Epic mount price

[Rivvern]

Hey people.

I'm currently on the quest for the epic mount and, being the first time I play as a warlock, kinda shocked by the absurd number of rare, extremely expensive AH stuff required (not even counting the other reagents or the part where other locks can help me with theirs). Given that I'm not that far off from the regular epic mount cost, should I just forget about this quest, or is it still cheaper to do it?

[Bioness]

It is still cheaper to do it, which is why you see so many more warlocks with it than non warlocks with the 100% speed mounts. If you want to reduce the price even more you can always find another Warlock who already has the summoning materials to summon the boss in Dire Maul for you, that will save you like 175-200g depending on how much they charge.

If you are really resourceful you will only have to spend 156g for the quest in total by farming all the mats and having a nice friend summon the boss for free, if not well you'll have to spend a few hundred gold.

As for me, even though I did the quest, you'll rarely see me on that mount as I don't like the fact that it costs mana and thus stops your regen. That is something you don't want while grinding.

[diogenes]

If you're extremely careful with how you buy the mats from the ah you'll save money doing the quest (even if you're not you'll still save money). Here's the breakdown (I will use my anecdotal evidence of the horde auction house as I check for these materials relatively frequently):

Mandatory items:

Shadowy Potion - 6g
Xorothian stardust - 150g (needed no matter what)

35 black dragonscales - 40-70g (a HUGE pain in the ass to farm this many, it will definitely be faster to farm gold and buy them)

3 arcanite bars - 60-70g (if you're a miner you can save significantly by farming arcane crystals and buying the transmute iirc, its not terribly hard to get arcane crystals relative to their cost)

10 elixirs of shadow power (30 ghost mushrooms) - 25-35g (if you're an herbalist, you can farm these relatively easily and without little competition by enslaving demons in mara purple)

25 ark iron ore - 25-30g (not terribly hard to farm if you're a miner and run brd quite a bit)

3 large brilliant shards - 7-10g (super easy to buy and considering that its usually more efficient to vendor blue drops, i'd just buy these from the ah)

Total - 288-371g

Optional items (mandatory if you wish to summon on your own):

Black Lodestone - 50g

J'eeve's Jar - 150g

Xorothian Glyphs - 50g

Total - 250g

Grand total of mandatory and non mandatory items - 538-621g

As you can see, it is still far more cost effective to just do the quest chain. You might make the argument that doing the actual quest chain has a gold cost with it (because instead of doing the quest you could be farming gold), but the quest chain isn't terribly difficult, requiring you only to kill some owlkin in winterspring, heading to jaedenar, a trip to scholo, and a trip to dm e (the instances, you will probably be doing anyway at some point). However, I really don't think the gold you would gain from farming gold instead of doing the quest chain would be greater than the amount that the quest chain saves you.

I hope this was helpful information that will empower you to make an informed decision.

[milkmandingo]

Are you positive about this? Everything I've looked up shows diff materials

[Bioness]

Are you positive about this? Everything I've looked up shows diff materials

They reduced the required materials in the Burning Crusade, so nearly all sources show this value and not the old one.

[diogenes]

Are you positive about this? Everything I've looked up shows diff materials

Yes, as has already been said, most every database i've looked at shows the tbc quantities. However, I actually have the quests, so I'm 100% certain this is what you need.

[Rivvern]

Thanks a lot for the replies and the whole cost breakdown! Feeling much more positive about spending this money now

On the Alliance AH the costs for those mats are generally higher as far as I've been noticing, but I'll keep my eyes open for bargains. My professions don't really help me much with the farming unfortunately.

[Morvisha]

3 large brilliant shards - 7-10g (super easy to buy and considering that its usually more efficient to vendor blue drops, i'd just buy these from the ah)

6 large brilliant shards. Came to Burning Steppes with reagents listed in your post and had to go back to buy some more shards =(