epic-flying-mount
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Ask a Beta Tester: More on phasing and starter zones
Welcome back to Ask a Beta Tester on this Maintenance Day Tuesday. Let's get started right away with webrunner's question... Have you seen any interesting/fun usable gear with cool procs or use abilities, or is it just stats, stats, stats till the Tauren come home?There are plenty of trinkets with this sort of thing, but not weapons or robes or anything like that. Trinkets are much more common as quest rewards in Wrath than they were before, and you get a pretty wide range of effects. On weapons, it's all stats of various flavors.
Revisiting epic flyer costs
Drysc has written a book about epic flying mount costs on the forums -- there aren't many goldsinks left in the game, but that 5000g you've got to pay for an epic flying mount is still there for sure (just ask anyone who doesn't have one).He says that yes, the flying mount is definitely worth it (it makes playing the game much faster, since most of the time spent in the game is actually travel anyway), but also that actually obtaining an epic flyer was always meant to be optional -- only for players who want to "go the extra mile." Not sure how he can say both of those things at the same time, but there you go. He also says the main consideration in the cost wasn't any effect on the economy, but rather simply making sure that it took a certain amount of time for players to obtain all that gold -- they averaged how quickly players could pick up gold versus how long they wanted players to work for the mount, and arrived at 5000g.There is some (kind of) good news on the horizon for players who don't want to spend all that money, however. If and/or when Blizzard releases a higher riding skill, Drysc says they'll probably drop the price on this one. Of course, that doesn't really tell us anything concrete -- with the onset of siege vehicles, there may be all kinds of changes to how riding and driving works in the game. Until then, keep grinding, because apparently the only thing that will get you flying fast is a whole lot of gold.
Breakfast Topic: What are you doing with all that gold?
So, now that the Daily quest limit is up to 25 and we have a whole ton of new quests to do courtesy of the Sunwell dailies, a lot of us are starting to build up quite a large bankroll. In addition to the monetary rewards, we're getting tons of green items (that disenchant into very lucrative things such as Greater Planar Essences and Large Prismatic Shards), a good selection of Sunfury Signets and tons of Arcane Tomes from all the Blood Elves we're fighting. All those green gems I've hoarded over the months are finally paying off for me, since my Jewelcrafting mule is able to turn them into Brilliant Glass, and I've even had a blue recipe or two drop that's sold for a pretty penny.
Birds of prey: Is Druid epic flight form OP in PvP
I was sitting at dinner with a buddy of mine (I'll call him Zebulon), excited about the prospects of being one of WoW Insider's newest bloggers. He suggested that I should write a post on why Druid's Swift Flight Form is "OP." I thought he was just whining, so in my least empathic voice I said, "QQ more nub, you knew what you signed up for on a PvP server." As it turns out Zebulon had a run-in with a shifter who really knew how to use his class abilities. As he was flying back from Skettis daily questing high above Terorkkar Forest, Zebulon, who was playing a Rogue, was ambushed by a Druid in Swift Flight Form. The attacker flew above him and shifted into caster form. The Druid cast Insect Swarm and began spamming Moonfire as he dropped toward the ground. The altitude permitted the Druid to break combat and return to flight form. Because of the speed boost from epic flight form the Druid was able to make another pass. Damaged, dotted, and desperate, Zebulon searched for a safe body of water to drop into. The plan was to dismount into the water, Cloak of Shadows, and then Vanish from the attacker. No luck- HK for the Druid.
Around Azeroth: Run away!
Reader Sigyn of Grim Batol (EU) offers us this shot from Nagrand, where we see poor Sigyn being chased by a blast from one of the cannons in Forge Camp: Hate. But if you're familiar with the landscape of Nagrand, there's something wrong with this picture... Sigyn doesn't seem to be near either of the forge camps in Nagrand. How did this happen? Apparently with an epic flying mount and a riding crop you can outpace them, and apparently Sigyn had been kiting this one all over Nagrand for fun.Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? Because we'd love to see your idea of the best looking instance on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!
