When does dragon riding get fun?

[RobertMugabe]

I hope that Dragonriding becomes the standard way of flying where they convert the other flying mounts to work with this system (or work differently depending on mount type) in the next expansions.

In hindsight the flying we have had since TBC was a big mistake, as in not flying in general being a mistake, but the previous system.

[Holdodlig]

I hope that Dragonriding becomes the standard way of flying where they convert the other flying mounts to work with this system (or work differently depending on mount type) in the next expansions.

In hindsight the flying we have had since TBC was a big mistake, as in not flying in general being a mistake, but the previous system.

I agree with you. I also hope they'll find a way to apply this to ground mount. I've always found the darkmoon fair race minigame really cool.

[ClownPrincess]

It becomes fun once you get how it works and can sustain it indefinitely / climb indefinitely / take off and get up to speed quickly. Also a lot more efficient once you have it fully upgraded. Very fast compared to a regular flying mount, it's easy to compare on beta, you get a regular flying mount for corpse running when you are dead. Try to compare going from point A to B with that and with dragon riding and you'll see why people claiming they'll jump at the chance of using old flying mounts again are generally either full of shit or haven't yet figured out how to get the most out of dragon riding.

Chasing and dismounting people is extremely satisfying too, but unfortunately they can way too easily slip outside of your zone of interest and disappear.

Getting the dragon riding weak aura is very helpful to optimize your angle of attack when moving forward to just what you need to sustain the speed and thrill of the skies.

[Catastrophy349]

I just got beta access. I have the first 12/48 Dragon Glyphs unlocked and pretty basic Dragonriding (4 vigor and only a few talents). It is VERY fun; however, I can definitely see people getting frustrated early on either due to impatience or ignorance of how the system works.

[schwarzkopf]

I mean, it does eventually

For me - 6 hours to get enough glyphs, but I was slowed by a disability. For most people they could likely do it in 2 hours.

Once you can ignore on ground recharge time - you can just hop around and fly really well, then it becomes fun.

[Cyi]

I'm not sure how they'd nerf it beyond gutting the perks system entirely, which would be a lot of work to just throw in the trash can solely to inconvenience people - it's possible they could do that, but seems doubtful. When you're cruising at around 930% mount speed, it's pretty easy to fly from point A to point B, even if point B is several zones away. 4 Vigor Charges can get you to the world's virtual ceiling, and from there it's all a downward high-speed arc with the occasional bump or charge as you recharge Vigor.

I was referring more to the time it takes to earn all the skills being needed. I just can’t see them letting an expansion feature be completed in just a few hours or even days.

[Calfredd]

Where did this number come from?

From this:

but gotta say when you first unlock it and you have two abilities and it takes approximately 44 days for vigor to recharge, it's actually the opposite of fun.

[Aucald]

I was referring more to the time it takes to earn all the skills being needed. I just can’t see them letting an expansion feature be completed in just a few hours or even days.

Depends on what you mean by completed, really. Getting the perks and maxing out max Vigor and Vigor regen is easy enough, but there are also cosmetic options for each of the many Dragonriding mounts - and those are locked behind quests, raids, renown, etc. So while you may be able to complete your set of perks and so forth early on, mostly to give you maximal options, the best cosmetic options are tucked away behind more challenging fare.

[Revamp Man]

Have you actually done it on the beta to confirm the "2-3 hour" time frame? Just curious because I plan to level a few toons and having fully maxed DF'ing will be a huge boon.

if you just go through leveling and then focus on dragonflying you can pick up multiple glyphs just from flying from the top down
youll pick up about 7 or 8 glyphs just while leveling

[ClownPrincess]

I just can’t see them letting an expansion feature be completed in just a few hours or even days.

It's amazing that we are so used to blizzard's shit that we can't even conceive anymore that a game mechanic doesn't come with some time gating catch.

But I think dragon riding is not where they'll do that, if only because leveling it up is an exploration mechanic and it would be super awkward to say "enough exploration for now, come back next week" when you can still explore the map freely.

My more cynical take on this is that dragon riding is going to serve as a bone thrown to the player, something that say "We've changed. We've heard you. No time gating!" to build some good will with the players, but once we reach level 70 we'll turn around and see time gating in a bunch of other places. Even possibly places that didn't use to have it. For instance, I'm worried about the fact that there is a new general pvp currency, which is normally a role fulfilled by honor points.

