• Flying Mounts
• Ground Mounts
  • Racial
  • Class
  • Alterac Valley Reward Mounts
  • PvP Reward Mounts
• Ships
• Zeppelins
• Deeprun Tram
• Hearthstones
• Teleporation
• Portals
• Summoning
• Travel Forms

The World of Warcraft is vast and if there wasn’t access to transport other than Shanks’ Pony you’d go crazy traversing the world. As an example, to travel from Stormwind Keep to Iron Forge on foot would take the player, on average, 40 minutes to an hour (it isn’t a straight line at all) but by utilising the tram system as your mode of transport, the travel time is reduced to around 3 minutes. There are similar mods of transport available to all players and some available to certain classes.

Flying Mounts

The two mainstays are ground mount and flying mount and it’s the latter you will have access to first. These will help you travel very large distances within a continent (transcontinental is by a different means). All flying mounts are classed as public transport, none available as your permanent pet. Flying mounts are faction dependant and each faction has access to two types.

Alliance
Gryphon		The mighty gryphons of the Aerie Peaks aided the Alliance in its time of need. Part eagle and part lion, these proud creatures stand as noble symbols of the Alliance’s fortitude. In addition to conveying important documents between the human, dwarf, and gnome leaders in the regions around Stormwind and Ironforge, gryphons have also been harnessed for paid transportation along routes throughout Alliance-controlled lands.	Humans start with node in Stormwind City in Elwynn Forest and Dwarves & Gnomes with a node in Ironforge.	List of all Gryphon Masters & their location
Hippogryph		Having sworn allegiance to the night elves in honor of Cenarius, the magical hippogryphs now patrol the skies above Northern Kalimdor, scanning the horizon for invaders. During the war, these magnificent creatures, with bodies that resemble both stags and ravens, were ridden into battle by Sentinel archers. They have since agreed to serve as paid transport for the Alliance, carrying travelers along with them on their patrol routes.	Night Elves start with node in Rut’theran Village in Darnassus	List of all Hippogryph Masters & their location
Horde
Wyverns		The sentient wyverns of Kalimdor were eager to ally themselves with the shamanistic Horde, whose commitment to honor and victory they strongly admire. Sharing a common ancestry with dragons and gryphons, wyverns revel in flight, dutifully carrying Horde riders along various routes surrounding Thunder Bluff and Orgrimmar for a small fee.	Start with node in Thunder Bluff for Tauren, Orgrimmar for Orcs & Trolls	List of all Wind Rider Masters & their location
Vampire Bats		Like their Southern Kalimdor siblings, the vampire bats of Zul Aman have always savored the frenzied turmoil of battle. This chaotic disposition has naturally aligned them with the Forsaken, who continue their struggle against Lord Arthas’ Scourge while maintaining a tense alliance with the Horde. In addition to ferrying throughout Lordaeron those who pay for their service, the vampire bats also act as scouts for the Dark Lady.	Undead start with node in Undercity.	List of all Bat Handlers & their location

Before you can use flying mounts you will need to discover flight paths. Each race starts with the flight node in their race’s starting city. Alliance races also start with a single route - Humans (Stormwind to Ironforge), Dwarves & Gnomes (Ironforge to Stormwind and Night Elves (Teldrassil to Darkshore). All other routes need to be discovered to eventually build an entire network of nodes such as can be seen in this map of Eastern Kingdom and this one of Kalimdor.

Once you have flight routes you will need to pay for the trip and these fees can range from a few copper to a flight costing around ten silver. Below are tables detailing the flight nodes, base prices, duration and links to the zone maps. Remember, these routes only become available when you’ve visited both nodes.

General Points about Flying Mounts

• No waiting time for flight on birds.
• No character level restrictions for routes.
• Can’t get off a flying mount.
• Can’t fight from a flying mount.
• Can’t have a flying mount as a pet.
• Mounts do not have any attacks of their own, they inflict no damage.
• Any pets you have summoned at the time of mounting will disappear and you need to resummon when you land.
• You automatically get on the mount when you select a route.
• You can chat and access you character screens.
• You can perform some action emotes but anyone flying in front or behind won’t see them.
• You have full camera control so you can get a good look at your surroundings.
• You’ll see MoBs on the ground for a greater distance if you look behind you, the draw time in front doesn’t seem that good so the ground looks deserted. Turn around, you’ll see lots more.

Ground Mounts

All players will be able to learn how to ride a mount on reaching level 40. Each of the 8 races have their own racial mount and they are listed as follows:

• You need no reputation standing to purchase your own racial mount.
• You need to learn the Riding Skill before you can ride a mount and this will cost you 20g or 18g if you have an honorable reputation with your home city and if wanting a mount of another race in your faction Exhaulted reputation with their people.
• The Instructors are located nearby the mount vendors.
• You can not ride the mounts of the other faction.

Warlock Felsteed

At level 40 Warlocks should visit a Warlock Trainer to receive a quest which sends you to Ratchet to speak with another NPC. Once there you will be awarded the Summon Felsteed skill. When cast it costs a little mana but has a short casting time. Apart from the mana cost it’s managed in the same way as any other mount. Dismount and it disappears, hit the summon felsteed skill to resummon. It doesn’t require stabling.

