Mount Changes Coming in Patch 3.2

I wrote a piece quite a while ago about the 60% speed ground mounts being made available at level 30 from the original level 40. I got quite a response especially since there was a discussion about whether level 40 lost some of it’s “prestige” by taking away mounts from that level. Getting your mounts earlier is always a good thing but I just felt a bit bad since getting your first mount used to be one of the highlights of hitting level 40, among a few other things.

Well if you thought you got excited about the change to get your regular ground mount at level 30 back then you’ll really be excited for the new changes Blizzard is going to give the mount system in patch 3.2. First of all the good news from CM Zarhym about those people who already have their epic flying mount (and thus don’t need to purchase any more mount training) is that all mounts will have their summoning time reduced from 3 seconds to 1.5 seconds. This will make mounting up a bit faster, which is something I’ve always felt was quite slow especially since I’m quite used to my druid’s instant cast flight form.

According to CM Zarhym, Blizzard is also implementing the following changes listed below to the mount system in patch 3.2. While they are awesome changes because you get the mounts sooner and cheaper, it at least feels a bit weird if you think about it.

Apprentice Riding (Skill 75)

o 60% land mount speed
o Requires level 20
o Cost: 4 gold
o Mount cost: 1 gold
o Mail will be sent to players at level 20 guiding them to the riding trainer

Journeyman Riding (Skill 150)

o 100% land mount speed
o Requires level 40
o Cost: 50 gold
o Mount cost: 10 gold
o Mail will be sent to players at level 40 guiding them back to the riding trainer

Expert Riding (Skill 225)

o 150% flying mount speed; 60% land mount speed
o Requires level 60
o Cost: 600 gold (faction discounts now apply)
o Mount Cost: 50 gold
o Can now be learned in Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde)

Artisan Riding (Skill 300)

o 280% flying mount speed; 100% land mount speed
o Requires level 70
o Cost: 5,000 gold (faction discounts now apply)
o Mount Cost: 100 gold

As I said above it’s at least going to feel strange that you’ll be able to get your regular ground mount at level 20 (10 levels before Druids can get a slower travel form but let’s not get into that debate anymore since we know travel form has it’s won uses) and it’s going to feel even a stranger to get the epic ground mount 20 levels earlier at level 40. It’s also going to feel strange that you will be able to get your regular flying mount at level 60, suggesting that Blizzard isn’t worried about people just flying over the early Outlands content anymore (probably because most of us have already seen it… a lot!).

if you haven’t noticed, the regular flying mount flying speed is being changed to 150% instead of 60% but the ground speed will still remain 60%. So if you’re leveling an alt right now and still will be by the time patch 3.2 comes out, these changes to the mount system will be something to look forward to.