So to create an incentive for geared healers/tanks to chain heroics and fill the queues, the devs have gone the Oculus route and decided to exploit good ol' mount drop RNG psychology. BG-style "Call to Arms" for the least represented role. Sounds like an active system, too, as opposed to the predetermined BG weekends.
...the mounts are those specifically only available through dungeons (not raids), like the Reins of the Raven Lord from Sethekk Halls, Swift White Hawkstrider from Magister's Terrace, and Deathcharger's Reins from Stratholme.
So what I'm wondering is, will it keep track of which mounts you already have? Or wouldTony get a random Deathcharger just to prove the dice hate him?
Game design is not a service industry. -Bashiok, Blue cat herder
This from the notes on that page. Looks like pets from different sources, one of which is cross-faction pets.
To be eligible for the additional rewards you must solo queue for a random level-85 Heroic in the role that is currently being Called to Arms, and complete the dungeon by killing the final boss. Every time you hit these requirements (there is no daily limit) you'll receive a goodie bag that will contain some gold, a chance at a rare gem, a chance at a flask/elixir (determined by spec), a good chance of receiving a non-combat pet (including cross faction pets), and a very rare chance at receiving a mount. The pets offered come from a wide variety of sources, and include companions like the Razzashi Hatchling, Cockatiel, and Tiny Sporebat, but the mounts are those specifically only available through dungeons (not raids), like the Reins of the Raven Lord from Sethekk Halls, Swift White Hawkstrider from Magister's Terrace, and Deathcharger's Reins from Stratholme.
Werehamster wrote:I already have all those mounts... and I got them the hard way, dammit. Maybe there will be useful pets, like the horde tourney ones.
The cross-faction pets aren't an issue either, since we have our own smuggling operation. I think I already have enough tokens saved up for 1 more tourney pet, and we can easily solo those dailies now...
Well, it's looking like there's some new red epic gems in the datafiles for 4.1 +50 int and +50 agi found so far - both are unique equipped. So they might be going the route of having that be one of the possible rewards as well. Sort of like how they added the two epic gems you could randomly get out of the daily fishing bag in wrath. That would certainly get people queuing, at least for a while.
The additional reward for completing the Dungeon Finder Call to Arms (called the Satchel of Exotic Mysteries) will be Bind on Account; able to be freely sent to other characters on your account once you receive it.
This'll get some people rolling tanks.
From the game standpoint, my only thought on this issue is that they've now enhanced guild play and given so many reasons to run instances in guild. This seems to go against that. Their motivation is clear in the original post and I do applaud it... but I worry it will break down some of what their new guild system achieved. Especially now that guilds are hitting 25.