Patch 1 . 12 . 1 Mount Changes . See also : FAQ posted by Hortus Explanation of the Changes . Source : " link currently broken by search feature bug in official forums " This change was implemented after the latest revision of the patch notes was made available for inclusion into the 1 . 12 . 1 patch binary . It will be documented in a future revision however . There will be effectively two riding skill levels , Apprentice and Journeyman . The cost for the riding skill will be significantly higher than it previously was , however this is offset by a drastically lower cost for the actual mount . For current players with mounts there will be a seamless transition to the new system . You will continue to have your mount ; you will continue to be able to use it , etc . What this change does for players who don ' t yet have a mount or an epic mount is take the emphasis off of the mount itself , and put it on the riding skill . This helps give players access to more variety without requiring a large monetary investment if they , for instance , just want to pick a different colored horse . Player - written FAQ . Source : " link currently broken by search feature bug in official forums " In light of the recent changes to the mounts and the surrounding hysteria therein , I have written this F . A . Q . Please feel free to correct it . Let me say this first : After the changes in this patch , you will spend the SAME amount of money to learn to ride and buy a regular or epic mount as you did before the patch . The costs are merely reversed . In a nutshell , the cost of learning to ride a mount and the cost of purchasing a mount have been swapped . Instead of paying 80g for a regular mount ( undiscounted ) and 20g ( undiscounted ) to learn riding for that mount , you will pay 20g for a regular mount and 80g to learn the riding skill . Instead of paying 1000g for an epic mount ( undiscounted ) , you will pay 100g ( undiscounted ) for the epic mount and 1000g ( undiscounted ) for the riding skill . Patch 1 . 12 . 1 . Not the expansion . Currently , there are various types of riding skill , one for each type of mount . Riding ( Wolf ) , Riding ( Nightsaber ) , and Riding ( Ram ) are each separate skills that allow you to ride an Orcish Wolf , a Night Elven Nightsaber , and a Dwarven Ram respectively . You cannot learn the riding skill of another race or buy that races ’ s mount unless you are exalted with that race . This is how Blizzard restricted cross - racial mounts . Therefore , in theory under the current system , an Orc could own a Swift Orange Raptor * , but would be unable to ride it unless that Orc had Riding ( Raptor ) . Correct . However , all standard mounts ( non - PvP , non - drop ) are BoU , or Bind on Use . They are not BoP . Under this system , an Orc could give his Troll friend 1000g ( undiscounted ) , the Troll would buy the mount , and then trade that mount back to the Orc . This was especially helpful for non - PvPers or those who were not yet honored with their own race . A non - honored , non - PvPing Human would spend 80g on his mount , while an honored human of rank 3 or above would spend 64g because of the two 10 % discounts . ' How does this change in the patch ? ' In the patch , there will be only two riding skills , presumably one for the Alliance and one for the Horde . Purchasing that riding skill will allow you to ride all mounts of that faction , regardless of their race . However , there will now be two levels of riding . Apprentice riding will cost 80g ( undiscounted ) and allow you to ride regular mounts . Journeyman riding will cost 900g ( undiscounted ) and allow you to ride epic mounts . Blizzard has suggested that you are going to be transitioned over with no additional cost . If you have an epic mount and can ride it , you will not need to spend extra money to relearn it . If you have a regular mount and can ride it , you will not need to spend extra money to relearn it . This is somewhat less clear . According to Hortus , Rank 11 mounts , and the AV faction mounts should only require apprentice level riding skill . If you choose to PvP up to rank 11 or to exalted with AV and get the mount , you will not need to purchase Journeyman Riding for 900g ( undiscounted ) . You will only need to buy the mount and have Apprentice Riding for 80g ( undiscounted ) . I am unsure at this time if the price of these mounts will drop . Again , this is somewhat unclear . Presumably , because of the special nature of the mount , it will be treated like the PvP / AV mounts and only require the Apprentice Riding skill . Edit : I have been told that on the test realms , paladins and warlocks are being given Journeyman Riding if they already have their Epic Charger or Epic Dreadsteed . However , it is uncertain whether completing your paladin or warlock mount quest after patch 1 . 12 . 1 will cause you to automatically learn Journeyman Riding . We shall see . If you have already purchased your mount , but are too low of a level to ride it when the patch comes through , you will be paying 2x what you would normally . Example : my 37 druid has her mount already , but is too low to use it . If I do not level her to 40 by this patch , I will be forced to pay another 72g ( honored , no PvP discount ) to learn to ride it . Anyone who wants a mount of a different color . If you ’ re sick of your Frostsaber , you can spend 100g ( undiscounted ) to buy a Mistsaber . Potentially PvPers , who will spend less overall . In addition , if you already have gotten the reputation for a cross race epic mount , but have not yet bought one AND you already have your same - race epic mount , your new cross - race epic mount will only cost you 100g ( undiscounted ) instead of 1000g ( undiscounted ) . This is good ! At the moment , as I described above , standard mounts are BoU . The limiting factor in cross - race mounts was the riding skill . In the new system , mounts are BoP . You will only be able to purchase a cross - faction mount if you have the correct reputation with that race . The limiting factor in cross - race mounts will now be the mount itself . Now that mounts are BoP , they cannot be sold on the AH . In addition , all mounts have racial restrictions on them . The tooltip for Mechanostriders , for example , says only Dwarves and Gnomes can ride them . Therefore , even if you could get a mount cross - faction , you couldn ' t use it . Cynical view : someone at Blizzard chose the wrong color Kodo and was too lazy to spend 800g on a new one . Less - cynical view : Flying mounts in the expansion will probably require a different riding skill and be unifactional . This resolves that problem .