WoW: Wrath of the Lich King Mounts
As the second expansion to the World of Warcraft draws nearer,
many players are looking at the various subtle changes to the game.
One of the changes in Wrath
of the Lich King is the use of mounts and the
access to a whole new batch of different ones. Some players never
think twice about a mount and use the same one forever, while
others change them almost as often as their moods. Many players
collect mounts just for something different to do. In the second
expansion to the game Blizzard has listened to player requests and
opened up many new and interesting kinds of mounts. The mounts
added vary from quest use mounts, ground mounts, profession mounts
and many more.
Woolly Mammoth
One of the
various
mounts you can use on
quests
One of the interesting changes to mounts in the expansion is
that there are several quests that provide mounts to you for that
quest. This has been seen in the past on bombing run type quests,
but very few other places. In the Wrath of the Lich King there
seems to be a quest using a mount in most zones. For example while
while questing in the the Borean
Tundra you get a chance to mount up on a woolly
mammoth! This fits the flavour of the quest chain perfectly that
you are working on when you get to use it, and adds a little
something extra to the game.
Later on in Dragonblight you gain access to Drakes to use on
attack quests and Gryphons to use to rescue peasants. Both fit the
situation perfectly and add to the game. They are also a great way
for Blizzard to keep flight as part of the game for different
elements even though you can not use your own flying mount until
you learn cold weather flying at level 77.
A New Armoured Bear Mount
Available
in Dalaran
For players that are simply looking for new mounts there are
several new mount models available. They include Bear mounts, that
come in regular and armoured versions, new skeletal mounts,
including an awesome version of a flying dragon, a warpstalker, and
many more. It seems like there is a mount for every preference.
There are many new versions of drakes and proto-drakes as well.
There are even new mounts that multiple players can travel on
such as a 3 seater wooly mammoth. You can also get single seater
versions, however the three seater version can carry a vendor with
you. This allows you to quickly sell off items you don't want while
you are in the middle of no where. This feature alone will convince
many that the price is worth it to buy this ultra-expensive
mount.
Multiple seat mounts are new to the game and while they can be a
bit strange at first, they can be useful for several things, and
I'm sure more will become apparent as time goes on. First, they are
great when you want to go someplace to quest or adventure and you
are in a group with someone that either doesn't know where it is,
or has to take a quick break from the game, but will be back
shortly. This allows the player controlling the mount to get the
other person there with little fuss, and is much better than
auto-follow. The second great use of multiple seat mounts is for
exploring achievements. This works especially well with a three
seater mount where one person can direct the mount while the other
two go AFK. The person controlling can then fully explore zones and
earn everyone their exploration achievements.
In response to overwhelming player requests, even more
profession based mounts have been added to the game. The
engineering based helicopter was a huge hit when released and
apparently since then Blizzard has been inundated with requests for
two additional types of mounts to be added. Both Engineers and
Tailors will be ecstatic that they can learn how to make new mounts
of their very own.
Engineering now gets the
ability to make hogs! No not as in pigs, as in motorcycles! Hurray!
You can even get a sidecar so you can take a friend with you. It
probably won't be long before Northrend needs traffic cops, as many
players are planning to become engineers simply to gain access to
this mount type.
Exotic Mount Vendor
20,000 Gold
for
a Mammoth???
Tailoring also gets mounts this
time around in the form of flying carpets! Very cool. Expect many
players to go looking for gear that helps them appear as a genie as
they fly all over the land. I know a few players already returning
to the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj to obtain the blue turban in preparation
for their flying carpet.
Another very cool addition is achievement reward mounts that can
be earned by collecting other mounts. There is a great albino drake
that can be received as a reward for collecting 50 different
mounts, and another mount reward for collecting an insane 75
different mounts. You must really be dedicated to achieve either
one of these though, as it will take some serious effort. Even
though each colour of mount counts as a different mount it still
requires the proper reputation to be able to buy many of them. If
you are truly looking for something to stand out from the crowd
with though, an achievement reward mount is a great way to do
it.
When you enter the Wrath of the Lich King, there truly will be a
mount for everyone.