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The ridable flightless bird boss
Attention mount collectors! In the process of completing the quests involved in acquiring his or her Swift flight form, any dedicated druid friend of yours will get an item that allows access to a special boss, called Anzu, the Raven God. It behooves you to make this druid like you very very much, and take you to fight this Raven God many many times. Rarely, this boss will drop a very very special mount: itself. That's right! One of the items a lucky few will be able to loot from this dead bird's corpse is the dead bird itself, raised to life as a ridable mount. This may be the only item in the game where you can summon a boss and ride around on him to your hearts content, and look pretty spiffy while you're at it, too. The only odd thing about this bird is that it can't fly; this is a land mount only. At least it doesn't look anything like a penguin. If one wants a real flying raven mount, the only option is to level a night elf druid up and learn how to shapeshift into a raven form. But in the meantime for all other classes (as well as greedy druids who want this mount to go with the theme of their Flight Form), this is the next best thing, or even better, depending on your point of view. This is the indisputable number one top right answer for today's breakfast topic, "Neatest Land Mount." Discuss.
Blizzard banning players in game for forum stupidity?
You may have missed the ruckus on the General forums this weekend-- and if you did, consider yourself lucky. Some idiot (at least we're pretty sure it was just one guy on his many alts) posted a lot of junk on Saturday about a story right here at WoW Insider. We won't bore you with everything they said, but the gist of it is exactly the kind of harassment that Ezra's father was trying to avoid-- players complaining that they weren't cool enough (even with a house that hadn't burnt down, and, you know, their health) to get the epic mount that Ezra did. Yes, it seems Penny Arcade's theory came into effect yet again.Fortunately, it's gone now-- the fever pitch hit on Saturday morning, and it wasn't till early Saturday afternoon that a CM finally showed up on the boards and deleted that junk. We can only suppose that if they had hired someone to take Tseric's place yet, it might have been taken care of sooner.But here's the best part-- while this weekend's incident was far from the first shameful occurrence on the official forums, it might be the first in which a player got penalized not just with a forums ban, but with the loss of an in game account. Iroc says his brother jumped in to make an Ezra troll post this weekend and found his account in game disconnected.Frankly, if anyone deserves it, these losers on Saturday did. But given the way that Blizzard's rep replies in the thread, it doesn't seem likely that they're banning in game for idiocy on the forums just yet-- more likely that Iroc's brother had an unrelated technical problem. Considering the way the forums are, however, it just might be a possibility worth considering.
Peep drops from Kael'thas
Most of you have probably seen the news that Peep, the super-rare epic flying phoenix mount pictured above, was first given to Ezra. Last night, Method, of A-Sylvanas (Eu), got the world-first drop of The Ashes of Al'ar, the item that summons Peep. This was on their guild's first kill of Kael'thas, the final boss of The Eye. I don't think there are enough kills of Kael'thas that we have any idea what the drop rate of the Ashes is, but if it's anything like the Deathcharger's Reins (from Baron Rivendare) or the Fiery Warhorse's Reins (from Attumen), expect it to be significantly less than one percent. By the way, how do we abbreviate "Kael'thas"? I would go with KT, except Kel'Thuzad has that one already. Perhaps just "Kael"? It's a bit of a surprsie to me that he would drop this; for some reason it doesn't seem quite "serious" enough for him. I had previously hypothesized that Peep might drop from the boss Al'ar, the Phoenix God, but that does not seem to be the case. Anyway, grats, Method![via MMO-Champion]
Around Azeroth: That poor mechanostrider...
