Another update from Bashiok about WoD flying.

[Barnabas]

From the front page. I know there will be some people psyched about this, but honestly all I could say was WTF. So, they decided to design the first part of WoD around ground mounts only including max level content and want us to work on some quest line to earn flying back because it's so awesome? Really? Fucking really? It's hard to put into words how much this hurts my head. You gave us flight. It is very much like Pandora's Box. You can't put it back. Design around flying. Monstrous Kaliri, Flak Cannons and enemy faction base defenses were all put in during BC and they were dangerous! Why not add in things like that again? And why the hell should I jump through hoops to get flying BACK. I already have it. I shouldn't have to earn the privilege to use what I already earned and paid for long ago.


Can anyone really make sense of this to me?

Because you have to earn the right to bypass how they want you to see any new content they created. If they added that bullshit then once you died a few times or read a guide on how to avoid being knocked out of the sky then you'd just skip over monsters and the world wouldn't feel as dangerous. Then you'd have to deal with that shit for the rest of the expansion or you'd beg them to remove it somehow at some point cause it would just feel stupid. Alternatively you could wait until the first patch to play WoD and not wear those grumpy pants anymore if you feel this strongly about it?

[Imnick]

I'm not against removing flying for leveling, far from it. It's the "no flying until 6.1" that I consider to be utterly stupid.

Only half of that post was a response to you.

[Deleted]

insult to alt players everywhere.

8 90s here, don't care about flying.

[dlhak]

Not getting flying mounts easily ? And you people wished they bring back the BC content ? Stop bitching ! This thing is awesome ! Just ask any pally or lock who got their mount in vanilla or BC how awesome the reward was !

[Dimmune]

I should have known better than to get my hopes up for this expansion. Guess I will just stay unsubbed.

Such a childish way to look at a video game. I can't fly therefore I will QQ on forums and say I won't resub. Players like you ruin games anyway, you won't be missed.

[Pibutzki]

No, they revolve around collective customer interest.


And with a logic like that, you're wondering why the game loses subs? It is simple: if you want a game played by millions (and I think Blizzard does), you take customer wishes into account.
If not, you end up with a niche product that may be awsum, but you won't make millions from it. And this decision is not made by the devs, but by AB management.

Yes I know what the deal is when you want to maximize your monetary gains from a product. However, I have no problem if a developer tries to step back from the lowest common denominator, on the contrary I applaud to this. But this is just my personal opinion.

[Strafer]

Best news I've read all day.

My Kodo is pleased

[Icyflamez]

So glad Blizzard is sticking to their guns on this. The amount of QQ and bitching about this is frankly insane. Blizzard has given concrete reasons as to why they're going through with it and why they think it will mesh well with their revamped questing system. You are free to disagree with their design choice and if it REALLY bothers you that much you are also free to unsub, however moaning and whining about it isn't going to make them do a 180 on it when they clearly have designed the content around this.

[Attackrabbit]

I like it. Then again, I'm a TBC player and I still remember how awesome it felt to get fast flying and unlock the Netherwing content.

I understand why this is an alien idea to those who never went through that, though.

On another note, making mounts gain speed as they gain latitude (like 40% close to ground and gradually up to 310%) could solve a lot of PvP concerns while maintaining fast travel and exploration.

If you mean altitude (dunno cause you say latitude again in another post) then that's not too bad an idea

[Tomana]

Yes I know what the deal is when you want to maximize your monetary gains from a product. However, I have no problem if a developer tries to step back from the lowest common denominator, on the contrary I applaud to this. But this is just my personal opinion.

Of course it's not a problem, it is just a questionable business decision when the game is not performing very well at keeping subs.

[But I Hate You All]

No flying makes doing things in game take longer and thus extends the life of the content.

Simple answer do not buy the xpac till they change their mind

[emni]

If you mean altitude (dunno cause you say latitude again in another post) then that's not too bad an idea

Yes, altitude, not latitude!

I swear it was because I was typing it on a tablet and not because I'm retarded...

[Pibutzki]

Of course it's not a problem, it is just a questionable business decision when the game is not performing very well at keeping subs.

Also in my opinion subjective; even though bleeding subs will raise the eyebrows of investors and create pressure on the developers, WoW still has more subs than the other MMOs combined so I'd say they still have some room to experiment and try different things.

[Stormcall]

But that is exactly what this is; artificial and arbitrary gating for no reason other than to extend content longevity.
There are no sensible lore reasons as to why you have to "learn to fly" for a third time.

Especially with mounts(Netherdrakes, Nether Rays) that are native to Draenor to begin with! What, my Nether Ray goes back to the place it was born, and it forgets how to fly?

[Vaelorian]

This is great news!!!

[Deleted]

I should have known better than to get my hopes up for this expansion. Guess I will just stay unsubbed.

You won't be missed

[InfernalDark]

The vanilla tards are strong in these threads...

So are the Wrathbabies.

[emni]

Especially with mounts(Netherdrakes, Nether Rays) that are native to Draenor to begin with! What, my Nether Ray goes back to the place it was born, and it forgets how to fly?

I think there are 2 points here:

1. Netherdrakes were created using the energies that destroyed Draenor, so they don't exist in this version of Draenor (look up lore). I don't know much about Nether Rays, but seeing as their name includes the word "Nether", it could be assumed they are also tied to destruction of Draenor in some way

2. They might know how to fly but perhaps you don't know how to ride it in the weather.

[Jekyll]

In Bahasa, there is an idiom; "Like a mouse trying to fix a pumpkin". It means when someone who wants to do damage control or fix something, but would make it worse.

[vaccine]

I get the feeling a lot of people against "no flying" didn't play the base game. Back then the world was a dangerous and scary place. Levelling enemies were tough and there was always the threat of meeting an enemy player around the next corner. There was no just taking into the skies to escape, no carefully balancing your flying mount on just the right corner of a building to be able to touch a quest objective without aggro on the enemy. Levelling through Silverpine was a hell of an experience, just when you let your guard down and pulled a new enemy, a Son of Arugal would walk round a tree and aggro on you, swiftly murdering you. Even as far as TBC, how often did a Fel Reaver sneak up on you and stomp your face in.

This is the danger they're trying to bring back to the world and they want it to extend into max level content for at least a patch. But honestly I think it could be a trial for removing it full time in a future expansion. I like the current plan of 1 patch if it's going to bring that sense of danger back to exploring and travelling the continent.