Not really. It’s not BIS. I don’t use it exclusively. I use it when I need it, just like my Sky Golem. If I don’t need either of those, I use a random favorite mount. I don’t understand why people think this mount is absolutely essential for 100% of all mounted situations.
3 Likes
An awful lot of us are executing personal choice and using the WRONG MOUNT because we… want to. Because we like the other mounts we have collected. It is an agonizing 1.5second cast to swap to the strider when you reach water.
I just can’t even…
1 Like
So apparently the worst thing from this is that Blizzard doesn’t like account bound items. Well then… what is the point of WoW anymore if account bound items are on the chopping block?
2 Likes
I feel differently because there are so many ways Blizzard could have chosen to increase player choice and agency with regards to mount effects without anyone having to give up anything. I feel differently because I’m still disheartened by not having flying in BfA yet. I feel differently because things I enjoy in game take longer because I’ve lost two main portal hubs that I frequently utilized.
I’m happy for folks who won’t be hindered by this new system. Unfortunately, many folks don’t share that perspective and will have their game play negatively effected. Would it not be better for Blizzard to implement a system that benefits as many people as possible, rather than one that risks alienating and frustrating yet another portion of their player base?
1 Like
How would you feel if nothing changed on how mounts work if you didn’t use mount equipment?
This is going to go live in 8.2 and in 8.2.5 they’ll decide “after careful consideration of player feedback” to revert some aspect. Let’s call it the CoT Portal Effect.
3 Likes
Interesting… The Sky Golem gives people who have purchased this mount an advantage over those who have not (except for druids). They never have to leave their mount when herbing and can easily collect more herbs.
Just as the AH mount gives people an advantage over others, the sandstone drake and Hivemind give people an advantage, and people who purchased fast flying give people an advantage.
The list of people having an advantage over others who have not done the work needed to get the items is very long. Perhaps the answer is to just remove all of them so that everyone can just be equal.
8 Likes
I spent a lot of time getting anglers rep when it was new in pandaria, to take that away now is super lame. It being easier to get now because of rep tokens isnt my fault (its kinda the wow team’s honestly) so I shouldnt be the one punished for it. The way how you make it up for people who have the water strider? Make the item free for us, forever. Give everyone who has it BoA boots with infinite uses. Or really just roll this water strider thing back because its a terrible idea. As for how much I HAVE to use it? a lot… lets say a lot, enough to where I feel really happy that I spent the time it took to earn the mount.
6 Likes
Not sure what you mean. You mean strider would still water walk but none of my other mounts would be able to benefit from any mount equipment effects? I honestly don’t know. I wouldn’t lose any functionality that I currently have, but I wouldn’t gain anything, either. I guess I’d be disappointed that Blizzard didn’t implement a system that would let me use another mount for water walking that would function without additional steps or gold the way the water strider does now. ![:woman_shrugging:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/woman_shrugging.png?v=6" ":woman_shrugging:")
3 Likes
I understand that blizz wants to give players more choices, but I got the crimson water strider and never bothered with the azure one. Not only will I not be able to use my strider until I get the floaty shoes, but I will also need to get exalted with anglers if I want to be able to repurchase it again? Feels bad… can you please make it so the striders can’t benefit from the equipment? If people want to water walk on other mounts then give them that option, but don’t take away the ability of the mount that I worked so hard to get. It was multiple days of nonstop fishing and it really feels bad for that work to be taken away.
6 Likes
This is a lot of dramatic text for something that not only hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even been announced.
As this very issue shows, they try their best to implement a system that benefits as many people as possible but what some people like others are bound to dislike. I can guarantee you they aren’t trying to alienate anyone.
It has definitely been announced, that was what the whole stream was about.
It’s been announced and has been reported by several official sources including blues on this forum. Mount equipment is coming in 8.2.
I’m not nearly as optimistic that that’s the case. I think they’re trying to implement a system that benefits them. Otherwise, they would implement a system that’s much less likely to be disliked than this one. There are so many different ways they could have increased player agency and choice and added a variety of mount effects if that was their true goal.
Sadly, it seems their true goal is to limit the number of mount effects that can be available for a character at the same time.
Trying or not, they’re sure doing a good job of it anyway.
4 Likes
There’s always an apologist. They’ve been actively been trying to nerf the Water Strider for multiple Xpacs.
they try their best to implement a system that benefits as many people as possible
Yeah, by screwing all the people that already did the grind in favor of those that didn’t. Add an exclusion to this mount, it really is that simple. Then everyone wins.
9 Likes
“Dude” this is one example of many things changing in Warcraft that are steering the game that we love into an unlovable direction.
They’re crushing out anything and everything that might be considered compelling, powerful, special, valuable, useful, … Things we earned and showed of with pride, even if they are more common now.
