MMO-Champion just announced that Patch 4.3 will be going live this coming Tuesday, and along with this bit of news…images of the new 4.3 mounts were posted as well. Among the various Patch 4.3 mounts…the Swift Shorestrider! It look as if my second guess was correct — the Swift Shorestrider is the turquoise skin, rather than the ivory model I'd thought it was going to be.

Swift Shorestrider

I'd thought that the Swift Springstrider (supposed Noblegarden mount) was going to use the turquoise model, but alas…I was wrong. That said, I'm pleased to see that Blizz is using this skin for the TCG mount. The ivory tallstrider would have been a little blah for a WoW TCG Loot mount.

With Patch 4.3 hitting live servers this Tuesday, the Patch 4.3 TCG loot will finally be redeemable. Those of you that have been waiting to redeem your Wasteland Tallstrider loot cards…Tuesday you'll be able to cash in on this amazing new Swift Shorestrider mount. Grats!

Wasteland Tallstrider loot card prices are really low right now. I expect prices will rise now that we know the mount is going to be using the unusual turquoise skin, as opposed to the much less exciting white model. Right now on eBay you can pick up the Wasteland Tallstrider loot card for under $100, but I suspect that prices will be closer to $150 by the end of next week. Better get it now if you want it! 😉

Visit the Wasteland Talstrider Loot Card page for current listings.

That's a question many players are dying to know. As of yet, there have been no screenshots or videos posted of the Wasteland Tallstrider mount loot, so all we can do is guess at this point.

I can tell you what I think, though… if I were to bet on it, my guess would be that this new mount loot is going to be white. I have a feeling that it's going to be the Ivory Tallstrider model – same as I previously predicted.

This is kind of a boring model, so what makes me think this is what will be used for the Swift Shorestrider..?

First up, is the obvious… the Wasteland Tallstrider pictured on the loot card is ivory. The last several mounts have been more or less exact matches to the artwork on the loot cards, unlike many of the old WoW TCG mounts that were released while Upper Deck was putting out the WoW TCG.

There are six Tallstrider skins, and currently four Tallstrider mounts in the game data. Based on this info, we can deduce a bit more…

The 4 Tallstrider mounts are…

• Swift Forest Strider – This is the other new Tallstrider mount arriving in Patch 4.3. It is available through the Darkmoon Faire at a price of 180 Darkmoon Prize Tickets. The mount matches the model of the Lost Torranche — purple, with green on its neck, chest and underbelly.
• Swift Lovebird – This is probably going to be a mount that will be available during the Love is in the Air event. I think most will agree that this mount is going to be pink, matching the look of the Mazzranache and the Deviate Plainstriders.
• Swift Shorestrider – The WoW TCG mount in question. Again, I'm thinking white – mainly based off of the artwork on the loot card.
• Swift Springstrider – Considering this mount is called a Springstrider, we might assume that it will be available during WoW's Easter-type holiday, Noblegarden. My money is on this mount having the turquoise skin – same as the Strider Clutchmother, and the Swampstriders in the Swamp of Sorrows. This model seems appropriate for the holiday, considering it has somewhat of a colorful Easter Egg like appearance.

If these are the Tallstrider models used for the mounts, then that would leave brown and grey as the only unused models, which would seem about right. Neither of those looks are very exciting.

Now… if the Wasteland Tallstrider loot card artwork was not an indicator, then I'd guess the Swift Shorestrider to be the turquoise model. This is because of it being a very unusual and visually striking model, plus it's only found on Tallstriders that live near the coast. Both of those factors would cause me to believe that the turquoise skin would be used for the mount.

But yea… I'm still thinking that it's going to be the ivory skin.

Of course, Blizz could throw a surprise out there and introduce a new skin altogether…

What do you think?