How to Get Your First Mount in WoW Forever: Riding Level, Gold Cost and Every Trainer

Launch week in World of Warcraft: Forever means one thing for most players: a long walk. Blizzard's permanent level-60 Azeroth keeps the old-school pace, so there's no mount at level 10 or 20 like in the modern game. The good news is that Forever has reworked how your first mount is paid for, and it's friendlier than the Classic version many veterans remember. Here's exactly when you get it, what it costs, and which trainer to visit for your race.

This guide is up to date for World of Warcraft: Forever (launch version, live since November 4, 2026).

Quick answer

In short: reach level 40 with at least 100 gold, visit your race's riding instructor, and you ride away on a mount without buying it separately.

How riding works in Forever

Blizzard explained the big change in its BlizzCon Deep Dive: the up-front cost of a mount has moved into the riding skill itself, and you're granted a mount when you learn to ride. Blizzard principal designer Kris Zierhut put the training prices at 100 and 1,000 gold in an interview, and the tiers have been reported consistently as:

• Apprentice Riding at level 40: 100 gold, +60% speed, and your first racial mount.
• Journeyman Riding at level 60: 1,000 gold, +100% speed.

Extra mounts are cheap by comparison. Other colors of your race's basic mount cost 20 gold each, and the swift (epic) racial mounts cost 200 gold each. Note that there are no flying mounts in Forever; everything is a ground mount.

Requirements

• Level 40 on the character that wants to ride.
• 100 gold for Apprentice Riding (or 90 gold with the reputation discount).
• Your own race's trainer. You learn riding from the instructor of your race. Riding another race's mounts within your faction requires Exalted reputation with that race.

Step-by-step: getting your first mount

1. Save gold from the start. Don't sink money into vendor gear or extra training you don't need while leveling. Budget at least 100 gold by level 40.
2. Consider reaching Honored with your home faction. It cuts riding training and racial mounts by 10%, bringing Apprentice Riding down to 90 gold.
3. Hit level 40. The trainer won't teach you a level early.
4. Travel to your race's riding trainer (see the table). Use flight paths and your Hearthstone to save time.
5. Learn Apprentice Riding. You pay 100 gold and receive your race's basic mount at the same time.
6. Buy extra colors if you want them. The mount vendor next to the trainer sells the other basic colors for 20 gold each.

Riding trainer locations

Paladins and Warlocks

Both classes get their mount through class quests instead of buying one at a stable. Reports from the beta don't agree on whether the level 40 quest also covers the riding training, so keep 100 gold in reserve until you've finished it.

Planning for level 60

The jump to an epic mount is steep. Journeyman Riding costs 1,000 gold (900 at Honored), and swift racial mounts from the vendor cost 200 gold each on top of that. Many fresh level 60 characters can't afford it right away, so start setting gold aside once your first mount is sorted. With raids opening on December 9, there's a natural deadline to aim for.

Tips and common mistakes

• Counting on Bartering. The Bartering Legacy talent can lower the price of extra mounts from vendors, but it does not discount riding training.
• Visiting the wrong trainer. Without Exalted reputation, another race's instructor won't teach you, and you can't buy their mounts.
• Spending everything on extra colors. At 20 gold each they're tempting, but every bit of gold you keep goes toward the 1,000-gold Journeyman bill at 60.
• Forgetting flight paths. You'll still be on foot until 40, so grab every flight point you pass. It makes the trip to your trainer much shorter.
• Expecting to fly. Forever is ground-only, so plan your routes around roads, flight paths and boats.