Last night, via their Facebook and Twitter, Blizzard released details of a new mount, the Swift Windsteed.
What they didn’t release with what’s in the public domain at this point was any detail on how players go about getting their greasy paws on the Windsteed. Since the recent release of the adorable fire kitty, as we got all squishy about in Legendary Episode 97, it seems possible that the two both be purchaseable for real money from the Blizzard Pet Store.
However, the dataminers have been busy, and pulled up images of all the different colorways available of the Swift Windsteed. This, to me, makes it far less likely that this will be a purchaseable mount, or a reward for the annual pass, which is soon to expire for early adopters. It’s not impossible, of course, that it might be either of these things, but there are very few real money mounts, even considering all the Trading Card Game mounts, which are the exact same mount with different colorways. This, to me, makes it far more likely to be an in-game reward, perhaps purchaseable at a higher reputation level from one of the new factions we discussed recently here on GAMEBREAKER. You can see the image below of the different options; which do you prefer?
Anyhow, the mount appears to resemble the Qilin, the Chinese chimera, which is slightly confusing given that there’s another mount available in the game with that name. It’s not likely to be a new skeleton, although judgement will have to be reserved until we see it moving. It’s a good, if bizarre-looking new skin, and anything that allows players to fly a scaly goat that floats on a cloud can’t be a bad thing.
In addition to the Swift Windsteed, there are also updated models for the Gryphon and Wyvern – the Alliance and Horde faction mounts. The current models have been upgraded, and a new level of both mounts has been added – the Grand Armored Gryphon and the Grand Armored Wyvern. Both of these require artisan flying to mount.
Of course, this will increase anticipation of new models for other aspects of the game, including characters. While it’s safe to say that updating character models is a huge task, given the plethora of animations and equippable items, any new model can be taken as a signal that progress is being made. GAMEBREAKER remain optimistic for new character models in the not-too-distant future. Are you?
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