Riding and dual spec in WoW: Forever: levels and costs

Level 40 is the expensive one in WoW: Forever: riding costs 100 gold, dual spec 50 gold, and you can learn both on the same day. Put at least 150 gold aside on the way up and you can mount up without waiting. The difference from Classic: your first mount is included in the price, so you no longer pay twice.

Riding skills

You train with your race's riding trainer. Afterwards the mount vendor next to them hands you a quest that gets you your first mount for free. You also learn your race's own riding skill at the same time, so horses, rams, wolves or whatever belongs to your race.

There is no flying. Mount Hyjal and every other new zone can be reached on the ground.

Riding for less

Two things lower the price:

• Reputation: At Honored with your race's faction you pay 10% less, both for training and for mounts. 100 gold becomes 90. You build that reputation along the way through quests in the starting zones and capital cities.
• Legacy: The Bartering node cuts gold prices at every vendor by 5% or 10%, depending on rank. That includes the mount vendor. The Legacy planner shows which other nodes are worth it.

You can ride other races' mounts too. For that you need Exalted with that race and pay another 100 gold to learn its riding skill.

Mounts for Skyborne

The Skyborne ride Galestriders. Their trainer and vendor is Genn Fairweather at Fairweather Stables on Zephras Isle, and the free mount comes from the quest Your First Riding Galestrider. There are three colours:

• Empyrean Galestrider
• Stormy Galestrider
• Umber Galestrider

Each has a swift version at level 60. The mounts are account-wide. Since 10 November every racial mount sold by a vendor is Bind on Pickup, for all races, so you can no longer buy one and pass it on to another character. More on the race in the Skyborne guide.

Other mounts

Paladins and Warlocks still get their class mounts from quests at levels 40 and 60. Since 9 November the Warlock Felsteed quest also teaches the riding skill. If you finished it earlier, summoning the Felsteed once grants the skill, and after that you can use other mounts too. Forsaken Paladins finish their journey at Bandarion Keep in Tirisfal with a quest of their own for an epic mount.

Two more routes cost no gold:

• PvP: Rank 11 unlocks mounts for purchase. The PvP guide explains how to get there.
• Legacy: At 55 Legacy points on your account you receive the Reins of the Spectral Bear. The Legacy guide covers how to collect them.

Dual spec

From level 40 you can buy a second talent specialization from your class trainer in a capital city for 50 gold. You then have two full talent builds and swap between them outside combat. Swapping does not work inside battlegrounds.

Older guides still say 10 gold. That figure dates from beta; in the live game it costs 50.

The obvious setup is one spec for levelling and one for dungeons, for example a Rogue with Combat and Assassination or a Druid with Feral and Restoration. Plan both builds ahead in the talent calculator.

Resetting talents

As before, you can only change talents at a class trainer in a capital city, and that includes your Legacy talents. Resetting still costs gold. Each spec has its own price, which drops back towards 1 gold over time. If you switch a lot, dual spec is the cheaper road.

What to budget up to level 60

That adds up to a little over 1,550 gold. Trainer costs spread out over every level, but the big items hit all at once: 150 gold at level 40 and 1,200 gold at level 60 if you want an epic mount right away. Most players earn the bulk of it with a gathering profession, as the gathering professions guide describes. The levelling guide shows which zones lie along the way.