This fortnight, Z & Cinder want to know
What is your favourite mount, and why?
Do you have one mount in game that is your absolute favourite? Or are there are few you swap between? Or does each of your characters have a different favourite mount?
I wrote on the same topic four years ago for another series of blogging prompts. Let’s see what’s changed — or not — since then…
Each of my characters has a certain subset of mounts that she prefers, so each has her own custom mount macros to summon them. I use the Favorites feature of the mounts tab to curate the subset of mounts that may appear at my Garrison Stables or be summoned by Aludane Whitecloud when I fly from Dalaran.
All of my characters have the Grand Expedition Yak on their action bars for anytime-anywhere Transmogrification. Most of my 100+ characters also have the Azure Water Strider on their action bars for easy access to water walking — even Kamalia and Kregga, who have class abilities that provide that skill. I keep these mounts at the bottom of my right action bars, with my regular mount macros at the top of my right action bars.
Kamalia has four mount macros.
She loves kodos and has all of the available kodo mounts except the recent elite PVP Vicious War Kodo.
Sometimes, however, kodos seem too big and awkward, and she wants a mount with a smaller profile. Her macro of smaller ground mounts summons the Swift Zhevra, White or Tan or Silver Riding Talbuk, Swift Brewfest Ram, White or Brown or Black Riding Goat, Blue Shado-Pan Riding Tiger, Spirit of Eche’ro, Llothien Prowler, or the Leatherworker-only Dustmane Direwolf.
Her flying mounts are divided into dragons and smaller creatures.
Her favorite dragons are the Albino, Bronze, Red, Black, and Blue classic drakes; the Azure and Veridian Netherwing drakes; the Golden, Onyx, Jade, and Azure Cloud Serpents; and the Enchanted Fey Dragon.
Her smaller flying mounts of choice are the Argent, Cenarion, Flameward, and Emerald Hippogryphs; the Tawny Windrider and Grand Wyvern; the Red Flying Cloud; the basic and Jade Pandaren Kites; the Mystic Runesaber; and the Luminous Starseeker.
Kaelinda keeps the Mystic Runesaber separately on her bars for whenever she is in Suramar. When I finish the Insurrection campaign and get the Arcanist’s Manasaber, I will make a macro that will summon either manasaber mount — and when I purchase Battle for Azeroth and do the scenario to finish unlocking the Nightborne Allied Race, I will add the Nightborne Manasaber to Kaelinda’s manasaber mount macro.
Kaelinda also loves her chocobos hawkstriders. Her ground mount macro is all the colorful hawkstriders (Blue, Purple, Red, Silvermoon, Swift Green, Swift Pink, Swift Purple, and Swift White), plus the Creeping Carpet and the Llothien Prowler.
Kaelinda’s flying mount macro consists of the flying carpets (basic, Magnificent, and Frosty) that she can make and use because she is a Tailor, plus the Ashes of Al’ar, Red Flying Cloud, Celestial Steed (about which I wrote a lengthy story), Winged Guardian, Enchanted Fey Dragon, and Luminous Starseeker.
Someday, perhaps, she will have the Archmage’s Prismatic Disc.
Kiralaira doesn’t like the special Illidari Felsaber mount, so she uses the Red Shado-Pan Riding Tiger instead.
When she needs to fly, she uses the Red Flying Cloud or one of the Netherwing Drakes.
Ketura thinks kodos are too big and ungainly. She would much rather have a sleek, brightly colored raptor. Her favorite raptors are her Venomhide Ravasaur that she raised from the egg; the Fossilized Raptor; and the Darkspear, Swift Blue, Swift Olive, Swift Orange, Swift Purple, Black War, Emerald, Turquoise, and Violet raptors. Her ground mount macro also summons the Crimson Primal Direhorn. Because she is an engineer, she keeps the Mechano-Hog available separately on her bars.
I recently started farming ZG for the Armored Razzashi Raptor, but it may be a long time yet before it drops for me.
As an engineer, her preferred flying mounts are the ones she’s built herself: the Flying Machine, Turbo-Charged Flying Machine, and Geosynchronous World Spinner.
Kelisanna used to favor the Black Hawkstrider almost exclusively. When Kaelinda obtained the Llothien Prowler last fall, however, Keli decided that that a sly fox also suited her, so now she has a macro that will summon either mount. After she took up Engineering, she wanted to ride mechanical mounts, too, so she has a separate ground mount macro that calls forth the Mechano-Hog, Goblin Trike, or Goblin Turbo-Trike.
For flying, she prefers the Red Flying Cloud or the Geosynchronous World Spinner, which she keeps separately on her bars.
Someday, perhaps, she will have the Shadowblade’s Omen.
Kalaneia has enough sense of propriety and respect for her people’s allies that she has one macro for her demon steeds (Felsteed and Dreadsteed for now; may someday include the Netherlord’s Wrathsteeds) and one for other mounts that she uses in places like Thunder Bluff (Black, Swift Red, and Sunreaver Hawkstriders; Raven Lord; Flametalon of Alysrazor; Swift Forest Strider).
When flying, she likes mounts that evoke the colors of casting a Shadow Bolt — Green Wind Rider, Dark Phoenix, Twilight Drake, and Corrupted Dreadwing — and also the Dread Raven and Sunreaver Dragonhawk.
Kaohana is also a Tailor, so she has a macro just for the Flying Carpets. She is fond of the heavenly colors of blue and white.
