Patch 3.2: Mount Changes

UPDATE
They are also making changes to class forms and class quest that increase movement speeds.

Druid Forms	New Level
Travel Form	16
Flight Form*	60
Swift Flight Form	70

*Flight Form has also received the speed increase to 150% instead of 60%.

Hunter Aspects	New Level
Cheetah	16

No other changes noted as of yet.

Shaman Forms	New Level
Ghost Wolf	16

No other changes noted as of yet.

Paladin Mounts	New Level
Warhorse	20
Charger	40

No mention yet of what changes may occur to the quest itself. Will they do away with it? Will they leave it there simply for the achievement? Will they replace the reward with something else? Who knows.

Warlock Mounts	New Level
Felsteed	20
Dreadsteed	40

No mention yet of what changes may occur to the quest itself. Will they do away with it? Will they leave it there simply for the achievement? Will they replace the reward with something else? Who knows.

End Update

The most frequent complaint I see when talking to old players about rolling new characters, is that they don’t want to go back to having to run everywhere on foot. Everyone loves their epic mounts, and being forced to run again just kills them. Well, apparently level 30 wasn’t enough for those people and Blizzard decided to do something about it.

My thanks to yet another Twitter friend, @Arrens for pointing this information out to me.

As if the New Druid Cat and Dire Bear Forms were not enough, Blizzard has also decided it is time once again to lower the level and cost requirements for mounts.

In Patch 3.2 you will now be able to purchase your first mount at level 20 instead of level 30. That’s right, you heard me – Riding Skill (60% speed) is now going to be trainable at level 20! The skill is now only going to cost a whopping 4g, plus an extra 1g for the mount itself. So for the low, low cost of just 5 shiny gold coins you too can run around the world at 60% run speed!

Changes have been made to everything except Epic Flying and Cold Weather Flying:

Mount Type	New Lv Req	New Price
Regular Ground Mount	20	Training: 4g, Mount: 1g
Epic Ground Mount	40	Training: 50g, Mount: 10g
Regular Flying Mount	60	Training: 600g*, Mount: 50g
Epic Flying Mount	70	Training: 5,000g*, Mount: 100g
Cold Weather Flying	77	Training: 1,000g

* Faction Discounts now apply to reduce the cost of Flight Training for both Regular and Epic flying mounts.

Update:
I also found, shortly after posting this, that the casting time to summon your mounts has also been cut in half! Summoning your mount will take 1.5 seconds instead of 3 seconds as it does now.

Special Notes: Regular Flying Mounts
Speed is now increased to 150% instead of 60%. So you can now fly around in Outlands at a reasonable speed instead! The mount’s speed on land will be 60%, but the flying speed has been increased significantly.

Also, you will now be able to train your Regular Flying skill Thrallmar/Honor Hold instead of having to take the trip over to Shadowmoon Valley.

And your reputation with Thrallmar/Honor Hold will now provide their faction discounts on your regular flying mount training. You will also receive faction discounts on training your Epic Flying as well.

Let the QQ Begin!
I know when they reduced the first mounts down to level 30 just from level 40 that there was just a ton of drama flying all around about how much work people had to put in to get their mounts, and how they had to walk everywhere they went, and so on and so forth.

I expect very much the same thing going on now, not just because the mounts have been reduced even further, but mainly because of the flying mounts dropping down to level 60.

With as much crying as there was just from the riding mount dropping by 10 levels, I’m sure people are going to go half-insane with flying mounts doing the same. The most ridiculous part of this QQ is the fact that the ones with the tears rolling down their faces are going to be the ones that have already been sitting at level 80 for 6 months, who will not be impacted by this in the least.

If you’re bothered by the change, then ask yourself this: “Does that someone else having a mount at level 20 impact my gameplay at all?” And the correct answer to that question is “No, it doesn’t.”

Those who QQ about this topic will receive no sympathy from me.

Let the Fun Begin!
Since I’m the kind of guy who plays this game for fun, and the majority of my fun comes from leveling characters, I absolutely love this change. It does potentially kind of suck for Shamans and Druids who already get fast moving forms (+40% speed) at level 20, but a lot of people use those forms instead of spending money on the mounts anyway.

The articles that I have linked down at the bottom point out that the whole point of this change is to make leveling a bit easier and less stressful by providing more tools for you to use while you’re leveling. The experience in Outlands is going to speed up because you have a faster flying mount that you can get almost right away instead of waiting until you’re already prepared to move on into Northrend.

I think this is a wonderful change and I fully support it. I see no reason to bother crying or complaining about it as everyone who would have any reason to do so is already above and beyond where it would have any impact on them to begin with.

Bravo, Blizzard! Bravo!

Giving Credit Where It’s Due
You can find the article I found my information on Here.

And for more information, you can look Here.