Posts with tag wow-mounts

You don't have to have played WoW very long to have seen -- and admired -- your fellow players running around riding tigers, dragons, turtles, flying carpets, and dinosaurs, among other things. And if you're anything like us, your first question is "Where do I get one?!" Or maybe "When can I get one?" The answer to when is starting at level 20, but the answer to where is a bit more complicated, since mounts in WoW can be acquired in may different ways, from drops to vendors to quests.

While this won't be a comprehensive guide on how to get every mount in the game, we will help you get started with mounts in World of Warcraft -- and point you towards some that you can pick up some awesome rides, even at lower levels.

From PTR reports, we knew that patch 5.2 was bringing the dinosaurs in the form of Direhorn pets for hunters and Primordial Direhorn mount drops from rare mobs. However, the latest build of the PTR introduces even more Direhorn goodness: Wowhead reports that the Primal Crimson Direhorn (for Horde) and the Primal Golden Direhorn (for Alliance) will be available as rewards for enterprising players who reach Exalted with the Kirin Tor Offensive or Sunreaver Onslaught, depending on your faction.

There's no word on when 5.2 might be going live, so for now there's not much to do but wait -- or hop on the PTR.

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While plenty of old hats might say the WoW newbie experience is easy mode now, I'd call it streamlined: rolling a new character or leveling an existing one has never been more straightforward. Gone are the days when you had to pull up Wowhead (or download an addon) to figure out every other quest, the days when you kill dozens of monsters for a single quest drop, the days when you had to run through high level zones to collect flight paths. If you don't remember having to run from across the Wetlands to pick up the Menethil Harbor flight path -- dying more than once along the way -- count yourself lucky, because those corpse runs were decidedly un-fun.

However, even in this golden age of newbiedom, there are some aspects of the game that just aren't explained very well. So, whether you're brand new to the game or, like me, returning after an absence, here are a few things every newbie needs to know.

Recently I've been talking quite a lot about the pros and cons of buying WoW mounts with in-game money. The recent revealing of the new Recruit-A-Friend mount leads us on to another discussion altogether: What WoW mounts can you get with real money? You know, not in-game gold -- the actual dollars or pounds or euros that you can swap for food, electricity, that sort of thing.

This might be a really excellent column to leave lying around on the computer of a loved one who is trying to work out what to buy you for a birthday or similar occasion!

Let's start with the obvious options -- the three Blizzard Pet Store mounts.

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we continue the Mountain o' Mounts grind in Outland with a few notes on BC reputation.

If you're catching up with us after last week, we've finished off both The Ambassador and the first leg of Mountain o' Mounts. I have to confess that I approached both achievements from the perspective of a player who wasn't necessarily at the level cap (I've been leveling a goblin priest lately and greatly enjoying the benefits of faction tabards in dungeons), and I completely forgot that the Argent Tournament even existed. Whoops. (Either that, or I've got one hell of a mental block concerning jousting.)

This week, we're going to hit the dark portal in pursuit of more mount and reputation achievements. Outland is the single most fruitful continent for getting lots of mounts from a limited set of factions. If you've got the patience to make it to exalted with the three factions that sell transport around this shattered hellhole, you'll have an additional 19 mounts at your disposal. You can bump this up to 21 if you count the two PvP talbuks available from Halaa, but these days you'll probably have to arrange a battle royale in the zone in order to get the kills (and tokens) needed. More on this in a bit.

Otherwise, your three targets here are the Netherwing, the Sha'tari Skyguard, and the Kurenai/Mag'har. But first, a brief history lesson for all those of you who joined the game in Wrath of the Lich King and still need to work on your Outland reps ...

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, we contribute to Azeroth's obesity epidemic by refusing to walk.

Mounts: They get your ass from point A to point B, and if you're lucky, they'll do it as stylishly as possible. They're the most immediately visible status symbol in WoW and often give you a one-glance note on the kind of player at whom you're looking. People astride Invincible can be counted upon to be hardcore raiders from the Wrath of the Lich King era, someone riding a Violet Proto-Drake is never new to the game, and players rocking a White Stallion are seriously old school.

Players who have been around for any length of time almost inevitably accrue a stable's worth of beasties to cart them around, but some folks go the extra mile for the Leading the Cavalry and Mountain o' Mounts achievements. In Cataclysm, these are a lot easier than they once were, although you should still be prepared to dump a ton of gold and time into them no matter what. Fortunately, the first part of the Mountain o' Mounts trek should also net you The Ambassador achievement and title.

• Buy the Celestial Steed mount - $25 in the US or 20 euros in the EU
• Buy the Lil' XT pet - $10 in the US or 10 euros in the EU

The mount will operate at whatever level of riding skill you've trained. This includes both ground mounts and flying mounts.

We now also have a blue post on the matter:

Nethaera -- Pet Store Additions

We're pleased to be able to bring two new additions to the Blizzard Pet Store: the miniature robot Lil' XT and the Celestial Steed, the first mount to be available there. These fun options are available exclusively through the online Blizzard Store. [http://www.blizzard.com/store]

For more information, check out the Pet Store FAQ, which holds answers to most common questions: http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=29845

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Early this morning our staff uncovered pictographic evidence of the Celestial Steed and Lil' XT Pet being sold soon at the Blizzard Store. The image is no longer in their front page rotation, but likely it won't be gone for long.

We don't know any details. That's all there is to say on that. So any speculation about price, functionality, etc... it's all just that. Speculation.

We do know, however, that this is the first mount being sold at the store; and the first useful in-game item you can directly buy with real world money (if you don't count the mounts from the WoW TCG game).

Video of the steed after the break.

The Rocket Mount, a two-seater flying mount which is replacing the Zhevra mount as the Recruit-a-Friend bonus, is having its release delayed by an unspecified amount of time. We don't know why it's been pushed back, but nonetheless, it is.

Let's take this opportunity not to fall into the typical internet crying extravaganza that happens when something is delayed -- Blizzard did us all a favor by announcing a release date for something. Obviously they have a good reason to delay its publication, and we should be happy they're being honest about this.

The full blue statement is as follows:

Nethaera

While we had originally announced the new Recruit-A-Friend X-53 Touring Rocket reward would be coming in just a few short days, it turns out there are still a few bolts to tighten, some loose wires to tuck inconspicuously under the upholstery, and a handful of parts leftover that we're going to ponder and then assume we can safely throw away. As a result, we'll be releasing this beauty a bit later than we'd first anticipated. This will also give anyone interested in the current Zhevra mount reward some extra time to claim one. While we don't have an exact release date nailed down yet, we'll make an announcement once the new mount becomes available.

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Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

Long long time ago...
I can still remember
How that music make me smile, Alex.

And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while, Alex.

Tim asked...

"When discussing new content coming out, why does Blizzard always play so close to the chest? For example, the mount changes are due to be "in the next major content patch" which everyone knows is going to be patch 3.2, why don't they just say it?"

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Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.