Need flying mounts? Mei Francis has you covered
by Michael Sacco 
Jun 15th 2009 at 2:00PM
Patch 3.1.2 brought it with the usual slew of undocumented changes, but here's one that appears to have flown under the radar for a while -- Mei Francis, Dalaran's exotic mount vendor, now sells basic Outland flying mounts (read: gryphons and wyverns) at both regular and epic speeds. This is great news for, well, anybody who doesn't want to go to Outland! I know that when my shaman hit 77 and I bought all of my flying skills, it was a pain to have to go to Shadowmoon Valley to buy my mount, so I can certainly appreciate the change.
Of course, there are even more mount changes in store -- a 150% speed flyer at 60, for example -- so this is obviously part of the devs' mission to streamline the leveling and traveling process for players of all levels. A welcome and unexpected change for quality of leveling life -- that's what I like to see.
Filed under: Mounts
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
johnthediver Jun 15th 2009 2:12PM
What is the current basic flying speed? It feels so slow on my alts that do not have epic.
Skraps
www.sham-wows.blogspot.com
Quidamtyra Jun 15th 2009 2:13PM
60% is the current basic flight speed
Krunkay Jun 15th 2009 2:16PM
60%
Arturis Jun 15th 2009 2:53PM
Actually, non-epic flying mounts run at 60% movement speed on the ground (same as a non-epic land mount), and fly at 150% movement speed.
Gennifurfur Jun 15th 2009 3:01PM
Are you sure? I was positive that it was 60%/60% and the new patch would up it to 150%. I know that I'll use my epic land mount if I know I'm going in a straight line and don't have to worry about mobs too much because it's quicker.
Tethas Jun 15th 2009 3:05PM
at the moment the non-epic flying mounts are still at 60% flight speed. 150% will be reached when 3.1.2 is live.
Arturis Jun 15th 2009 3:21PM
Im sorry, but I have to disagree - and I can prove it.
Have two characters in Outland or Northrend, and have them stand side by side. Have one mount a non-epic land mount, and the other mount a non-epic flier.
Run along the ground and you will run side by side.
Then have the flier take off, and he will leave the land-based mount behind.
Go ahead and give it a try yourself, you will see that I am correct. Speed is not being changed in this patch, all that is being changed is the cost and the level need to acquire them.
richard.ashton Jun 15th 2009 3:32PM
Actually Arturis, it's 60%/60%. 60% land speed, 60% FLYING speed. Land and flying speeds are different.
Arturis Jun 15th 2009 3:44PM
Ah. Well that is needlessly confusing on Blizzard's part. >_> I always figured it was relative to the standard "running" movement speed of the character. So if that is the case, what defines the base flying speed?
Angus Jun 15th 2009 4:21PM
"Ah. Well that is needlessly confusing on Blizzard's part. >_> I always figured it was relative to the standard "running" movement speed of the character. So if that is the case, what defines the base flying speed?"
No it isn't. The speeds are listed on the mounts.
All mount and ability speed is based on the characters movement + 1times X.
X is the mount speed. So on a level 30 mount you have 100 + 60%= 160% normal character run speed. Otherwise getting the first mount would slow you down.
Epic fliers in the air are 280% so it is 100 + 280% = 380%
Taxi rides are actually 410% speed so you are pretty close.
Normal fliers go 60/60%
When up against a level 30 land mount on the ground or air they are equal.
Epic fliers go 100/280%
When up against a level 60 mount on the ground they are equal.
If you really want to be confused, try figuring out the bonus abilities like crusader aura.
That multiplies things. 100+ (280 X .20 + 280)= 436% (and I can confirm this as I outrun taxis all the time.) Throw in the 10 second aura doubling and you can cross zones in almost no time.
Arturis Jun 15th 2009 4:24PM
But that doesnt explain why a non-epic flying mount moves faster in the air then on ground.
Angus Jun 15th 2009 4:27PM
"But that doesnt explain why a non-epic flying mount moves faster in the air then on ground."
They don't.
You are either imagining it or someone had a trinket on when they were actually useful.
Arturis Jun 15th 2009 4:35PM
And now you are officially wrong, because they do. Go ahead and try out the experiment I proposed earlier. Go ahead, Ill wait...
If we are back to insisting that the percentage is relative to standard movement speed (as I originally proposed, and as you restated in your math example) and that there isnt a "flying speed" substandard, then we are back to non-epic flyers being 60%/150% because they DO move faster in the air then on ground.
Arturis Jun 15th 2009 4:44PM
You know what? Im going to concede your point. Please ignore my previous comment.
johnthediver Jun 15th 2009 4:48PM
Ok now what I really want to know is, if my original question was good enough to warrant 12 responses, why was I voted down? (I know childish, but it hurts to see my question grayed out *sob**sob*)
Reuben Jun 15th 2009 4:51PM
If any of you use Carbonite it shows the speed increase (if any) that your character has at any one time if the Carbonite-specific mini map enabled. Regular land mounts are a 60% running or flying.
Arturis Jun 15th 2009 4:55PM
The funny thing of that is that you may get voted down for asking about why you were voted down - As will I, for mentioning that it may happen.
On the bright side, at least all this commenting/refreshing/checking comments has added to WoW.com's page view count, which in turn nets them more money via banner/tower ad impressions, which further still puts additional cash in AOL's pockets.
Ok, I completely lost how that was a positive thing about halfway through typing the sentence.
Bigmerv Jun 15th 2009 4:58PM
I would check to see if the person that was on the flying mount had a trinket, or if they have a talent that increases their mounted speed (DK, Hunter, Pally). 100% sure that non-epic flying mounts go 60% on the ground and in the air.
johnthediver Jun 15th 2009 4:59PM
You know you just hit my biggest complaint about this site. Their lets say "stories" are written in a way to generate clicks, not so much for content. Al thought some of the columns are good enough to keep coming back.
Bigmerv Jun 15th 2009 5:00PM
Oops, sorry. Just saw you conceded.