Purchased mountsFollow

I have no strong like or dislike for them.

The biggest advantage they offer is that they are "account bound" so every character you start on your account gets one. It can save you a fairly small amount of gold from buying mounts; but other than that it's basically just cosmetic.

Blizzard doesn't want people to be able to purchase an in-game advantage over others. You can't buy a super duper legendary sword, for instance.

Now, you could argue that buying a mount gives you a monetary advantage in-game, but really, mounts cost so little it's not really an advantage. I bought a mount and I'm still broke as hell in-game.

The point is that they look neat (if you like that look.) There's no in game advantage to using a store bought mount over any of the others. You just have to decide if having a flying lion or a sparkly horse is worth the money.

But this thread is about purchased mounts, not mounts you get for agreeing to play for a certain period of time. It's like I wouldn't consider the X-53 two seat rocket mount you get from a RAF a purchased mount even though you technically can purchase it for one character by paying for an account and then paying for the two months without even referring a friend.

Besides, I already have Tyrael's Charger and I stopped riding it after the first day after seeing so many people riding it.

The purchased mounts give variety to low-level alts, and it saves you from having to hoof it clear to the racial mount vendor (I remember not-so-fondly the days of having to WALK clear to Eastvale Logging Camp to learn how to ride a horse, and then to buy the horse).

Some races still suffer from this:

Trolls have to walk/fly clear down to Sen'jin Village
Tauren have to go to Bloodhoof Village (you're probably bound in Ogrimmar since everything Lv20 is all about Ashenvale/Aszhara)
Gnomes and Dwarves need to go to Ironforge (you're likely derping around in Westfall)

The account-wide paid mounts gets rid of this issue and you can keep them in your inventory. The very moment you ding Level 20, some (all?) characters get their Lv20 riding as soon as they ding. You can literally right click the mount in your bags and you can mount up as soon as you ding!

Also, Tyrael's Charger is one of the few truly silent mounts. The only sound it makes is a vague wind-rushing sound that isn't even audible unless you either crank up the volume or wear good headphones.

And as someone mentioned above, it makes "Mountain o' Mounts" MUCH easier to get.

This is how I felt about the first one they released.
Spoiler
Then they released the lion, and I said, "At least it looks kinda cool. Still not worth it." I did end up getting the one for the dedication to playing for a year, though I mostly did that for the free Diablo III.

You received all the pets and mounts in the store as a compensation for the magazine going bust? What the hell, was the magazine printed in solid gold or something?

You only get Tyrael's Charger from the Annual Pass, right?

I was going to link the same video Poldaran. I also view the nicer looking mount as TRH 2.0. The only race that has to go way out of their way to get a mount now a days is the dwarfs. Everyone else has a flight master that can take them within a stones throw of your mount vendor.

End of the day though it is your money to do with what you think is important. If paying for pixels is your thing, then so be it. -shrug-

You can buy pet bunnies?

Well, I'm doubting my BElfadin can go grab that.

Hasenpfeffer for everyone?

why buy bunnies? if you're that hungry for rabbit tenderloin, you can shoot all you want for free.

I finally found a companion I can stand - the grunt from the AT. I guess he fills an inner need for me to pass along all of my bad habits and even the good one, which is........

I forgot. Must not have been memory.

I like the crocs you get from the Outland fishing daily, Crocolisks in the City. Chuck, Snarly, Muckbreath, Toothy come in handy when I'm bored and somebody starts the "**** ________" warfare in trade chat. Nobody else ever seems to have them.