Gallery: Turbo-Charged Flying Machine
Patch 2.3 injected a whole lot of new life into the game -- from unexpected class buffs to nasty jungle trolls, the latest patch from Blizzard gave a whole lot of bang for the buck. When it comes to bang, however, arguably the loudest, most spectacular one comes from the new Engineering flying mount. This whirling, sputtering thingamajig -- which Blizzard poster Drysc has called "the best flying mount in the game" had Engineers scrambling to get their Hula Girl Doll from that purportedly perfidious peddler Griftah as soon as 2.3 went live. Don't believe the hype? Check out our latest gallery to get up close and personal with the Turbo-Charged Flying Machine. Don't get too close, though. That exhaust can get really nasty.%Gallery-10309%
Money money money by the pound
I get the feeling that I am missing something. All around me my friends and guild mates are raking in the cash, sporting multiple epic flying mounts and I sit idly by on my little Snowy Gryphon wondering where I am going wrong. I know of people on my server and others that are walking around with 10k + gold in their pockets (and boy they must jingle a lot) and I am at a loss. Knowing that I have a marvelous resource out there in you readers, I figured it was time to ask the experts. How do I make mad cash? Some suggest doing daily quests, and valiantly I tried that, getting about 800g before alts claimed a good chunk of it for gear and training. I know I should ignore alts if I want to raise cash, but at least one of them is a pet project that I can't give up simply because of money. I have also been told that working the AH is a great way to make cash, and when I tried to manipulate the market I ended up losing 200g to AH fees and barely any sales were made. That just doesn't seem to be a good use of resources to me.I ask this question of everyone I know that has managed to get an epic mount, and the answers are so varied I know not what path to take. It appears that within this game as in the real world, in order to make money you have to already have some. Unfortunately, all my previous rainy day funds were spent on building my gear and enchanting it for raiding. Where does that leave me? Not broke, but so far from epic flight training I wonder if I will be ready for the next riding tier when WotLK is released. What do you suggest? What are the best ways to rake in the dough?
Epic mount price drop rumors
Some people are passing the rumor around that the Epic Flying Mount prices have dropped to 3000g on the PTR. This is not true. The price is still 5000g and will probably remain so until there is another expansion or later. Drysc confirms: Depending on how mount riding skills are going to progress, the most likely point for a price drop would be with the release of the next expansion, just as the ground mount prices dropped when Burning Crusade was released. Again it would likely depend on a few factors, and may actually not change. But that's a question for a later time.Three days have passed since Quiham first posted this topic and it is still on the front page of the WoW General Discussion Forum, so this is a hot topic.Do you think, as Mike does, that the current Epic Flying Mount price is too steep? Or are you happy that only the privileged few have them? Or do you agree with many of the posters, that the "privileged few" = "players with no life outside WoW"?
Goal!
Sometimes I find myself just standing around somewhere while lost in a deep conversation with a friend, perhaps wandering my character around in some pattern while I talk. It feels good to just let go of time, and immerse myself in that conversation.Some of my friends, however, would never do this, because they have solid goals that they always want to work towards achieving. Whether it's getting keyed for a high-level instance, attaining some new gear for fighting in PvP, or even just leveling up a new alt they like, many players seem to be in motion all the time. Sitting down to talk just doesn't feel productive, especially if they've reached the level cap and there's no such thing as rested experience anymore.Once, a friend of mine told me about his brother's 3 level 70 characters and several other characters getting close to 70. He said his brother is always doing something related to leveling or gear whenever he logs into the game. Sometimes I inspect someone I know, and as I mouse over their various epic items, I feel like I'm getting left behind, like maybe I should get busy like my friend's brother, doing something --anything -- to get farther along in the game. Something inside me says, "What do I need to do to get that item or level up that kind of alt? ... but wait a minute... How much do I really want that? Am I playing this game for the loot, or am I playing it for something else?"
