Oh no, whatever will blizzard do. Someone decided to protest their game design by using a certain mount all the time.
You know we used to be fish if you believe in evolution. Evolving is just natural selection. We dropped our ability to breathe under water to learn to traverse land.
The water striders evolved to so they wouldnāt have to carry around all our fat asses 24/7.
Nah, it is more like I am being a little spiteful to all of those poor players who were so disturbed to have to see the water strider being used by other players and cried so hard (according to Blizzard) that they decided to nerf it so it didnāt hurt the delicate sensitivities of these players any more.
Did I get it about right? 
As Blood DK, yeah, you would be the exception. The Best in Slot mount equipment for you is Safe Fall, which, as I already said, is kind of a joke.
But you already have water walking on any mount anyway, so youāre a bad example to use.
Other people that donāt have DK / Pally / Magāhar speed will choose whichever mount gets them where theyāre going faster. Most of the time thatās going to be speed. Sometimes thatāll be water walking.
That isā¦ if they were allowed to make that choice.
Basically itās gonna be āspeedā for all except those that already have it (DK/Pally/Maghar) and No-daze for those that are unfortunate enough to need it.
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Well, Iām certainly not deaf to the vitriol being slung the Striderās way. It is clear that players were suffering under the lack of choice. (no, Iām not being sarcastic - that is their playstyle) So I do see the devās issue, and I do support ww equipment.
But I do not support breaking the world in the opposite direction where the cost of my Strider retaining itās signature ability is the loss of all my mountās abilities to ford bodies of water.
For this system to not break world cohesion I need the Water Strider to retain itās signature ability and be exempt from the equipment system. Nerf itās speed on land, idc. Or I want an option to opt out entirely from the system as there is no way that world cohesion isnāt broken for those who place immersion in the world = gameplay.
What is so frustrating about this is that in order to cater to one playstyle, they are corrupting the traditional playstyle. Both playstyles are valid - accommodate both! They are managing to hook the brass ring of longevity - and the door prize is the loss of the hallmarks of mmorpgās. Thatās no win in my book. 
WoW - a video game. Download now.
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Yes, I would see that as a win/win solution. They did this to the Sky Golem, so we know it could have been done.
Iād be happy if they had left it as is and totally exempted me from the mount equipment system.
They do know we are talking about this, and they know that the activity on the subject has increased. They are going with the, ājust wait them out and they will move onā strategy. It has worked for them before, so it should work for them now.
The only thing that could prevent that strategy from working is if the players have nothing to do in the game. Then it will stay top of mind because players wonāt have anything to think about in game.
So what youāre saying is since the water-strider is evolving, perhaps they will be the next playable race? 
Boy, would the anti-strider people be freaking out about that. They hated seeing people riding water-striders, what will they do when they see the water-strider race
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Gotten that bit of equipment on all my toons actually.
You must not have read ole Natās mail message.
The Striders have āevolvedā and can no longer walk on water with a passenger because of the great āevolutionā that befell them.
What I find ironic about their excuse for wanting to change the Striders is that they had ample opportunity to simply add more mounts that could walk (or float?) on water. I meanā¦ They made a boat that canāt even float on water but it can fly?? WHAT?
The āunderwaterā mounts also could have had a āskim the surfaceā ability rather than what they currently do which is dismount you if you even put your head near the surface.
Iām sure if I looked hard enough I could find other mounts that would have lent themselves nicely to being able to float, walk, or glide on top of the water.
They could have cut the Strider use in half (or more) by simply making that a water mount also.
They could have just left the Strider alone and made it exempt from equipment, which would have cut itās use, because speed and no-daze are actually significantly stronger than walking on waterā¦and with the Elixirs still being usable, players would have opted in that direction as players generally go for anything that will allow them to skip mobs.
There are so many things they could have done to āfixā the āoveruseā of the Striders (which I will forever call BS on, because I rarely ever even saw them) that did not include breaking them with the idiotic āevolutionā nonsense.
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Except I think theyāre underestimating, or at least conveniently ignoring, the number of people who will move on right out of the game. The more tedious and aggravating The Powers That Be make it to just get to the content I want to do, the less likely I am to bother.
