Originally Posted by
SirCowdog
Or they could just design zones to account for flight, include it in the balance of the power progression of the expansion, and avoid the entire on/off problem of flight entirely. :/
There have been plenty of times(mostly in TBC and WotLK) where there were dangerous flying mobs in the game. This is NOT the first time they've done it.
The fear is that they're going to leave pathfinder as it is, but also add these annoyances afterwords. Which flies in the face(no pun intended) of their stated objectives for Pathfinder: Do the work first, get to fly over it after.
If we do all the work to finish pathfinder, and wait the stupid 8+ months, then we should have completely unfettered access to flying without further restrictions. (On that note, this is why Argus was so infuriating). If they're going to salt the skies with halfassed, one-shot enemies, then they should also lift both the requirements and the time-lock of pathfinder. One or the other, not both.
Either way, IMO, is a losing proposition. Pathfinder is bad. Just filling the skies with dazing turds that throw poo is also bad. Both are weak, shallow designs that by god better damn well be JUST a first step that leads to something better. Because if Blizzard thinks it's fine as it is, then they're doing it wrong.
See, this is where I disagree again. You even pointed out the key part: The ground is boring. If that's the only thing a person says for why they want to fly, it's a powerful message telling Blizzard that their current grounded design needs work to make it more interesting and engaging.
This is why I push so hard for a more integrated, complex open world design that has more depth than a series of "Kill X" quests with some halfassed story thrown in while leveling, followed by repetitive world quests that are more often than not completely nonsensical. The open world NEEDS more than that to stay healthy.
The point I was trying to get across is that Flying is a key part of the indentity of WoW, and what attracts a lot of players to it. You can't just remove it and think it's fine.
But the point you're making is also valid. Some people do enjoy the process of slogging around rolling through the mud as they quest.
That's why I keep saying that Blizzard and players need to stop trying to do one or the other. It's too static. Too limiting. It would be like next expansion just removing dungeons, or battlegrounds. Some people would cheer because they don't like those things in the first place. But it would also cost the game a vital part of what it is.
I don't think you are one or the other. I'm reacting to the words, not the person. I am not debating, I'm having a discussion. Don't view everything as adversarial; win/lose.