310-speed-mounts
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Mists of Pandaria Beta: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been no longer rewards Master Riding
For players who have traversed the perils of Azeroth's holidays and emerged triumphant, a new beta build released today may put a damper on your spirits. The achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been will no longer award the Master Riding skill, which means that the account-bound mount will no longer automatically grant your alts the skill. The holiday achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been has been around since Wrath of the Lich King, before Master Riding was even a skill. The Violet Proto-Drake that was given as a reward from the meta was a 310% speed mount, something that was only offered through winning PvP seasons or through rare drops off extremely difficult end bosses in raids. When the Master Riding skill was introduced in Cataclysm, players wondered what this meant for the future of the Violet Proto-Drake. After some deliberation, it was announced that the Violet Proto-Drake would automatically grant Master Riding skill. This was all well and good in Cataclysm, but with Mists and the account-wide mount system, it meant that anyone who had completed the holiday meta could get off scot-free on any and all alts as far as paying the costs of Master Riding went. Apparently this didn't sit well, so the achievement has been adjusted. Whether or not it will remain adjusted by the time Mists goes live is up in the air. However, for those who have completed the achievement, the good news is that you'll be able to ride your Proto-Drake on any character you have. The bad news is, you'll still have to fork over the gold for extra speed on any alts that have not already learned the skill from the holiday meta in live. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
The Queue: The one with the fashion-forward warlock
Welcome to your daily dose of The Queue. With Mike Sacco quite literally powerless, his precious Queue was left unguarded and captured by Fox Van Allen. All members of the Van Allen faction shall enjoy a 5 percent buff to damage and experience for the 24-hour duration, and Spirit Shards may now be collected. Ladies and gentlemen, I have returned to host The Queue once more. I know you've missed me. You're probably saying to yourself, "Oh man, I wish Fox could do The Queue every day of the week, four times a day!" This, of course, would be folly. You can indeed have too much of a good thing. Remember when Who Wants to be a Millionaire first aired on TV? It was on maybe once a week. And then it got so popular that they started adding extra shows. Turn on your TV on Wednesday and -- boom -- there was Regis. Turn it on Thursday -- Regis. Friday -- Regis. Sunday -- Regis. Sooner or later, you couldn't even take a trip to the mens' room without seeing Regis Philbin staring back at you from the urinal, asking you who the father of quantum physics was. It's Niels Bohr, OK?! Niels freakin' Bohr. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to go to the bathroom here. Man. Sharvis asked: How has trade chat been since the last patch? Now that you can't spam in it, it seems slower-paced to me at least.
The OverAchiever: Pimp thy ride
As you've probably already read, players will be able to purchase 310 percent flying speed from trainers in Cataclysm. While this is good news for people who hate raiding, think arena was shat into existence by the most sociopathic among the development team, or spent School of Hard Knocks trying to drown themselves in the nearest body of water, the bad news is that buying your way to super-fast flying will run you a cool 5,000 gold. Outrageous, says this dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate. For anyone else who'd rather die than part with a centavo of hard-earned gold, the good news is that having even a single 310 percent flyer in your stable is enough to get you the skill free. Fortunately, there's plenty of time to snag yourself one of these coveted mounts before Cataclysm hits, and just as fortunately, each mount is the reward (or subject) of an achievement. Strategy guides for obtaining each of the remaining 310 percent mounts is definitely beyond the scope of this article (although I'll probably devote an edition of OverAchiever to nabbing the Rusted Proto-Drake, above) but we can take a visual tour of the fast flyers that any hard-working player can still get in Wrath of the Lich King.
Refer-A-Friend rocket available starting tomorrow, Tuesday April 27
Zarhym has just posted to let us all know that the previously announced X-53 Touring Rocket, the only 2-seated flying mount currently available in game, will be claimable by qualifying Refer-A-Friend accounts starting tomorrow, Tuesday April 27. With this, the Zhevra mount will be retired, so if you want it, be sure to grab it tonight. The full announcement text is behind the cut.
Breakfast Topic: Violet relief
Some of you might have already gotten your Violet Proto-Drakes, a long, strange trip that spans one full year of playing World of Warcraft. Some persistent and conscientious players have already gotten their Brewmaster title along with the meta-Achievement, and I'm pretty sure it must feel pretty good. There's no more pressure to do all the holiday achievements now, is there? It's time to kick back and chillax.For those of you who've completed the meta-Achievement, how do you feel? Does it feel good to ride around on that 310% mount? Are you among the first on your server to sport that dragonfruit-hued mount? What are you looking forward to in terms of World of Warcraft holidays now, considering you no longer have to chase after achievements? Are you excited for the new holidays and are you psyched to complete those Achievements, too, even though they're not required for the Violet Proto-Drake? Share your thoughts this morning. As for those who haven't gotten theirs, what else do you need to complete the meta?
