Breakfast Topic: How do you choose your ride?
by Liberty Baker 
Apr 28th 2011 at 8:00AM
As soon as I could afford it, I made myself a Mechano-Hog, and that became my permanent ground mount in Dalaran and battlegrounds. I was tired of the loping stride of the animal mounts, and it was really fun to give friends and lowbies rides. For flying, I used the Azure Drake from Malygos from the moment I won it all the way until the Cataclysm starting quests.
After doing a few of the quests with my husband, we decided to use smaller mounts while we were leveling. The larger mounts blocked out more things on the ground and were more likely to cover up the quest givers when we were turning in quests. So he went from the Bronze Drake to a wyvern mount, and I decided to use my Headless Horseman's Mount. When we reached level 85, I considered switching back to a flashier flying mount -- the Green Proto-Drake, one of my carpets, one of the Netherwing Drakes ... I have quite a collection, but not yet a Mountain O'Mounts. I do like to show them off now and then, but the Horseman's mount has turned out to be very useful. It doesn't dismount you when you go underwater or inside a building where you can use a ground mount. I find this extremely handy when doing the Therazane daily quests because I don't have to choose a different mount when I enter or leave the cave with the crystal quests.
So how do you decide which mount you'll use? Do you show off your rarest mounts? Do you have a random mount addon? Do you switch it up, or use an old favorite?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Nina Katarina Apr 28th 2011 8:04AM
I use Headless Horseman for the same reason. I wish there were more mounts that had a seamless air-ground transition - the only ones I can think of offhand are the horseman and the sparkle pony.
Lokradu Apr 28th 2011 11:17AM
I realized this about the celestial steed when doing the canal crab cooking quest. My carpet would dismount when going underwater and being a gnome it is difficult to get my tiny noggin far enough above water to remount. With the sparkle pony I go from swimming to flying seamlessly, and stays mounted even as I grab the crabs! Makes that quest a little less of a pain.
tristis Apr 28th 2011 8:07AM
I love my headless horseman's mount and I use it exclusively on my 2 toons that have it It is small and versatile. The only better ride is a Druid's swift flight form.
Panteleone Apr 28th 2011 8:19AM
Yup, the Headless Horseman mount is my mainstay for everything that's been said: it's small and does it all. But I still love my Mekgineer's Chopper (definitely my fave) and use it often when I'm stuck in ground mode for any length of time.
Miranda Kali Apr 28th 2011 8:58AM
Couldn't agree more. As much as some of the drake models are pretty, it's a pain to have your mount cover half your screen.
Horseman's mount is neat looking, and as you said, versatile.
Until they make rocket powered, flying surfboards that spit green fire, it'll be my mount of choice. ( or unless I win the lotto, and can buy a second account for the RAF mount)
Pryn Apr 28th 2011 9:56AM
I absolutely adore the HH mount for the same reasons. Smooth transitions from ground to sky, not a postbox blocker, and I love banking it to the sides when I am turning midair, is just always feels so smooth a ride.
KPB Apr 28th 2011 10:49AM
Another HH mount user here and I do have the Mountain of Mounts so I've got plenty of other options. I love the automatically adapting feature of the mount. As a tauren, many of the cool looking mounts are so big I can't fit through doors in a lot of towns and are just generally a pain.
Frank-potato Apr 28th 2011 10:56AM
It's been a while since i reply here, but i had to. (that much pride i take on my prize)
I used to have an addon that not only randomized my mounts but also let's me organize them by zones. (ex. im in storm peaks i'll always get my polar bear, 'im in uldum i'll always get my camel) but since i had the lucky lucky fate of gettting Invincible's reings, it is THE only mount i've ever used, and probably will use for a loooooong time. (yes i have it and ironically in 4 years playing wow RNG gods have denied me of my HH horse....)
Travieso Apr 28th 2011 8:16AM
I like to show off my most recent, prestigious mounts (not that I claim to be the most advanced raider, but probably above average on my realm). For flying, I have the Dark Phoenix. And on the ground I use the Amani Battle Bear. Up until recently though, I was using the Crimson Deathcharger for ground stuffs.
MattKrotzer Apr 28th 2011 8:18AM
Pretty much this. Whatever mount I have that is the least likely to be used by others, though honestly, usually just a standard gryphon, because NOBODY flies around on one.
Hal Apr 28th 2011 9:12AM
Not the "most advanced raider?"
If you're sporting a Crimson Deathcharger and a Dark Phoenix, you're heads and toes above the vast majority of other players, chief.
Idaelus Apr 28th 2011 8:16AM
I use my Red Skeletal Warhorse as my ground mount, because it looks cool and took me a while to get it.