Before, every expansion starts strong, with possiblity, with upgrades, with new desirable things to obtain… And use. And over two years, we peak, we hit the long flat plain of diminishing returns.
Which is a problem, obviously, because we lose interest and unsubscribe until the next expansion, in large numbers. Blizzard is trying to fix that by smoothing out progression over the entire expansion… And it’s not going well. It makes it feel like we hit that point of diminishing returns sooner and more often.
And to level the playing field, they’re also constantly ripping things out. Stuff we were still using. Stuff that makes no sense (to us) to remove.
And by destroying our belief in the permanence of the perks we unlocked … They’re destroying our motivation to pursue any of the other longer goals in game.
Because why bother? Rewards are less and less special, and any exceptional exceptions have the useful shelf life of milk.
I get that it’s hard to create inspiring rewards year after year… But they had been industry leaders, it wasn’t their job, it was their passion. Did they get lobotomized when they sold out to Activision? It seems like it sometimes.
So yeah, we’re angry about a stupid change to a stupid mount. Because, we, their remaining loyal subscribers, had hoped Blizzard was still better that this nonsense.
13 Likes
I’m talking about all of the doom and gloom you think will happen. None of that has been announced. Unless I’ve missed something, as far as we know right now, you can still use temporary stirrups/barding/hoofplates on top of mount equipment.
I’m curious though, what exactly is your ideal system related to this?
This is the point I’m at. I’m not quitting because of the water strider; I’m annoyed, but honestly, I only occasionally use it as a shortcut. Take away my water walking, and there are a couple of Tortollan WQ in Nazmir I won’t bother with anymore.
I’m not quitting because of the portals; I’m annoyed, but aside from the portal to the Shrines in Pandaria, I rarely used them.
I’m not quitting because of Pathfinder; I’ve learned to deal with the grind to get flight.
I’m not quitting because of most profession mats being in instances; I’ve learned to endure dragging my crafting alts through dungeons and raids I’d rather be doing on my main.
I’m not quitting because of any one of these minor changes. I’m quitting because there’s only so much dealing with and enduring and coping a person can do. I’m quitting because every minor change just makes it that much more obvious that the entire design philosophy behind this game is “how many minor annoyances can we get away with? how many little nerfs can we tell the players to suck up before they finally break?”
I’ve just reached that point. I disagree, fundamentally, with the “take take take - give a little - take” design direction of the game. I’m tired of being outright lied to about how these things are “for the good of the game.” I’m tired of feeling like the only way to keep any aspects of the game I once loved is to be constantly vigilant, on guard against the next attempt to remove quality of life features. I’m tired of looking at an upcoming patch or expansion and thinking “dear god, what are they going to take away?” rather than “what are they going to add?”
I’m just…tired.
This camel’s back is broken.
18 Likes
So use the mount that matches your xmog in town, or anywhere you know you don’t need to quickly cross water. I have a macro for special mounts: left click for strider, and right click for vendor/xmog mount. Otherwise I just my mouse button to mount a random favorite mount.
The fact they are hand picking the strider as lost uniqueness and not the vendor mounts or the sky golem shows they really don’t like the strider.
2 Likes
The doom and gloom has not been announced, but has been hinted at and is not without precedent. There’s also precedent for that sort of thing happening without announcement.
If it has to be a system, I’d rather see items work at the mount level and be account bound, like the mounts themselves. Put a water walking item on a mount and that mount will have water walking for all alts.
But what I’d really rather see is actual content being added to the game and not something that’s just another system for Blizzard to abandon or change on a whim.
I’d rather see more water walking mounts added to the game, and mounts with other features. Ones that can be earned, ones that can be purchased, ones as rewards for various activities in game, ones as rewards for quest chains. In other words, this would be a great way to give folks more stuff to do in game; they could even put some of the stuff in the old world and actually make the world seem big and populous again. It would solve multiple situations that Blizzard claims are problems all at once.
I also like the idea of mounts having abilities or talents based on the type of mount. Maybe turtles and cranes and striders have water walking, but cats and wolves and bears have anti stun, and birds and dragons have the parachute. That would be a bit more restrictive than each mount being customizable across all characters, but would still be a way to introduce choice and variety, and would probably be easier to implement than coming up with a lot of new content.
Edited to add that I’m sure those ideas wouldn’t please absolutely everyone, but it seems like there’d be fewer complaints since nothing would actually be taken from anyone in order to have the potential to gain something.
5 Likes
Do you really use it a lot though? I mean once you know where all the heavy water areas are (mostly Nazmir) you know when you can use any other mount vs when you’ll need the water strider.
I hardly use the thing anymore - but love that I have it as an option to water walk with.