Mounts

Mounts are the animals and machines characters ride to travel faster. In Classic a character can learn to ride at level 40, and the first mount is one of the biggest purchases of a character's life. A faster "epic" mount at level 60 costs ten times as much, and the rare mounts that drop from bosses or come from PvP ranks were among the most visible status symbols in the game.

Riding at 40 and 60

At level 40 a character can train the riding skill and buy a mount from their race's breeder. A normal mount raises running speed by 60%. Training costs 90 gold and the mount itself 10 gold, so the total is 100 gold, at a time when most players reaching 40 had saved only a fraction of that. Many characters reached 45 or later before they could afford one. Being honored with the vendor's faction takes 10% off.

At level 60 a character can train the higher riding skill and buy an epic mount that runs 100% faster. That costs 900 gold for the training and 100 gold for the mount, 1,000 gold in all. For years it was the main long-term goal for players who were not raiding, and guilds sometimes pooled gold to help members afford one.

Mounts in Classic cannot be used indoors or in most dungeons.

Racial mounts

Each race has its own breeder and riding trainer, usually near its starting zone:

• Humans: horses from Katie Hunter in Elwynn Forest, such as the [Brown Horse Bridle].
• Dwarves: rams from Veron Amberstill in Dun Morogh, such as the [White Ram].
• Night elves: nightsabers from Lelanai in Darnassus, such as the [Reins of the Striped Frostsaber].
• Gnomes: mechanostriders from Milli Featherwhistle in Dun Morogh, such as the [Red Mechanostrider].
• Orcs: wolves from Ogunaro Wolfrunner in Orgrimmar, such as the [Horn of the Timber Wolf].
• Trolls: raptors from Zjolnir in Durotar, such as the [Whistle of the Emerald Raptor].
• Tauren: kodos from Harb Clawhoof in Mulgore, such as the [Gray Kodo].
• Undead: skeletal horses from Zachariah Post in Tirisfal Glades, such as the [Red Skeletal Horse].

A character of another race can buy from a breeder once they reach exalted reputation with that race's city. Some limits stay even then: in Classic, tauren cannot ride raptors or skeletal horses, and only gnomes and dwarves can ride mechanostriders.

Class mounts

Warlocks and paladins summon their mounts with a spell instead of buying one. At level 40 a warlock learns Summon Felsteed and a paladin Summon Warhorse through a class quest, saving the price of the mount. At 60, both classes have long quest chains for epic mounts: the warlock's Summon Dreadsteed ends with a ritual inside Dire Maul, and the paladin's Summon Charger ends with a ritual in Scholomance. Both chains require dungeon groups and rare materials, and finishing them was a mark of dedication.

PvP mounts

The Honor System offers epic mounts at rank 11 (Lieutenant Commander for the Alliance, Champion for the Horde), such as the [Black War Steed Bridle] and the [Horn of the Black War Wolf]. Alterac Valley has its own: players exalted with the Frostwolf Clan can buy the [Horn of the Frostwolf Howler], and those exalted with the Stormpike Guard the [Stormpike Battle Charger].

Mounts from bosses

The rarest mounts drop from bosses, each at a low chance:

• Deathcharger's Reins ([Deathcharger's Reins]) from Baron Rivendare in Stratholme, a five-player dungeon that some players ran hundreds of times.
• The Swift Zulian Tiger ([Swift Zulian Tiger]) from High Priest Thekal and the [Swift Razzashi Raptor] from Bloodlord Mandokir in Zul'Gurub.
• The Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal ([[forever:item:21176]]) from C'Thun in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, the only Qiraji battle tank that works outside the temple.

Later history

The Burning Crusade added flying mounts and cut the price of riding training, and later expansions made mounts account-wide collectibles, with hundreds to gather. Classic Era and WoW Forever keep the 1.12 prices and levels.

Sources

• Mount on Warcraft Wiki
• Riding on Warcraft Wiki