My flying mount is my ROFLcopter. Because, 'ya know, Helicopters.
Someday I'll get around to making my mechnohog. Got about 1/2 the mats, just lazy...
MusedMoose Apr 28th 2011 8:17AM
I'm an RPer at heart, so I tend to choose mounts based on the character, seeing how they would want to get around, that sort of thing. My warlock's ground mount will always be her felsteed; my draenei shaman considers herself an honorary Wildhammer and will always get around on a white ram. My engineering mage is all-mechanical, all-the-time - she's got a mechanostrider and a flying machine, and as soon as she can, she'll have a chopper as well. It's a point of personal pride for her to make her own conveyances. ^_^
As for my hunter, I need to get him into Winterspring, so he can start training one of the cats to be his new mount. The thought of raising a creature, taming it and making it your friend, really appeals to me for this character. Also, he'll be seeking out any mount you get by defeating the creature - the only ones I can think of are the time-lost proto-drake and the raven lord - because that's kind of like taming it too. :P In the Harry Dresden "I punched it in the nose, now we're friends" sort of way. Bwa ha ha.
Noyou Apr 28th 2011 11:20AM
Well certain mounts just look better on certain toons. I have made choppers for 3 of them so they use those. The chopper and the nightsaber are the 2 mounts I will never tire of- smooth sleek riding :) On toons that I do use similar mounts (horses rams and sabers) I try and pick a color that embodies my toon. My DK has the green Netherdrake. I am eventually going to get the spectral steed for my frost mage. It's white with blue accents :) My baby Night elf priest has purple hair so I will eventually get the winterspring nightsaber for him. My rogue generally goes for the darker mounts because well, he is a rogue and likes to hide. Even though his main spec is combat. This all reminds me I have a lot of work to do in the mount department. Excuse me I must go now :p
Tygerwolfe Apr 28th 2011 2:45PM
This, in all honesty.
My main is a Draenai Hunter, who has a hobby of collecting mounts and companion pets. However, as far as her personal RP story is concerned, she befriended a white Talbuk in Nagrand, and discovered later that Aliandara (the Talbuk's name in the story), had the ability to shape shift - the catch is that what she shifts into must always be white.
As a result, my flying mounts on that char are the Albino Drake and the Armored Snowy Gryphon, which I have a random-cast macro for so I won't know which I end up on until she starts casting. Though for questing I do sometimes cast the Gryphon by itself.
As far as ground mounts, Aliandara's base form is the white Talbuk, but she can also be a Swift White Ram, a Swift White Steed, and a Swift White Frostsaber. There's no white Elekk, and a mechanostrider isn't something she can shift into, so those are her current forms.
As far as my Druid goes, she's a Worgen and likes to get around under her own power. Despite being Exalted by several factions and owning the mounts, she gets around by Running Wild, and when I've leveled her up enough she'll fly with Flight Form/Swift Flight Form. Her shapeshifting abilities are her pride and joy, and I don't think she'll ever use the mounts she owns.
nartog Apr 28th 2011 8:19AM
On my dk i go mostly by my class mount on ground maters , i know its nothing fancy or beatifull(it is in my humble opinion) but it gets the job done .
Regarding flying i still use the drake we get from culling of stratholme , i know i know even my grandma has one but its ok it gets me where i need to go and its nice.
The weird thing is i have a ton of other mounts and the funny thing is i didnt care to get them i was either at the right place at the right time or just had enough gold at the moment to spare and said "why the heck not " and the only use they have seen is when one of my friends asked me to show one , the only mount which i desire and would replace my current ones is the headless horseman's but 2 years tryingand i still dont have it so i dont know.
Kurtis Apr 28th 2011 8:19AM
As a druid, I really don't use that many mounts. However, I use GupPet to summon a random mount whenever I'm in the mood for one. As far as flying mounts go, I love dragons so I always use one of my drakes - I've got other flying mounts, but they're turned off in GupPet. For ground mounts in areas like Tol Barad, I use my venomhide ravasaur, camel or golden kodo.
BigRiz Apr 28th 2011 8:22AM
Considering the removal of the raider version of the ZG tiger mount, I don't think I will every use another ground mount other than that one i was fortunate enough to get...
MattKrotzer Apr 28th 2011 9:08AM
I farmed like mad to get one of those, and never did. I'm really disappointed I'll never have a tiger.
Aaron Apr 28th 2011 8:20AM
My Rogue uses the turbo roflcopter, Hunter has been using the TB drake, pally uses mostly the Netherwing drakes or the red proto, drood uses flight form, lock uses the green proto quite a bit, priest can often found on the carpet.