This screenshot is surely an example of mount abuse of the worst kind -- of course, this Gnomish mechanostrider probably doesn't have any feelings to hurt, but I am surprised its little legs haven't collapsed out from under it. However, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for this unusual shot, sent in by reader Yezmina on realm Blackhand shows us some of the terrible potential consequences of using engineering teleporters. Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Druid epic flight form is live with patch 2.1
Patch 2.1 brought many treats to the adventurers of Azeroth, but one of the sweetest is the Epic Druid Flight Form quest. Unlike its predecessor, Flight Form, this ability isn't handed out to every high level shape shifter with the appropriate riding skill. The quest to fly at epic speed is long and complex. Revered reputation grinding, Heroic instance running, escort quests, exploding foliage and much more await the intrepid druid. Oh, and they have to pay the 5000g riding skill upgrade before they can even start the quest. When they finish, druids not only get the Swift Flight Form ability, but also a relic that works for any druid spec: Idol of the Raven Goddess - Increases the healing granted by the Tree of Life form aura by 20, adds 9 critical strike rating to the Leader of the Pack aura, and adds 9 spell critical strike rating to the Moonkin form aura.An excellent walkthrough, Wiki style, can be found here at the Servants of Seagis guild site.EDIT: Another reward received in the quest chain: Charm of Swift Flight, Trinket, Equip: Increases speed in Flight Form and Swift Flight Form by 10%. Thanks to Felixia from the Uldum Server for the heads up!
Where to start with 2.1 content
The 2.1 patch this week introduced enough new quest lines, top-end raid content, flying mounts, and L70 solo & small group content to qualify as its own game. With a three day weekend looming I didn't even know where to begin. So I scoured the web and found the where to go and what to do to get me started. THE BLACK TEMPLE: Already planning to strut around Shattrath in your T6 Raid gear? Don't bank that T5 set too quick. The Black Temple attunement quest is ... epic. And it hasn't even been fully discovered so far. What is known is that you will have to slog through a great deal of the Burning Crusade raid content that comes before it: Karazhan, Gruul's Lair, Magtheridon's Lair, Serpentshire Cavern, The Eye and The Battle of Mount Hyjal. And many of those raids require extensive attunement quests of their own. If you are still itching to begin, you can dig in with the Tablets of Baa'ri chain out of Shadowmoon Valley to start grinding that Ashtongue Deathsworn rep. NETHERDRAKE EPIC FLYING MOUNT: First, don't confuse this with the Swift Nether Drake top Arena teams are awarded with at the end of every season. That one has a speed increase of 310% and has an armored appearance. This is the normal epic nether drake with a speed increase on par with other epic flying mounts: 280%. What's special about this epic flying mount is that it can be obtained through solo and small group quests. No raid required. What is required is a great deal of dedication.The first steps on your journey is to dig yourself out of Hated reputation with the Netherwing clan and get all the way to Exalted. This is accomplished through solo, 5 man and 3 man daily quests. Head to the south east corner of Shadowmoon Valley and speak to Mordenai in the Netherwing Fields. A complete write up can be found here.
Calling the shot: mounting / not mounting flat-panel above fireplace
While the question of hanging your new flat-panel above the fireplace or mantel has been around for years, it's about time the issue was actually tackled and looked at from a safety and feasibility standpoint. Admittedly, there are literally dozens of factors that can go into making said decision, and while no answer will be right for everyone, hopefully the following will lend a hand in easing your frantic mind. Granted, the more affluent homes that are often showcased in marketing promos make hanging a TV look like child's play, and while you may be able to cough up enough dough to let an experience installer come in and handle the dirty work for you, there's quite a few things (and alternatives) to consider. Of course, safety concerns surrounding recalled TV mounts, heat generated from a raging fireplace, and the actual wall material should be inspected first and foremost. Additionally, you should certainly consider just how difficult running every last cable (present and future) from your components below through the wall will actually (not) be, and for those working sans an AV cabinet, you might want to ponder just where you'll be placing those game consoles, receivers, and media players without ruining the overall allure. Still, there's no denying the attractiveness of a flat-panel HDTV hung neatly on a living room wall, but be sure and hit the links below and do a little planning of your own before pulling the trigger.Read - HDInstallers - Safety ConcernsRead - Audio / Video Interiors mounting walkthrough
Around Azeroth: Idling ftl.
There's a reason you don't idle in the open on PvP servers. It's because people will kill you. And if you happen to be in a amusing spot, say, floating in the air over Area 52 when you meet your untimely end? People, like reader Goroth of Onyxia, will immortalize your corpse in screenshots. Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Around Azeroth: A wrong turn somewhere...
