Blizzard said flying trivialized the content then advertises as a feature!

[Maudib]

Yeah man... flying sucks for the game. It trivializes content. It allows you to miss all out hard work and miss experiencing the game as we intended.

Oh... hey! Earn flying in WoW... It's an AWESOME feature we have added because it's so desired.

Who exactly as the ads intended for? Are they reaching out to the millions that left game because they took away something and now using it as a carrot to come back?

[Deleted]

Are they reaching out to the millions that left game because they took away something and now using it as a carrot to come back?

That has been one of my biggest annoyances the past couple of years - temporarily removing something that has been in the game for almost a decade and then presenting the return of it as "hey, look what we got for you, aren't we awesome?" and that's just not a good path to walk.

[Thelxi]

Before you know it we will be RP walking for half the expansion; UNLOCK RUNNING!

[Lodreh]

That has been one of my biggest annoyances the past couple of years - temporarily removing something that has been in the game for almost a decade and then presenting the return of it as "hey, look what we got for you, aren't we awesome?" and that's just not a good path to walk.

Nothing to really add... just agree.

[Queen of Hamsters]

It doesn't trivialize content that isn't already trivial. Fact. The game saw 3 of its most hailed expansions and had flying just fine in those.

People gulping the kool-aid they sold to excuse having NO content beyond leveling in WoD zones aside.

[Deleted]

Before you know it we will be RP walking for half the expansion; UNLOCK RUNNING!

Even more Diablo features in WoW?

- - - Updated - - -

It doesn't trivialize content that isn't already trivial. Fact. The game saw 3 of its most hailed expansions and had flying just fine in those.

People gulping the kool-aid they sold to excuse having NO content beyond leveling in WoD zones aside.

Exactly this. If devs are not able to create good content with flying, then they are to blame for lacking mental capacities or for lazyness.

[Deleted]

Just so we're all on the same page, can you provide a link to where Blizzard said flying trivialises the content?

[rda]

Yeah man... flying sucks for the game. It trivializes content. It allows you to miss all out hard work and miss experiencing the game as we intended.

Oh... hey! Earn flying in WoW... It's an AWESOME feature we have added because it's so desired.

Who exactly as the ads intended for? Are they reaching out to the millions that left game because they took away something and now using it as a carrot to come back?

When Blizzard have to put money where their mouth is, all their "flying sucks for the game" rhetoric goes right into the trash bin. They know it is BS.

They know full well that flying is a great feature desired by many players.

The entire reason they are holding flying back for a long time is because they know it is a great feature desired by many players. They are holding it back as a cheap way to try and make people pay for longer, or return to the game if they managed to unsub.

They can't really exploit this for a long time. All this holding back and gating in other areas will just make players ignore the current expansion and stay one expansion behind where everything is unlocked.

[Sci Fi Samurai]

Honestly being unable to fly hasn't really ruined my experience of the game. I've enjoyed most everything about legion.

[Jalatiphra]

its marketing.
they lie, they stretch reality, they do not care for what was said previously

they just want to sound and look cool

marketing produces the biggest bullshit i have ever come in contact with in my proffessional career. (software development)

TL;DR marketing is just a bunch of shit with very very very few exceptions which are really remarkable and make an impression.

[jdmike06]

You guys are so cynical. I think this way of getting flying makes it feel more rewarding. I really enjoy seeing everyone around me questing, doing stuff when the content is relatively fresh. The worst leveling/world experience ever was Cata where I just flew to every quest.

[Tradu]

Honestly being unable to fly hasn't really ruined my experience of the game. I've enjoyed most everything about legion.

I haven't enjoyed Legion quite that much, but lack of flying wasn't really a major part of it. That said getting flying was reeaaaaally liberating and definitely made the game more enjoyable than it was without it.

[rda]

Just so we're all on the same page, can you provide a link to where Blizzard said flying trivialises the content?

Here is Bashiok's post, quoted, the original link is provided but it doesn't seem to work - perhaps temporarily:

https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/10571467117

Full quote:

There's a lot of discussion about flying/not-flying and I'd like to try to sum things up and maybe realign the discussion a bit. Some of the other threads are near-cap, some have really gone down tangents, so I'm just picking this one to throw a reply into. Apologies to the other threads.

We intend to disallow flying while leveling from 90 to 100, and have flying become available again in the first major patch for Warlords of Draenor. No flying while leveling has been the case during Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, and Mists of Pandaria. We allowed flying during Cataclysm because as those zones were mixed-in with the 1-60 world it just would have been really jarring to dismount you as you fly into Hyjal, etc. but we would have disallowed it for Catalcysm zones as well if there was a reasonable solution there.

