Okay, let’s talk about something that probably crosses every miner’s mind in World of Warcraft: can you actually mine those shiny nodes without hopping off your trusty mount every single time? I got curious about this myself not too long ago, tired of the constant up-and-down, especially when you spot multiple nodes close together. So, I decided to spend some time figuring it out.
My Quest to Mine Mounted
First off, the dream is obvious, right? Fly up, click the node, get the ore, fly off. Smooth. Fast. Efficient. Way better than land, dismount, mine, wait for cast, loot, remount, take off. That little sequence adds up, especially during a long farming session.
So, I hopped on my character. I figured I’d try the most straightforward approach first.
- Standard Mount Test: I flew over to a mining node on my regular flying mount. Hovered right over it. Clicked the node. Nothing. Okay, maybe I needed to be landed. So, I landed right next to it, still mounted. Clicked again. Got that error message, something like “You are mounted”. Drat. Okay, baseline test failed, as expected I guess.
- Sky Golem Attempt: I remembered my Sky Golem mount. Everyone knows it’s great for Herbalism because you can pick herbs while sitting on it. It’s specifically designed for that. So, I thought, maybe, just maybe, it works for mining too? Switched to the Sky Golem, flew to an ore vein, landed. Clicked the node. Nope. Same “You are mounted” error. Seems the Golem’s magic is strictly for flowers, not rocks.
- Druid Flight Form?: I don’t main a Druid, but I have one. I know they can interact with quest items and herb nodes while in their Flight Form (which acts as a mount). So I logged onto my Druid, flew over to a mining node in Flight Form. Clicked it. Guess what? Still no good. Same issue. Flight Form lets you do some things, but mining ores isn’t one of them.
Digging Deeper – Were There Any Tricks?
Alright, the obvious methods didn’t work. But WoW is a game with tons of items and old mechanics. Maybe there was something specific?
The Blacksmithing Gear Idea: I vaguely recalled something from the Legion expansion. Did some digging in my memory (and bank). Ah, yes! Monel-Hardened Stirrups (or the Legion equivalent, Leystone Hoofplates). These were items made by Blacksmiths that specifically let you interact with stuff while mounted in those expansion zones. I crafted a pair (well, the modern equivalent for testing, though the effect is tied to older expansions mostly).
So I went back to some Legion zones, put the stirrups effect on. Flew to a Leystone Deposit. Landed. Clicked it while mounted. Success! It actually worked. I mined the node without dismounting. BUT, and this is a big but, this effect is generally limited. It often only works in the content it was designed for (like Legion zones for the Hoofplates, or BfA zones for the Stirrups). It doesn’t work everywhere in the game, especially not in the latest Dragon Isles zones.
Dragonriding Consideration: What about the new Dragonriding? It’s fast, it’s cool, maybe they changed the mining interaction? Nope. Flew my dragon to an ore node in the Dragon Isles. Landed. Still had to dismount manually (hitting my landing keybind automatically dismounts anyway) to start mining. No built-in mounted mining here either.
So, What’s the Verdict?
Based on my tries, the short answer is generally no, you cannot mine ore nodes without dismounting in World of Warcraft.
The exceptions are very specific:
- Using items like Monel-Hardened Stirrups (from Blacksmithing).
- These items usually only work in the expansion content they were introduced in (like Battle for Azeroth zones).
So, for everyday mining, especially in the current expansion areas like the Dragon Isles, you’re stuck with the dismount-mine-remount routine. The Sky Golem won’t help with rocks, Druid Flight Form doesn’t work for mining, and Dragonriding doesn’t change the basic interaction rule.
It’s a bit of a bummer, honestly. Would be a nice quality-of-life thing. But for now, best advice is to just get efficient with your dismount/remount keys. It’s not the mounted mining dream, but it’s the reality we’ve got!