In this single screenshot we see a sad tale unfolding as Pruflas of Blood Reign on Blackwater Raiders takes a wrong turn on his flying mount. In all honesty, this Kraator fellow -- a rare spawn in Shadowmoon Valley -- looks extremely unfriendly. It's a sad wrong turn indeed to send you flying directly into his face... Do you have a unique shot of Azeroth or Outland that you'd like to show off to the rest of the world? Tell us about it by e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com! Or perhaps you'd just like to see more of your pics from Around Azeroth. %Gallery-1816%
Consumer Alert: Circuit City recalls Verge TV mounts
There is nothing more important than the safety of your family. [period] Sure, that flat screen hanging on your wall was a big investment but can you imagine what a 100+ lb screen falling from five feet could do to a child? Circuit City has issued a joint, voluntary recall for their in-house Verge brand TV mounts. This recall is for the tilting models only - VPSW103M & VPSW103M2 - as apparently, with an upward force, the locking mechanism could fail, causing the TV to fall forward. Not good. Circuit City does have a free repair kit available to correct this defect - call (888) 666-9897. Even if you aren't using this Circuit City house brand mount, go check your mount to make sure everything is nice and safe. [via HDTV Almanac][warning: link is a .doc file]
Netherwing colors revealed on PTR
For some reason I missed this in the small mention we gave it the first time around, but apparently the Netherdrake mount (which I'm currently grinding like a madman to get the skill for) is available in a bevy of colors! Our friends at WoWHead have posted not only the Tier 6 stats, but also all the different Netherwing mounts.When the time comes, you'll get your choice of Azure, Cobalt, Onyx, Purple, Veridian (wha?), or Violet dragon mounts. I'm sure Onyx will be a popular choice, but you never know-- paladins might want to go for purple just so it can match with their Tier 5 gear. Unfortunately, all those colors seem really-- blue. Where's my red Netherwing, or my gray dragon? Veridian is actually kind of greenish. Looks pretty blah to me, but whatever floats your flying mount around faster than a mage spell, I guess.The mount actually comes from a rep vendor, so as long as you get exalted with whatever quests need to be done, you'll have your pick of the litter. Even though each mount is Unique, I think that only means you can't have two Onyx mounts-- I believe that you'll be able to buy as many different colors as you have the gold for (maybe those of you on the PTR can confirm or deny*-- whoops, see update). Anyway, looks great! What color are you going for?Update: Word from the PTR says it's actually a quest reward, so one dragon for you. Choose wisely. Also Veridian is apparently a typo-- the color should be viridian. (thanks, kind readers!)Update2: Now we're being told that you can buy another color after you get your first one. Looks like we'll have to wait and see what happens on the live servers.
Forum post of the day: Hunters! Make your own mount!
Blizzard MVP Palehoof has come up with a pretty awesome idea in the Suggestions Forum: she suggests that hunters be able to tame their own mounts. Unlike paladins and warlocks, hunters would have to pay for their riding skill -- but after that, they'd be able to get unusual mounts. They could use Beast Lore to locate a creature that would be appropriate in size, shape and temperament (and not every member of every species would work!) and then use "Tame Mount" to turn it into a normal, inventory-based mount. She suggests that quests could unlock later levels of Tame Mount, so hunters could get epic mounts, flying mounts, etc. Also, rare reputation mounts like Wintersabers and Nether Rays could simply be untamable. I'm not a hunter, but I love this idea. Anything that allows players to make their characters individuals is fine by me. Just looking at Petopia, I can think of more than a few trainable hunter pets that would make great mounts. I'd love to see a troll go riding by on an albino crocodile, a tauren wandering past on a giant gorilla, or a night elf mounted atop a garish pink flamingo. In fact, I would like to see it mandatory that female night elf hunters be mounted atop garish pink flamingoes, but that's more of a personal prejudice. And no, Hordelings, you can't use gnomes as mounts. Stop asking. If I could pick my own mount, I'd probably try to tame the big dude pictured above. His name's Zarakh, and he's a spider boss found in one of the lowbie Draenei zones. Can you get any more menacing than that? What would you use as a mount if you could?