Between the delay in flying, the removal of Broken Isles Dalaran and Pandaria portal hubs, the nerf to the water strider, and other changes that have made it clear that the people in charge are no longer designing the type of game that I enjoy, Iāve unsubbed for the first time since I started playing almost 10 years ago. Iāve always been able to find activities I enjoy in game, even when new content was sparse, but now just getting to the things I enjoy isnāt worth it, especially knowing that items and achievements and conveniences that I earn in game can be yoinked away on any illogical whim.
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So much this. Why would I ever want to go out of my way for anything in this game again. OH itās so ugly, OH itās used to much, Sorry itās not the right choice. That could be anything. Itās used to much always made me laugh. Horses in every color out there , thatās what used to much, and not by the players.
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This would be acceptable
They arenāt ignoring the loss of subs. They are hoping that Classic will make up for the difference. This is one of the reasons they have the current 6 month sub promotion going.
It will probably work too, however, it wonāt be sustainable. The Classic lovers will continue to play, but the newer players they entice will not because Classic is just one big grind fest. The new players will spend hours trying to find Mankrikās Wife with the general chat trolls leading them on a merry chase. They will get frustrated and quit. I saw a lot of this when I played the stress tests.
Ignoring, turning a blind eye towards, whatever terminology you want to use, it amounts to the same thing. I donāt disagree with you at all. The writing is on the wall. Theyāre not interested in investing time, money and resources into making a game thatās fun to play; theyāre just interested in marketing games and whatever helps to pad the bottom line.
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Iāll flip if they end up putting a water walking mount in the shop that doesnāt benefit from equipment.
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Yeah. this is old news. A new Feature that should have stayed on the cutting room floor is Mount Equipment. Because Reasons, Now instead of using a Water-Walking Potion and Mounting up, you can use Inflatable Horseshoes so your favorite Mount can walk on water. Or, instead of using a consumable Barding from leatherworkers to prevent from being stunned or knocked off your mount when running through a pack of attacking mobs, You can put an item in that slot. OR, Instead of just using Flexweave Underlay to turn your Cloak into a Parachute, You can equip a saddle-chute in your Mount equipment slot.
As it is, this system is redundant. Youāre justified for your anger.
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I agree with you, I used to be a 6 mo sub person, but I removed that when they started taking away stuff that I enjoy. The PVP vendors, the loot system, the way gear is earned (I do not like the welfare system), the portals, the striderās passive, ect.
I have really enjoyed this game, but I hated spending months with nothing to do and then to get a patch full of bugs that doesnāt really make sense. Why the heck are we messing around with this Mech place when there is a big hole in the ocean.
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Iām surprised they didnāt do that as soon as 8.2 hit.
Iāve seen enough people now answer this way so, I seriously hope they patch this in at some point.
I already benefited from the change - I am leveling a lowbie toon with my wife, who never really played MoP, and being able to waterwalk with the mechgineer chopper was EXTREMELY convenient.
At any rate, as compromises go, I hope they at least consider it.
Unlikely. Theyāve fully or partially addressed several of the other mount issues with 8.2 ā¦ but deliberately ignore this one.
Problem: 40% of mounts (large and midsized) couldnāt jump back on top of the water
Solution: Reduced to ~20% (mostly just āLargeā mounts)
Problem: -any- āFalling Damageā suffered broke mount equipment water walking buff (didnāt break water strider buff)
Solution: Fixed, now endures falling damage like striders did.
Problem: No-Daze equipment practically MANDATORY in new zones on PTR because Absorb shields (like [Demon Skin], āResounding Protectionā azerite gear trait and others) completely stopped working. āBe a tank or suffer daze for days!ā
Partial Solution: āOops! Shucks we didnāt intend for that to happen!ā ā¦ absorbs start working again. However, it seems like they increased the daze/dismount chance worldwide in 8.2 for anyone anywhere without an absorb shield.
Problem: people who only earned the crimson strider get no rep water walking equipment mailed to them or discount.
Solution: none
Problem: replacing unlimited account wide ability with one-free-only-for-level-100Ā±alts-and-more-cheap-but-from-a-very-far-away-rep-vendor is pissing people off.
Solution: Blizzard made the item unique so you canāt carry more than one at a time. BOOO.
So anyway, they are listeningā¦ they are making adjustments. Theyāre just not budging on the one point thatās been asked for, literally, like a thousand times now.
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