Wow Wednesday – Giddy up!
By Meredith Watson, OnRPG Azeroth Journalist
The World of Warcraft currently has over 300 mounts including both land and flying. There are numerous ways to get a mount from buying one to crafting mounts to grinding faction reputation but the ones that are the most coveted are the ones that are drops. Players will spend countless hours farming for these rare and precious mounts. I am no exception. I decided last week I would try to get the Swift White Hawkstrider off of Kael’thas Sunstrider in Magister’s Terrace. It has a 4% drop rate so it would be doable with a little patience. Luckily for me, I have five characters that can easily solo heroic Magisters. I was able to get the drop on the second day after about eight attempts.
There is one dropped mount I want more than any other. One that requires an enormous amount of dedication or just plain dumb luck. It is the Baron Rivendale’s Deathcharger. It has a 0.7% chance to drop. A positively minuscule chance compared to the other dropped mounts. When I see another player with it I can’t help be a tiny bit envious. Player’s talk of hundreds of Stratholme runs and it still not dropping or as one player states “It finally dropped on my 269th run. Seriously guys, it’s a grind.” Unlike heroics where some of these dropped mounts are found, there isn’t a lockout on Stratholme. So, at least there is that.
During The Burning Crusade the mount to have was Attumen the Huntsman’s mount, Midnight. Midnight is a red horse with glowing green fel hooves and has about a 1% drop rate. In all my runs of Karazhan during TBC, I saw it drop once.
If Midnight was all the rage in TBC then Invincible, the Lich King’s mount, was the mount to have in WotLK. It has a 1.7% chance to drop which is a bit better than Midnight. But what makes Invincible truly unique is that the mount has an incredible back story:
Arthas’ exertion in the numbing cold resulted in a crippling injury to his beloved Invincible. Too far from help and unable to heal the stricken horse, Arthas was forced to kill him in order to relieve his pain. He was buried on the grounds of the Balnir Farmstead at Arthas’ request. Invincible’s death was one of the events that inspired Arthas to become a paladin. After the fall of Lordaeron years later, Arthas – now a death knight – ran directly from Lordaeron after murdering his father, to the Balnir Farmstead where Invincible was buried. With the power of Frostmourne, Arthas resurrected the horse as his undead steed fully living up to his name, Invincible could become a spectre and disappear, to be resummoned by Arthas at any time. –WoWWiki
Maybe horses aren’t your thing. No worries, Blizzard has you covered. How about a big floating mechanized gnome head? Mimiron’s head has a 3.6% drop rate and is dropped by Yogg-Saron (25). If you are more of a cat person the Swift Zulian Panther might be more to your liking. It has a 1.01% drop rate and is dropped by High Priestess Kilnara in heroic Zul’Gurub. One of the prettiest mounts, I find, is the Ashes of A’lar. It is dropped by Kael’thas Sundstrider in The Eye and has a 2.7% drop rate. Kael’thas’ robes must be positively bursting for all the pets and mounts he has in them.
There are some dropped mounts that are guaranteed. Though it is guaranteed they will drop, it is not certain you will get it if in a raid. It is down to the roll of the dice. These guaranteed drops consistent of mainly drakes but also a camel and a seahorse.
Including the mounts mentioned above there are roughly 24 rare dropped mounts in the game with another supposedly coming in the next patch (though this might be the Bone White Primal Raptor which is earned through collecting dinosaur bones). There is a certain prestige in farming these mounts but with the addition of the black market and many of these mounts being for sale, I wonder does it cheapen the effort of farming for them? He with the most gold wins? Is that it? I certainly hope not. I know I won’t ever buy one off the black market. It would feel like cheating. No, I will get my rare mounts the old fashion way with perseverance and hopefully a lot of luck.
Would you buy a rare mount off the black market or are you farming one of the special mounts yourself?
