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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What it's like to have a Spectral Tiger
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 10th 2009 at 8:00AM
Cogfizzle of the aptly named Ace of Spades over on the forums recently came across a Spectral Tiger in the TCG, and has an interesting post up about how people are reacting to his new mount. Most of the people who say something to him simply want to know where to get it (which means to us that more people need to read WoW Insider), but there's also an undercurrent of hostility -- some people think that as a TCG item, the Spectral Tiger mount isn't a "real" achievement in the game, compared to, say, a Netherwing mount or a Zul'Aman bear. True, you can (legally) buy the special loot cards from eBay (or win them from WoW Insider, hint hint stay tuned), when you can't buy those other mounts. But Cogfizzle, we presume from what he says, got his the old fashioned way -- by buying and playing the WoW TCG. Can you blame him for that? I'm of the second group he describes -- when I see a rocket mount or a Spectral Tiger ride by, I just give whoever's riding it a nod and go on my way. But are these mounts less impressive because they can be bought, even if they were gained the "right" way? Or are you not "impressed" with rare or tough-to-get rep mounts in general? Ezra Chatterton famously came to us with the news that he was the first with the Pheonix mount, for fear that players in game might give him grief for having it.
It's an interesting thought, and of course social quirks like this are why we play this game in the first place. Of course none of you would ever harass anyone in the game (right?) but how do you feel when you see someone ride by on a Spectral Tiger?
Filed under: Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
Mattimus Apr 10th 2009 8:36AM
Back in pre-TBC, mounts were a big deal. Burning Crusade came out, and started handing out a lot of variety... and this only became easier in WotLK.
I LOVE that there's so much variety in ground and flying mounts, as it makes the game just look so much more varied. However, with that variety comes something of an apathy.
Before TBC, and especially before they made Runecloth turn-in give a lot more rep than it used to, you were pretty much stuck with one of two or three colors of your Racial mount. If you were a Paladin or a Warlock, you rocked an awesome class mount that people were super jealous of, which nowadays (especially since you can buy them at 61) don't mean any more than a Racial mount. But back then, if you were able to get a ZG mount, for instance, you drew the ire and envy of your entire server as you pranced through Ironforge on your ZG Raptor.
Now? Nobody cares. You can solo "farm" ZG, and even Attumen if you want, every reset. Getting a mount from another city takes an afternoon, maybe, if you really want it. There are Talbuks, Bears, and Mammoths. And then there's the diminished value of land mounts in general, since flying mounts are where it's at. I doubt even Mimiron's Head will draw much attention, though... they're just cool little things nowadays, instead of status symbols. Whether this is a symptom of a greater thing in-game, I'm not exactly qualified to say, but I just don't see anything but apathy for rare mounts anymore.
Spooddy Apr 10th 2009 8:40AM
On my Server ive only seen two people with this mount a human paladin and an undead shadow priest and im very envious when i see them. and dang this mount looks cool in shadowform. then i go look at ebay and cry because they are soooooo 'spensive
eric_barbaric Apr 10th 2009 8:38AM
I don't hate anyone in the game (or in RL for that matter) for anything they have that I don't. If they have it, (unlike what morons like usdom thinks, who in reality is probably a yuppy kid who's dad WON'T let him have his credit card) it probably means they worked hard to get it and deserve it. I tend to just wave and nod as they pass by. Even if they didn't work hard to get it, who cares? It's not like some rare mount gives them some edge in the game. It's just eye candy.
serf Apr 10th 2009 8:41AM
The Spectral Tiger is, without a doubt, one of the coolest looking mounts in the game. That being said, it doesn't impress me if you have an item bought with RL cash.
ian macdonald Apr 10th 2009 8:46AM
my favorite is the turtle mount, but the spectral tiger is pretty sweet too. kind of looks like the new spirit beast to me
Elladrion Apr 10th 2009 8:48AM
Every time I see a spectral tiger (there's 2 I know of on my realm, at least 1 more on my battlegroup), I think to myself "wow, that mount looks awesome, but what a freaking idiot to spen $1000 REAL LIFE DOLLARS on a stupid mount"
Even if you did get lucky and pull one legitly, you could have sold it for ONE THOUSAND FREAKING DOLLARS! I really want to slap people that are rich enough that they can spend that much (or afford not to get that much) for a couple colored pixels, no matter how cool it looks (and it is freaking rad).
SpectralTigerRider Apr 10th 2009 11:43AM
I own a tiger. I bought 2 boxes of cards and got it at the end of the second box. I did not buy the boxes of cards as an investment so I could sell the thing on Ebay. I bought them because I wanted to try to get this mount so I can actually use it in game. I am very happy with the mount and therefore see no reason why I am wrong in NOT selling the card on Ebay for $1000. It's like playing the lottery, plunk down a little bit of money for a chance at winning big, and to me, the goal of plunking down some money in this case is not to make more money.
There are a lot of different types of people who play this game. Everyone pays $$ to play. Don't judge other people based on the monetary value they place on a specific aspect of the game as everyone, in order to play, places some monetary value on their characters, including those who trash-talk others with this mount.
Arokai Apr 10th 2009 7:43PM
I'd rather have clothes and new things, rather than trying to get that or getting scammed on ebay. If I see one, I just think they bought it off ebay and were lucky enough to not get scammed. :d
Not to mention, I have a ZA bear. It's rare enough now for me to not care about this mount. Though it is neat.
Todd Apr 10th 2009 8:51AM
Bitter. Jealous. You know perfectly well that if someone "gave" you any of the mounts you referenced that you would accept them with open arms... gleefully. Turning down the offer would make you a chump, a stupid chump.
