Hobbies And Interests
Basics
A player character's mount functions as the primary method of traveling throughout the "World of Warcraft" game map. Although other forms of transportation are available, such as zeppelins, mage portals and boats, the mount functions as the way the player gets from place to place outside of the major cities and travel hubs. A player character, or PC, gets his first mount at level 20 and moves up to a faster mount at level 40. When the character reaches level 60, he trains the flying skill for the Outlands.The Azeroth flying license is also available. Players can fly in Northrend at level 68, buy epic speed flying at level 70 and buy the top flying speed at level 80.
Ground
Players use ground mounts to get around the pre-60 zones, which take place in Azeroth on the continents Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Each race has its own set of ground mounts, such as the jungle cats for the Night Elves and the raptors for the Trolls. You can buy other races' mounts once you reach an exalted rating in that particular faction. You can also get ground mounts through player versus player combat, rare drops in dungeons and through mount vendors. Ground mounts are the only mounts allowed in player versus player battlegrounds. Ground mounts provide up to a 100% bonus in speed.
Flying
Most PCs use flying mounts to get around the world once flying is available to the character. Flying mounts allow the player to travel directly between points while avoiding the monsters in the area. Players purchase either a wyvern or a gryphon flying mount from the main faction city, Orgrimmar or Stormwind. Players obtain other flying mounts through boss drops, achievements, faction rewards and quests. Players get a speed bonus of up to 310 percent on a flying mount.
Class Mounts
Several "World of Warcraft" classes have specialty mounts specific to their classes. The warlock gains the Felsteed and Dreadsteel spells at level 20 and 40 respectively and the paladin has access to the warhorse and charger at the same levels. A Death Knight receives his mount during the starting quest line and may purchase a special flying mount at level 60. Druids receive two types of flight form, a regular flying form and an epic flying form.
Other Mounts
Blizzard offers two scaling mounts through its game store. These mounts are available to players starting at level 20 and scale up to epic flying mounts at the appropriate level and riding skill level. Players receive a seahorse water mount in the Cataclysm expansion and may also fish up another water mount. Blizzard also placed mount codes in the "World of Warcraft" trading card game.