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Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake

Item Level 70
Binds when picked up
Unique
Mount (Account-wide)

Use: Teaches you how to summon this mount. This is a flying mount.
Requires Level 70
Requires Artisan Riding

Achievement: What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been
Category: World Events

I cannot help but wonder if things would have turned out different if the titans had elevated even one more dragonflight. -Alexstrasza

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Proto-Drakes: Your
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Comments

Comment by tmptfate

~~This mount is awarded for completeing the meta achievement "What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been". The mount is also 310%, unlike the 150%/280% mounts that can be bought (as of patch 3.2 atleast).~~

The achievement is the culmination of doing the following event achievements over one full year (if you keep up that is):
"To Honor Ones Elders" - January
"Fool For Love" - February
"Noble Gardener" - April
"For The Children" - May
"The Flame Keeper " or "The Flame Warden "- June/July
"Brewmaster" - September/October
"Hallowed Be Thy Name" - October
"Merrymaker" - December

Good luck on your long and strange journey!

Comment by asakawa

Upon completing the above-mentioned achievements, this is mailed to you by Alexstrasza, along with the following letter:

From: Alexstrasza the Life-Binder
Subject: Time and Time Again

With the drums of war pounding in the distance, it is easy for the denizens of Azeroth to forget all that life has to offer.

You, on the other hand, have maintained the dignity of the good races of Azeroth with your ability to remember what we fight for. To not celebrate our victories is another form of defeat. Remember that well, reveler.

May others be inspired by your good cheer.

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder

Comment by Simkin

Very nice mount, takes a while to get.

Upon Getting the Seasonal title the Mount is enclosed in your mailbox with a message from Alexstrasza the Life-Binder,
who tells you of your ability and dignity.
I have to say, a very nice thing after 6 days of toil waiting till 2 am to do some ram racing and having buggy apples, it's a very nice thing to wake up to :)

Pic of mount and Mail enclosed, up to 72 hours until it gets accepted :)

Comment by Sions

This mount requires a year long to get, yes.

But consider this so, during this time Blizzard has made it easier for you to accomplish, as follows;
~~Brew of the Year~~
~~Be Mine~~
~~Perma-Peddle~~
~~Veteran Nanny~~

All those require years amongst to achieve, but as time progressed Blizzard sought it to be easier than what they first proclaimed.

Thanks to those of you who actually showed care to this mount, and dedication by bringing forth to Blizzard they now had made it accessible to those who never tried the first year around, or never expected such a reward from these achievements.

To those who have this mount now, and if not over 2/3rds who have it now has every right to thank whomever brought it up to the Technical Support Team, and Developer's Team in changing around the Meta Requirements.

This mount still has glory, it is a 310% Speed-Demon, and is a Proto-Drake nonetheless for those who have always wanted one.

I congratulate everyone on gaining this mount.

Comment by SSJ5Gogetenks

I saw someone with this mount on my server the other day. I have to say, it looks FREAKING SWEET!

Comment by axonaxoff

this probably goes for all proto drakes, but try walking backwards with yours, the animation really funny.

Comment by kish

All mounts change color when you fly in icecrown, because the light in that zone is a dark, greenish blue. It changes the color of everything, really. :) I do agree, though, that the effect the lighting has on this drake creates quite a pretty color.

Comment by wildowned1995

Hahaha, i love the colour of this Drake, shame i cant get it before like a year :(
Peace

Comment by BalsyMcGee

I screwed myself getting this mount. I quit going for the holiday achievements after I realized I hadn't gotten the "Brew of the Month" membership. Then they took it out of the requirements after I'd missed some already. *shakes tiny fist*

Congrats to those who stuck with it.

Comment by Nightinear

You know praiser00... fsngnshiekfan said that the tooltip is wrong, you don't have to say it again xD

Comment by Coralin

Does anyone know if this affects the Druid Swift Flight form speed? I recall hearing something a couple patches back about Swift Flight form being boosted to 310 when you get a 310 mount; can anyone confirm if this mount does boost Swift Flight form speed, or is it mount-only?

Comment by Zartner

Since i am a death knight i haven't been able to get this mount until Hallows end. To get this mount, you must complete all the World Event achievments. This takes one year and is probably the hardest achievment to get that is not a pve raiding achievment.

