Much Ado About Mounts
Posted by 
Bastosa on Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 37 Comments Tags: Achievements, brewfest, farming, hallow's end, horseman, mounts, world events, zg
Bastosa on Thursday, October 23, 2008 - 37 Comments Tags: Achievements, brewfest, farming, hallow's end, horseman, mounts, world events, zg 
I’m not sure if it’s the recent holiday events, the new achievements system, or something that has been here all along, but it seems the whole world is going crazy about mounts. People want them, want to show them off, and are going to extremely lengths to get them.The most obvious example is the holiday mounts. Groups of dedicated people are spending hours everyday farming the latest seasonal boss and hoping they will drop the latest mount. First it was the Kodo/Ram now it’s the Horseman mount. I’ll admit, I am one of them, and because I don’t have luck like Juggy, I imagine I will be in SM everyday for the rest of the event.
It doesn’t stop there however! It’s just the tip of the iceberg. With the new achievement system in place lots of folk in my guild have spent tons of gold and farmed tons of rep to buy every mount they can get their hands on. The goal is the 50 mount achievement, and yet another mount. (A very cool one, given).
While we are on the topic of achievements, the other reason the whole world is farming away inside SM this week is to make sure they get the squashling and the Hallowed title. Not a mount, I know, but guess what you get if you finish all the seasonal event achievements? You guessed it: another mount.
The problem actually predates the newest batch of content. People have been mount obsessed long before this. Rare mounts are certainly nothing new. On the extreme end, there is a friend of mine in my guild that has soloed Stratholme several times every day for the last few months. The reason is the Baron Mount. Rumor is that it is the lowest drop rate in the game, and from the stories I’ve heard I believe it. This is one for the truly dedicated, or truly insane (sorry, Feralface).
Then of course there is the Huntsman Mount, The White Hawkstrider, The Anzu Mount, The Ashes of Alar, The ZG Raptor and Tiger, and the now inaccessible Bear Mount.
While given mounts are really really cool, is it really worth all this time we put into farming them? The are (usually) cosmetic, they don’t improve our ability to down a boss. The are vanity items, but then again, perhaps that is their appeal. What about you? What lengths have you gone to to get a mount? Or are you just happy riding around on your boring faction mount?
Reader Comments (37)
I really Dont care about mounts. I'm pissed off at the horrid price of the riding training. I havent even got my Epic flyer training. Drives me absolutely bonkers. Though I guess for someone that spends more time on WoW than me, collecting something would be fun, seeing as you can only run the big instances once a week
LOL @ Monkeystick,
PokeMounts LMAO seriously.! i only plan on getting the minimum cause i still need to do more stuff then just get mounts.
I was obsesed about mounts. Had a lot of them, apend a lot of time getting my Wintersaber tiger. And then the achivement system camalong, and YES a new mount. And now i have 51 mounts, including the Albino drake. The way they put the achivement together killed the fun. Jusy get 50 mounts, dosent matter what kind or what colar, just 50 mounts, so grind a lot of gold and go bye them all, from those fractions your can, and viola, new mount. So sundely im not so hipe about mounts anymore. And no I am not grinding for the hh mount. But the pet, Thats another story, new obsesion.
Great story and project lore is da best n a big fan of it!!! Im thinkin of converting to the server totally rad guild is in and play there...
I'll be getting more mounts/vanity pets due to the addtion of the Pets tab in the Character window but...I'm not going to obsess about it. My criteria are speed/cheapest price for mounts, and vanity pets as an afterthought. Don't get me wrong...mounts/pets are a great addtion to the game but...lets talk about...
the Great Brewfest Kodo...probably one of the most annoying mounts ever unleashed upon toons by Blizz. Nothing like scanning the Auction House while a player runs his Kodo in circles just outside the room for the entire 10 minutes that process takes...while your screen bounces up and down and you listen to poom! poom! poom! foot stomps. Thank God my keyboard has a mute button...
if i could live with only one mount, it would be the mount from sethekk halls. idk y i like it so much, but i do and i used to do runs for it, before people stopped playing pre-newpatch, and was willing to pay 500g to who ever rolled the highest on it. kinda sad, but i gave up and decided to go back with a couple of friends when im 80, if im able to do a 70 heroic as a lvl 80 haha.
I like my faction mount, "Summon Warhorse", I was just happy to get something after walking all over, and now that I have Crusader's Aura, the extra speed is nice.
I'm eagerly looking forward to my Epic mount as well.
I like having a different mount than everyone else. Currently I am working towards the All Capital cities at Exalted Achievement, then I can buy all the mounts(and that bad ass title) and be pretty close to the 50 mounts. So far I only have Org at Exalted(I'm a BE) and I think Darkspears will be next. I've always wanted one of those raptors and the war one just isn't cutting it.
My main goal when starting WoW was to get a horse. I'm totally happy with my horse, who I call Chester Copperpot. Sure, I'd like to hit 60 and get a faster horse..but i'm not going crazy while trying to get one. I have seen some awesome flying mounts though...maybe someday!
A guildmate of mine was the first in our guild to get 50 mounts and the covetted Albino Drake. At this rate, I will be next ^_^ 2 factions left to grind up and a few more gold pieces and I'm done.
But on our server I think there are maybe 6 people total who have 50+ mounts. Some from PvP factions (Halaani), others from just insane grinding (Frostsaber).
I won't say it's nuts to have so many mounts since I fall into the mix. It is a status symbol to be able to say, "Hey, I earned this mount!"
This coming from the toon who is the proud owner of the Spectral Saber Mount ^_^ (No, was not an eBay card, I actually bought I booster pack and got it.)
As long as I have a mount, I'm happy :)
The deathcharger had its drop rate increased it is now 1/100 instead of 1/5000 kills