At level 60 Warlocks have the opportunity of getting an Epic Felsteed. There is a chain of several quests which are started by a Demon Trainer which call for you to speak with Mor’zul Bloodbringer. From that link follow the ‘next quest‘ links to see the entire quest line with maps. ~ Source: DrunkCajun

In a nutshell, the above quests will call for you to collect all sorts of reagents. Some must be purchased from the quest givers (several hundred gold are required) and others can be gathered (i.e Arcanite bars, Felcloth, Shadowy Power Potions, Xornthian Dust). After gathering all of these and turning them in, there are two legs of quests left. One to Scholomance (5-man) and another to Dire Maul, also 5-man.

Paladin Warhorse

The level 40 Mount is free and can be claimed from Duthorian Rall in the Cathedral in Stormwind City. The mount is like a normal mount in the way that it behaves, the only difference being that it is summoned with a spell rather than ‘using’ an item. The mount costs 35% of your base mana to summon.

The Epic (level 60) mount is not free and involves a long quest chain. This quest starts with Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker, the first part of which is called ‘Emphasis on Sacrifice‘ and required 150g, later parts requiring more gold, goods and quest accomplishments. The final part entails defeating a Deathknight in the bowels of the Scholomance and setting free the spirit of his Charger.

Once the quest chain is completed you gain a new spell called ‘Summon Charger’ (as opposed to ‘Summon Warhorse’ for the lvl40 mount). The casting time and mana cost of these two spells are exactly the same, ‘Summon Charger’ mount has the speed of an Epic mount (+100%). Like normal mounts, you have to re-summon these mounts every time you wish to use them.

No stabling is required as it is a spell. ~ Suicidal Zebra

Special Mounts

General Points about Ground Mounts

• Players on mounts can jump and strafe too.
• Mounts will leave mount footprints in the snow.
• Can’t fight on mounts.
• You can’t put armour onto your mounts.
• You can have more than one mount.
• Can’t mount while in combat (so no quick get-aways)
• You can not use pets as mounts.
• Mounts do not have any attacks of their own, they inflict no damage.
• Any pets you have summoned at the time of mounting will simply follow you.

Ships

Ships are available for both factions to use. There are no routes to discover, level requirements or costs involved. The timetable is about every 5 to 10 minutes and the individual journeys only take a few minutes. The routes run between:

Neutral

Ratchet in the Barrens, Kalimdor –>Booty Bay in Stranglethorn, Eastern Kingdoms.

Alliance

Menethil Harbor, Wetlands, Eastern Kingdoms –>Theramore Isle, Dustwallow Marsh, Kalimdor.
Auberdine, Darkshore, Kalimdor –>Menethil Harbor, Wetlands, Eastern Kingdoms.
Auberdine, Darkshore, Kalimdor –>Rut’theran Village, Darnassus, Teldrassil, Kalimdor

Zeppelins

Zeppleins are a horde only transcontinental means of transport. You do not need to discover flight paths in order to board them and they are free. They have a regular time timetable of about 5 to 10 minutes and the journey time is a matter of a few minutes. The routes are:

Just outside the walls of Orgrimmar, Durotar, Kalimdor –>Undercity, Tirisfal Glades, Eastern Kingdoms
Just outside the walls of Orgrimmar, Durotar, Kalimdor –>Grom’gol, Stranglethorn, Eastern Kingdoms
Grom’gol, Stranglethorn, Eastern Kingdoms –>Undercity, Tirisfal Glades, Eastern Kingdoms

Deeprun Tram

The Deeprun Tram is alliance only runs from the Dwarven District in Stormwind City to Tinker Town in Ironforge. It’s free, there are no level restrictions and the service runs very frequently from the two platforms in each station. It takes a minute or so to do the journey. It’s placed within an instance but you do not create your own instance of it when you walk through the portal in the same way party instances work. There is an Alliance quest Deeprun Rat Roundup that starts in Ironforge and requires you to go into the tram system to catch rats.

Here’s are maps of the entrance in Ironforge and the other end in Stormwind. Three scenic shots en route also, 1, 2 and 3.

Hearthstones

Inns are resting places where players can log off their characters, but they also serve a second purpose, as a home point. When you create a character there is a unique soulbound object called a Hearthstone in your backpack. Should you lose it, you can talk to any Innkeeper in any Inn in the world (that is friendly or neutral to your faction) to set your home location to that particular Inn. Activating the Hearthstone (15 second cast time so not useful for a quick get-away) will teleport you directly to the Inn that you have set as your home point from any location, however the Hearthstone may only be used once per hour.

Teleportation

Mages have the luxury of Teleport spells to the 3 major cities of their faction.

