This thread was created in response to the original Unarmored Mounts Megathread being deleted by Blizzard, as a place where players can once again share their opinions, insights, feedback, complaints, or support on the subject in one centralized location. The original forum had over 1,300 comments and over 10,000 views before being purged from the forums.
I will try to hit on an unbiased highlight of the issues from the previous megathread to start things off with, then share my personal thoughts at the end.
The subject has sparked from a Wowhead interview in which Brian Birmingham and Patrick Dawson shared Blizzard’s response to unarmored mounts being in Classic WoW:
We know a lot going into the six-phase plan now, and the decision on progressive itemization cleared a lot of remaining topics up. Is there any content that’s a grey area you’d like to clarify? For example, can you get old-school mounts up until a certain phase? Or will Classic WoW only have the current vendor exalted mounts.
“It is the current vendor mounts for 1.12. We aren’t putting back the unarmored mounts. We just talked about this recently internally. We know some people are interested in them, but we don’t want to put them in for a limited period of time, because we didn’t want to influence people through their first leveling experience. Especially people coming back for the first time. We don’t want people to feel like they have to rush. If you want to level slowly and enjoy the journey, you should. That’s how I like to play–taking it slow, running every dungeon.”
This statement has caused outcry from players for numerous reasons:
- The first being these mounts were originally a part of Vanilla for roughly 5.5 months. And Blizzard has stated they want to recreate as authentic of a Vanilla experience, from start to finish, as they can. By mirroring the content, and items, available at that time in Vanilla’s history:
- The statement made regarding these mounts is causing concern among players for what the future of other historical events in Vanilla’s history will look like in Classic WoW. As stated earlier these mounts were an aspect of Vanilla’s history for roughly 5.5 months. There were other events in Vanilla’s history that were much shorter, that players are looking to re-experience in Classic WoW: AQ Opening Event, Obtaining the AQ Black Bug Mount (only a 10 hour window after the first person turned in theirs), and the Scourge Invasion event to name a few examples. Players are asking will the approach taken towards these mounts, be applied to these other events, or aspects, from Vanilla’s history in Classic WoW?
- Players will be playing Classic WoW for a multitude of reasons: PvP, PvE, questing, leveling (speed or otherwise), experiencing exclusive events in Vanilla’s history, and more. Some players feel that the way the statement regarding these mounts was given imply Blizzard is trying to dictate play-styles in Classic WoW. They feel that by removing exclusive items from Vanilla’s history Blizzard is hoping to diminish a certain type of play-style amongst its players. While also stating there are other players playing exclusively for these items and events and that they should not be removed. Furthermore, some players go on to argue other aspects of the game (such as the honor ranking system) could breed more unhealthy play-styles than obtaining one of these mounts would.
Additionally, Blizzard has stated that:
- This statement has left players questioning, since Blizzard intends to follow a progressive itemization plan for drops and vendors why are these mounts the only exception to this rule thus far? Some players speculate, and are fearful, it could lead to a cash shop/micro-transaction in the future to obtain these mounts.
Supporters of Blizzard’s decision agree with their statement and also claim they are keeping in line with authenticity to 1.12. However, proponents of the unarmored mounts returning in Classic WoW cite the sources above stating the intention of Classic is to recreate Vanilla start to finish, content and items included, not accurately replicate 1.12 only.
Players who would like to see unarmored mounts return to Classic WoW do acknowledge Blizzard’s concerns for creating a sense of urgency among players to obtain the mounts. In response many creative solutions have been proposed that would eliminate the feeling of urgency, while maintaining their existence in the final product. Although some of these solutions do come at the cost of authenticity to the original Vanilla timeline.
My personal thoughts on the issue are I would like to see these mounts implemented into Classic WoW in some way. They were an iconic part of Vanilla that I was looking to re-experience in Classic WoW. I have spent almost a decade not playing WoW and was looking to return to re-experience past events like new again. I personally feel these mounts should be viewed as an exclusive event in Vanilla’s history much like the AQ opening and Scourge Invasion and be given a chance to see the light of day in Classic. I hope we receive a response from Blizzard regarding this issue soon blue post or otherwise, to shed some more insight on this issue if nothing else.
I am curious to hear what all of your thoughts are, on this subject, while also kicking off a new megathread on this issue!