, however screen 5 of 5 is incorrect, it rings mount #2 rather than the correct mount #1.
Zach Oct 13th 2008 10:44AM
Hi Jamie! I can see how that can be confusing. I added a description to the screenshot to explain it better. In essence, you can toggle through your various pet or mount spells, but the one you have out will always be highlighted (as opposed to selected, as is the Netherwing Drake in the picture).
Hasteur Oct 13th 2008 8:45AM
1. This along with converting Heroic Badges and Battleground tokens into currency makes for seveal bag slot spaces that I'll be getting back from my bank
2. New Tallents!
3. Motivation to go back and collect all the racial mounts, flying mounts, etc. that I've passed up before
Shionia Oct 13th 2008 4:14PM
... which spaces may rapidly be eaten by stacks of glyphs :p
alway Oct 13th 2008 8:49AM
This is a great change. I've always toyed with the idea of collecting mounts and vanity pets, but I never really got around to it since it would waste so much bank space. Now I can collect em :D
My favorite vanity pet is actually a combat pet, the engineering Arcanite Dragonling... its probably my favorite because of the pain it took to farm it :) Pretty useless in post-BC combat, so i would consider it an unofficial vanity pet.
1 day til patch hits! :D
stunts01 Oct 13th 2008 8:50AM
Shaman get even more free bag love :)
The totems that go in our relic spot count as the 4 totems we drop.
Amaxe Oct 13th 2008 10:45AM
they'll still have to go in the bank being undestroyable right? Or did they fix that?
Evi Oct 13th 2008 12:04PM
Really? I haven't heard about the shaman totem thing. That's cool!
InnaJungleStylee Oct 13th 2008 9:07AM
So for summoning a random mount/pet...will this still work?
/dismount
/userandom , ,
/userandom , ,
Macro geniuses, help us out!
InnaJungleStylee Oct 13th 2008 9:09AM
Doh.
/dismount
/userandom (mount 1), (mount 2), (mount 3)
/userandom (pet 1), (pet 2), etc etc...
Jane Gray Oct 13th 2008 9:31AM
I'm guessing they will be /cast pet rather than /use
Narlic Oct 13th 2008 10:28AM
Jane Gray, /use and /cast are actually synonyms and can be used interchangeably.
Tridus Oct 13th 2008 9:07AM
Question - how do you macro the new mounts? Is it /cast Brown Horse?
Charlie Taylor Oct 13th 2008 9:17AM
Yup, works that way on the beta.
Tridus Oct 13th 2008 9:47AM
Cool thanks. :)
Verde Oct 13th 2008 9:10AM
Could WoWinsider update this article to explain something to me?
I own both the original CE and BC CE. Does this mean that my characters will no longer receive the Gift Voucher in the mail for the original CE pets or the netherwhelp in the mail?
How will these changes affect CE pets?
Charlie Taylor Oct 13th 2008 9:22AM
The items are now Account Bound items, like the new Heirloom items. Unlike the other pets these DO NOT DISAPPEAR when you add them to your spellbook. So whenever you create a new character you just pass the pet on from the last one through the mail.
I assume that when the new expac comes along the first character to log in after you install will receive the CE pet in the mail.
I don't have the original CE, so I don't know how the system works for picking one of the three available pets: whether you choose on your account page or you choose when you get the mail. If you choose when you get the mail then I hope blizzard isn't going to lock you out of choosing a pet you haven't before when you create a new character!
Verde Oct 13th 2008 9:26AM
Thank you Charlie.
For the original CE, the system to get the pets has changed a few times. Right now, when you make a character they get a gift voucher in the mail or in their inventory, which starts a quest that you complete in the Goldshire equivalent for your race. Then you choose the pet reward.
That's what I'm worried about, as I only have characters with the panda and diablo. Guess I'll make one tonight just to be safe ;).
Charlie Taylor Oct 13th 2008 9:25AM
This will be a HUGE bag space saver for me, I've already started to collect pets for the 50 pet achievement, I've gotten every vendor pet and every quest pet except for the Sprite Darter (really annoying quest line), plus one CE that's added up to 49. >.< I don't have any of the dropped pets because I hate farming and I don't have any extra gold to blow on one.
Jane Gray Oct 13th 2008 9:33AM
Run people through VC. The stupid cats drop quite a bit. Also, are they really expensive on your server? I've never seen a vc cat for more than 5 gold.