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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!
Zarhym clarifies account-wide achievements
Ghostcrawler did a pretty good job explaining the upcoming account-wide achievements, but some players still have questions regarding both achievements and account-wide mounts, as well. Community Manager Zarhym (@CM_Zarhym on Twitter) further clarified the account-wide achievement and mount system earlier, as well as clearing the air about the question regarding account-wide reputation. Zarhym We don't want to make reputation account-wide. We think that removes too much of the gameplay of having an alt. Harkening back to the blog, the goal is for players to feel free to play their alts. If you have a cool mount on character A, then that might be an issue. Being exalted on character A so that enchants are easier to buy doesn't seem like the same issue. (What I mean is, it's a short step from there to saying character A has better gear so you aren't going to play B). We can understand where the desire to have reputations function in this way stems from, however. For this reason faction rep is going to work a little differently in Mists of Pandaria and, we think, will feel better for players with multiple characters. source While we don't know exactly how faction reputation is going to work as of yet in Mists, it's nice to see that Blizzard is addressing the concerns of those with multiple alts. But the biggest question so far regarding account-wide achievements and mounts is what exactly the definition of "account-wide" is. Is it account-wide or Battle.net-account-wide? The wise floating skull cleared that one up for us, too.
All you need to know about account-wide mounts (so far)
Am I excited about Mists of Pandaria? Oh heck yes, I am! Of course, this is mostly from playing through the story so far. It's been pretty amazing and has just enough twists that I'm chomping at the bit for Blizzard to open the next zone or two. But I was even more excited when I saw that account-wide mounts had been implemented last week -- and for good reason. I'm a collector, and I've got over a hundred mounts on my main character. But my alts are woefully short on the mount front. With account-wide mounts, all those cool mounts I ride around on with my main will be available to all my alts too. And while I may waffle back and forth on account-wide achievements and whether I'll like them, I'm definitely behind letting all of my characters ride all of the cool things I've farmed up over time. But there is a catch here -- just because we're seeing this feature on the beta doesn't mean it will make it to live. And if it does make it to live, it may look a little different than it does right now. And right now? Things are just a little weird in spots.
Mists of Pandaria beta: Account-wide mounts are a go
It looks like those waiting for news of account-wide mounts don't have to wait any longer. The latest iteration of the Mists of Pandaria beta has introduced account-wide mounts on all characters. This means that any mount you currently have on your main will be granted to your alts as soon as they reach the appropriate level to obtain them, as well as any achievements associated with the mounts. I tested this on a level 85 premade monk as well as a freshly copied-over level 81 druid just to see what would and would not copy, and I was pleased to see that the Amani War Bear from the original version of Zul'Aman made the transfer. I was even more delighted to see that the Violet Proto-Drake, granted from the achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, was also included in the list. Master Riding, required for 310% speed flying, is not granted along with it. Characters who do not have Master Riding will still have to purchase it from a trainer, regardless of the mount being available to ride. However, as far as I can see, there are no exceptions to the list of mounts as of yet. Obviously this may change as the beta progresses, but for now, players can look forward to enjoying all of those sweet mounts on all of their characters in the beta. Edit: It appears that mounting the Violet Proto-Drake on my level 81 without the Master Riding ability gave the character Master Riding. Whether this is something that will make it to live or not, we don't know -- but it's certainly something to enjoy on the beta! 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 OverAchiever: Mountain O' Mounts from achievements
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, 10 little points are all that stand between us and a new ... something. Many of the mounts this week be familiar to you if you've read The OverAchiever: Pimp Thy Ride, which I wrote before the Cataclysm content patch with an eye toward the number of people who wanted to slap a 310% mount on their toons before it had to be trained. Sadly, none of the mounts described in that article, barring one, will grant Master Riding for free now. Also read: Combining The Ambassador and Mountain O' Mounts Mountain O' Mounts in Outland Mountain O' Mounts in Northrend Mountain O' Mounts in 5-man dungeons Mountain O' Mounts in raids
Long, Strange Trip achievement will award Master Flying
The recent changes with Patch 4.0.1 introduced the Master Riding skill, which allows players to purchase 310 percent riding speed for all flying mounts, for a cost. The upsides to this are nice -- instead of mount speed being assigned per mount, mount speed is now being assigned by riding skill, and mounts will go faster according to your riding skill. In other words, all those 60 percent speed ground mounts you have in your bags will now move at 100 percent speed when you learn Journeyman riding at level 40. The downside to this, however, is that achievement drakes have been changed as a result and will no longer fly at 310 percent speed. Instead, they will fly at your highest riding skill level, and you will have to purchase Master Riding to fly faster. This was all well and good for the Ulduar and Icecrown drakes, which will be progressively easier to get as we level to 85 and beyond. But for those people just one or two steps away from completing the achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, an achievement that takes a full year to complete regardless of what level you happen to be, this was a crushing blow. Guess what guys? You can breathe a sigh of relief -- it's been fixed! Zarhym I provided an update in the lengthy thread about Master riding, so in case it gets missed I'm throwing it up in its own non-sticky thread for now. http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27187849344&sid=1&pageNo=28 I have a slight update to spread to the masses. We are going to be adding a hotfix for the achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. This hotfix will make it so that obtaining the Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake will award players Master riding. The way in which 310% will be awarded is going to be a little quirky at first, but we plan to make it a more smooth process in a future patch. For now, you will need 280% flying in order to learn to use the Violet Proto-Drake. Once you mount the drake for the first time it will teach Master riding. The only catch is that you have to dismount and mount the drake again in order for 310% speed to take effect. source For those working on the achievement -- don't stop now! Master riding can be yours for free once the achievement is complete! World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Status update on current patch 4.0.1 issues
Vrakthris (Blizzard customer service representative) posted a list of major issues people are coming across in patch 4.0.1, along with updates and expected timetables on when some of them will be resolved. If you're having issues with any of the following topics, read on to find out what is currently being done about the situation. Master riding Missing enchantments Insect Swarm Guild issues with authenticator Warlock pets renamed Missing characters Item durability standardization Removed from battleground
