World of Warcraft: Dragonflightis nearing the end of its first season, and the past few months have brought a slew of new content. One of these additions is the Trading Post, a vendor that allows players to purchase unique cosmetics such as mounts, pets, and transmog sets. The pool of rewards rotates each month, offering a range of items forWorld of Warcraftplayers can choose from.
The currency used to purchase these cosmetics is called Trader’s Tender, which can be earned passively through a variety of different play styles. Some are rewarded freely when players who have purchased Dragonflight log in, while more can be earned by participating in a range of solo and group content. Once the player has reached themaximum Trader’s Tenderfor the month, they will unlock another unique cosmetic item for free, one that isn’t available in the Trading Post shop itself. This seems like the perfect environment to reintroduce goodies like mounts that never made it into the full game.
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The Trading Post Could Introduce Unused Mounts From World of Warcraft’s Past Expansions
The Trading Post typically offers at least one mount per month, and the mount forApril 2023 is the Magenta Cloud Serpent- a cloud serpent with a previously unseen pink color pallet. This mount did not exist in the game before now, not even as an NPC, but it has been present in the game files since Mists of Pandaria in late 2012.
Sometimes certain models and colors for mounts are deliberately withheld until much later as rewards for Timewalking events or secret quest lines, but there are still dozens of potential mounts from past years that have remained unobtainable. One of these mounts is the infamous Reigns of the Bengal Tiger that has not been reintroduced since vanillaWorld of Warcraft’s Alpha testingphase. Rumors and urban legends about this mount have been around for nearly two decades, so dropping it on players through the Trading Post would make for an incredible nostalgia trip.
Although many older, unused mounts possess outdated models, the polygonal look is not always a bad thing. Loads of players still use the oldest mounts in the game because of their charming vanilla appearance, not despite it. On top of that, the Magenta Cloud Serpent forsale at the April 2023 Trading Posthas proven that even an 11-year-old model can live up to today’s graphic standards.
It seems tragic that unused mounts are doomed to spend decades in the game files, where players can see but never ride them. The Trading Post is a great way to preventWorld of Warcraftassets from going to waste, and this idea doesn’t only apply to mounts.Unimplemented skins, models, and recolors exist for various pets, weapons, and armor sets in World of Warcraft. Many pieces pay homage to certain factions, characters, and events in the game, giving roleplayers lots of new toys to have fun with.
It is almost guaranteed that more mounts akin to the Magenta Cloud Serpent willcome toWorld of Warcraft’s Trading Postin the following months. Releasing older assets probably takes little effort on the part of developers since the work has already been done, which allows more effort to be thrown at current content. Introducing unused mounts from the past is an easy win for Blizzard, and ensures that players will likely keep up with their preferred in-game activities to earn that sweet Trader’s Tender.
World of Warcraft: Dragonflightis available now on PC.
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