I reactivated my old account, bought 6 months, created a new character, played up to L70 with no problems, had a golden gryphon I could ride, got flying at L30, played around in a few areas, just learning how things work now. Created another new character, got to L30, never got a gryphon and can’t buy the flying skill. Did I miss a quest?
And are all of the time quests you get from Chromie like being dragged thru the world by your beard with no real interaction with the world? I bailed on the quest and hearthstoned out and am thinking of canceling my subscription. Was I hasty? Do you ever progress to someplace where you can just explore and quest instead of tagging along on someone’s coat tails from one scripted event to another? (I selected the shattered helm world? expansion?) I just wanted some new place to explore and quest. Did Dragonflight on my first new character, FWIW.
Well, welcome back, I suppose, even if it doesn’t seem great at the moment.
I’m trying to figure out your account history, so I understand where the gaps are. I think this is your character
and you last played … and of BfA/start of Shadowlands?
OK, let’s start easy. If you type Shift-P, or click the Collections button on the bottom right bar of your screen - button that looks like a horse’s head - and choose the Mounts tab on the left of the screen that pops up, you should see your Mounts.
Mounts are shared between all your characters. If one character earns a mount, all your characters have it. (Though some are Alliance-only or Horde-only.)
If you just choose one and click the Mount button, your level 30 should just be able to fly. You can then drag your preferred mount to your bars to summon it in future.
I think that should fix your Mounts problem. If not, post again.
Now, for questing, I think your main problem is that you chose Shadowlands expansion, the one with the shattered helm. That was a weird expansion. Very bad. Strange requirements for questing.
My best advice to someone new or someone returning would be to STAY AWAY FROM SHADOWLANDS at all costs! I could maybe explain it, but it would take far too long.
I would suggest you take your level 30 out of there, and go back and talk to CHromie again, and ask to change Timeline/Expansion.
Which Expansion should you pick? Anything but Shadowlands is acceptable.
Portal to Outland/The Burning Crusade is VERY straightforward questing, but too drawn-out for most people’s taste. Personally Ilike it, but I’m in a minority.
Fall of the Lich King/Wrath is also straightforward questing, and a bit more refined.
Wilds of Pandaria/Mists is also straightforward questing, after a half-hour or so of scripted introduction.
Draenor/Warlords has quite a long intro quest series. It’s the one where you can set up your own Garrison, which acts as a home base.
The Legion Invasion has an interesting start, where you first have to do a questline to get a legendary Artefact weapon for your class, but after that you are into regular questing.
If you want the safest bet, given what you have said about just being let loose to explore and kill things and take their loot, I’d say Fall of the Lich King/Wrath.
This video covers a lot of what you may have forgotten, or never knew, or is new to you. It is massively long, but has a Table of Contents in its description. Each chapter is just one or two minutes long, and will introduce the subject to you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnzdeoSMkvM
Another very useful resource is
where you can easily search for items or quests.
Do please ask again if you have any more questions!
I could maybe explain it, but it would take far too long.