As you've probably already read, players will be able to purchase 310 percent flying speed from trainers in Cataclysm. While this is good news for people who hate raiding, think arena was shat into existence by the most sociopathic among the development team, or spent School of Hard Knocks trying to drown themselves in the nearest body of water, the bad news is that buying your way to super-fast flying will run you a cool 5,000 gold.

Outrageous, says this dyed-in-the-wool cheapskate. For anyone else who'd rather die than part with a centavo of hard-earned gold, the good news is that having even a single 310 percent flyer in your stable is enough to get you the skill free. Fortunately, there's plenty of time to snag yourself one of these coveted mounts before Cataclysm hits, and just as fortunately, each mount is the reward (or subject) of an achievement.

Strategy guides for obtaining each of the remaining 310 percent mounts is definitely beyond the scope of this article (although I'll probably devote an edition of OverAchiever to nabbing the Rusted Proto-Drake, above) but we can take a visual tour of the fast flyers that any hard-working player can still get in Wrath of the Lich King.

What are your options?

As the Black Proto-Drake and Plagued Proto-Drake were removed from the game in patch 3.1, and previous gladiator drakes are equally unavailable, your current options are all below. No 310 percent flyer is easy to get; you will have to be very lucky, very skilled, or very patient. Or, like me, you can return to raiding after nine months when you get a new computer, and your guild's so happy that it doesn't have to recruit another druid that it bum-rushes Ulduar for a drake.

• Ashes of Al'ar An extremely rare drop from Kael'thas in the 25-player Burning Crusade raid The Eye. Also rewards the Feat of Strength Ashes of Al'ar.
• Rusted Proto-Drake The reward of Glory of the Ulduar Raider (10-player).
• Ironbound Proto-Drake The reward of Glory of the Ulduar Raider (25-player).
• Mimiron's Head A 100 percent drop from a Yogg-Saron kill with zero Keepers. Also rewards the Feat of Strength And I'll Form the Head!
• Reins of the Onyxian Drake An extremely rare drop from Onyxia (both 10- and 25-player).
• Bloodbathed Frostbrood Vanquisher The reward of Glory of the Icecrown Raider (10-player).
• Icebound Frostbrood Vanquisher The reward of Glory of the Icecrown Raider (25-player).
• Invincible A 100 percent drop from a heroic Lich King (25-player) kill.
• Wrathful Gladiator's Frostwyrm The drake to be rewarded for Gladiator-ranked teams at the end of season 8.
• Violet Proto-Drake The reward for What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been.

Ashes of Al'ar

The phoenix mount dropped by Kael'thas is among the most universally desired of all flying mounts. It's beautiful, you can see it from a mile away, and in a game where recolored models are common as dirt, it's still unique. That distinction will be lost (though just a bit) in Cataclysm when the Dark Phoenix becomes available as a guild achievement, but the original version is special for more reasons than just that.

For anyone who's a relatively new player and may not be aware, there's also a lovely, though heartbreaking, story associated with the phoenix's presence in game. The very first set of ashes on the live servers went to a young player named Ezra Chatterton, who had visited Blizzard headquarters as part of the Make-A-Wish program after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. He helped design a quest, the arena season two gladiator bow, and voiced the Mulgore NPC Ahab Wheathoof. Afterwards, he was given the world's first phoenix mount months before anyone had a prayer of beating Kael. Sadly, Ezra passed away in October 2008, but his character, Ephoenix, is now the Elder in Thunder Bluff for the Lunar Festival, eternally accompanied by a phoenix pet. So just so you know -- this mount has some serious history.

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