In an announcement on the official World of Warcraft forums Blizzard developer, Zarhym, brings news of some pretty hefty upcoming changes to mounts in Azeroth.

For example, your first mount is normally available at Level 30 with a training cost of 35 gold, and a mount cost of 10 gold. In Patch 3.2, your first mount will be available at Level 20, with the training requiring a paltry 4 gold, and the mount itself only setting you back 1 gold. These changes should definitely cut down on the need for players to farm gold in order to afford their mounts.

In the next major content patch, we intend to adjust mount requirements to further improve the leveling experience in World of Warcraft. In addition, cast times for summoning all mounts will be reduced to 1.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds. The following is a breakdown of the upcoming cost and level requirement changes we are making for each riding skill.

* 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 

Read the full announcement here.

Yeah this will be very nice!

Originally posted by Scalebane

Yeah this will be very nice!

I agree. I don't play WoW anymore since a long long time.

But this is a change they should have done long ago already.

Nothing was more frustrating then having to wait till level 40 for a mount.

Cheers

I don't know what the fuzz is all about when it comes to grinding gold in WoW... I had no problem buying my mount (and riding skill) way back on level 40.

Problem is with the players themself... They're so spoled to buy all new stuff the moment they hit next level, that they burn their gold as fast as they get it... How long will an item last when you're under level 40 (or 60 for that matter)..? Not long enough to be worthy to change immediately when you *DING* and buy the newest hottest thing in AH available...
Heck, my character has now already enough gold (lvl 63 - not playing WoW anymore though) to buy a flying mount at old prices (not sure if they lowered that one too)...

PPL, just learn how to play a game, save some gold and you don't have trouble buying a mount on 35...

IMO it's just an other way of Blizzard to say "hey, lets make it the kids even easier then it already is to play our game". The excuse of RMT is plain nonsence (I know, they didn't mention it in the article, but that's the main drive behind it...)

Having 3 characters at LvL 80 with all of them having all riding-skills available I can't keep scratching my head.

Blizzard want's to dumb down WoW more and more, because they want to sell their new MMO which will be announced soon, and released sometime end of 2010 it seems.

Theres nothing left of WoW. It's only the money-printing-machine to fund their new MMO, and after that WoW will die.

About time.  They should just go ahead and allow mounts at level 1 and take away the stupid Northrend cold weather requirments(because they are a nuisance and stupid).

Quite a sad thing today in mmorpgs how everyone seems to want everything straight away. I remember the days when I spent months and months playing to get a mount and it was a special thing but now it's like heres your free gift mount and now in WoW mounts are handed out like sweets.

This is exactly why WoW is on top.

They make changes to mold their game to the current player base instead of telling them "suck it up you pussies, you're not HARDCORE enough to play our game".

Blizzard is always doing what it can to make the game more accessible to new players instead of chasing them off with a shot gun.

Its a good thing you forum dwelling zombies dont run an MMORPG.

 Bah. You should be able to buy a mount at level 10.Travel times in World of Warcraft are ridiculous.

I long for the day they implement Fast Travel so that you do not have to sit through 15 minutes of flight time to get from one continent to the other. Once I fly there once or twice, Iknow the scenery..its pretty..I don't have to sit through it each and every trip.

And..some way to Summon other players. Something that can be crafted and sold in the Auction House or something. And no, depending on Mage Players isn't an option for most people. Mage players have things to do on their characters too, they aren't taxis.

It's one of the things that prevents me from helping out other players and friends...knowing its going to take bloody 10 minutes to get there. I'd be much more likely to group and play in all areas if that travel time was not so onerous. 

Definitely a step in the right direction, but they could do even more in my view.

The fantastic conclusion one can draw from this though, is that they recognise there's a problem.

Originally posted by Teala

About time.  They should just go ahead and allow mounts at level 1 and take away the stupid Northrend cold weather requirments(because they are a nuisance and stupid).