• Alliance
  • Stormwind (Level 20)
  • Ironforge (Level 20)
  • Darnassus (Level 30)
• Horde
  • Orgrimmar (Level 20)
  • Undercity (Level 20)
  • Thunderbluff (Level 30)

These Teleport spells are learnt from Portal Trainers in the respective cities, usually located next to the Mage Trainers. When a mage casts a teleport spell, it will teleport the mage (self-only) next to the Portal Trainer. While the Teleport spell is certainly very convenient, it is safe to say that it is not a replacement for a mount simply because the world is so huge.

Shamans have a spell called Astral Recall (Level 30) that works exactly like the Hearthstone, except that it has a much smaller cooldown of 15 minutes instead of 1 hour.

Teleport Moonglade is a Druid spell that allows druids to teleport to Moonglade. It is a 10 second cast spell that takes 120 mana. It is only useable out of combat, and the spell is available from a trainer once a druid hits level 10. Druids commonly have their hearthstone set to somewhere in the Eastern Kingdoms so they can quickly transport themselves between the two continents.

If you are proficient in Engineering then you may also use a Teleporter.

Dimensional Ripper is available to level 260 Engineers who chose the Goblin specialization. It’ll take you to Everlook in Winterspring but has a 4 hour cooldown. The official description reads “Rips the dimensional walls asunder and transports you to Everlook in Winterspring. There are technical problems that sometimes occur, but that’s what Goblin Engineering is all about!”

Ultrasafe Transporter is available to level 260 Engineers who chose the Gnome specialization. It’ll take you to Gadgetzan in Tanaris but has a 4 hour cooldown. The official description reads “Safely transport yourself to Gadgetzan in Tanaris! Emphasis on Safe! Yup, nothing bad could ever happen while using this device!”

Be cautious and prepared when using either as with many device things may not always go to plan and you could find yourself changed into a Murloc or worse 50 foot in the air or on fire when you arrive at your destination.

Portals

On top of the Teleport spells, mages also have the ability to create Portals to the 3 cities of their faction. Just like the Teleport spells, Portal spells are also learnt from the Portal Trainers.

• Alliance
  • Stormwind (Level 40)
  • Ironforge (Level 40)
  • Darnassus (Level 50)
• Horde
  • Orgrimmar (Level 40)
  • Undercity (Level 40)
  • Thunderbluff (Level 50)

When a mage casts a Portal spell, a small circular area next to the mage on the floor becomes a portal in which players in the same party as the mage may click on to be teleported to the destination city (next to the Portal Trainer). The portal will last about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and is a one-way trip to the city. This is a useful spell indeed after successfully completing an instance or a quest and everybody just wants to get to town. Players not in your party cannot use your portals.

Summoning

Warlocks gain the ability to summon players to their location at level 20. To do this, the Warlock must first have a Soul Shard and have the target player to summon in his party. The summoning process is also a Ritual, requiring multiple players to take part in it for it to be successful.

For the Warlock, the Ritual of Summoning requires 3 players, the Warlock himself and 2 others. On casting, a portal will appear on the floor, and 2 players in the Warlock’s party must right click on this portal to complete the ritual. If the spell is successful, the target player will be teleported to the location of the Warlock. It does not matter where the target player was, he could be in instance or flying on a Gryphon.

This spell is useful to gather a player who is very far away to an existing group in an instance, or to gather players together for a raid. Warlocks cannot use this spell while inside an instance to summon other players into the instance, unless the target is already inside the same instance.

Travel Forms

2 classes have the ability to transform themselves into a form that is more suitable for travelling. Shamans may turn themselves into a Ghost Wolf, increasing their travelling speed to 140% of normal at level 20. Druids may transform into Travel Form at level 30 with the same speed increase. While in their respective travel forms, players cannot cast spells or use abilities and have a very weak melee attack.

Additionally, Druids have an Aquatic Form (level 16), transforming themselves into a seal while underwater. This allows them to breath underwater and swim in water at normal speed while other players speed in water is reduced by 50%.

Damage dealth in druid travel form and aquatic form is the same as in human form. In other words if you have a mace dealing 100-150 damage with a speed of 2.7, your aquatic/travel form attacks will deal 100-150 damage and you’ll attack at a speed of 2.7. ~ AeroJonesy

Hunter Aspects

The hunter class also has two movement enhancing skills at his disposal, neither change the form of the hunter, but they’ll boost his own running speed not unilke a 100 meter Olympian and his special injections. Both skills are similar and the official descriptions read:

Aspect of Cheetah

The hunter takes on the aspects of a cheetah, increasing movement speed by 30%.  If the hunter takes damage, he will be dazed for 4 sec.  Only one Aspect can be active at a time

Aspect of the Pack

The Party Pleaser. The hunter and group members within 30 yards take on the aspects of a pack of cheetahs, increasing movement speed by 30%. If a pack member takes damage, they will be dazed for 4 sec.

Neither of these will improve his speed when mounted and you can’t have both active at one time. Nor can two hunters stack an Aspect of the Pack each, improving speed by 60%! Cheese-tastic!

Walking/Running

Last but not least is Shanks’ Pony. It’s easy, (one foot in front of the other) and it’s free. The drawback is it’s slow. There are a number of things that can speed up your run distance temporarily.