We’ve all seen the Cold Weather flight trainer, Hira Snowdawn hanging out on the flight deck of Dalaran.  She’s the woman, who took your  gold and taught you how to fly in Northrend, the Wrath of the Lich King expansion zones.  As of patch 4.0.1 Blizzard has instituted a new flight option in the World of Warcraft.  Previous to patch 4.0.1, Blizzard only had a few options for fast (+310%) flying mounts for players.  Two of which were The Ashes of Al’ar from the Burning Crusade 25 man raid Tempest Keep, or the Swift Nether Drake, from the arenas.

Blizzard has decided to follow it’s long lasting tradition of offering “Welfare Epics” to players who didn’t get access to the prizes during their first run because these +310% flying mounts were beyond the capabilities of most players to acquire.  Instead of dominating the Arenas, or trudging their way through Tempest Keep, casual World of Warcraft players can now purchase the Master Flying skill from the Hira Snodawn, the cold weather flight trainer in Dalaran.  This upgrade will make the speed of all of your flying mounts be +310% while in the air.  That’s right, no longer is the 310% bonus limited only to the Ashes of Al’ar and Swift Nether Drake! Now you can sport any mount you want, and still get the fastest flight speed possible.  You should be aware that this increase in speed only works while you are in the air.  The instant your mounts feet touch the ground, your speed will slow down to normal until you start to fly again.

After paying the moderate fee of 5000 gold (minus your faction discount), every one of your flying mounts will now fly at the +310% flight speed.  This is a fantastic option for those of you who never got to experience the faster mounts before.  The difference is incredible! Having the faster flight speed makes a difference in everything you do from farming herbs, to running daily quests.  I would highly recommend that anyone who spends more then a few hours a week playing the World of Warcraft invest the 5000 gold to upgrade their flying speed.  The minutes shaved off of travel times will eventually add up.

The cost of 5000 gold shouldn’t be too much of a burden on most World of Warcraft players,  especially since the Cataclysm is coming soon, and we can expect some inflation in the economy.  Players can also now make a couple hundred gold a day just by doing daily quests, battlegrounds, and weekly raids. Interestingly enough, according to WoWiki.com, the price of the new Flight Master’s License which allows players to use flying mounts in Azeroth (the classic World of Warcraft zones) is only going to be 250 gold.   Why Blizzard decided to charge 5000 for faster flying, but only 250 gold for the ability to fly in Azeroth I can only speculate.  Could it be that Blizzard wanted people to have optional items to spend their vast amounts of gold on?  This would certainly fall into line with Blizzard’s previous release of the Mechano-hog / Megkineer’s Chopper.  These sweet mounts, that allowed you to carry a passenger were only available at a staggering 15,000 gold price tag from Blizzard.   Designed as a way to absorb massive amounts of gold back from players in return for a vanity item, these epic mounts are still very popular with gamers today.

You can get more information about the Master Riding skill from WoWiki.com.