Might be one of the few ones but I absolutely loved Vash'jir! first time I got in there it reminded me of ecco the Dolphin.
I always picked this zone over Hyjal only went trough it once to experience the story.
Swimming is still different then flying tho
Because you still needed to fight mobs in Vash while swimming and the fighting was a bit annoying sometimes because of the axis and when you where not able to drop to the seabed without resetting the mobs.
If you would have had a Vash zone but with air instead, you would just land on ledges/platforms and kill mobs that way and mobs would be positioned around those platforms and ledges instead. And no "swimming" trough the air and aggroing/fighting mobs in the air.
It was being forced in combat in those 3 axis, especially for melee that pissed most people of.
Not the layered zone itself.
With an air zone you will never have this unless we grow wings and we can engage mobs in the air while being airborne. (Aions PVP zone is a good example of that).
while Sea of clouds in FF14 is a good example of having a layered zone with flight but still mobs on the ground and quests all over the place. <- this is what people are asking for a layered zone with certain hubs only available with flight eg flight opening up more of the zone.
Last edited by Malackai; 2016-09-13 at 09:24 AM.
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Hmm....mechanically speaking, Vashj'ir is more of a truly 3D environment than any other zone. However, the presentation of that environment is totally different from an open air, above-ground zone would be. Underwater zones and areas always present a feeling of weight and oppressiveness. All that water giving some people a feeling of drowning and such. Also, the types of enemies and terrain one encounters in underwater-type areas has a very specific look and feeling to it that's VERY different from a normal zone.
As opposed to an above-ground zone, which presents a feeling of freedom and the open sky. There are a lot more options for variety of terrain and enemy types.
I'm not necessarily saying that this is the reason why people didn't like Vashj'ir as much as other zones, but I suspect it was a contributing factor(well, that and the loot from the zone was bad until you're most of the way through it). I also don't think that simply filling empty spaces in a 3D area with meaningless trash mobs is any better than filling empty spaces in a 2D area with trash mobs. And many of the issues people have with navigating a 3D environment like Vashj'ir could be addressed through a better UI that is actually built for it.
I suspect that trying to make every square inch of the sky dangerous and compelling is a mistake. Instead, they should focus only on those areas surrounding quests or other important objectives. Guard objectives with ranged mobs, grapples that pull you in, weather effects, dismounting fire, air-based mobs, etc. Also, make quest objectives that must be completed from the ground, such as puzzles, or carrying a flag that prevents mounting similar to WSG. There are many other ways to accomplish this, and mixed in with indoor areas that completely prevent flight(or mounting at all), or even large zones like Timeless Isle and such, and I think we'd have a much better overall experience.
Again, I feel like I can't repeat this enough: Attempting to apply a single, oversimplified solution or design philosophy to the entire open world is a mistake. A varied approach is much better, and allows for the open world to appeal to many different playstyles without completely alienating large groups of people. Virtually every other aspect of WoW, from PVP to crafting, has been massively improved over the last few years. And yet flight remains largely unchanged since it was introduced. Addressing that could also go a long way to solving this "problem".
Last edited by SirCowdog; 2016-09-13 at 11:42 AM.
I liked the zone as well. In fact, I wished they expanded on the story of that zone and the lore for possibly the next expansion. To me the zone that incorporate flying are the most memorable to me when it comes to WoW memories.
And flying mounts with groups of players going to invasion events for prepatch = epic and awesome.
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It was on the box. Maybe you were too young to remember BC.
Exactly lol. Being able to fly around with your character was a major feature of the expansion.
Personally I don't understand all this hate about not being able to fly. There are so many flightpaths at 'strategic' place around the world that getting anywhere does not take any significant time, especially with Dalaran being in a more or less strategic place (close to Suramar, for example). If you are really stressed about it, put your hearthstone in Hightmountain and you have pretty much everything covered in the approx. same amount of time it would cost you to fly there yourself. The flightpaths in the Broken Isles are fairly straightforward/efficient.
I am not buying the expansion until flying is in the game. As the artifact power requirements increase it becomes more of a slog doing world content on the ground and using flight paths. Preach did a video on this in the beta about how the world isn't designed well for long term play beyond the first month with how grindy Legion is.
It was a selling point not its main selling point, learn the difference and @Mafic please dont come with childish stereotypes like that it makes you look silly.
- Vanilla was legitimately bad; we just didn't know any better at the time - SirCowDog
Yeah at this point it is obvious people are just making things up to stir up controversy. It is well known that BC was heavily advertised to have flying mounts in that expansion.
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It was a major selling point of the expansion actually.
Yeah, the picture of the player mounting a nether drake clearly ISN´T occupying almost the entirety of the back cover, with the smaller screenshots placed over it.
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Well, I´d say that this was obvious since the original threads before WoD began.
Dont make it Bigger then it actualy was the expansion would have sold enough copies without flying maybe less who knows.
- Vanilla was legitimately bad; we just didn't know any better at the time - SirCowDog
Do i dislike not having flying enables sure but its not a deal breaker for me when playing WoW that is and always will be raiding which is in my opinion the important part of this game, the rest including flying are by products which make this game great for me only thing flying is important for is mining and herbing the WQ i can do with gliders, the whisle and stones.
Last edited by Vestig3; 2016-09-13 at 12:25 PM.
- Vanilla was legitimately bad; we just didn't know any better at the time - SirCowDog