Favorite mounts

I just did favorite followers, and I think I ended up with seven out of seventy-three.  When I was drafting  posts I apparently thought limiting myself to five mounts was a good idea.

Five was not a good idea.  I have two hundred sixty-two mounts in my log, not including warlock, paladin, or death knight mounts.  But I think I've got it down to seven, including only mounts I actually have.  (One day, Emerald Drake.  One day.)

#7 - Dark Riding Talbuk

Way back in the Burning Crusade, when mounts we no longer items you had to keep in your inventory, I started... acquiring.  Mounts drove my reputation grinds - Netherwing, Sha'tari Skyguard, the Mag'har.

And then there was Halaa.  I was one of those people who got the first mount, and then... sat on languishing research tokens while vainly trying to acquire battle tokens in later expansions.  But I had the first one!

#6 - Azure Drake

So when the Emerald Drake was announced, I started farming Malygos for the two blue ones he drops.  The Blue Drake isn't anything terribly special, but the Azure Drake?  The Azure Drake is covered in arcane symbols and a variety of blues.  This is a mage's mount, for sure.

 #5 - Sea Turtle

This is the mount you get from fishing, originally in Northrend, but over time it got added to the new waters, as well.

I got it in Pandaria.  I wasn't even trying for the turtle - I had gone on dedicated turtle-farming fishing binges in the past.  No, I was trying to get a Flying Tiger Gourami for the Nat Pagle daily quest.

Bam, turtle.

#4 - Black War Raptor

Once upon a time, Tauren could only ride kodos.  Then Tauren could only ride kodos and wolves.  Then they added PVP mounts, and they decided that the raptor would be Tauren-tough.

I did a lot more PVP back in Vanilla, but it was still a bit of work to have the honor banked to purchase the raptor the day it went live - not to mention grinding out the gold for fast riding.  I did it primarily via Felcloth.  In the old Azshara.

This raptor is made of blood, sweat, and tears, for sure.

#3 - Sky Golem

I built the Sky Golem myself, because, you know, mount count.  I didn't think I was actually going to use it... until I leveled my death knight, an herbalist.

This was shortly after I leveled my druid, also an herbalist, and druid flight-form herbing is hard to beat.  Sky golem Tauren death knight comes pretty close.  And it matched her 'mog.  And her hair.

Sky golem for my death knight is one of the things I miss about level-cap flying.  I loved flying around in it on her.

#2 - Enchanted Fey Dragon

Back in Vanilla, I did the sprite darter hatchling pet quest chain on my original Night Elf; it was one of the handful of pets I had on her (along with the white kitten, which was my husband & I's introduction to limited-stock vendors).  Since then, I've been pretty sprite darter/fey dragon gung-ho; I have this in plush, as well.  This may have been my first mount-store purchase.

#1 - Swift Shorestrider

This is the mount Duskhawk is running around Draenor with; it was a birthday present, and I love it.  I like the striders the best of the ostrich-type mounts; they feel sturdy enough for a Tauren, and they aren't too flashy.