Not meant to be Peacocks. There are dozens of species of birds with long and fantastic tail feathers.
This mount is based on the Sumatran "Phoenix" (can't remember it's proper name) which is a large bird with long, brightly coloured tail feathers that nests around volcanic vents. This bird is the original inspiration for the mythical phoenix.
It does..the proportions are way off here..the little claws on the back seem like weird little tumors almost. Needs more mass in the thighs, abit larger talons and put up higher. The chest looks weirdly enlongated because of the missing frontlegs from the hippogryph skeleton they used.
Also..It doesn't look at all like a phoenix but more like a peacock (which suits the asian theme of MoP perfectly)
I'm guessing it's one of these things.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenghuang
Specifically of this type:
a composite of many birds including the head of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, the tail of a peacock, the legs of a crane, the mouth of a parrot, and the wings of a swallow.
Yay, more Phoenixes to add to my Phoenix mount macro! And yes, my name is Phoenexis for a reason :3
People complaining about these need to find something more relevant in their lives to find fault with. If you don't like them show your disapproval by not getting them. Some of us love them. I love Phoenix mounts but i don't have one cos I didn't like the previous models so the fact there are now some in game with skins I do like makes me happy. I don't see whats wrong with having several skins of the same model, its nice to get to choose your favourite.
I don't know why people think it's so beautiful. It's basically Ashes of Al'ar and Dark Phoenix but bland and boring, which a necklace hanging from it's neck.
'I don't know why people think it's so beautiful. It's basically Ashes of Al'ar and Dark Phoenix but bland and boring, which a necklace hanging from it's neck'
But that was kinda my point, you don't like them but i do. So we hopefully both just get the mounts we like. i don't want to stop people getting mounts just cos i don't like them so why do some people seem to mind if there are ones I like and they don't.
Looks like a great model. I wish they would stop sticking awesome models on old rigs. Especially vanilla wow rigs. It deforms the mesh in all sorts of fail.
I like them and if they are meta ach mount it'll stop the "omg why do we get dragons all the time" haters, at least for a bit I guess.
Again, the meta rewards are cloud serpents in beta, which fits with what Blizz usually does, use the new dragon model for metas and raid drops.
Reins of the Crimson Cloud Serpent
and
Reins of the Heavenly Crimson Cloud Serpent
It's unlikely Blizzard would change these to the phoenixes, it goes against what they've done in Wrath and Cata with proto drakes and stone drakes.
I think the Challenge-mode guess is as good an idea as any, though I don't know about them being tied ti reps. I can't think of any factions that would be the "Phoenix faction", much like the Skyguard were the "Nether Ray faction," though I suppose they could be available from just random Pandarian vendors. The one looks especially Wastey, though I don't actually know the aesthetic theme of the Dread Wastes.
Blizzard did say they'd be putting rare mounts on just about every world boss now though so maybe they come from those? It'd be a little odd seeing a giant monkey or something drop a phoenix mount but if there's only four world bosses (not that I know there are, but if there are) it would make a little more sense for them to have a sort of "set" between them.
Faction mount (Tol Barad style), Raiding Meta Mount, Raiding rare drop mount, and guild glory achievement mount.
Guessing on where they are coming from:
Challenge mode, Gold meta mount.
Potential Scenario mounts, whether through an acheive of do x scenarios, a rare thing from a rare scenario, or just a rare thing from all scenarios.
A world boss mount.
I strongly doubt these will be high-end raid related mounts, most likely a challenge mode, and some widely available content, but you need to spend long time/get lucky to get em (I can see a mount for 2k panda dailies or something)
As it exists already in 4 colours, it will be probably the new proto drake/dragons of 4 winds from MoP, one will probably be a rare drop from an Raid, and one a rare drop from a Dungeon, one will be obtainable through PVP and one through Achievements. At least it's not another dragon ...
Hope we are not stuck on phoenix mounts now for the next 4 years.