How mounts at level 30 may affect gameplay
by Natalie Mootz 
Jun 24th 2008 at 2:00PM
I intend to sidestep the question of whether getting mounts at level 30 with upcoming patch 2.4.3 falls on the Dark Side or the Light Side of the Force. For now, I'm going to muse briefly on what impact this change will have on gameplay.- Speed of leveling: Obviously leveling will be faster with a mount between levels 30 - 40. I doubt it will be 60% faster, though.
- Questing: Going through Thousand Needles, Alterac Mountains, Desolace, Arathi Highlands, and Stranglethorn Vale will be much easier. I remember Desolace, in particular, being one long drag after another.
- Economy: Lower levels will probably do more farming professions in order to raise the necessary gold for training and a mount sooner. This influx should drive down the cost of materials a bit in the short term. Also, given the low amount of silver rewarded at low levels, expect to see even more begging.
- Guild recruitment: Players who normally would've waited to join a guild before Level 40 (to help with mount costs) will want to join earlier now. On the other hand, guilds may have a tougher time keeping those players through endgame since there will be a longer span between getting the normal mount and getting the epic one at Level 60.
- Incentive to advance: The game has built-in "carrots" to encourage people to keep leveling. You already get them at levels 20, 30, 40, 60, and 70. You'll still have reason to level to 40 (new armor, etc.), but now the drive to 30 becomes more insistent. However, the down side is that there's a long drought between 30 and 60 to wait for the epic mount.
- General PvP: Racial attributes like travel form, aspect of the cheetah, ___ become less of a factor in terms of escaping or hunting down other players.
- Battlegrounds: Much has been written about how earlier mounts will even further tilt the balance toward twinks in the battlegrounds. But let's be honest here, twinks are already overpowered in battlegrounds (being the biggest reason I don't play in them very often) and, after the economy settles down, that advantage will be minimal.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Economy, Quests, Lore, Leveling, Making money, Alts, Battlegrounds
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
nolls74 Jun 24th 2008 2:14PM
this is a horrible idea. New armor at 40? only for warriors, paladins, shamans and hunters. Clothies rogues and druids still get left behind at 40. Not to mention at level 30 druids get travel form...but with a mount, why bother?
Arras Jun 24th 2008 2:17PM
travel form is pretty cheap compared to the cost of a mount - so if I were a druid at 30 and didn't have much money, I'd go with travel form while I was farming the money for a proper mount.
But that's just me.
Doffencrag Jun 24th 2008 2:23PM
My level 70 druid bothers because it is an instant-cast that you can use in combat. I still use it occasionally to get his furry self out of hairy situations.
GryphonStalker Jun 24th 2008 2:34PM
Not training a form as a druid regardless of the mount situation is sheer idioticy.
Roy Jun 24th 2008 2:42PM
the worst thing about this change deffinately affects druids the most, who have had one of their main spells, travel form made useless and a much faster travel form available to everyone. i know u can use it in combat but that's not the point. travel form should now be trainable at level 20 like shamans ghost wolf and hunters aspect or a big part and unique aspect of being a druid is lost.
beatphreek Jun 24th 2008 2:56PM
This is a 10 lvl change... from 30-40 you can knock those levels out pretty quickly anyway, and now even more quickly. This has zero long-term effect on game play outside of the 29 twink battle grounds. Where the travelform is still highly useful since it can be cast instantly in combat.
This is a good thing all around.
Zali Jun 24th 2008 3:05PM
Let me begin by saying that I'm all for the lvl 30 mount. This isn't Pre-BC we are talking about. This is simply to make the long slog to 80 much more friendly to new players. In a game where life doesn't begin until 71, thats a long bloody trip.
My only complaint is for PVP reasons in relation to the druid travel form. Druids, of course, have a number of advantages in game. They can move in and out of many roles, just in a slightly nerfed form. The Boomkin is basically a mage only not quite as powerful. Bear is a warrior only not quite as powerful. Kitty is a rogue only, not quite as roguish. You get to play a lot of parts only with a slight disadvantage... fewer spells or abilities... Kitty can't sap. Our CC is a joke, roots are the only CC that actually have a chance to break themselves and are unusable in 99% of all instances, and cyclone gets a max 4 seconds for a 1.5 second cast. Right. Still, not complaining. There is a trade-off. 68 you get to fly for 7G 50S. That alone is worth the price of admission. And of course, travel form at lvl 30.