Ichigo Apr 10th 2009 8:52AM
"Either way, riding a spectral tiger makes you a douche and a moron. "
No, making blanket statements like this makes you a douche and a moron.
In your narrow thought pattern, we should all be damned if we aren't riding our level 40 (now 30) mounts, because the money that we spent on riding skill is excessive.
Back to topic and away from the poster with serious issues, I've only seen a few Tigers in game, and they do still look special and unique
Drakensteel Apr 10th 2009 8:54AM
@Usdom
Not having an epic flyer on all of your characters? Sure, I can understand that. On one character is anothe story though. I got most the gold for my epic flyer on my DK just leveling. I hit 80 real early into Icecrown, I got my epic flyer maybe 1/2 into Icecrown. I had about 200g from old chars, most of the rest was quests, drops, vendors, and skinning (maybe I jsut made alot more then I realized from skinning?). I made enough money from doing the rest of icecrown and storm peaks for my titansteel gear, flasks, repairs, chants, ext. By the time I finished my reputation grinds, I finished up the last few quests in northrend (i missed a few groups quests here and there, and alot of instance quests, but got the northrend loremaster), then got Outlands loremaster. That gave me enough money to level blacksmithing up for the socket enchants.
Am I personally obsesed? Yes, however not counting my farming, old world instanceing, AH playing, ext. I still made money for my flyer and my basic raid gear within 2-3 weeks of 80 (with minimal dailies), and I got my profession up a month or so later with money from things that a casual player can do no problem (I did alot more daileis each day then most, but I only got a few days a week). All the money I have from being obsessed is funneled into reputations, achievements, helping a friend gear enhance, respecs, regemming, pets, mounts, some BoE stuff, vanity items, pvp gear, betting who dies first, betting on /rolls with the guld, ext. And i have a few thousand right now for duel-spec and shineing up my future ulduar gear.
ALright then in summary, getting a chopper or a tundra mammoth is only for people with a large amount of time for the game generally, getting epic flyers on multiple high level chars takes a bit of work but is hardly soemthing only the elite do, getting ONE epic flyer is rediculously easy, even with spending large amounts of gold to maximize pve performance. Also haveing ONE epic flyer will enable you to do quests/farm much easier, thus very likely make you money in the long run.
ScytheNoire Apr 10th 2009 8:56AM
Jealousy.
That's it, certain people can't handle jealousy and lash out, like a few douches in the comments here.
sephirah Apr 10th 2009 9:05AM
Envy is the correct term... :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envy
Envy (also called invidiousness) may be defined as an emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another’s [perceived] superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it."
It can also derive from a sense of low self-esteem that results from an upward social comparison threatening a person's self image: another person has something that the envier considers to be important to have. If the other person is perceived to be similar to the envier, the aroused envy will be particularly intense, because it signals to the envier that it just as well could have been him or her who had the desired object.
MechChef Apr 10th 2009 9:00AM
I just ignore them. Either they spent money on ebay, or just got very lucky. Nothing really to congratulate in my mind.
timswar Apr 10th 2009 9:01AM
I like mounts for aesthetic reasons more than anything else. Since you spend so much time on a mount then I feel like it's important to have one you find visually attractive. So I don't really see mounts as something to be used as a bragging tool. In that respect when I see the Spectral Tiger mount I usually think " you know, it is a pretty damned nice looking mount, I wouldn't mind one."
Kinda bland, but I just figure if that's how someone wants to spend their money or time (on the TCG, not necessarily on Ebay) then more power to them and I'm glad Blizz decided to recognize the crossover audience from their games.
peagle Apr 10th 2009 9:04AM
I have one, I ride it all the time. The comments I get fall in three buckets:
60% Where do you get that mount?
30% Cool mount :D
10% Insults
The people who sling the insults usually fall into the normal pattern of "you're an idiot for buying it" yada yada, despite having no idea how I got mine. It was a gift, though I suppose I could have resold it, but why, I've enjoyed it everyday :)
Manic Soul Apr 10th 2009 9:08AM
I'm not surprised that so many people in-game are downright nasty to others that have the rare mounts or rare items. Hell, all you have to do is ask a question about something in Trade and you'll get at least a dozen people telling you how stupid you are and that you shouldn't be playing.
Anyways, it's just like real life, all the people who don't have the nice stuff totally and unjustly hate the people who do without even knowing how they acquired it in the first place.
Starman Apr 10th 2009 9:13AM
I was at a local Sci-fi CON and had the oppertunity to buy a box of the Cards from the set that drops this mount. I was kinda disapointed when I got goblin gumbo So I guess I'd be a little jealous if I saw one.
Other than that SO WHAT. Who cares how they got the mount? I know I wouldnt pay $900 RL money for an in game mount because I have more important expenses. But I wont knock someone who can.
As for Epic flying I have 4 toons with Epic flying. it's not because I bought in game money it's because I HAVE NO LIFE!! I spend a lot of time playing and can do the dailys to get the gold. I know its a luxery to have a fast flier but it's one I enjoy and have the time to afford. I dont think less of someone who can't.
Lycanthro Apr 10th 2009 9:17AM
Way to feed the troll, guys.
zappo Apr 10th 2009 9:25AM
I'm rather glad I'm never going to get one. If I had, I'd probably feel an even bigger sense of waste having switched mains. It's strange, but having done so, I feel a sort of disconnect from investing TOO much into a character. Kinda reminds me of the "scarab lord" bank alt someone was once talking about on here.
I'm happy with the mounts my characters have access to right now anyway. And yeah, you can get another race's mount in a day or two pretty easy. I'm not even sure which character to redeem my Zevhra mount on. And seriously, who needs all that envy and hate?