This morning, my troll shaman dinged 30, and hurried off to Sen’jin Village to pick out her raptor. She is both my first troll and the first character I have leveled to 30 since the entry-level riding skill was brought down from 40 to 30 (the others were already 40+ at that time.) I can only imagine how much less painful her mount will make the STV and Desolace quests.
Of course, as a shaman, she had ghost wolf with its 40% increase at her disposal already. But there is something special about your first mount regardless.
Next tasks: go grab flight paths in Arathi, Desolace, then head to STV to start the wild animal eradication project for good ole Nessingwary.