Her ground mounts are the White Kodo, Great White Kodo, Swift Springstrider, White Riding Goat, White Riding Talbuk, White Polar Bear, Golden Riding Crane, Swift White Hawkstrider, Blue Hawkstrider, and Blue Shado-Pan Riding Tiger.
Her flying mounts are the Albino Drake, Argent Hippogryph, Ashes of Al’ar, Blue Wind Rider, Celestial Steed, Red Flying Cloud, Winged Guardian, Azure Cloud Serpent, Enchanted Fey Dragon, Blue Drake, and Sapphire Panther.
Karaelia loves her Sunwalker Kodos, of course, but her time at the Argent Tournament also gave her a great fondness for horses (Argent Charger, Argent Warhorse, Swift Zhevra, Celestial Steed; may someday include the Highlord’s Golden Charger).
In flight, she prefers mounts that evoke divine light: the Ashes of Al’ar, Celestial Steed, Winged Guardian, Golden Cloud Serpent, and Argent Hippogryph, plus the Sapphire Panther that, as a Jewelcrafter, she made herself.
Keija has very simple, uncomplicated preferences. The only ground mount she uses regularly is the Black War Kodo.
When she wants to fly long distances, she uses the Red, Bronze, Black, Blue, or Albino Drake.
When she needs a smaller flying mount for more precise landings, she uses the Tawny Wind Rider or Grand Wyvern.
Kregga does the Black Knight thing and rides lots of black mounts — but it also amuses her to be a Black Knight on a White Horse and use lots of white mounts, too.
Her ground mounts are the Acherus Deathcharger, Black War Kodo, Black War Raptor, Black Riding Goat, Black Hawkstrider, Regal Riding Crane, Great White Kodo, White Skeletal Warhorse, White Riding Talbuk, Swift White Hawkstrider, and the ghostly Spirit of Eche’ro.
Her flying mounts are the Winged Steed of the Ebon Blade, Onyx Netherwing Drake, Onyx Cloud Serpent, Black Drake, Onyxian Drake, Albino Drake, and the frosty Blue Wind Rider.
Katewatha is fascinated by all things Pandaren.
Her ground mounts are the Green and Great Green Dragon Turtles, Blonde and Grey Riding Yaks, and Blue Shado-Pan Riding Tiger.
Her flying mounts are the Red Flying Cloud; basic and Jade Pandaren Kites; and Jade, Onyx, Azure, and Golden Cloud Serpents.
Someday, perhaps, she will have Ban-Lu, the Grandmaster’s Companion.
Kerisa doesn’t use mounts much because Travel Form is more fun.
When she does use a ground mount, she uses the originally-Druid-exclusive Raven Lord or its upgraded appearance, the Dread Raven.
On the rare occasions that she needs to be on a flying mount instead of in Stormcrow form, she uses the Cenarion War Hippogryph.
Kaumaleia‘s preferred mounts coordinate with her own white-and-blue color scheme: the Cobalt Riding Talbuk, the Blue Wind Rider, or the Cobalt Netherwing Drake.
Kaylynda loves horses. She is so excited to see the horse models getting an upgrade in Battle for Azeroth and hopes to compete in the Norwington Estate horse show.
On land, she travels on the Brown Horse, Chestnut Mare, Black Stallion, Swift Zhevra, Quel’dorei Steed, Celestial Steed, Argent Warhorse, or Spectral Steed — or the Golden King.
I haven’t separated her flying mounts into large (Albino, Bronze, Red, Blue, Black, and Twilight Drakes; and Enchanted Fey Dragon) and small (Golden, Ebon, Armored Snowy, and Grand Gryphons; Silver Covenant Hippogryph; Mystic Runesaber; and Luminous Starseeker) yet.
My Void Elf Mage will use her racial mount, plus the Winterspring Frostsaber, Swift Moonsaber, Dark Phoenix, Twilight Drake, Purple and Violet Netherwing Drakes, and Voidtalon of the Dark Star.
My Nightborne Mage will use her racial mount, plus the Mystic Runesaber, Arcanist’s Manasaber, and Leywoven Flying Carpet (if the darn thing ever drops for Kaelinda, that is).
Each of the Minor Mages used to have a mount macro that collected my favorite colors of her racial mounts, but the Horde gals lost their mount macros when I server transferred them a few weeks ago, and I haven’t bothered to re-create them yet. For each of them, I’ve just pulled out my most favorite color of her racial mount onto her action bar… except for Kivrinne; I just don’t like the skeletal horses, so her mount of choice is now the Swift Zhevra.
I would like to have the Green Drake, but while most of Dragon Soul is a pushover by now, the one time I tried to solo Spine of Deathwing, I got so frustrated by how the mechanics are actually made more difficult by OP DPS that I decided it wasn’t worth it to put myself through all that nonsense just for a tiny tiny chance that the Blazing Drake might drop from Madness of Deathwing. I wish that the final drake for the Awake the Drakes achievement was Experiment 12-B from Ultraxion instead of the Blazing Drake… sigh…
I would like to have the pink hippogryph, and I’ve seen an Ephemeral Crystal a few times, but I’ve never been in the right sort of mood to drop what I was doing to go looking in every single itty bitty nook and cranny in Azsuna trying to find the rest of them before time runs out. I’m discouraged by the blog entries I’ve read from people who’ve gotten it because they’ve all reported needing help from other folks to find enough of the crystals within the time limit. Now that I have flying, I guess I should give the Ephemeral Crystal treasure hunt a try… but if I don’t succeed on the first attempt, I might not ever try it again.
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Thanks for this topic, Z & Cinder! I’ve been wanting to write a blog post like this for quite a while 😀
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Kamalia et alia 