Comment by praiser00

i was saying , is that really needed? any retard can pick it up -.-

Comment by Niasiini

Hmm, i'd say that things that require opposing faction to take acion aswell are considered as hard. For example http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=1040

Buying another account just to throw the egg myself, priceless.

Comment by SpectraKitty

There's never a purple protodrake :(

Comment by Blackboy0

The time has come. After an entire year of doing events for the good of Azeroth, I have been blessed with a Violet Proto-Drake!

After slaughtering the Headless Horseman for nearly a week now, his pumpkin head finally dropped off of his body. Me and my friends rolled on it, happy to finally receive it. My straw was the biggest, and I received the prize.

And guess what happened? A circle popped above my head, indicating that I had mail! I left the instance and ran to Dalaran, eager to read my Mail. I got to a Mailbox and read a message from my beloved Alexstrasza (Who, if you do not know, is a dragon!):
With the drums of war pounding in the distance, it is easy for the denizens of Azeroth to forget all that life has to offer.

You, on the other hand, have maintained the dignity of the good races of Azeroth with your ability to remember what we fight for. To not celebrate our victories is another form of defeat. Remember that well, reveler.

May others be inspired by your good cheer.

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder.

Now, other than her spelling "Reveller" wrong, I am touched by her generosity. She has blessed me with the reigns of a Proto-Drake she does not have control over.

The generosity of the dragons and their kin knows no bounds, to enslave oneself to a young dwarf such as myself for being a reveller for an entire year means more than any amount of gold ever could.

Comment by Joaoanao

just got mine today! Its really fast, the model is very cool tough i dont really like the skin. a Red one would be a lot more badass, violet is kinda gay. Still its great and i love the /mountspecial ! it has sound effects!

Comment by reidsb

Something interesting I noticed today while using up leftover hallow's end candy. If you pull out the Violet Proto-drake while under the 'big and orange' buff, it looks almost exactly like the Red Proto-drake. It's uncanny.

Comment by Niasiini

I don't understand why my comment was purged.
As alliance, you do need horde players to throw rotten eggs to Southshore so you can clean it up for the achievement. No Horde, No Drake.

Comment by fhoxx

Unfortunately I (along with a lot of others) was screwed out of this mount because of the low drop rate of the Hallowed Helm which is required for Sinister Calling, required to get Hallowed Be Thy Name, which all together is required for (along with the other 7 Holiday Packed Achievements) What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, all just to get this mount.

What I find hilarious, is that I got The Horseman's Reins before I even seen the Hallowed Helm drop, (from the HHM and trick-or-treating). Sad, but worth it in the end if you don't have to wait an entire year just for a shot at this bad boy. There's a lot of awfully sad pandas out there! :(

Comment by Luderberg

Just recived my mount
Pics when mounted in shadowform
http://data.fuskbugg.se/skalman01/WoWScrnShot_121509_231306.jpg
http://data.fuskbugg.se/skalman01/WoWScrnShot_121509_231309.jpg

Comment by Vezon64

I really, really, REALLY do hope Blizzard decides to keep the drake as a reward for this time-consuming achievement. If, however, they decide to be jerks and remove it for (incredibly stupid) reasos I can't explain, I would hope they at least replace it with a 290% flying speed mount to compensate for losing such an awesome mount.

Comment by odincore

Judging from the color it seems this drake is of the Chromatic Dragonflight , however how Alexstrasza got it is a mystery, perhaps Nalice gave it as a peace offering, or Alexstasza simply saved it from her deranged brother's experiments.

Comment by FallenPumpkin

Maybe not the 'Hardest' mount in-game to get, but by far the most time consuming, and also the most annoying, if you miss even one achievement for one meta, you have to wait a full year for the season to come around again.

For example, if the Hallowed Helm didnt drop during Hallows End, you have to wait a full year to finish your Sinister Calling and Hallowed Be Thy Name achievements.

So if your unlucky and really want this mount, this will be fustrating!

Comment by kamiawolf

Absolutely beautiful mount. I'll use this exclusively from now on.

Comment by Cataclysm333

I just got this after the Lunar festival the first day it started. It was a strange trip and certainly a long one. But.. it was worth it. This, ashes of al ar, and the iron plated proto drake have gotta be the coolest mounts. Also the frost wyrms. Anyways I'm Icekeeper on the realm Gnomeregan. Good luck to anyone who wants this! It is one sick mount.

