MountFollow

I got the ability to mount a little while ago. Leading up to it I spent a lot of time trying to make the gold to get it (90g for both mount and ability). Now that I have it (finally) I must say how horribly dissapointed I am with its performance. I was thinking that mount would replace my Travel form since it is +60% speed instead of +40%. I must say that it is not as good as I had hoped. Let me break it down for those of you who don't have mount yet.

Mount:

A) Has to be cast - That's right, it's like a 3 second cast-time before you can ride your mount. It is not instant switching like into kitty. This just shows that Mount CAN NOT save your ***. You will use kitty often still to get away from battles you can't win, simply because it is faster to switch into and can be done while running.

B) Will be dispelled when stun - If you get stun, you will not be in Mount form anymore, simple as that. It really sucks, and means that you have to pay attention while running to avoid the mobs that can stun you. If you get hit as kitty, you get stun, but you still keep running as kitty.

C) Takes up a space in your inventory slot - This isn't a huge deal, especially after you have mageweave or runecloth bags. But still, it takes up an inventory slot. I remember throwing away my pet snake because it took up a slot and I needed space while farming. I Probably won't throw away a 72g item though.

Being an inventory item means that you have to put it on your cosmos pop bar instead of it being a quick CTRL-F4 access like kitty. Another slow access problem (not really but sort of).

D) It does not feel as fast as you think it will - I am a Tauren Druid. Running in caster form feels slow because we are big so our legs move slower (like Galkans) even though we are running at the same speed as everyone else. When we turn into kitty, it feels so much faster because we become smaller and our legs are moving faster and we ARE moving faster.

When we mount our Kodos, their legs move kind of fast, but it feels like I am waiting for it to jump into high gear. I like that kitty kind of takes-off from walking speed to kitty-speed. The comparison helps to make you feel like you are going faster. The Mount is just one-speed, I hope they make it feel fast by making it go from slow to fast like kitty someday.

I know that it IS faster. 60% speed increase as opposed to kitty's 40% increase. As well, some quest apparently can make it 63% instead of 60% (wow) and there are Mounts later on that increase speed by much more but they are 900g. I am just letting you Druids out there know that you don't have to be in a rush to get your Mount like some other classes are in. Travel form (kitty) ruins us for Mount. And you will still use it often after you get your Mount simply because it is more useful. Heck, you can still keep up to your Mounted friends as kitty, you won't be falling behind by much.

Mount is a status symbol. We all drool over it, and I am in no way dissapointed that I have it. I just have come to the realization that other than making me look hot and like a seasoned player, it isn't useful to me while soloing. Once I got my mount I paraded all the way from Bloodhoof Village to the Crossroads to make the noobs drool (which they did). I felt bloody satisfaction, and so will you once you get it. Just don't expect your first Mount to make any miracles for you. As well, don't expect your kitty Travel form to ever truly be replaced by it. There are times for both. Kitty for sticky situations, and Mount for showing off :P.

Edited, Thu Jan 6 21:08:26 2005 by claytonik

Agreed. Travel form is now mostly "escape hatch" form, and it's still pretty effective for that. The mount, I find, is more useful for blazing across spaces that are land. Yes, you have to navigate a bit so that you don't get dazed and dismounted, but it's quite a bit faster than travel form and if you do navigate, therefore, it's quite a bit harder to get dazed. In all, the mount is a great way to avoid unwanted aggro when going to and from a quest site or another place when you want to take the short cut off the road. But it isn't a substitute for the escape hatch that travel form allows.