It began the moment I set foot in Outland at Hellfire Peninsula...
And it's continued throughout my experiences here so far...
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| Being able to walk on water has its advantages. |
At least in Shattrath City you can find people on other mounts, but still the nether drake is by far the "standard" mount found on the Anniversary servers.
These are just a few of the times I've seen nether drakes around. It's so ubiquitous that one could be forgiven if you'd have thought they simply gave you one once you unlocked flying. But no, there's a long grind to get a nether drake mount. I did it once during Cataclysm simply because I wanted to see how it was done, and while it's not the worst grind in the game it didn't engage me either.
That being said, seeing all these players with their nether drake mounts, I'm reminded of Syndrome's quote from The Incredibles...
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| From The Incredibles vis makeagif.com. |
I never thought that made any sense. If everyone is super then EVERYONE IS SUPER! Super is not a synonym of special. It's like saying "if everyone can read then no-one can read". I mean, if everyone BUT you was super, as in had a super-power, would you want to be the only one who didn't? That might indeed make you special, even unique, but you still wouldn't be super. I'd rather have the power than the dubious prestige of being the only one without one, personally...
ReplyDeleteAlthough I guess it depends what the power was. I mean, I wouldn't want to be Arm-Fall-Off Boy or Infectious Lass...
I think it would be more accurate to say "If everybody can read, then being able to read isn't something that sets you apart."
DeleteMy recollection is that Infectious Lass was a fairly solid member of the Legion of Substitute Heroes, though it's been decades and maybe later interpretations of the team had her more comedy relief or incompetent.
DeleteI think Wilhelm has the right of it.
DeleteHowever, I'd argue that in American slang, 'super' is a synonym of 'special', and I understand inherently what Brad Bird was aiming for in the scene.
Damn right I am out there on my nether drake... at least in retail. I did the grind, but also it is such a low polygon flying mount compared to later ones that it feels comically out of place flying around in Midnight with it.
ReplyDeleteMy go-to default mount is the hearthsteed though. Looks like a horse on the ground, sprouts wings to fly, and marks me as somebody who downloaded and played Hearthstone back at launch just long enough to get the mount. (And then again at an anniversary to get the fiery hearthsteed mount.)
I'll be honest in that I'm literally the only Shaman I've ever encountered in Retail --and I have observed a few in Stormwind and Goldshire-- who utilize their Ghost Wolf form. Since you can remain a Ghost Wolf even indoors in Retail, I prefer it that way as it gives me a bit of anonymity as to what my Shaman looks like.
DeleteTarget them and examine the mount buff, you'll see it's not a standard netherdrake but something similar (starspark or starshard netherdrake). It's part of the heroic or epic outland pack for sale, check in the blizzard launcher and you'll see. I don't personally get upset at people buying mounts, I guess I got over that soon after the original sparkle pony came out in wrath and they were all over. I'm also spending my gaming time in Season of Discovery lately... but the mounts aren't the reason for it.
ReplyDeleteThat explains a few things, and it's akin to the relatively rare but occasionally observed dark blue dragonhawk mount which people got for purchasing Midnight in Retail. Given that people use that warp hunter mount all over the damn place --I think there's far more of them than of more "normal" mounts-- it tracks that all of those epic pack boosters got a flying mount as well.
DeleteI guess I prefer standing out because I don't have anything special that I use or wear.
Glad to see someone else already commented on it. You can tell that none of these is actually a regular nether drake mount because of the armour. Shop mounts galore!
Delete@Shintar: It shows how often I actually used a nether drake mount myself. I knew there were something along the lines of 4 or 5 colors, but beyond that I just couldn't tell you too many details. When flying in Classic, I just used the basic gryphon mount, and way back in my Retail days I used the generic mounts and the occasional Bronze Drake.
Delete(And no, I'm not at Blade's Edge Mountains or Shadowmoon Valley yet, so I've not encountered nether drakes in the wild yet.)