it was magical, mounts were like... WOW...almost every rpg i had played before hen you were constantly on foot, sure some of the NPCs had mounts, but not the players
Then I came to world of warcraft, I remember the feeling I got when I saw the first player on a mount -- I was like WOW this is soooo cool, then the feeling of amazement and achievemnt when I got my first horse. it felt magical.
Back then, one would only dream about a flying mount, taking a taxi was special, and I woul d be like wow what if I could actually fly... i remember rolling a druid simply cos I thought I would be able to turn into a raven like the druids of the talon in warcrat 3, and rememering wondering why at least a druid couldn't fly. Then TBC hit, and I tell you, flying was one of the most exciting things to hit.
It's kind of amazing how they've allowed all the special things in wow to not feel special anymore .. sure eveyrone wants and the temptation is to please them by making it easier to get, but doing so really devalues the thing,and to be honest you keep losing the things that make you special beacuse they're trivial.