New Argent Tourny mount graphics

It was first announced that any Argent Tournament mounts purchased prior to this patch would be replaced with the new models once the patch went live on April 28: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16474164793&sid=1

The updated designs of the Argent Tournament mounts were what were originally intended to be offered, but were not finished in time to be released with the Argent Tournament. Because of this, we decided to keep the old mounts on the vendors so players still have the opportunity to collect these mounts if they so choose. It is understandable that you may not have read our announcement about the mounts being updated, or seen the preview we released featuring screen shots of these mounts two days later: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/argent-tournament-mounts.html

With that being said, it is a long standing rule for our support department that they are unable to reimburse for items or currency requested as the result of a content change. Similar to the notion that we would be unable to assist in a refund of gold if an item you purchased yesterday was made cheaper today, we will be unable to exchange a mount that was changed, and with warning, as intended.

You are still more than welcome to pick up the old version of the mount for 5 Champion's Seals and 500 gold (before faction discount) as you mentioned. The whole point of changing the look of the mounts being offered for 100 Champion's Seals is to keep with the theme of the faction you're championing, and we feel the new designs do that nicely. :)

Q u o t e:
The new mounts also IMHO do not look better than the old skins, in most cases they look worse.

They weren't made to look better. They were made to match the colors and symbols of each faction so as to better fit in with the whole purpose of the Argent Tournament and championing the major Horde and Alliance factions. We recognize some players may not care about this and like the looks of the old mounts better. That is why they can still be obtained, but the mounts obtained by earning 100 Champion's Seals have been retroactively replaced with the mounts we've always intended to have available for participating in the Argent Tournament.

Q u o t e:


What about the users who don't read the forums, or visit the world of warcraft website? You know, probably over half the population who just logs on and plays the game? Can you say they were warned adequitely?

Are you asking how to adequately warn someone with eyes shut and ears plugged? It was on the main page of the web site, the forums, the 3.1.2 PTR notes, the test realms, every major fan site, and has been under the "News" section of the WoW Launcher since May 1.

Even given all of that, we don't expect players to be in constant search of announcements or upcoming content previews. Some people just want to log in and play the game they pay to play. That's fine and we get that. But everyone is warned in the agreements required for playing this game that things can and will change. Playing a MMO means you're playing a game that's in a constant state of evolution. Some times a change that one player will approve of will upset another. It's the nature of change.

In this case we recognized that nature and gave players a simple way of obtaining the mounts previously offered for 100 Champion's Seals. Some players may not like the mount they have now been given for the 100 Champion's Seals they spent before the patch, but we've provided a relatively easy way to obtain the mount that was replaced if one continues doing the Argent Tournament dailies.

Q u o t e:


You could have just put it in a popup when people actually purchase the mount telling them that they are buying a placeholder mount that will be replaced. That puts the message right where the people who most need it will see it.

That would have required a surprising amount of development time and a client side patch, which isn't a trivial task. We wanted this change to take effect as soon as possible before the majority of players active on the Argent Tournament grounds purchased the outdated mounts.

The fact of the matter is that the change has now been implemented. For those who want to dress in the full garb of the faction they represent and have a mount to reinforce that look, you now have the opportunity to purchase such a mount for 100 Champion's Seals if you have not already. For those who like the way the old mounts look, you can purchase them as well for 500 gold and 5 Champion's Seals.