Comment by BrokeNL

Getting this purely in an effort to hit the 100 mount achievement and for no other reason, I simply do not think the colour scheme works and the 30% speed increase is definetely not worth the aesthetical drop that comes with using this mount.

Plus I always get the feeling people see it and think "Scrub". 310% speed mount with absouletely no skill involved, just a bit of time spread across the year, compared to the 280% ones from Ulduar etc.

EIther way.
Good luck to those trying to get it. :)

Comment by Warriorrace

Anyone else here hate purple, but love going fast? Why blizz couldn't you of made it a different color? Oh well maybe next expansion they'll add in a bright pink one so I'll stop complaining about how much I hate purple?

Comment by ro4eva

In total you need to complete 71 achievements over the course of a year to get this mount. I would hardly call that easy.

Oh, and for one of the 310% Ulduar mounts, you need to complete 12 achievements.

Edit * To the reply: Agreed. But there's quite a few achievements out of these 71 that are RNG based a lot of people got screwed out of some based on what I've been reading on the forums.

Comment by SteelDrake72

This, plus, my loved On a Pale Horse talent= 330% flying speed. Awesome.

Comment by Chancelot

Paladin Crusader Aura also gets you 330%.

I just got mine last night. By far the hardest achievment to get was capping the flag in EOTS for Children's week (School of Hard Knocks). 29 other people zerging the flag all trying to do the same thing....2 other tough achievments were getting the cloth helm from Headless Horseman event and the Squashling pet - both of those are RNG reliant. All the other achievments just take patience and time.

Now I'm all set for Cataclysm. I just hope to god they don't pull some Old World Flying crap or something like that.

Comment by Andiae

very hard to get , unless you're a Solid PVP'r be expecting to fail on School of Hard Knocks (Childrens Week) those of us in the Storm Strike battlegroup horde side are seriously at a disadvantage because of the Que times (Due to the over populated Mal'ganis realm). Seriously waited tonight 3 hours for AB and finally pops yet when I get in, the game was over and Alliance had already won. What a Joke! Thanks Blizz for this BS!

Comment by Andiae

Very hard to get , unless you're a Solid PVP'r be expecting to fail on School of Hard Knocks (Childrens Week).

1. Make sure your orphan is out when you do the pvp ones or you won't get credit
2. Pray you're not in the Storm Strike battlegroup on horde side or you'll fail cause you have to wait hours before some
of them will pop.
3. Bring friends and or coordinate with alliance, I Hear spamming /truce will help in some cases but in my experience
it only got me killed

Comment by Archangel76

Ummm............ when did this happen?
This item is no longer available within the game.

Comment by Andantes

I don't know if I'm the only one with this problem but I noticed that my Violet Proto-Drake looked as if it was going the same speed as one of my 280% mounts. I decided to race someone and it was a paladin, he beat me. He didn't have crusader arua on but he did have Pursuit of Justice. At most that would have made him fly at 295% speed so I'm just curious as to why he might have beaten me.

Comment by thor29457

I heard today that this is now a 280% mount, not a 310% mount. This as I start my last achievements for the meta. Can anyone confirm whether this is true or not?

Comment by modicumofrespite

Is it true that 310% will be available for gold in Cataclysm? If so, I may forego the Midsummer achievements on alts.

Always thought 310% should be BoA-shareable with alts - why repeat these holiday events over and over for every alt (I have seven level 80's)? Not sure I like a gold option to the 310% mount after finishing "What a long strange trip it's been," though. Work your butt off for a year, only to have some scrub AH-denizen receive the same reward? Doesn't seem right.

Comment by AmaHC

In color theory, a "purple" is defined as any non-spectral color between violet and red (excluding violet and red themselves). The spectral colors violet and indigo are not purples according to color theory but they are purples according to common English usage since they are between red and blue.

Taken from Wikipedia

So while Violet isn't really purple, it's often considered that way, so neither statements are 100% true or 100% false.

Comment by Physicsguy

On 4.0.1 PTR, this mount is only 280% >.<

Don't know if it's a bug (lots of stuff not working as it should atm in the PTR) or a permanent change.

Comment by fidfid

Can you still get this mount in Cata?

