Think I’m starting to understand both sides a bit better now.
So, here’s my opinion on it. I really wish this stuff was per mount, not per character. That way, striders could have their walking. In fact, it could be a fixed trait on them, they keep it, cool. But that’s the only thing it could ever do.
Then, you could apply water-walking to something else too. It could be of a greatly reduced cost due to the anglers rep you’d have. Pretty cool. You could turn like, five cool mounts into water walking mounts.
Then, you want to glide on flyer 1, 2, and 3? Awesome, apply it to those mounts.
In that scenario, it’s a win. Striders keep their walking but can do nothing else (at the same time, getting it for free), other mounts have more flexibility.