Which, by the way, isn't as fast as a standard mount. But where it did do a great job, was in lvl 30-39 BG's. That was the only place that druids really, really shined in battlgrounds. WSG, stealth in, grab the flag, sprint out, cast travel form, cap flag ftw.
Lvl 30 mounts will bring all sorts of good to the lower level game. I just think that they should drop training for the travel form to lvl 28 to make up for the nerf effect that it is being faced with.
Just my 2c.
Zali Jun 24th 2008 3:09PM
Beatphreek,
Travel form is trained at lvl 30, so druids twink at lvl 39 for best effect, not lvl 29. Yes, it is still a good all around thing, but it will definitly nerf Druids in the only BG area where they had the chance to really shine.
Ktok Jun 24th 2008 3:10PM
@ Roy:
Having a 70 Druid myself, I can only assume you mean travel form's use in the 30-39 bracket in BGs. That's really the only time that travel form makes you just about impossible to catch up to, so for *every other* aspect of being a Druid, this change has zero impact.
I'm guessing you have a 39 Druid twink though, and are bitter :)
Trust me, at 70 travel form is still very useful for PvP, and people getting the gimp mount 10 levels sooner isn't going to change that in any way.
Biff Jun 24th 2008 3:23PM
So instead of Druids "shining" in level 39 BGs, the playing field is a bit more even? Fine with me.
beatphreek Jun 24th 2008 5:07PM
@ Zali
I put in 29 twinks when I meant 39... doh! I even have a 61 druid. Yes I'm sure that druids shine at 39... but thats one level. Hanging out in the lower level battlegrounds as a twink is fine, but its no reason to get upset that the majority of the player base that is trying to level via the PVE content is getting a great benefit.
PVP Twinking is a meta-game and as such it shouldn't be any sort of consideration when developing the gameplay that affects every single player that has to level up.
Druids will adapt and still be very great flag runners. Green Whelp armor (if they haven't nerfed it into non-existance) is your friend. Nothing like leaving a trail of sleeping attackers in your dust.
Arras Jun 24th 2008 2:13PM
I think it will help with leveling - especially in places like Desolace and STV, since you'll literally get places faster, so that's a plus.
The economy probably won't be affected too much - folks in lower levels will be farming low level things, so twinks might get mats a bit cheaper since it will be a buyer's market. If you work at it a bit, it's not too hard to scrape together the money at level 30, not easy to do, but not impossible either.
Initially, there will be changes like always, but I think it will be a nice change and since most of my alts are right around 30, I'm kind of looking forward to it :)
Taytayflan Jun 24th 2008 2:33PM
You can probably run away from that 70 rogue in STV a little easier too. He'll still catch up, but then you won't feel completely defenseless.
Zumwalah Jun 24th 2008 2:13PM
i guess u didnt read, but the mounts also only cost 35g to train i think, so there will be less begging if anything
jrb Jun 24th 2008 4:01PM
indeed. and 35g is easily achievable at lvl 30. I raked in 13g on my first AH dump on a new alt (lvl 7), and that wasn't THAT exceptional.
Boydboyd Jun 24th 2008 2:14PM
I know there are a few people out there griping about how it will be detrimental to play, or how it makes WoW more "easy mode".
Having leveled two characters to 70 with one more coming close, this is yet another tactic of Blizzard to keep me coming back for more. I have four characters that are levels 30 - 39. I haven't wanted to play them really, but I can already see myself logging on later today to get my rogue his (and my) very first mechanostrider.
My vote: Job well done, Blizzard.
Rob Jun 24th 2008 5:42PM
Level 30 mounts aren't today, they're whenever the patch is. Probably next week
Lab Monkey Jun 24th 2008 2:21PM
With three alts stagnating in the 30's I wet my pants when I heard this news. Such a time saver.
mitch lvl 33 druid Jun 30th 2008 4:29PM
im totally siced about mounts at lvl 30 ... travel form dosnt really seen that fast but it helps getting around. in the bgs ...
server : gurabashi
name : randissia
Lab Monkey Jun 24th 2008 2:25PM
With three alts stagnating in the 30's I wet myself when I heard this new. This will be a huge time saver. It won't make the game 'easier' like other claim, just more time-efficient. I still have to kill the same mobs and finish the same quests I just don't have to spend so much time between those events.