Phat Loot Phriday: Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal
They don't come much more rare than this baby-- you had 10 hours to get it, and the overwhelming odds are that you didn't anyway.Name: Black Qiraji Resonating CrystalType: Legendary Ground MountSpeed: 100%Abilities: Well technically, the crystal isn't the mount-- it just summons one. It's the bug looking thing you see above. It's called a Silithid Scarab, or more formally, a Black Qiraji Battle Tank. Can be ridden anywhere in the world. More on why that's so special in a second. And while this may be a "bug" (get it?), players are reporting that there's something special about the way this mount is summoned-- while you do have to be out of combat and unmounted to actually summon it (like all mounts), you don't have to be either when you start summoning it (unlike other mounts). So you could be in combat (like, in a battleground), start to summon the mount, and as long as you've left combat by the time it finished, you'll be mounted. How to Get It: You can't. At least, most of you can't. Lots of people can get non-black bug mounts-- they drop pretty regularly in Ahn'Qiraj 40, and can only be used in that instance (and not in combat-- apparently the bugs are very skittish).But the black qiraji mounts are very, very rare, and the reason is this: they were given only to players who hit the gong outside of Ahn'Qiraj only during a 10-hour period after the opening of the gates.So here's how to get one. First of all, if you're on a server where the gates have been open for more than 10 hours (which is most of them), you're out of luck. So you'll have to roll a toon on one of the newer servers-- yes, there are still quite a few servers out there who have not yet opened the AQ gates.Then, of course, you'll have to get your character all the way up to 60, so you can start the questline that will give you the mallet you need to bang the gong to open the gates. In order to actually finish this questline, however, (which starts in Silithus, if you really want to try), you'll have to go all over Azeroth and do all kinds of super heroic stuff-- in short, you'll need to be backed by a guild full of people who know what they're doing. Oh, and then there's the whole "War Effort" thing. If you were playing back when AQ first came out, you'll remember that opening the gates requires the whole server-- Horde and Alliance-- to collect tons and tons of items for "the War Effort."But after all that is finished (all in a day's work, right?), you can finally take your Scepter of Ahn'Qiraj down to the gates of AQ, hit the gong, and this black bug mount is yours. Oh, and if you're not the first to open the gates, you can still get the mount, you just have to hit the gong (which means you need to finish the quest also) sometime within 10 hours of when it is first hit. See why the mount is so rare?Getting Rid of It: You're joking, right? Vendors won't even accept this thing from you.
TUAW Tip: temporarily prevent your iPod from syncing
Out of the box, the iPod is designed to work seamlessly with iTunes, so the system automatically syncs (by default) when you connect your iPod. This is typically fine for most users, but what about those times when you don't want this tag team to kick into gear for one reason or another? Perhaps you just had a library goof-up, and you need to use iPodRip to recover some playlists or media files before iTunes syncs and blows either away, or perhaps you're just in a hurry and don't have time to sync down that new 1.5GB movie you just bought, though you you still need to dump some files over for work or class. Whatever the scenario, there are a couple of simple ways to arbitrarily prevent iTunes from working its magic on a case-by-case basis. The first method, I feel, is the least intrusive and most useful: assuming iTunes is running, all you need to do is hold down cmd+opt (possibly ctrl+alt on Windows, though I don't have a machine to test that on) when connecting your iPod to make iTunes look the other way and not begin a sync. The iPod should mount on your desktop and even appear in iTunes, but it simply won't sync. You're free to go about your business and eject the iPod as quickly as it mounted, with no argument from iTunes.The second method assumes that you have enabled hard drive use for your iPod, and you don't have iTunes set to automatically start when you plug the 'pod in. In this case, simply quitting iTunes when plugging in your iPod will solve your problem altogether. Simply do your business and eject to get on your way quickly.
Alternate faction mounts at 40
No, it's not easy, but it is possible now that reputation rewards for quests don't degrade with level. However, questing alone doesn't seem to be enough to get a mount by 40, as explained by goffchick on wow_ladies. The real trick seems to be timing it so you can run (pre-60, it's more likely to be corpse-hop) to as many lunar festival elders as possible. (Yes, for each elder you speak with, you gain 75 reputation for all horde or all alliance factions, depending on your faction, of course.) Anyone else out here who's managed to snag a cross-faction mount at or around level 40? I'd be curious to hear how difficult it was.