Because the game isn't easy enough as it is?

Seriously, Cold Weather Flying is barely a "restriction" at all. If raising the gold for it is an issue, then I really don't know what to say, it takes a paltry amount of gold to purchase the skill. One day running dailies is far from rough.

It's opinions like this that are the reason 40 man raiding has been done away with, and the game is repeatedly being dumbed down to the point of childlike simplicity. Everyone wants to look shiny and badass, but nobody wants to have to actually earn anything anymore.

If it takes any significant period of time to accomplish something, players whine en masse and have the content and mechanics nerfed to oblivion in order to further there own self centered goals for easy advancement.

Sad.

Originally posted by Xiaoki

This is exactly why WoW is on top.

They make changes to mold their game to the current player base instead of telling them "suck it up you pussies, you're not HARDCORE enough to play our game".

Blizzard is always doing what it can to make the game more accessible to new players instead of chasing them off with a shot gun.

Its a good thing you forum dwelling zombies dont run an MMORPG.

 

I'm sorry but I don't agree with a company ruining a game because people whine on the forums. Mounts were fine before, and if people are to lazy to farm a little gold for it, they don't deserve to ride it. This is 1 of the reasons I don't like WoW. They may be the richest mmo out there, but personally I don't consider them the top mmo. I relize they are in the business to make money, and they know how to do that. Personally I would like to have a quality game under my name.

Pretty soon WoW will play itself for the player...

I agree that it's pretty good they are rolling with their base.  However, I just have one question:

Why isn't this in the WoW forums?  It DOES deal just with WoW, right?

Funny how so many people don't play WOW but feel like its their life's dream to chime in when Blizzard does something to make the game more accessible to players.

To be honest, this change makes complete sense.

For example, let's look at flying mounts. You run all throughout Outland until level 68 (when you can go to Northrend and get quests - which is highly recommended due to the jump in exp and gear).

However, as it stands, you have to go back to Outland to get your flying mount and train.

And what is your reward? Congratulations - you need to wait 8 more levels to use your cool new mount because you have to train Cold Weather Flying at 78.

Am I the only one this doesn't make sense too?

At least now you can get a cool new flying mount, (Congrats and Welcome to Outland) and use it for a while until you cannot any longer.

Some trolls really need to get over themselves - the game changes as the game ages and at least Blizzard is smart enough to make the game more accessible instead of giving in to the whiny, elitist trolls who want everything their way. hell, its probably the same ones who wanted DAOC to do the /level 20 command which ruined the game because they were too damn lazy to level a character from level 1-20.

I am glad Blizzard does what they think is best.

Originally posted by Nicksd

Originally posted by Xiaoki

This is exactly why WoW is on top.

They make changes to mold their game to the current player base instead of telling them "suck it up you pussies, you're not HARDCORE enough to play our game".

Blizzard is always doing what it can to make the game more accessible to new players instead of chasing them off with a shot gun.

Its a good thing you forum dwelling zombies dont run an MMORPG.

 

 

I'm sorry but I don't agree with a company ruining a game because people whine on the forums. Mounts were fine before, and if people are to lazy to farm a little gold for it, they don't deserve to ride it. This is 1 of the reasons I don't like WoW. They may be the richest mmo out there, but personally I don't consider them the top mmo. I relize they are in the business to make money, and they know how to do that. Personally I would like to have a quality game under my name.

Pretty soon WoW will play itself for the player...

Actually, there has been little to no whining over this issue. Blizzard realized the leveling dynamics have changed, as the level has increased to 80, so they made a much needed change to how mount works (see my above post for an example).

Originally posted by templarga

Originally posted by Nicksd

Originally posted by Xiaoki

This is exactly why WoW is on top.

They make changes to mold their game to the current player base instead of telling them "suck it up you pussies, you're not HARDCORE enough to play our game".

Blizzard is always doing what it can to make the game more accessible to new players instead of chasing them off with a shot gun.