Flying trivializes combat. A lot of people like to say we're trying to force world PvP, or that we just really want people to look at the pretty trees we made, but those really aren't the reasons that drive this same decision we've made every expansion. Flying allows you to escape or enter combat at-will. There's a reason why flying isn't allowed in dungeons and raids, or battlegrounds and arenas, and that's because it would trivialize the core mechanic of the game in those areas - combat. For much the same reason it trivializes how content is approached in the outdoor world based on the simple fact that you can lift off and set down wherever you like.

So that's the main reason. But sure there are a lot of other problems it can cause for content design such as zones having to get a lot bigger because flying mounts can travel so quickly (and thus making ground travel in them take much longer), it reduces the impact of elevation within zones, it completely removes the ability for us to pace or present content in any structured way, and in general removes our ability to determine how and when players approach a situation, see a vista or location, or charge into/out-of a combat situation. It just greatly reduces any gameplay we want to create by allowing infinite choice in how content is approached to best suit a player's intention to (usually) avoid that content.

I totally sympathize with people's desire to do that, they want to be efficient and have it be their choice, but we have to balance our intent to create a game against creating a sandbox where anything goes. There's a happy medium there somewhere, but flying mounts in most cases just do too much to undermine too many of our core intentions with the game world, the basis of the game: combat, or guiding players through a game experience, and for those reasons we have continually chosen (when we could) to disallow flying mounts in the 'current' outdoor content. In the past that's meant only while leveling, but in our experiences with the Isle of Thunder and Timeless Isle we feel like we can extend that for a bit longer in the new content, and have it be kind of a big deal again once you're able to earn flying in the first big content patch, and in the meantime putting focus on flight paths as well as having some more interesting travel options for players to use.

[Beckers]

I'll be honest, flying should be unlocked but only at a later stage at only at 110.

The questing experience and the content at early 110 would suck with flying enabled right off the bat.

On that note, my comment would change the other way around if content was designed to be "3D" rather than 2D, meaning there would be more floating islands and more shit to get to only with flying.

[Gemini Soul]

The only way flying ever trivialized content is when a Xpac launches and people are lvling with flying. That is why how MoP did it was perfect, can fly as soon as you hit max lvl and how it should always be.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Especially funny when they pull the "flying trivializes combat"-BS. So riding a ground mount and being dazed by leveling mobs somehow warps you into Dark Souls-esque combat? Hell, for Legion they even added the Barding which PREVENTS you from being dazed... how does that not "trivialize" shit?

Still gotta land and run around on the ground fighting mobs (still leveling mobs though, easy AF) in order to finish objectives. Flying never changed that fact. If Blizzard wants the world to be more challenging, they should focus on making it ACTUALLY challenging and not use the "Classic" logic of "a lack of convenience makes the game challenging hurr durr!"...

And if they don't like people being safe above the ground everywhere, they can just add what they had during 5.1 in Krasarang Wilds to certain areas. I saw people be shot down by the aerial defenses time and time again in the hubs.

[Lyraat]

its marketing.
they lie, they stretch reality, they do not care for what was said previously

they just want to sound and look cool

marketing produces the biggest bullshit i have ever come in contact with in my proffessional career. (software development)

TL;DR marketing is just a bunch of shit with very very very few exceptions which are really remarkable and make an impression.

QFT

Marketing doesnt care what the devs and CM's say. They'll say/claim/tout anything if it makes one more person click their ad.

Take a breath. Relax. Move on with life.

[Dhrizzle]

Yeah man... flying sucks for the game. It trivializes content. It allows you to miss all out hard work and miss experiencing the game as we intended.

Oh... hey! Earn flying in WoW... It's an AWESOME feature we have added because it's so desired.

Who exactly as the ads intended for? Are they reaching out to the millions that left game because they took away something and now using it as a carrot to come back?

During WoD Bliss experimented with delaying flying and, apart from some forum noise, they were pretty happy with the results. They then said that they would not be bringing flight back at all, this prompted enough negative feedback to make them quickly U-turn that decision.

Based on how WoD worked Blizzard realised that for the most part players are happy with tackling content from the ground but want to be able to fly eventually. This is why there has been no flying on the Broken Isles since Legion released.

[CarlingBlackLabel]

At the end of the day, it is still a feature of the game so they are within their rights to advertise it as such.

[Deleted]

Honestly being unable to fly hasn't really ruined my experience of the game. I've enjoyed most everything about legion.

this guy in a nutshell