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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsUpcoming mount changes
by Adam Holisky 
Jun 10th 2009 at 9:11PM
- Regular land mounts trainable at level 20 (was 30)
- Epic land mounts trainable at level 40 (was 60)
- Regular flying mounts trainable at level 60 (was 70)
- Regular flying mounts speed increased to a 150% gain (was 60%)
This means that when you hit 60 you'll be able to fly around Hellfire and finish all those quests. Leveling from 60 to 68 is going to become easier and more relaxed. You'll hit Northrend much sooner with this change.
The full details after the break.
Apprentice Riding (Skill 75)
- 60% land mount speed
- Requires level 20
- Cost: 4 gold
- Mount cost: 1 gold
- Mail will be sent to players at level 20 guiding them to the riding trainer
- 100% land mount speed
- Requires level 40
- Cost: 50 gold
- Mount cost: 10 gold
- Mail will be sent to players at level 40 guiding them back to the riding trainer
- 150% flying mount speed; 60% land mount speed
- Requires level 60
- Cost: 600 gold (faction discounts now apply)
- Mount Cost: 50 gold
- Can now be learned in Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)
- 280% flying mount speed; 100% land mount speed
- Requires level 70
- Cost: 5,000 gold (faction discounts now apply)
- Mount Cost: 100 gold
Filed under: News items, Mounts
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 18)
havitech Jun 10th 2009 11:10PM
Those are still games of challenge. What fun is Hide and Seek if after you finish counting, you find your friend sitting on the couch watching TV?
Faulken S Wulf Jun 10th 2009 11:34PM
Then leave for a more challenging game.
andjew1 Jun 10th 2009 11:39PM
yea but playing hide in seek is worse if your blind in a house with 500 rooms to hide in.
the point is. when you make a game to hard, the casual players get mad. but if you make a game to easy, your making the hardcore players equally as mad. there needs to be a balance point.
havitech Jun 11th 2009 12:19AM
And my argument is that there is no challenge, (talking here about the difficulty on leveling to 80) so there's no balance to speak of. I'm not saying make it ridiculously hard - WoW is inherently a game designed to appeal to a wide audience - but it would nice to have SOME challenge on the way to 80.
Anyways, I'm drifting off the subject of the mount changes. It doesn't really concern me except for the fact that getting gold for the mounts was one of the few challenges present in leveling, and that challenge was playing the AH.
WTB more things like this: http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=1277
Leonffs Jun 11th 2009 12:23AM
All good comments, and I think it comes down to no matter what someone is going to complain. Blizzard does what is in their best interest to make the most money off of their product and keep the most players happy. The casual outnumber the hardcore, and in a game of 12 million players, you want to keep those casuals.
DanH Jun 11th 2009 6:53AM
I think you're confusing two different definitions of "easy".
These changes make it "easier" to buy mounts, which makes it "easier" to level. They do not make the game "easier" to play.
Gaining levels does not require skill, it requires time. Acquiring gold does not require skill, it requires time.
As a casual player, I want the game to challenge my skills, not test my patience. Getting the cash together for Epic Flying does not require me to play my main *well*. It just requires me to log on every evening and do dailies.
Suggesting that WoW is too "easy" because they're giving out mounts at lower levels is like suggesting that chess is "easy" because you get given all of the pieces the first time you play.
Styvorama Jun 11th 2009 7:44AM
Why not just go try to fit a square peg in a round hole, if you want an annoying challenge. or go work on your achievements. Some people are looking to have fun playing the game as well as be challenged. There is not much fun about running a lvl 25 around Old World trying to lvl for the nth time.
SINisterWyvern Jun 11th 2009 8:04AM
How does getting around faster make the mobs easier to kill and the quests easier to do? They'll take less time but it doesn't change difficulty at all.
havitech Jun 11th 2009 8:28AM
Who are you guys arguing with? If it's with me, then let me quote my first comment:
"Having said that, leveling to endgame never was a challenge, just a timesink. I'm actually hoping Blizzard's next MMO gets progressively more challenging the closer you get to endgame, assuming they use a traditional leveling system."
Also:
"Anyways, I'm drifting off the subject of the mount changes. It doesn't really concern me except for the fact that getting gold for the mounts was one of the few challenges present in leveling, and that challenge was playing the AH."
I am not against this change to the mount system. If anything, it proves my point that 1-79 is little more than a timesink, being either a) it's the 3rd time you've seen the content, or b) there are so few people left leveling, you'll most likely be going solo until 80. Thus, they give people mounts earlier and decrease XP so people can get through that stage of the game faster. It's poor game design, but it's not exactly easy to fix - which is why I hope they do it right the first time with their next MMO.
thevitruvianman Jun 11th 2009 3:48PM
As other commenters have pointed out, cheaper mounts at lower levels does not really make anything 'easier'. Combat will still function exactly the same, it is only the time spent sitting on a mount inbetween that will be reduced. It just makes the 1-70 grind less time consuming and more interesting.
One of the worst parts of leveling a new alt is having to ride around the whole of azeroth on a 60% mount because you don't have the flight points yet. Sure, it was fun exploring the first time, but now on my 4th character, with the explorer title on my main, I already know what every zone looks like, and I'm not gaining anything from the experience except frustration. If anything, these new mount changes will encourage new players to explore a bit more, now that they don't have to put up with a ponderously slow mount whilst doing it.
Masarah Jun 10th 2009 9:29PM
Whats the faction for the Ally epic flying trainer?
Sunhead Jun 10th 2009 9:30PM
WTF!
This is pathetic.
More QQ nubs getting to endgame without ever having to work for anything.
This isnt even April so this is definitely not funny.
I definitely hope this change does not make it on.
Eternauta Jun 10th 2009 11:17PM
Yeah... because I haven't worked to do it all with my main char; and I'm a lazy noob because I don't want to do it all again with my 95321451 alts.
SJPadbury Jun 10th 2009 9:30PM
There you go, getting me all excited with a picture of an AQ mount as the lead, and it has nothing to do with it. Thought for a minute they'd be usable outside of AQ.
skreeran Jun 10th 2009 9:31PM
OH... MY... GOD! :D:D:D:D
150% Normal flying mounts! Am I reading this correctly??
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
joerendous Jun 11th 2009 12:33AM
i totally missed that! for me that's enough compensation for buying the flying skill before 3.2 :)
TJ Jun 10th 2009 9:32PM
I'm speechless
Zef Jun 11th 2009 10:42AM
Adam didn't mention that the casting time for summoning mounts will be reduced from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds. I'm more than pleased about that little change.
Amaxe Jun 10th 2009 9:32PM
Personally I think it should have been left at 40/60/70. It was a major achievement for a level 40 to have saved for his first mount by 40. Well the only difference now is that I'll have flying for my druid sooner and have an epic sooner for my level 40.
Philodox Jun 10th 2009 10:07PM
It's really not, I bought my main riding training some time mid december and with herbalism/inscription I had more than enough gold to buy both my land mounts.