Its a good thing you forum dwelling zombies dont run an MMORPG.

 

 

I'm sorry but I don't agree with a company ruining a game because people whine on the forums. Mounts were fine before, and if people are to lazy to farm a little gold for it, they don't deserve to ride it. This is 1 of the reasons I don't like WoW. They may be the richest mmo out there, but personally I don't consider them the top mmo. I relize they are in the business to make money, and they know how to do that. Personally I would like to have a quality game under my name.

Pretty soon WoW will play itself for the player...

Actually, there has been little to no whining over this issue. Blizzard realized the leveling dynamics have changed, as the level has increased to 80, so they made a much needed change to how mount works (see my above post for an example).

My comment wasn't mainly for this change, but overall what they have done to the game throughtout the years. I will point out I have played since beta to up to a few months ago, I am not someone who just jumps on the WoW haters bandwagon. I don't think this change is needed really, leveling in WoW is hardly a choir. It really doesn't take long to get from place to place.

Wow.. I remember my epic land mount costing 1000g. When I got it, I was so happy because it was rare to have them. For me mmo's were all about building up a character, and blizz is throwing that away. 1g for a mount!? Seriously? How can you feel any sense of accomplishment when mounts are crazy-easy to get? You can vendor good for nothing grays for more then that..

Originally posted by haggus71

I agree that it's pretty good they are rolling with their base.  However, I just have one question:

Why isn't this in the WoW forums?  It DOES deal just with WoW, right?

Its a news announcement so its in that section.

Heres a nice blue post about it

"The game has gotten quite a bit longer, and allowing players to get from A to B faster only very minimally decreases difficulty; more so, it decreases time spent traveling. We don't want to discourage players from trying out the game if they have not yet, and we especially don't want to discourage existing players from trying out new characters because the leveling process from 1-80 seems too daunting after flying around Northrend grabbing purples for a while.

Whether you leveled your first character from 1-60 within a month of the game's release when the leveling curve was less forgiving, and mounts seemed like a distant dream, or you leveled a character from 1-80 in the last month with mounts a little sooner, and experience gains a little accelerated from 1-70, no one's game play experience and fun -- the reason most people would play video games in their spare time in the first place -- is at all cheapened."

Originally posted by Reizla

I don't know what the fuzz is all about when it comes to grinding gold in WoW... I had no problem buying my mount (and riding skill) way back on level 40.

Problem is with the players themself... They're so spoled to buy all new stuff the moment they hit next level, that they burn their gold as fast as they get it... How long will an item last when you're under level 40 (or 60 for that matter)..? Not long enough to be worthy to change immediately when you *DING* and buy the newest hottest thing in AH available...
Heck, my character has now already enough gold (lvl 63 - not playing WoW anymore though) to buy a flying mount at old prices (not sure if they lowered that one too)...

PPL, just learn how to play a game, save some gold and you don't have trouble buying a mount on 35...

IMO it's just an other way of Blizzard to say "hey, lets make it the kids even easier then it already is to play our game". The excuse of RMT is plain nonsence (I know, they didn't mention it in the article, but that's the main drive behind it...)

Agreed. I cracked open my old account for a month recently just to see what was new and I couldn't believe how easy the game had become. A few more patches and it will play itself. It will be like watching television.

Euphoryk - thanks for proving me right. If it was up to people like you WoW would still have a max level of 60, would still have 40 man raids and the raiding progression and difficulty would be so steep that no guild in the world be past Kael'thas in Tempest Keep. Because the game should only be enjoyed by the top 1% or not at all.

Nicksd - yeah, you were in beta and played for four years and blah blah blah. So, how exactly is lowering the cost and level for mounts "ruining the game"? I would really like to hear how a change made for low level and mostly new players is going to ruin the entire game.

Wiggs1992 - yeah, you may just have to build up your character with skill and accomplishments rather than just buying your way to one. Oh no.