There are hundreds of different kinds of mounts in Azeroth. The most common are the mounts that first become available to players when they reach level 20. It used to be level 40, and that is when Wild got his first mount. Actually, Wild didn't get his first mount until level 43, because he did not have the gold to buy it until then. Each major city offered a particular type of mount. Wild's home city was Thunder Bluff, and his first mount was a great, rhinoceros like beast called a Kodo. Wild was extremely proud of his Kodo. These common mounts came in different colors for variety. As the game progressed more common mounts were added, including flying mounts. Mounts were so popular that more and more were added, and greater and greater challenges were designed to get the rarer ones.
There are many players who collect mounts and spend much of their time doing whatever is required, for however long it takes, to get them. These players are crazy, of course ... well, not really, but seriously, you can only ride one mount at a time. If you are a mount fan, though, there is nothing more impressive than seeing a player on a mount you know took incredible skill, persistence, and even luck to acquire.
Wild has never been much of a mount collector. Wild's kodo served him well throughout vanilla wow and into Burning Crusade. His first non-kodo mount, if Wild's recollection is sound (an iffy assumption) were the Kiraji bug mounts in the An'Qiraj raid. Wild has several of them, and they are truly cool. Unfortunately, they can only be used inside that one raid. Maybe one day Blizz will set them free to roam all of Azeroth.
Wild collected many other mounts over the seasons, although there were few that he actively went after. One such mount was the great mammoth sold in Dalaran. Wild had to earn reputation with the city of Dalaran and pay a steep fee to acquire it. Wild wanted the mammoth because it came with an extra seat, so Wild could give another player a ride. It also came with a repair npc so that Wild could repair his (and everyone else's) gear anywhere in the world, so long as it was somewhere he could mount up.
The one mount that Wild most wanted, however, eluded him - the Raven Lord, which is one of the most rare and difficult mounts to acquire. Today, there are probably rarer mounts, with more difficult challenges. However, the Raven Lord is wreathed in a rich history and is still sought after even today.
In the Burning Crusade expansion came a dungeon called Sethekk Halls. The bird dungeon, it was sometimes referred to, because it's denizens included many and varied birds, and it was peopled by birdmen. Sethekk Halls was neither the hardest, not the easiest, of the BC dungeons, but it had it's challenges. It was also where the great elite bird, Anzu, held court. The druids had a unique, very challenging quest line that ultimately led to Anzu. A druid who could successfully complete the quest chain and defeated Anzu had a rare chance to win the Reins of the Raven Lord. Only druids could win this mount. Wild did complete the quest chain, of course, and killed Heroic Anzu many times in five man groups. The Reins never dropped.
Later on, all players were given the chance to defeat Anzu and win the Reins, not just druids. However, a druid who had completed the quest chain had to be in the group, or Anzu would not appear. Wild got invites all the time to join groups hoping to win the Reins. Not only did Wild not win one, no one in any group he was in ever saw one drop.
More time passed, the Wrath of the Lich King expansion arrived, and players grew in strength to the point that Heroic Sethekk Halls could be two manned, and soon even soloed. It remained a difficult dungeon, though, for a couple of reasons. First, anyone wanting to battle Anzu still had to be a druid, or bring a druid with him. Second, the birdmen filled the dungeon in large numbers and had a particularly vicious stun that could not be interrupted or broken. Chain stuns by several mobs could still get a player killed. Third, Anzu was the second to last boss and was located very deep in the dungeon. Even a successful run to Anzu took a lot of killing and a lot of time. Wild and a shaman friend tried many times as a twosome. The Reins never dropped.
Wild eventually became strong enough to test Heroic Sethekk Halls all on his own. It wasn't like Wild went after Anzu every day. There were periods where he was busy raiding and leveling and the Raven Lord was far from his mind. But Wild always eventually came back to Sethekk Halls, for a day or a week, seeking that elusive mount.
Solo, Wild went stealthed catform for the first part of the dungeon, avoiding combat. However, the first boss, Darkweaver Syth, could detect stealth and Wild had no choice but to battle him and the five adds that he Summoned. It was a tough battle, but Wild got better at it over time. Then there was a very long stretch in stealth that Wild had to navigate. Mobs packed the place, and birds flew around everywhere. Wild's stealth would hide him, as long as he did not get too close. There were times he did, and Wild would have to fight. Wild did not always win. There were so many mobs.
Players going after Anzu also learned a trick. There was a backdoor out of the dungeon, but it only opened when the last boss, Talon King Ikiss, was killed. So Wild would stealth past Anzu and into the Talon King's chamber and kill him, which opened the back door. What this did is that if Anzu killed Wild, I didn't have to stealth all the way back through the dungeon again to take more shots at him. And honestly, when Wild first started soloing Anzu, Wild died - a lot. Killing Anzu was not just overwhelming him with over-powered gear. Anzu had two phases, one where he could be attacked, and a second when he was immune, and great gobs of ravens descended on Wild. All the ravens had to be killed to knock Anzu out of his immune phase. The ravens could stun, too, and killing those ravens took time. There were raven statues in the room, each of which offered a buff to help Wild in the fight, but still, it was a difficult fight.
On Sunday morning, 5 Feb 2012, Wild made his umpteenth foray into Heroic Sethekk Halls. Wild no longer bothered with the back door. At level 85, dying to Anzu would have to be a rare combination of multiple stuns that kept him from healing himself far longer than likely, and Wild didn't worry about that.
For the umpteenth time, Wild slew Anzu. And this time, the Reins of the Raven Lord dropped.
The Raven Lord is a level 40 mount that cannot fly. But she's a beautiful bird, and every druid should have one. Now Wild finally does.
Wild and his Raven Lord
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