Comment by antibrian

As per the latest blue post regarding the matter:

Master Riding

There has been some confusion regarding the purchase of this skill that we'd like to clear up.

If you had a 310% flying mount learned before 4.0.1 went in you should have automatically been granted this skill. Otherwise, if you wish to fly at 310% speed you'll need to learn Master Riding on top of Artisan Riding.

You have not lost your original flight training, both Artisan and Master Riding cost 5000 gold.

All mounts that previously allowed you to fly at 310% have been converted to standard flying mounts, it is your skill that determines your flight speed.

Note: There is currently not an associated achievement with the Master Riding skill.

Source

Comment by Lrrr

As of October 16th it is possible to get master riding for free. The meta achivement, What a long, strange trip it's been now grants this ability.
Blue post:

Zarhym
"I provided an update in the lengthy thread about Master riding, so in case it gets missed I'm throwing it up in its own non-sticky thread for now.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27187849344&sid=1&pageNo=28

I have a slight update to spread to the masses. We are going to be adding a hotfix for the achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. This hotfix will make it so that obtaining the Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake will award players Master riding.

The way in which 310% will be awarded is going to be a little quirky at first, but we plan to make it a more smooth process in a future patch. For now, you will need 280% flying in order to learn to use the Violet Proto-Drake. Once you mount the drake for the first time it will teach Master riding. The only catch is that you have to dismount and mount the drake again in order for 310% speed to take effect."

Read the full article here, http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/16/patch-4-0-1-its-still-a-long-strange-trip/#comments

Comment by davidhero

Well, i don't think it is the most beatiful, but i like going fast, so i prefer the ironbound proto-drake...

Comment by Borissa

Spend 5000 for 310% bonus just to receive Violet guy in same day... :((((((((((((((((

Comment by NetherAspect

Eh, pretty cool. I mean, IT'S A PROTO-DRAKE! The colors are kinda... ugly, but it's still pretty cool.

Comment by ronnock101

Ok Rumor mill has it that this mount is going away since the acheivement will no longer be achievable any truth to this?

Comment by budgie

The hotfix Blizzard talked about went through properly.

Upon using this mount you will gain 310% speed to all your mounts (swift flight form too) and Master Riding.

Comment by Igniserum

Will this mount still grant 310% flying if someone is going to gain the final step of What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been (in my case, Merrymaker) this winter?

Comment by wsup

I usually don't like the color violet but..... I LOVE the color on this proto-drake, awesome mount - grats to anyone who has earned it.

Comment by basilakis2

HOW CAN I GET THIS?

Comment by Kazmaier

oh by the way....they fixed the typos in the letter they send to you when you receive this mount....got mine Valentines day XD

Comment by gribbs2822

This mount shows that you must be into the holidays that do and don't exist! Takes time and effort.

Comment by Rorcanna

No achievement has a name more befitting it than this meta...it's been 1 year of grinding, stressing (in a good way most of the time but not always!) and hoping. The Matron achievement was by far the hardest to complete with the PVP requirements but I managed, somehow. The feeling of seeing that last achievement and then the meta following cannot be described..it was better than any rare I've ever gotten, it was better than the first raiding progression boss..it was simply one of the greatest moments in the game for me!

Now I have a mount which I will forever cherish and adore and use no matter how many others have it (not that I care about that with any other of my mounts either) and that I worked harder for than anything else.

Glory of the Cataclysm Raider? Ulduar mounts? ICC Hc? Soloing Stonecore and Vortex Pinnacle 100+ times for the drakes? Pff...The Violet proto beat them all in effort needed and time spent.

Comment by Bokkster

Roses are red, violets are blue.
I don't see the connection but how about you?

Comment by Deathbang

I'm putting this here because I wish someone else had put this here when I was in the process of getting this: if you are discouraged because this mount is pink, don't be. The pink grows on you. It REALLY grows on you. The only reason I wanted to get this mount to begin with was for the mount speed, and the only reason I got it after cata hit was because all my friends already had it. I honestly never thought I would use it because of the color, but now, I find it hard to use anything else! Good luck to everyone who wants to get this, and remember: don't judge your proto-drakes by the color of their scales, but the content of their character!

