The OverAchiever: Mountain O' Mounts and the Argent Tournament, part 2
by Allison Robert 
Aug 4th 2011 at 8:00PM
The Argent Crusade
The Crusade sells a mount, a pet upgrade, a tabard, and the full complement of player heirlooms in the large tent on the western side of the tournament grounds. Before you start spending seals on mounts, you might want to prioritize the purchase of a Crusader's Tabard, which can be used to teleport you to the tournament grounds. If you're serious about getting all of the good stuff from the tournament and you're there every day, the tabard may save you a lot of travel time, but it will also set you back 50 seals. Use your best judgment as to whether the tabard is worth it.
The Crusade quartermaster is Dame Evniki Kapsalis.
- Argent Charger If you're a paladin, this is an extra mount you can get from the tournament. It's a very cool-looking silver version of the charger used by human, dwarf, and blood elf paladins.
- Argent Warhorse For everyone else, there's the Argent Warhorse, which is a silver version of the 60% horse that human, dwarf, and blood elf paladins use. Many Crusade NPCs around the coliseum are mounted on an Argent Warhorse if you want to see how it looks, and you'll also saddle up a vehicle version for the daily Battle Before The Citadel.
Alliance
The Alliance tent is located toward the northeastern side of the coliseum. Within it, you'll find all of the Alliance faction and Silver Covenant quest givers and quartermasters you'll need as an Alliance player.
- Argent Hippogryph This is sold by any Alliance faction quartermaster and will run you 150 seals. A very attractive mount, but perhaps less compelling to Alliance players, as they have access to the Silver Covenant hippogryph as well.
- Swift Moonsaber 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals
- Darnassian Nightsaber 100 seals. This is an armored version of a cat ridden by Sentinels in Darnassus. If you'd prefer the unarmored version, cross your fingers the next time you're in Zul'Gurub, as High Priestess Kilnara drops the Swift Zulian Panther.
Humans The Stormwind quartermaster is Corporal Arthur Flew.
- Swift Gray Steed 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals
- Stormwind Steed 100 seals. This is the closest you'll get to the now-vanished Swift Alliance Steed from the 10-man heroic version of the Trial of the Crusader.
Gnomes The Gnomeregan quartermaster is Rillie Spindlenut.
- Turbostrider 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals
- Gnomeregan Mechanostrider 100 seals
Dwarves The Ironforge quartermaster is Derrick Brindlebeard. Dwarves are unfortunately saddled with two mounts that look very similar to existing mounts. These are purchases that I honestly wouldn't be tempted to make if it weren't for the Mountain O' Mounts achievement; the differences that do exist are on the subtle side.
- Swift Violet Ram 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals. Personally, I think it looks a little too much like the Swift Gray Ram.
- Ironforge Ram 100 seals. While it's darker than the Stormpike Battle Charger, that's really about the only visual difference.
Draenei The Exodar quartermaster is Irisee.
- Great Red Elekk 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals
- Exodar Elekk 100 seals. In my opinion, this is the most visually interesting elekk model, unless you're a paladin with access to the Exarch's Elekk and Great Exarch's Elekk, which I think we can all agree are significantly better than the regular elekk models.
Worgen Sorry, folks; there's no worgen representation at the tournament, and from what Blizzard's said in the past, there probably won't be. You have to admit, Running Wild is too cool to equal in mount form, but I often wonder -- exactly what would a worgen pet be?
This is an Alliance-exclusive faction of high elves led by Rhonin's wife (and Sylvanas' sister), Vereesa Windrunner. The Silver Covenant quartermaster is Hiren Loresong.
The Horde tent is located toward the southeastern side of the coliseum. Within it, you'll find all of the Horde faction and Sunreaver quest givers and quartermasters you'll need as a Horde player.
Silver Covenant
This is an Alliance-exclusive faction of high elves led by Rhonin's wife (and Sylvanas' sister), Vereesa Windrunner. The Silver Covenant quartermaster is Hiren Loresong.
- Quel'dorei Steed 100 seals. Players will recognize this as a recoloration of the Swift Zhevra given to players who participated in the Recruit-A-Friend program during Wrath of the Lich King. These days, flight capability in Azeroth has made it necessary to give people the X-53 Touring Rocket instead, so the Quel'dorei Steed is the closest you'll get to riding the zhevra.
- Silver Covenant Hippogryph 150 seals. Probably the most visually striking of the hippogryph models currently available to players, though we saw evidence of other options two years ago ...
