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The thing about the World of Warcraft is that it’s incredibly HUGE. It’s just so time consuming to move from one area to another – especially at lower levels. After close to 2-3 weeks of WoW-ing, finally we’ve (my Teddybear and myself) hit level 30 and could purchase our very first mounts! (Initially you could only get them at 40, I guess they changed it abit since I left…)

Teddybear isn’t the photo-taking-kinda-person. Even screenshots are tiresome to him. So anyway, I present to you…

^{Four more shots (click to enlarge):}

My first mount! >,<

Admittedly, I hate the oversized "chicken" or whatever you call it. I was kinda hoping that I'd get enough reputation for the undead mount. Figured that was not gonna be possible. Sigh. Oh well.

Just a little good-to-know stuff about mounts…

According to WoWWiki (yes, we have our own Wiki as well – how kewl is that!), mounts are a much sought after form of transportation in which players ride atop the backs of various Bind on Pickup creatures (or machines for Alliance Players, engineers, very lucky people, and extremely lucky people).

There are several types of mounts exist, all which correspond to one of the four different riding skills: Apprentice: Level 30, Journeyman: Level 60, Expert: Level 70, Artisan: Level 70, Cold Weather Flying: Level 77.

Each race has their own mount, but other races can ride these mounts if they have the appropriate faction status.

The hawkstrider is the blood elves’ racial mount. It was formerly called a cockatrice but was later changed, though that mythical beast remains the inspiration for the hawkstrider.

As their name implies, hawkstriders resemble other members of the tallstrider family, though their plumage is both larger and more vibrant. They come in a variety of bright colors and have a thin, curved beak and burning orange eyes. Epic versions include decorative armor on the chest and head.

The hawkstrider’s movements exhibit the same rhythmic, back-and-forth motion which characterizes the other two-legged mounts. They use a heavily modified tallstrider model, but they possess a wildly different looking exterior and a unique standing-jump and running animation.

A Hawkstrider has both avian and reptilian features, as does the typical rendition of a cockatrice, hinting at a relation between the two. Still, there is little resemblance between the two in-game.

Hawkstriders can be purchased at Thuron’s Livery, just outside Silvermoon City.

Swift Warstriders are available as a Horde PvP mount for purchase from the Hall of Legends in Orgrimmar.

A Swift White Hawkstrider can be dropped from Kael’thas Sunstrider in Magisters’ Terrace on heroic mode. This is the only hawkstrider mount that can be ridden by members of the Alliance or by tauren.

Hawkstriders are sometimes called “chocobos” by players due to their resemblance to the aforementioned Final Fantasy creature.

PS: The Singapore Tattoo Show ’09 was very much a disappointment for me (or rather Teddybear’s sister). Sadly, we went all the way down but didn’t get to interview Chris Garver.