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Even More Transportation Changes Coming in 3.2!

A Goblin Zeppelin heading into Undercity. A Goblin Zeppelin heading into Undercity.

Pixiestixy broke the news last night about the mount changes that will be coming in the next major patch, 3.2. There are some additional news to note as Zarhym posted some more information about transportation changes which are being implemented to improve leveling:

From the World of Warcraft Forums:
In the next major content patch we will be adding a few methods of improved transportation to areas of interest while leveling.

It is time for the denizens of Azeroth to witness the full might of the Horde as they do what they do best: employ goblins to construct zeppelin towers and float players across vast seas using sky boats. That's right, a new zeppelin route is being added in Thunder Bluff and will transport players to Orgrimmar. Isn't technology magnificent?

Also, brought to you by Azeroth's greatest users of magic, are all new portals coming to Stormwind and Orgrimmar. These portals will transport players directly to the Stair of Destiny at the Dark Portal. Travel is just so much more convenient when it's instantaneous! Players will then find that a new connecting flight path exists at the Stair of Destiny allowing players new to Outland easy and direct access to the city of Shattrath.

Keep your seat backs and tray tables in a full upright and locked position, and we hope you continue to enjoy your methods of travel in Azeroth and beyond!

So even more changes are in store! Horde players I'm sure will be loving the new zeppelin between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff, while everyone can appreciate the instant transport to the Stair of Destiny to get you to the Outlands faster!

These changes seem to fall in line with the Blizzard philosophy of making leveling more accessible and faster for players. As a player who has only one max level character and a multitude of alts I can really appreciate this!

This is not the end of the changes of course as there are also changes coming to the class specific mounts and movement abilities, also found on the World of WarCraft Forums:

  • Movement Speed Training By Class

    • Druid

      • Travel Form: Requires level 16

      • Flight Form: Requires level 60 (150% flight speed)

      • Swift Flight Form: Requires level 70



    • Hunter

      • Aspect of the Cheetah: Requires level 16



    • Shaman

      • Ghost Wolf: Requires level 16



    • Paladin

      • Warhorse: Requires level 20

      • Charger: Requires level 40



    • Warlock

      • Felsteed: Requires level 20

      • Dreadsteed: Requires level 40






  • No surprises from the class mount changes, but the movement ability changes are nice as getting ghost wolf, aspect of the cheetah and travel form earlier will be a really nice change for leveling!

    What do you think of these changes? Good or bad? Is Blizzard making it too easy for newer players?

    Reader Comments (67)

    First

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSapo Carlos

    niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice finally my 24 pally can get a mount :D

    can't wait for blizzard to lower it even more until lvl 1 :D

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRobojessus

    w8.....the charger is lvl 40 now? hows the quest gonna work at tht lvl? same w /the lock mount

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterl33tadin

    Loving the portals from SW to Stair of Destiny. So much easier than having to fly there. Oh if im set on PVP and i happen to use the portal, and meet some horde there, could we see some PVP action at the dark portal. Love the changes blizzard are making. And that Ghost Wolf change is awesome. Blizzard are making the game so much more player friendly now. :)

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commenteronthebuses

    @ l33tadin

    The quest for Pally and Lock class specific mounts, the loooong quest chain, hasn't been necessary to get the mount for a while now, just a 1 time fee at your local trainer.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterNebyula

    The Zep tower is "Meh"
    I mean its convenient but its only a 1:13 flight path between the two that costs 40 copper
    As for the Stair of destiny portal big thumbs up! no more having to take an 11 min flight path on a new DK to get to outland!

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commentertheone

    Is no one else finding it unfair that druids will get flying at the same level everyone else does (60) yet they're allowed to fly over 2 times faster? :(

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLaFetus

    @LaFetus

    Standard flying mounts will also be 150% speed in the air; they were in last nights post.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDJTyrant

    Flight form at 60, but non-druids still have to wait until 70? (...at which point people are leaving Outland already, making flying mounts there pointless.)