Horde
The Horde tent is located toward the southeastern side of the coliseum. Within it, you'll find all of the Horde faction and Sunreaver quest givers and quartermasters you'll need as a Horde player.
- Argent Hippogryph As with their Alliance counterparts, each of the Horde faction quartermasters can sell you the Argent Hippogryph for 150 seals.
- Swift Burgundy Wolf 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals
- Orgrimmar Wolf 100 seals. As with the Stormwind Steed above, this is the closest you'll get to the now-vanished Swift Horde Wolf from ToC-10, although it's not anywhere near a visual match. You do get the cool Horde symbol shaved/tattooed into the flank of the wolf, though.
Tauren The Thunder Bluff quartermaster is Doru Thunderhorn. As with dwarves, tauren don't really get very visually distinctive options here, which might have something to do with the limitations of the kodo model in general. I really think kodo could use a visual upgrade.
- Great Golden Kodo 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals. Within the game, I honestly have a lot of difficulty seeing the difference between this and either of the epic kodo mounts on offer by tauren vendors.
- Thunder Bluff Kodo 100 seals. As above. It's a Great Gray Kodo doppelganger with a slightly different drum color. With respect to home mount selection, tauren and dwarves kind of get hosed at the Tournament.
Trolls The Darkspear quartermaster is Samamba.
- Swift Purple Raptor 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals
- Darkspear Raptor 100 seals
Blood elves The Silvermoon quartermaster is Trellis Morningsun.
- Swift Red Hawkstrider 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals. Blizzard knocked it out of the park with this one. The Swift Red Hawkstrider's among the more visually striking mounts in the game, and it's probably the only "cheap" mount option at the tournament that's more popular than its 100-seal counterpart. I saw an awful lot of this bird during Wrath.
- Silvermoon Hawkstrider 100 seals. By contrast, this one looks a bit like the Swift White Hawkstrider dropped in Magisters' Terrace, so that might be why the Swift Red is the more popular option.
Forsaken The Undercity quartermaster is Eliza Killian.
- White Skeletal Warhorse 400 gold at exalted and 5 seals
- Forsaken Warhorse 100 seals. This turned out to be another popular option during Wrath, possibly because it's the only Forsaken warhorse with striped trappings.
Goblins Sorry, folks; as with the worgen, there's no Bilgewater representation at the tournament.
Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
Sunreavers
This is a Horde-exclusive faction of blood elves. The Sunreaver quartermaster is Vasarin Redmorn.
- Sunreaver Hawkstrider 100 seals. A really pretty-looking mount, but I still saw the Swift Red a lot more, for whatever reason.
- Sunreaver Dragonhawk 150 seals. This is the only player dragonhawk in the game outside of the one you'll get at Mountain O' Mounts, and I've gotta say: It's pretty badass.
Working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on Azeroth's holidays and special events, including new achievements, how to get 310% flight speed with achievement mounts, and Cataclysm reputation factions and achievements.
Filed under: Achievements, The Overachiever
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Culhag Aug 4th 2011 8:12PM
Are you kidding ? The Ironforge Ram looks waaaaaaay better than the Stormpike Ram.
It's the best looking ram along with the Black War Ram.
Corath Aug 4th 2011 8:17PM
Many times I've thought about starting up doing the AT dailies again for the mounts and pets... but then I realized that I don't hate myself enough for that yet.
Revynn Aug 4th 2011 10:40PM
Theyre really not all that bad, tbh. A full clear nets you 18 or so seals and, once you get a pattern you like, can be done in about a half hour. The real annoyance is flying all the way to Howling Fjord/Dragonblight/Grizzly Hills every day for the stupid wword quests while championing a new city. Once you get past that it's a lot less painful.
Having your hearth set to the Tournament grounds and using the guild cloaks to go back to Org/SW helps too.
ziis Aug 4th 2011 8:21PM
when i was doing the AT dailys and i always get an extra seal in all of my bags ( btw this was when cata came out)
mbison Aug 5th 2011 1:22PM
Ziis, you are correct. You now ALWAYS get an extra seal from the bags.
Thayer Aug 4th 2011 8:23PM
These days you are now guaranteed that extra seal when you choose the bag of ten gold. It doesn't pop up in a little window, but you will see your currency count change.
koolguyry Aug 4th 2011 8:23PM
I have something helpful to add for you Anne! According to comments on WoWhead, recently (like patch 4.01 or 4.03) made the Champion's Seal droprate from Champion's Purses 100% now. Hope that helps you out!
