Strider and Mount Equipment - Quick Summary

Community General Discussion
1

Pros

  • Makes water walking easier to obtain for players without the Anglers Rep.
  • You get a Mount Equipment slot on each character.
  • You get one free water walking equipment item on each character that is exalted with The Angler’s.
  • You have the ability to change the equipment across all mounts, by character - allowing players to always use their favorite mount and benefit from the various equipment available.
  • Allows for expansion/zone specific abilities that tie into the story; e.g. grappling hooks from legion type effects/abilities.

Cons

  • Water walking is being “nerfed” with this change (awaiting confirmation) - on the PTR it is breaking with fall damage, where currently it does not. Players are also experiencing issues with getting a mount to walk on the water when they mount after already entering the water.
  • Players have to pay 40 gold per character that does not have the exalted reputation to get back water walking. Players with more characters get punished and charged the most to regain what they currently have.
  • The Water Strider is losing it’s passive water walking ability so that it can use Mount Equipment. (Many players would prefer if their Water Strider was left untouched instead)
  • It breaks the fundamental nature of a water strider bug (to stride across water), which kills immersion and kills the motivation of players to work for new items that are released in the game for fear that they’ll be taken away whenever Blizzard feels there’s a “problem” that needs to be fixed.
  • This sets a precedent for Blizzard to remove existing account-wide functionality; e.g. if looted mounts were restricted to only being used on the character that looted the mount, or if heirloom gear was only usable on the character that purchased the items.
  • This, unfortunately, supports “accusations” of Blizzard being greedy and not being in touch with it’s player base by forcing their customers to pay for a feature they already earned and have been using for years.
  • Blizzard’s inability to answer direct questions about the system and other options that would meet the goals intended while alleviating the concerns voiced by the players continues to build distrust in the true intentions behind the changes.
  • The change will allow Blizzard to restrict water walking in the future by making the equipment “unusable” in selected zones/expansions going forward - further removing the functionality that players earned when they got the Strider.
  • Players that currently have the Water Strider will have to travel to the MoP vendor each time they need to buy more of the equipment and ship it to their alts - adding time (in addition to cost) to regain what they currently have.

In the end - the con’s outweigh the pro’s from a raw numerical stand point - and there have been various options suggested that would still accomplish providing diversity to mounts used while giving players more choice and options in regards to mounts:

1 - Treat the Strider like the Sky Golem and have it retain it’s ability while NOT benefiting from the new equipment slot.

2 - Treat the equipment on a by account basis, by mount - which would mean players would have to buy multiple pieces of the same equipment to get the benefit across multiple mounts - but affords the players more choice and options.

3 - If players have the Anglers rep, allow the water walking equipment to be created like an heirloom to remove the cost and travel components of regaining what has already been earned.

4 - Make the new mount abilities specific to mount classes - providing more options of water walking, herb picking, etc., mounts for players to choose from.

If there are any additional pro’s or con’s that you see from the changes on the PTR - please share and I will update the OP.

Thanks in advance for your time and feedback!

28 Likes
2

I would add that the system as a whole (excluding the water strider issue) allows for more equipment/abilities to be added to the game.

Having these abilities be in sync with areas/story/plot would be cool to see.

My mind goes back to Legion where we had that grappling hook that we could use to scale mountains and castle walls. Having a mount capable of doing these kinds of things would be cool.

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They could solve a lot of argument by just leaving the strider alone and treat it like they are doing the Golem. I understand why they want to remove it because you could anti-daze and walk on water with one mount still making it the go-to but heck I can do that now with resounding protection.

I love my bug. It’s my favorite mount I have and I use it for everything ground.

6 Likes
4

We needed another thread on this? You couldn’t have posted in the 1000 other ones?

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You were obligated to read and post in said thread?

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7

PTR players are staying it is one per character.

The entire reason the equipment feature is being added is because of the water strider…

Most of your other points seem to be based on misinformation.

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The other ones don’t summarize all of the points - that’s the intention for this one - plus to gather any remaining pro’s/con’s that weren’t captured.

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9

Sounds like you are whining about multiple posts of strider issues… LOL

Wahhhh

10

Then keep using it nothing changes for you.

11

The main post literally captured all of these points at some point or another…

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12

You’re a Death Knight, and your con isn’t around the fact that you yourself have a … unique water walking ability along with Shamans… smh :man_shrugging:t5:.

13

There’s a saying that spells out something that should be self-evident, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

The water-strider mount isn’t broken. That should be obvious, but nothing is ever obvious to Ion and crew.

Surely there are a ton of issues that we would like addressed if the Dev team is that bored. There is no need to invent problems with the water strider that don’t exist, then fix them so you can congratulate yourself on your problem-solving skills.

There are issues that deserve the Dev Team’s attention. Really. Honest.

2 Likes
14

They aren’t mad about that; they are mad about losing exclusivity. There is a class of people out there who -hate it- when something they “earned” is given out to other people for what they perceive as free.

The amusing part is the hypocrisy of most of them; it’s not free to us, there is requirements for us to obtain them. They are getting the mount equipment for free, they can put that right back into the water strider and be right back where they are now. They don’t want the rest of us to have access to it, they just don’t wanna admit that.

Edit: “I had to grind it and so should you!!!” :rofl:

15

The difference would have to be them making the water strider not able to use equpiment, which isn’t that awful. There was a cape enchant from tailor that resists daze, right? And tank specs don’t get dazed, as well.

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There’s a LOT more covered here - and the cost to regain what players already have is now listed as a con - not a pro. This is a big difference.

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17

This is literally not the problem. Please educate yourself or butt out. By and large people are not complaining that non strider owners will have a water walk option. That’s ok though. I understand you are ill informed because by your own admission you don’t even read these posts/threads. :slight_smile:

6 Likes
18

Inaccurate - most posts I have seen don’t care whether other people get access to water walking - they care that the ability ON THE STRIDER is being removed, and that ability is accessible across an entire account.

The change is making people repurchase what they already have.

This is independent of anyone else’s access to water walking.

9 Likes
20

The “I had to grind it and so should you” it debatable, and it should be, because the grind do suck and takes time. But, it also destroys class fantasy from classes who already have the ability to walk or mount on water, even with the water walking mount. They should have added boats into the game, since we see them in the story, and make a profession that allows players to build different types of boats. That should have been the new system instead of what they are adding. Actually, they should have come forth to the community and communicated to see if this was a good idea, and look at the :poop: show we have :sob:.

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Only on the character you have the rep on. You have to repurchase the ability to access water walking for all your other characters. This is where a lot of heat is coming from, NOT from the ability of other players to access water walking.

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22

Also the equipment item doesn’t last through falls. If you jump off something and hit the water, the water walking goes off and you have to remount. That is a major issue for me. Currently the strider can jump off a ledge/bridge rock and remain on the water.

3 Likes