The April 2024 Reduction Was Temporary
Blizzard reduced Taivan’s default mount size to alleviate animation bugs. In an April 12, 2024 statement, community manager Kaivax described it as temporary and said the team expected a larger Taivan in patch 10.2.7, with testing planned for an upcoming PTR build.
The change had already appeared in Neryssa’s April 9 report. This page follows that specific 2024 episode. Its screenshots show the mount at that time; they are not measurements of a newly applied change.
Before and After: The Original Screenshots
Neryssa’s report presented these two mounted views. The first shows the larger version before the reduction, and the second shows the smaller version reported after the overnight hotfix.
The report estimated a reduction of about 30%. That was the author’s estimate, rather than a percentage specified in Blizzard’s statement. Different framing also makes screenshots unsuitable for deriving an exact universal model-scale ratio.
The cover comparison shows another distinction from the same period: a player riding the smaller mount beside Taivan summoned with Taivan’s Trumpet. A toy-summoned companion and a rideable mount are separate objects, even when both represent the same character.
What Blizzard Actually Explained
Kaivax’s original post, preserved by Blue Tracker, linked the reduction to animation bugs. It said the studio was developing fixes and expected to return Taivan to a larger size in 10.2.7.
Kaivax gave no numerical size target or detailed list of affected animations. The plan was to develop and test fixes for a larger model in 10.2.7; PTR testing was still upcoming when he posted.
The Follow-up Timeline
- April 9, 2024: the original report showed the reduction and compared the mount with its earlier appearance and the toy-summoned Taivan.
- April 12: Kaivax explained the temporary animation workaround and the intended 10.2.7 follow-up.
- April 18: Squishei reported a larger, datamined 10.2.7 model, describing it as back to the original size. This was evidence from the patch’s development period; April 18 was not the live release of Dark Heart.
- May 7: Blizzard announced Dark Heart live. A contemporary May 8 player comparison reported the larger Taivan again and described a changed mount special. That player also noted that the screenshot zoom was not identical.
- May 10: Linxy’s dated hotfix post separately recorded that Taivan would howl when summoned. The sound change was a later entry, distinct from the April size reduction.
Keep the PTR model report, the patch release and the later sound hotfix in their respective places. They establish a sequence of changes, rather than one overnight fix that did everything at once.
The Mount Reward and Taivan’s Story Are Different Unlocks
Taivan’s Ohn’ahran Plains story introduces the unusually large, gentle bakar and his role helping others. The story rewards Taivan’s Trumpet. The rideable mount instead comes from A World Awoken, through the item Good Boy’s Leash, which teaches the mount when used.
For collectors, the current Taivan requirements guide covers all fourteen main achievement requirements, shared Ohn’ahran Sojourner progress and the difference between story-quest dungeon runs and the Mythic dungeon branch.
