Describe how you imagine WoW being if flying mounts were never introduced.

[Cassidin]

"Hey guys, I need a boost in Molten Core"

"Sure, I'll come.. give me... 15 minutes"

-

Sorry, flying has become a greater part of the playing experience. As we level with such a high speed, we pass zones (outlevel) and don't go there again. A few missing flight paths can suddenly be a wrecking event. I do like the idea of some zones maybe would be dangerous for flying (I.e. some creatures in the air / PvP / NPC's attacking what's in the air).

Flying in Zangermarsh on a broom from HH used to be dangerous (don't know if it still is) because you would get dismounted due to the moisture in the air or something - that was kinda fun.... once or twice.

[Cassidin]

"We're going to SoO, but the Horde has the entrance overrun with their PvPers (thus sumonning stone is literally unusable). Guess we don't raid today either."

Nah...... people could of course just make their own way there (but they are too lazy - that's not the fault of the PVPers though) I remember before cata running into Org to put out the bonfire....... died a few times doing it, then ran into the instance before hearthing. With that I had to actually stand at the bonfire and channel for 5 secs? to put the fire out. That was kinda hard but running in and getting to the bonfire? Rather easy tbh. Riding to a raid portal and running through without getting killed even on a PVP server would not be THAT bad. Irritating maybe - but if you play on a PVP server then dont you want that?

[Deleted]

I honestly don't understand why people still make these threads.

Like I said in another thread, MMOChamp is overrun with this crap because it's been run off the battlenet forums with pitchforks and torches and hurled fruit. So now the irrelevant minority sits around here telling itself over and over how great BC was, because if they tried it anywhere else, they'd have to click "post buried - show post" anytime they wanted to see anything they had said.

[Deleted]

Probably as awesome as timeless isle

[Deleted]

I want to hear how everyone envisions how these last 7(?) years would have been without flying mounts.

It's an interesting thing to brainstorm.

Frustrating, dull, less enjoyable and plainly idiotic.

Getting flying mount on a character has always been a great fun and relief, ever since the ultimate OMG-this-is-so-much-fun feeling back when I dinged 70 back in TBC and bought my first flapper. It is still the same thing. The game instantly gets more fun and visceral when you get flying in an expansion.

Likewise, I always completely hate the zones where I can't fly, from Tol-Barad via Firelands to resent day zones like Isle of Thunder. They are no fun, clippeticlopping ona slow and one-dimensional ground mount. I hate it and tend to play those zones only for the necessary loot and dailes that may be there. Regular zones, which allow flying, on the other hand I often go to just for the fun and freedom.

I honestly believe it is some kind of deep engrained human desire to be able to fly that makes it so awesomely FUN to fly in WoW. Most people have recurring dreams of being able to fly, at least during some parts of their life. It is usually a positive experience. Flying in WoW taps into that corner of the psyche and when we fly on our WoW mounts, it kind of fulfills a deep rooted desire. Probably for the same reason, switching to flight form as druid is always even more fun, because it feels like I am actually able to fly.

People who say it was a mistake to add flying in WoW are completely mistaken. If flying wasn't added, the game would lack a huge element of fun and enjoyment.

[Deleted]

Same as it is now only it would take ages to get somewhere and possibly alot less subs.

People just dont dedicate as much time as they used to in mmo's and having to ride everywhere for like an hour until you can start "playing" would be anoying.

[Cassidin]

Likewise, I always completely hate the zones where I can't fly, from Tol-Barad via Firelands to resent day zones like Isle of Thunder. They are no fun, clippeticlopping ona slow and one-dimensional ground mount. I hate it and tend to play those zones only for the necessary loot and dailes that may be there. Regular zones, which allow flying, on the other hand I often go to just for the fun and freedom.

It's each to his/her own I think. While I am a BIG supporter of flying mounts and I think removing them would be a REALLY bad thing for the game, I do also support having no-fly zones and I think the way they have handled flying in MOP has worked well. They have three zones now in mop that are totally no fly and I have no problem personally with them (while I know some do - as I say each to his/her own). Having to level to 90 before flying is not really any hardship and satisfies (or imo SHOULD satisfy) the "Adventuring is sooooo much fun" contingent. I have levelled 14 toons to 90 so I do not think it is a really that bad for alts to be forced to be on foot till 90, but personally I would have liked to see the "get to max level then buy a book to sent to alts so they can fly early" like they did in wrath. Overall though - I think their approach in mop worked well.

[Deleted]

Leveling on a PvP server would still be fun.

[Belisaurio]

I will never understand how people believe that being forced to do something slower (ground mounts) makes something you have done thousands of times before somehow more of an adventure. Its an adventure to start with..... then its just a chore.

So, the problem is that after you have done the same path 5 or 10 times (different number for every player), that path becomes "chore" to your gameplay and not like an adventure. Well, then, loof for a solutions: New flight path unlocked, new teleport item unlocked, new summon craftable items unlocked, new transport-action unlocked, etc...
What gamers will win with this? That every character will have different transports/teleports, every character ingame will be different (meaning about the advance and inmersion in the wow's world) and will affect the gameplay. More things to do= less time waiting= less boring time.
Maybe, new products to sell in AH, new researchable items and something that people will focus if they want that (and no need of hardcore or high skills to accomplish that).

I mean, make solutions and improve at the same time the gameplay or improve the experience that players have ingame are a good path to go (and improve the game).

[dpcn111]

Non-existent on my computer.

[Krixooks]

The game would have been much better of course.

1. Players would have continued to interact with one another.
2. Zones would have remained immersive and dangerous.*
3. Players would have developed much stronger connections to zones through interactions with terrain and art.
4. The game world would have retained it's scale and mystique. Mountains were tall, forests were thick and structures were formidable.