Guttsu Aug 4th 2011 8:23PM
it always disappoints me a little bit that the Sunreaver Dragonhawk is infinitely cooler than the one you get at 100 mounts. Its why I've never really felt inclined to get the achievement. "Oh cool a dragonhawk! Ehhhh I've got a better one..."
Cyno01 Aug 4th 2011 8:37PM
The AT is also a GREAT way to grind rep with all your factions races to get all those mounts.
Darky Aug 4th 2011 8:40PM
If you're going for mountain o' mounts the best place to start is the argent tourney, It gives you a crap load of mounts and really helps towards ambassador.
Liyly Aug 4th 2011 9:23PM
In my opinion, the Argent Hippogryph is hands-down the best mount ever!
This alone makes the misery that is doing the dailies worth it.
Revynn Aug 4th 2011 10:26PM
Yeah, starting the grind towards Mountain o Mounts at the Argent Tournament is definitely the best way to go.
Even with a guaranteed 18 or so seals a day, it's still a brutal grind. I got my Argent Hippogryph, Argent Charger, Sunreaver Dragonhawk, Darkspear Raptor and all of the 5 seal mounts . . . And stopped there. I still have my hearth set to the tournament grounds, but I just can't make myself do the dailies lately, especially with Molten Front being the grind that it is.
At least being out there is an excuse to do your Brunnhildar daily for the Polar Bear and spend some time camping Time Lost.
Hal Aug 4th 2011 11:53PM
The Argent Tournament . . . a wretched hive of grind and drudgery.
I'm still wondering what Blizzard was thinking on this one. From the time the full tournament became available until days before Cataclysm was released, I did these dailies off and on so I could get everything. It was painful in ways I can't describe.
I understand that you can't just hand collectors everything for a day's worth of efforts, but collecting the full set of tournament items is a journey of several months. They toned it down with Tol Barad and the Molten Front, but it's still mind boggling.
Philster043 Aug 5th 2011 12:15AM
Well, if the rewards were easy to obtain, everybody would have them.
It's indeed torture after a while though so I do have to take very long breaks from these dailies. Thank goodness I only really care about one character as far as obtaining all that stuff.
Philster043 Aug 5th 2011 12:19AM
Though, as a level 85, it is far easier and faster to do all the dailies now than when I was a level 80 - what used to be a hour's worth of work now has basically become 15 minutes' worth of work. (I watched the clock while doing them.)
When I noticed that I was much more receptive to doing the dailies for a while again.
Philster043 Aug 5th 2011 12:12AM
Been working on getting the Sunreaver Dragonhawk for the last two weeks. I would just like to say one thing, the extra seals seem to automatically show up now after you open the bags. I would have liked that very much last summer when I was working towards the Argent Hippogryph as well as the Argent Gruntling lol.
Also, if you kill a kraken during the spear quest, you get a kraken's tooth, which results in another seal. I had no clue about that until this year. This might have been covered in the comprehenesive guide, but I thought it's worth another mention as it's easily overlooked.
VioletArrows Aug 5th 2011 2:01AM
They must have changed it recently because that quest has NEVER awarded seals, just money.
Philster043 Aug 6th 2011 10:21AM
@VioletArrows you are right. I just did it again today to verify if I was right or just imagining things. You do just get gold when you turn in Kraken's tooth, no extra seal. I thought the OTHER quest that I was turning in titled "Get Kraken!" was the aforementioned quest that you get from the Kraken's Tooth, but it wasn't, hence my mistake. Sorry about that.
Feel free to downgrade my first comment >.
avgjoe Aug 5th 2011 2:39AM
@revyn many people dont realize this but there is a portal to stormwind and org in dalaran now. even without the argent cloak, deepholm pot or guild cloaks, you can set your hearth to dal and easily get back to relevant content in as little as 10 seconds. this is especially useful to those that wish to continue dal jc dailies, obtain the cooking hat or fish the fountain on a character without being too far away from your factions capital.
jrb Aug 5th 2011 5:59AM
little tip, don't faction change part way through earning all the mounts.. you have to unlock all the cities again from scratch.
If you faction change back your progress will remain.. just as long as you don't realm change first.
so far after totc was valid content this seriously needs fixing by blizzard.. for me, since it was current content i have realm changed once, and faction changed 4 times.. and i'm still not done with all the mounts, it srsly takes the p**s!