Comment by davinx

You can still obtain it without having 280% flying, but you will not be able to "learn" to ride it until you've obtained 280%. Once you have learned 280% flying when you use this mount, it will award you 310% flying for free! Good luck!

Comment by Soldrethar

Anyone notice that this mount is pinkish red instead of violet?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_%28color%29

As you can see here, violet is blue-ish purple, this mount is nothing like the color it says it is. What's going on here?

Comment by Zhorun

In order to get this flying mount, you simply have to complete all of the holiday achivements.

So it takes quite a while to get.

When you got the achivement it will be in your mailbox

good luck farming holiday achivs ;)

Comment by jk5834

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the name of the meta-achievement What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been is a reference to the Grateful Dead song "Truckin". This is why such a trippy color scheme was chosen for the proto-drake.

Comment by xxmatteoxx

I have had this Mount for so long, and its still so Unique <3

Comment by iamjoe

If you already have Master Riding while obtaining this mount, a GM will NOT refund your Master Riding training fee.

Comment by alexeht

In beta MoP if you have this mount, your alts will learn 310% speed when they use it, but because my alts have already 280% (and premades) so I cannot confirm that this is required (280%) or not. I hope that this will be same when MoP will be released, as 4k discount on every alt is pretty nice ;)

----edit----

As 5.0.4 came Violet Proto-Drake no longer give 310% - Really hate you blizz ;(((

Comment by Servasus

The mount no longer gives 310% flying on the Beta. The tooltip is now incorrect. I just tried mounting it on a toon who did not have Master Flying, and even though it let me fly the drake, 310% mount speed was NOT learned. It flew at 150% mount speed so it even seems that Artisan Flying is not a requirement for the mount anymore either. Thumbs up so people know.

Comment by Kurion

I've been looking through the comments, but I can't seem to find any info on this for 5.0.4.

I'm not sure if it's a bug or not. The tooltip (for the spell) still specifies you are supposed to learn Master riding upon first mounting the Violet Proto, but my alts which don't have master riding did not learn it after mounting it for the first time. Can anyone confirm that they failed to update the tooltip, or if it is a bug?

Edit: At the time I wrote this post, the tooltip was outdated, but a gm did confirm you can't get Master Riding from it anymore.

Comment by Yowls

Following patch 5.0.4, the meta-achievement rewarding this mount (What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been) does not require all sub-achievements to be completed by the same character, due to the introduction of account-wide achievements.

Comment by Jeolene

Just a quick note that I'm passing along, if you're finishing achievements for this after MoP has been released and you have not received your drake in the mail, fear not, look in your mounts folder and it should be there. I had a ticket open and was about to rage about yet another glitch until I was looking for another mount and passed by it. I had forgotten that mounts are now automatically added to your account if not purchased through a vendor (though that would be nice too... curse those turtles :P). So look again and make sure you didn't miss it because there is nothing that will notify you that you got it.

Comment by Akitnaya

Blizz should really let players have 310% flying again. This takes a whole year for God's sake. Would it really hurt to give it to players? Jeez!

Comment by BunnyBear

Once you complete you will receive a gift in your mail which is Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake. If you don't receive it in the mail upon the first hour of completing re-log if that doesn't work open a ticket to blizzard via using the red question mark in the bar where your character screen is tell them about your problem and shortly they will respond, for me it only took 10 minutes to get a hold of blizzard and after they fixed in I found the Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake in my mail not even a minute after the ticket closed. This mount will take you a year to earn unless you already have some of the achievements complete.

Good Luck to you!

Comment by Cliveodevo

That was the toughest year. I knew when I couldn't complete Love is Like a Red Red Rose Last Feb it would be essential that I did this Feb. I had a few others to complete and managed them. I knew this was going to be the test. I tried various bosses as my Worgen Warrior and he was Ok but not enough armour. Last year I only had my Night Elf Druid at lvl 90 so was useless in most cases. This year however after getting his epic armour up on Timeless Isle and stealthing him through the Stonecore (after battling MOBS at the beginning until the first boss drills out) in cat prowl to the final boss, wiping out all zealots etc before taking her on and in Bear tank form . Woo Hoo! Now I can get on with my life.

Comment by alecrezyrk

it shall be mine.. in about a year

Comment by Sinnoh1996

You won't receive this item via mail anymore, instead the proto drake gets added directly to your mounts.

Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake

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