Guide for preparing to buy a mount

This is a guide for preparing to buy a mount.

=Making Money for your Mount=

Questing
To get enough gold for your mount at level 20 you should just follow the progresssion of the game doing all quests as you go.

Rare Mobs
Also be sure to look for rare mobs that almost always drop gear you can auction. Look up the item on wowhead or elsewhere to check prices or just search for similar items on the auction house and price accordingly.

Auctioning Drops
Avoid pvp and dungeons till you hit level 20 and get your mount. Pvp is a losing proposition if you do not have heirloom gear, but can still be fun, though you will get little out of it except possibly a carry win and potential honor token. Dungeons will drop little that you can sell but you might get lucky, or you could roll 'need' for everything that is not BoP (bind on pickup) to sell on the ah, though others do not like this type of behavior.
 * it seems now gear drops that would be BoE are now BoP if you select NEED instead of GREED when rolling for loot; but non gear drops do not bind at all, so roll as you like.

Crafting
Get two gathering professions to start off, either herbalism or mining, plus skinning. Anytime you see lots of mobs that are skinnable, do so and you will also get meat you can auction, along with skins and leathers, depending on which is selling for the higher price, usually the leathers. You can also sell cloth that drops from mobs on the AH. Once you hit 20 and have enough for your mount you can decide which production profession you want to pursue.

Full Steam Ahead
Don't waste time doing anything but questing, killing the occasional rare, whenever you find them (not taming them, hunter), and farming materials. You will be so happy to be going faster once you have obtained that first mount.
 * i think the mounts are really cheap now, but for old time sake let us pretend they aren't. It is still good advice to rush to 20 doing just world quests, for reasons listed below, such as reputation and that the game is designed to propel you quickly with the initial storylines.  And you should put enjoying the story first.  You are only a new player one time.  Luckily there are lots of different storylines.

Helpful tips for saving money

 * Depending on your class, it might be more useful to run a lot of instances.
 * Don't buy yourself any equipment; only use drops. This is fairly easy since dropped and reward gear will always outclass vendor gear.
 * Use your professions to your advantage when you can, but avoid investing hard cash into them.
 * Alchemists: Make a lot of Swiftness Potions & sell them at the Auction House for around a stack, or whatever they're going for at that time.
 * Gatherers (skinners/herbalists/miners without leatherworking/alchemy/blacksmithing): Save your gathered items until you get a stack, then sell them at the Auction House.
 * Leveling up by doing nothing but grinding is one way to ensure that you have the money to buy your mount when you reach the required level (by selling/auctioning the drops). However, grinding is repetitive, and this method typically requires a good knowledge of grinding spots. You may also have to compete with other players grinding in the same hot-spot. One example of a good spot is an area where there are a lot of humanoids that drop money and various raw cloth, which is always in high demand. Grinding also improves your likelihood of looting rarer drops that are worth large amounts of gold in the auction house.

Take advantage of discounts

 * Even if you choose to level and raise money simply by grinding, be sure to complete enough quests with your home faction to raise your reputation - with the


 * The discount is available on vendors affiliated with a faction, (for example, off a nether ray from the Sha'tari Skyguard (with Exalted reputation), to a total cost of  for the mount).
 * Mounts are Bind on Pickup as of patch 1.12.1. This means you can no longer have a friend with discounts buy a mount on your behalf.