Patch 2.4.3 goes live today, and that means that (as soon as the servers come up) we’ll be able to buy our first mounts 10 levels earlier and for about half the cost we paid previously!

Here’s the details:

• All of the mounts that previously had a level 40 requirement now have a level 30 requirement.
• The base price of the mounts is still 10 gold (minus any reputation discounts).
• They still require the Apprentice (75) level riding skill.
• Apprentice (75) Riding now costs 35 gold (base) instead of 90 gold (base). And you can still subtract reputation discounts when appropriate, of course.
• The first class mounts for the paladin and warlock are still bought from the class trainer, but now they can be purchased at level 30 instead of 40.
• Level 60+ mounts are unchanged.

So we get our first mounts sooner and cheaper! With a 20% Exalted discount, learning to ride and buying your first mount could cost as little as 36 gold (28 gold for the skill + 8 gold for the mount).

Of course, you now have 10 fewer levels to get to exalted, either to buy a cross-race mount or to get the best reputation discount. But even in the worse case the cost is cut in half. This is great news for all mount collectors! (And normal players too.)

You can find the current patch notes on the official WoW site, although as I write this they haven’t been updated yet. Mania’s Arcania has a copy of the notes from the patch download, however.

Update: Warcraft Mounts is now updated with Patch 2.4.3 data. Enjoy!