*Early flying zones were actually made to be immersive and dangerous to reflect ground zones, see Skettis and Blade's Edge Plateaus.

[Deleted]

cant image that much interactiveness during quest.
people sometimes grouped up, but my personal experience is more that people ignored each other and each went their own way on the same quest.

i can see certain zones not working well, especially Deepholm.

suspose world pvp would be a lot more active on PvP realms, but on the PvE realm i play on there wouldnt be any difference.

Flight paths would see a massive increase in users, allowing quick transportation somewhere (FP discovery before being avaible should be turned on agian then, else they just fill the void that flying mounts did).

Zones would been smaller, since big zones like the ones in Pandaria are a drag too travel through with ground mounts (it's not so bad when leveling, but once your done and got too travel through such big zones it just plain sucks).

people would be complaining too blizzard too add flying mounts into the game too make travelling more convient.

well thats the only stuff i can think about, if flying would never been introduced.

[Deleted]

It might reward exploration, give playes some incentive to go explore.

[Maleific]

Summon please

[Raysz]

Game would be dead...

I get why people criticise flying mounts, but overall they are the lesser of two evils, the greater evil being people quitting the game because it is too tedious.

I really enjoyed my Tauren hunter when I first started playing and the sense of exploration as I ventured out into the barrens for the first time. When I finally got a mount though it was a godsend. There are only so many times you can run over the same stretch of road for 5 minutes before it gets dull. Terribly dull.

Again, by the time I got to Outland and worked to get my flying mount, the "joy" of traversing vast distances over land had gotten stale.

A world without flying mounts is fine as long as you are familiarising yourself with the world. But once you are familiar, it gets boring and frustrating to waste so much time simply moving between points of interest.

I think the way in which MoP handled flying mounts is pretty good and fairly close to ideal. You have the best of both worlds: nice immersion while people are new to the new areas, and then the convenience of flying once the immersion phase is depleted. Zones like the Isle of Thunder, Isle of Giants and Timeless Isle (like Tol Barad in Cata) work very well because they are contained areas of interest.

The issue of "world pvp" mentioned by many is IMO irrelevant. Flying mounts did not kill world pvp. A lack of interest in world pvp killed world pvp. There is one vital ingredient for world pvp, and that is having players from both factions wanting to engage in it. If the person you are wanting to pvp with is not interested in pvp, then why the hell should the game force him into it? That is just bad, self biased, illogical thinking.

From what I have seen, many advocates of world pvp are simply selfish bullies with little or no consideration for other players. For example, the other day, on Timeless Isle I joined in a kill of a rare, and as it died there were 3 PvP flagged retards sitting on top of the corpse, presumably hoping that some hapless victim would accidentally click on them instead of the corpse they were trying to loot. And yes this has happened to me before, on more than one occasion, and it's annoying. I typically end up electing not to even fight back (even if I could win) and then afking while dead for 5 mins because I just want the PvP flag off again so that I can do the things I want without being pestered by pvpers trying to kill me.

If you ask me, the ability to mount up and fly away from a would-be-ganker is great, and one of the best reasons to keep flying mounts in the game. To those who are frustrated by this: sorry, but the person mounting up and flying away does not want to do pvp with you. Find someone who does. Or better yet, join a battleground, a zone designed so that people wanting pvp can find other likeminded people to play with.

+1
Totally agree with everything you said.

[ripponesan]

Without flying Mounts you guys would be playing World of gankers, as everyone with a sane mind would have left already.

Since People in the open world dont really tend to roleplay, Meeting others ratehr breaks my Immersion than increasing it. So based on this i dont really look Forward to seeing other Players while in the open world.
I must admit tho that i met some nice People in the world, but mostly when Standing in front of a raid instance waiting for my raid to form.

[Belisaurio]

Without flying Mounts you guys would be playing World of gankers, as everyone with a sane mind would have left already.

Just look 1 week later: People complain about constant ganks. Blizzard give us some tool to avoid that. Problem solved.

I get why people criticise flying mounts, but overall they are the lesser of two evils, the greater evil being people quitting the game because it is too tedious.

Why? They doubled the amount of people the first year of vanilla since start, ergo, flying mounts weren't the "thing" that helped BC/ICC to reach the 12M of subs.

Again, by the time I got to Outland and worked to get my flying mount, the "joy" of traversing vast distances over land had gotten stale.

A world without flying mounts is fine as long as you are familiarising yourself with the world. But once you are familiar, it gets boring and frustrating to waste so much time simply moving between points of interest.

Me too at the first epic mount (vanilla). And more than my first flying mount maybe. For the other argument, just put some factions that rules the flying paths or some items or teleports, and you are ready to skip some travel paths without skipping the entire world. This is designers fault if they can't reach that point.

[The Small Hours]

The only solution to this whole flying mount saga is to give our mounts talents and abilities that can be used in mid air combat.

[thedingleberry]

A slow grindfest where you had to run everywhere on ground mounts. Imagine having to run through Kun Lai and the Veiled Stair to get to Valley of the Four Winds from the Shrine. Imagine having to run from Shrine to the southeast corner of Jade Forest only to take a boat to the Timeless Isle...

[Coronius]

Flying mounts were pretty unnecessary to be honest, at least in the old world. I can't imagine Northrend or Outland without them.

I would probably enjoy this game more if flying wasn't allowed in the old world.

errr... don't use flying mounts if you don't like them?

i had no idea anyone had a problem with them until i saw this thread just now. i am giggling.

Way to completely miss the point.

Wow.