    Blizzard needs to fix that too. Give us flying mounts earlier in Outland.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterPatrickD

    Nevermind. I just read the previous blog post. (I should really read oldest-to-newest.)

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterPatrickD

    Have to agree with theone on the proposed zeppelin route between Thunderbluff and Orgrimmar. It takes, what, ~45 copper and 3:28 minutes? The zeppelin would have to be faster than that to justify its existence.

    Other than that, I'm quite pleased with the news.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAlayea

    These changes are probably going to be the thing that tears me from my level 80's and gets me back into leveling my alts again.

    I think that might be why they did it. More and more often, I would get on, and I would see less and less people getting on their alts and only on their mains getting geared up and getting through Ulduar, Naxx, etc. And these changes make the players feel like it won't be as much of a hassle to level and get their alts to where their mains are. In my opinion, the changes are going to be great!

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterZekkex

    What about the other classes?! I think that's pretty unfair to give the OP classes even more perks. Kinda lame imo.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterShoogs

    lol, made same mistake as PatrickD, I take back my previous post

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterShoogs

    hm thas cool i found the ram going from stormwind to IF very usefull saves a 5 minet flight i think the next step should be to alowe flyng mounds eastern kingdom and kalimdor no comment about th the portals doesnt really affect me i am done leveling alts though it for now i am more worryed about my DK and Mage i was thinking the same thing i did the ques not solong ago kind makes me think how a level forty goinot get DM strat osholomace or kill a level 52 same for warlocks and not only do the normal flyers get times 2 1/2 speed boost but the pricec are being slashed the normal riding skill the whole set skill and all will onl cost 5g more then 7 times lower the epic land moud will cost 60g for the whole package 11 times less then now the normal flyer is oinot be on a 27 percent discount 650g down from 900no change to epic flyer except the mound is 100g cheaper the skill is still 5k

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commentercocopuff

    This is really stupid...pallys and locks getting their mounts 10 levels before everyone? or is the mount level requirement being moved for everyone AGAIN????

    seriously, eventually youl be get one every time you start a new character and epic mount will be lvl 2, flying by 3

    what happened to the good old days when everything made sense? they're making this game way too easy.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBorbock

    when is this patch going live?

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commentertotesmagoates

    You have to be kidding... you know how long it took me to get my felsteed pre BC and know their giving mounts away like pamphlets . who ever brought this up should give me time refund

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterk30spartan

    @ Borbock

    its not stupid why would blizzard want to make people suffer through spending the same amount of time on the old content as their first time through. thats like saying they should have kept experience requirements the same it just speeds things up for leveling. so they can get to the good content blizzard wants them to be playing not STV or EPL

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSno

    Sorry but what's the point of giving the Druid swift flight form at 70 or anyone epic mounts at 70 when they have to wait until 77 to use them when you take into account where you'll more than likely be at ~70.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterTom

    then give us are money back if your gointo do this or dont do it at all we have worked hard for the money and now newbies can do a few quest lines and what we worked weeks months for they can get in one day just not fair its like saying that all that all of our affort is worthless i know that have the people are not gointo understand this as they werent teh ones busting thier ass doing dailys every day farming mats

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commentercocopuff

    half*

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commentercocopuff

    I'm happy about the zep from TB to ORG. It will make leveling a Tauren way easier. No more running from Mulgore to Durotar to pick up the low lvl quests. One could even head to Tirisfal to lvl a Tauren. Very nice. And yeah, the super long flight to the Dark Portal for DK's was a pain in the a$$.

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterHakeem

    I'm blown away by the backlash here. No one is more privileged than the anyone else in the game. This is like complaining that my gear is obsolete when an expansion comes out. Get over it :)

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDJTyrant

    So what, now not only do Paladins and warlocks get it cheaper then everyone else, and now they got it earlier?

    June 11, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterPonyboyy

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