Traveling and Transportation

At the beginning levels, your only choice is to hoof it when you want to go somewhere. Once you start getting quests that send you to new places, it helps a great deal to know about all your transportation options.

Traveling by Foot

It’s not glamorous, but everybody starts out running to get to new places. When you’re going long distances, use Auto Run (defaults to the NumLock key), so you can focus on controlling your character.

It is possible to walk if you aren’t in the mood to run. Though slower, this is fun for roleplaying or setting a tone; it’s also good if you’re escorting an NPC that is wandering around at a different pace. To walk, tap “/” once. Tap it again to resume running.

There is no sprint key, unless you’re a Worgen or a Rogue, both of whom have abilities that let them put on the speed every few minutes.

Buffs for Running

Even on foot, some classes have skills and abilities to increase their speed. They don’t start with these abilities at level 1, so keep an eye on your spellbook to see when the following abilities become available.

Druid

Druids learn a Travel Form that lets them turn into a Cheetah. This gives them considerable speed.

Hunter

Hunters learn an ability called Aspect of the Cheetah, which increases speed indefinitely. You are immediately dazed if you are hit/damaged while using this, so it isn’t useful during combat.

Shaman

Shamans learn how to turn into a Ghost Wolf. This form increases speed indefinitely, so it is ideal for long journeys.

Swimming

At times, you need to swim through bodies of water to get to your location. At other times, you need to dive to find hidden items for quests. Almost every body of water has some sort of aqua life—some of them are hostile.

Controlling your character while swimming differs from controls for running:

Swimming Controls

Buffs for Swimming

Swimming is slower than running, unless you have some buffs or abilities. Speed is mostly a convenience, but some quests require your character to complete them in water. Your character can stay under water for a limited amount of time before running out of air and eventually dying, unless you consume the proper potions, or have a Warlock around to grant you underwater breathing.

Druids learn how to shift into an Aquatic Form. As a sea lion, these characters can stay underwater as long as they like. They also move faster than other classes. Shaman learn an ability called Water Walking that allows characters to cross water as if it were land. It works for mounted characters as well.

Fatigue

Running out of breath isn’t the only danger when you’re out in the water. Characters get fatigued if they try to swim for too long in deep water. This prevents people from trying to cross the ocean without a ship. If you see the fatigue bar appear, return to lighter water as fast as you can. Depth is not an issue in this, so staying at the top of the water won’t help.

Flight Paths

Using flight paths is a common means of travel in the game. Flight paths are in every city as well as in most regions. Flight Masters are identified by the winged foot icon on your region map.

To access a new flight path, you must discover the two ends of the path on foot. All characters start with access to the flight point in their home city. However, you won’t be able to use that flight point until you discover another destination attached to it.

Each time you enter a new region or town, look for the flight point using the tracker in your minimap. Right-clicking on the Flight Master with a green exclamation point gets you the flight point. Right-clicking on him again opens a map that displays where you can fly. Click on your destination, and you’re on your way immediately.

Most flight paths are specific to Alliance or Horde, and each faction flies on different types of beasts. There is a modest fee each time you fly. When you think about it, flying saves money. The cost of the flight doesn’t compare with the money you make questing and killing enemies in the time you’ve just saved!

Flying is one of the coolest features of the game. You can use your mouse to look around while flying, because you can’t fall off a flying mount. This isn’t true once you have your own mounts, but that’s a different issue.

Faction-Specific Travel Methods

Alliance Ships

Ships are designed for cross-continent travel. Most ship paths are for Alliance destinations, though the path between Booty Bay and Ratchet is available to both Horde and Alliance.

Unlike flight paths, there’s no need to “discover” a ship path. Simply go to the harbor, find the right dock, and wait for the ship to arrive. Most harbors serve several ships, so you need to speak to the Harbor Master to make sure you’re getting on the right one. You may have to wait a few minutes for the ship to arrive, so talk to people nearby, look at talents and achievements, practice your crafting, or just relax. There is no fee for a trip on one of these vessels. If you jump or fall off the boat, you must swim for shore.

Deeprun Tram

The Deeprun Tram is a commuter trip between Stormwind and Ironforge. The trip is as fast as flying, and it’s free. The tram stop in Stormwind is located in the Dwarven District. In Ironforge, it’s in Tinker Town.

Zeppelins: Horde Regions

Zeppelins are also designed for cross-continental travel. All zeppelin paths are for Horde destinations.

Unlike flight paths, there’s no need to “discover” a zeppelin path. Simply go to the zeppelin tower, find the right platform, and wait for the zeppelin to arrive. Most zeppelin towers serve several ships, so you need to speak to the Zeppelin Master to make sure you’re getting on the right flight. You may need to wait a few minutes for the zeppelin to arrive.

There is no fee for a zeppelin trip. If you jump off the zeppelin, your character will probably die. That said, people can jump off of the Tirisfal Glade zeppelin without dying. Usually. Just don’t jump too soon.

The Silvermoon Portal

A portal connects Silvermoon City and the Undercity. The Undercity portal is located just inside the city walls. The Silvermoon portal is located in Sunfury Spire. This portal is free, but it’s only for players using the Burning Crusade expansion.

Personal Mounts

At level 20, players are eligible to purchase ground mounts. Riding a mount is 60% faster than running. To use a mount, you must purchase the mount itself and Apprentice Riding, which enables you to use the mount.

Racial Mount Choices

You aren’t required to use the standard racial mount for your character. By exploring the world, you are likely to find other mounts. Some of these require doing repeated quests to raise your reputation with a given faction, but it’s all worthwhile when you want their cool mounts.

Riding is a skill that you only need to train at each tier. Thus, you can have 10 mounts and still only need to have trained Riding that first time. The only recurring expense is when buying another type of mount.

There are faster mounts in the game, including epic mounts (that require more intense Riding training) and flying mounts. Flying mounts cost the most, and you won’t be able to get involved with those until you’re well into the game’s later content.

Warlock and Paladin Bonus!

Mage Portals

Mages first learn the ability to Teleport themselves to significant cities. Later, mid-level Mages are able to open Portals that teleport everyone who interacts with them to a specific major city. As Mages level, they learn how to access even more cities (with their race’s capital being the first option).

Warlock Summons

At level 42, Warlocks learn the Ritual of Summoning. The Warlock and two other players can use the spell to summon another player to the Warlock from anywhere in the world. This spell is frequently used to bring group members to the same location. Note that the Ritual of Summoning can only be made with everyone being in the same group or raid. This doesn’t work on people outside of your group.

Summoning Stones

Dungeons have stones that let people call their groupmates. It only takes two people at the stone to bring everyone else in the group to the proper location. You need to be at an appropriate level for the dungeon at hand; otherwise, this feature will not work.