MK-1 Studio crafts "Underbed" plasma raising contraption
We know, just seeing an uber-thin 50-inch plasma display makes you want to go straight home and start knocking out holes in your wall to hang that puppy up, but if you're not too keen on DIY jobs (or potentially demolishing your home), MK-1 Studio has the goods. In a very practical feat of engineering, the crafty gurus behind the company have created the Underbed plasma mount, which can hold a 50-inch PDP under a king-sized bed with just eight-inches of clearance required. Notably, the outfit also states that a DVD / VCR player, subwoofer, and seven channels of surround sound can also be concealed under the same bed, and if you're stuck in a queen-sized arrangement, your resting place can still house a 42-inch display with all the aforementioned goodies. So if you're interested in seeing a plasma display rise from beneath your bed in a mere 45 seconds, be sure to hit the read link for a smorgasbord of snapshots and videos, and while this nifty invention doesn't seem to sport a set price, we're sure these folks would hook you up for the right amount.[Thanks, Dave]
Monster flat screen PowerMount
Say what you will about their cables but this is a sweet innovation in flat screen mounts. Monster as Incorporated their Clean Power surge protectors into a flat screen mount. So this way your flat screen is protected against surges, spikes and ground loop hums while it is hanging on the wall without anything extra. The two power plugs are located at the bottom of the mount, with coax grounding receptacles at the top so installation should be a breeze. We really don't see this as a cable management venture as the six foot power cable that comes with flat screens is going to have to go someplace within the small confines of the mount and we don't see the arm holding all of it. Someone really liked it though as it was an honoree for the 2007 Innovations in the Video Accessories Category at this years CES. The mount is available now with a MSRP sticker of $249.99. More pics after the jump.
Burning Crusade mounts
BCspy.de.vu presents us with these lovely photographs of various mounts we'll be seeing in the Burning Crusade. For normal mounts, we have the Draenei's elephant-like Elekk, the Blood Elf's Cockatrices, a specially colored Paladin Warhorse for the Blood Elf, and the ram-like (only taller) Talbuk. For flying mounts, we have Gyphons for the alliance and Wyverns for the horde, as well as the (presumably more rare) Netherdrakes and Pheonixes. There's still no news about how to get any of these mounts (the Talbuk are especially mysterious -- they are listed as neutral mounts, and are obviously not of the flying sort, which makes them somewhat unusual), but they're great eye-candy -- so click on and enjoy!
Blizzard addressing mount concerns
When patch 1.12.1 rolled in this week, a new pricing system for mounts arrived as well. And, while they promised a seamless transition from one system to the next, a number of players have loudly complained that they're being forced to pay double for their mounts -- because if you purchased your mount before hitting level 40 or level 60, you would not be awarded the appropriate riding skill to use it, because of level restrictions on the riding skill itself. However, after a day of being told by GMs that this was "working as intended," Tseric has announced that a hotfix to be released early Thursday morning (via means of a 4:00 AM PDT rolling restart across all US realms) should fix the issue. (Though I'm still waiting for positive reports back on the forums before saying whether or not the issue is truly resolved.)
Mount changes in 1.12.1
Hot off the test realm forums comes a big change to mounts and the way we ride them:Mounts now require only one, shared riding skill (blue mounts require level 75, epic mounts, level 150). Also costs of learning this skill are now significally increased. Previously, cost of learning riding skill was 20 gold for each kind of mount, without any discount. Now it will be 90 gold for level 75 and 900 for level 150. Level 150 of riding skills is required for epic mounts and will most probably include PvP mounts and all mounts that drop in instances (Tiger, Raptor, Baron mount, bug mount and maybe paladin and warlock mount too). For now I can confirm that it is required to ride Stormpike Battle Charger, rest of mounts require confirmation. In addition to the change of riding skills, the costs of Blue and Epic faction mounts has been significally decreased. Now blue mounts costs 10 gold and epic mounts costs 100 gold. As you can see from this screenshot we took on the European PTR, you'll need exalted to buy a mount (as you do currently), but the items have become bind-on-pickup. We can't tell just by playing on the PTR exactly what will happen to our existing riding skills and mounts, so here's hoping we find out more about this change soon.
