I started thinking about this after seeing yet another “WTS ZA Bear Run, 10K. PST!” in Trade channel tonight, and the resultant discussion of “I’d never buy one!” “Good for you!” “That’s such a ripoff!” “n00bs!” “Chuck Norris!” “Murlocs!” (It is Trade channel, after all.)
Zul’Aman bear mounts from the timed chests are, as most people know, no longer available once Wrath goes live, because they were intended to be a reward for completing a non-trivial challenge and doing the run at 80 will be far from challenging. Bear junkies will be able to get polar bear mounts from another source, but the Zul’Aman bear will remain a reward for those who got them at 70.
So, that’s got me thinking. My guild is doing Zul’Aman, but not all the time, and we haven’t conquered the timers yet – but we’re not far off. Do I want a bear mount? Yep. Do I want one enough to pay for it? ….I’m not sure.
How about you?
[poll=8]
You forgot a “Don’t want one because they’re ubiquitous.” On my home server, they’re everywhere, and you can buy one from one of the raiding guilds for around 8k. I’d rather have something more unique looking like one of the ZG mounts. So many people have bears that they’ve kinda lost their “neato” factor, at least for me.
Yeah, that’s a good point.
To be honest, I’m not sure I entirely want one because I think the thingy over their eyes looks ridiculous. The polar bear mounts might be less restricted, but I think they look a whole lot better.
Just not interested. Can’t see how a Nelf or Human would look good on one of those. I’d rather buy 22-slot bags. ;)
Our guild just got semi-serious about trying to get bear mounts, and I was lucky enough to win the first of the two so far that we’ve managed to get. I like him–didn’t think I would, because he’s not exactly RP-appropriate for my character (I’m on an RP server) but they’re still fairly rare on our server so having one gets you a certain measure of respect. I have the spectral tiger too though, so I’m used to dealing with lots of mount-related tells. :)
What’s funny is that the second one won by our guild went to a Tauren, and when we stand next to each other on our mounts (I’m a male Blood Elf) we look like Mama Bear and Cub. :)
I don’t see the point in buying one, and even if I did, I wouldn’t feel right about bringing it out.
The Bear is a reward for beating the 4 timers. If I didn’t really beat them, but got carried through them, I wouldn’t feel like I earned my mount, and I wouldn’t feel right riding it.
Now, if I won the roll after my guild completed the event with me tanking every boss along the way, well, that’s a Bear I could ride with Pride!
Beside, I’m a Paladin. I have the best land mount in game from my level 60 quest!
I want one, but only because I’m a bit of a collector, and it would be sad to me to miss out on something that I could well have gotten, even if I did have to pay for it. Of course, grinding out that amount of gold is no mean feat in and of itself.. I’ll have to see what the prices on my server are running at these days.
I think Athryn said it the best – they’ve lost any novelty that’s associated with it. There’s certain things that I carry and wear proudly because it’s something the guild achieved – my skeletal warhorse from Karazhan is one (we have three in our guild). My Red Dragonscale Protector is another (it’s the only one that dropped in BWL for Southern Wardens despite how many times we killed Vael).
My guild has been experimenting with different group makeups so we can make some serious attempts at the 4th chest. Some of it is class-based, some of it is people-based. But if/when we do finally get it, I will actually pass it to someone else who would derive much more enjoyment out of it.
This entry really interested me because not two days ago, at lunch, a friend was telling me that there is a group of “elites” in her guild that run ZA for the bear mount, everyone in the group has one, and now they’ve decided that rather than including guildies in the group, one at a time to give them a chance at it, they’re going to charge 10k gold to bidders for the opportunity. I had to look you up to see if you were on Kilrogg.
Would I pay for a ZA bear mount? Maybe, but I’d really rather have a raptor/Baron’s/Phoenix etc. Black bow? Yes, coupla thousand gold. Thor’idal? HELL YES, NAME YOUR PRICE!!!! :D