The Wandering Ancient in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands can now be used as a free in-game mount, with its addition being the result of a special WoW community vote that Blizzard held in 2020. The World of Warcraft: Shadowlands expansion has been live since November, 2020 and has received wide critical acclaim.
Prior to the release of the Shadowlands expansion, players were given an opportunity to participate in a vote that would choose a free special community mount to be added sometime after Shadowlands launched. The poll took place over two weeks and over 260 thousand votes were cast across North America and the European Union. Much to the surprise of many at the time, the Wandering Ancient ended up being the winner by a substantial margin. The vote was completed near the end of September, about two months before Shadowlands launched. Now, at long last, the players are getting the mount they chose.
World of Warcraft released a 15-second trailer showcasing the first player-voted mount to be added to the game. The most unique feature of the Wandering Ancient, apart from its size, is that its leaves change color with the seasons. This giant tree creature is free for any player who currently has the Shadowlands expansion and will be available to those who purchase the expansion going forward.
Another part of the Wandering Ancient's short showcase that stands out is the specific inclusion of the text, "the first player-voted mount." While there has yet to be any confirmation of more votes likes this in the works, it seems that Blizzard is hinting that there actually will be others. Seeing that it has nearly been six months between the end of the vote and the addition of the Wandering Ancient, however, it is not likely a new poll will be coming any time soon.
It is worth noting that Blizzard delayed the launch of World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, which likely had an impact on implementing the Wandering Ancient as a free mount. Despite fan enthusiasm, it was probably not a top priority for the developer at the time and that likely contributed to why it took nearly four months after Shadowlands' release for it to finally get added to the game. Now that World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is out and fully functional, Blizzard can put more focus on other player votes and add the winners to the game faster, but only if more polls are in the works.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available for PC and Mac.
Source: World of Warcraft