I stand before you, dear friends, to proclaim that Cataclysm has ushered the death of the ground mount.
The premise is simple: by enabling free flight in Azeroth, ground mounts are no longer needed from level 60 onwards.
Am I complaining? Not at all. Flying in Azeroth has become so liberating, so exhilarating, that I'm wondering how I could have lived without it just a few weeks ago.
Still, I can't help regretting that there is no way to use certain cool ground mounts, unless one is willing to intentionally cripple themselves.
Case in point: the new fossil mount. The first time I saw this mount I thought that it has to be one of the coolest mounts ever. Too bad I will never have the incentive to ride it, even if I can be bothered to undertake the long archaeology grind required to obtain it.
Some people are masochists, I will grant you that. Just the other day I saw a level 80+ riding his fossil mount (fine specimen otherwise) in Stormwind. He was riding with a purpose, determinedly following the sidewalks and bridges on some errand or other. From my 310% flying mount I could only sneer at his foolishness.
Now don't imagine that I am so high and mighty as to start judging others, especially for such minor proclivities, but I simply can't imagine why one would prefer to regress to a much slower and decidedly non-linear form of transportation. There is a reason we have the expression "as the crow flies". In WoW this would be "as the flying mount goes". Oh wait, maybe that guy was just showing off his mount. Nice e-peen bro!
See, I'm starting to be guilty of elitism myself, what with my 310% speed mount and all. Maybe I'm just envious that some people still find pleasure in riding a much slower and cumbersome mount.
Personally, I'd have to be flogged before I'll give up flying. But here's an idea. Perhaps Blizzard could make ground mounts more attractive by increasing their ground speed to whatever your maximum skill is.
310% ground mounts anyone?
Patch 1.0.5 commentary
12 years ago
11 comments:
Ground mounts are still required for battlegrounds, so they aren't completely going away. However, they do have to do something if they want us to use ground mounts in other places.
You have a point there. I guess I hadn't considered the PvP side since I don't PvP.
Well, since I no longer have my main on a PvP server, I avoid world PvP like the plague. It does have its uses, like teaching people to constantly look over their shoulder, but if you want to experience the PvE content, it sucks. BGs, on the other hand, are nice. I look at them as the MMO equivalent of "guns" or "kick the can" or "capture the flag". (My son watched me in Alterac Valley today, and he told me it was like playing Axis and Allies.)
Yes, you definitely forgot about pvp areas. Which is what I do 90 percent of the time. My motorcycle is still my favourite, even though I have a Vial of the Sands now. As for the cities, it would not shock me to see people "going ground" on roleplay servers. Then again, the hardcore rp'ers probably walk...
You know I was going to write how I use my ground mounts, but outside of Battlegrounds (which I do play a lot) I simply don't use them. Well the exception would be my toons that aren't 60. Withy my Fire mage (currently 71) I snapped up old world flying shortly after she hit 60.
I'm hoping Blizzard gives us more choices for flying mounts. Although I'm not a mount collector I would shell out the gold if they offered a flying equivalent to the Reins of the Traveler's Tundra mount. I was planning to purchase that for my Hunter, however since it was so close to Cata I decided to wait and see if they eventually offer a flying equivalent. My hunter is my gatherer (Mining and Herbalism) and explorer, and I rarely go into town with her.
Yes it is a shame that the Horde Raptor mount from Un'goro is so pointless. By the time you get it you have a flying mount. a much lower level requirement would make more sense ...or a Pterodyactyl mount maybe.
That's why I really don't care about -for example- stuff like Rare Camel mount, Motorcycle, etc. Fly is the way to go, these days.
Even though I dont want to farm the lower level items except for going to my favorite fishing holes, But if I was to power level a 60 plus toon on herb or mining...it would be so quick with flying...I fly around and see all those nodes popping...I cant help but drop down and get a few.
Yeah, it would have been nice to have the fossil mount on my < 60 characters but it's close to impossible to obtain it so quickly, unless you spend all your time digging sites.
It would be really neat if they could offer a flying mount with vendors & stuff, I agree. But I have a feeling they would price it at around 50K haha.
When the sky becomes a dangerous place (hungry dragons?), people will go back to ground mounts.
Well, that would imply mounted/flying combat. Should be interesting. In fact I'm almost certain that Blizzard will implement this in a future expansion, just to keep things fresh.
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