Anyway i fully expect that there will be no such bullshit with dragon riding at least.

[Nymrohd]

People have done it on Twitch and it does take around that time

That sounds crazy to me. Can't test it since once you collect them you have them but I swear it took me less than two hours and I was horrible at dragonriding when I tried it, I am far better now. You just need to know that there are about a dozen dragon glyphs you leave for last.

[ClownPrincess]

That sounds crazy to me. Can't test it since once you collect them you have them but I swear it took me less than two hours and I was horrible at dragonriding when I tried it, I am far better now. You just need to know that there are about a dozen dragon glyphs you leave for last.

Yeah it does feel a bit long, i could see it taking that long if you don't know where the glyphs are and are locating them only using the achievement descriptions. Using the handy notes plugin, i have a hard time imagining it taking that long.

I think it's possible to reset the glyphs on beta by copying your account data over again, I'm probably going to try doing that at some point and then unlocking dragon riding all over again on a new character to see how how it goes now that I know how it works.

[Nymrohd]

Yeah it does feel a bit long, i could see it taking that long if you don't know where the glyphs are and are locating them only using the achievement descriptions. Using the handy notes plugin, i have a hard time imagining it taking that long.

I think it's possible to reset the glyphs on beta by copying your account data over again, I'm probably going to try doing that at some point and then unlocking dragon riding all over again on a new character to see how how it goes now that I know how it works.

Nah the glyphs are not reset. You lose the dragonriding mounts but as soon as you fix that bug you have all your talents back.

[ClownPrincess]

Nah the glyphs are not reset. You lose the dragonriding mounts but as soon as you fix that bug you have all your talents back.

Ah, little bit of a bummer.

[Flaim]

I mean, it does eventually, or it looks like it does on YouTube, but gotta say when you first unlock it and you have two abilities and it takes approximately 44 days for vigor to recharge, it's actually the opposite of fun.

Blizzard is placing a really big bet on making their core expansion feature a mode of travel that you actually have to learn and get good at the way you did, y'know, combat and leveling... because mounted travel was always pure reward, there was no challenge to learning how to mount up and go places (realizing to zig zag mobs doesn't really count, you do that on foot too). Players returning to try it but not having watched a lot of videos of people doing dragon riding after its leveled up some, a lot of them are going to hit a wall before they're half way to 70 and think "this is dumb why did I buy this"

Yeah, you completely didn't read or didn't understand my response. The subjective experience of time =/= the objective passage of time. There are thousands of man-hours in the customer service, marketing, and corporate efficiency sectors spent on proving this. Blizzard probably has their own analytics about how long it "feels" to sit in queue for dungeons or PVP.

Waiting 30 seconds when you're on hold for your refill at Walgreens feels like longer than 30 seconds

Waiting 30 seconds when you're waiting for the only two buttons you have to make your dragon go anywhere feels like longer than 30 seconds.

Alternately, 30 seconds spent at your happiest or most excited moments feels like less time.

nothing in your OP indicates it being an exaggeration.
classic case of:

1. talks shit
2. gets proven to be talking shit
3. ???
4. ha-HAA! look at me doing Le Trole!

[Cyi]

Depends on what you mean by completed, really. Getting the perks and maxing out max Vigor and Vigor regen is easy enough, but there are also cosmetic options for each of the many Dragonriding mounts - and those are locked behind quests, raids, renown, etc. So while you may be able to complete your set of perks and so forth early on, mostly to give you maximal options, the best cosmetic options are tucked away behind more challenging fare.

I see, fair enough, I hope you are right.

[Lolites]

getting frustrated early on either due to impatience or ignorance of how the system works.

yeah i think this summs up mmo-c community nicely, not only about dragonriding...
i tried it and its fun, and honestly from people who actualy tried worst reaction ive heard was its fine, most were actualy more positive about it

[Aucald]

Yeah, you completely didn't read or didn't understand my response. The subjective experience of time =/= the objective passage of time. There are thousands of man-hours in the customer service, marketing, and corporate efficiency sectors spent on proving this. Blizzard probably has their own analytics about how long it "feels" to sit in queue for dungeons or PVP.

Waiting 30 seconds when you're on hold for your refill at Walgreens feels like longer than 30 seconds

Waiting 30 seconds when you're waiting for the only two buttons you have to make your dragon go anywhere feels like longer than 30 seconds.

Alternately, 30 seconds spent at your happiest or most excited moments feels like less time.

There is a degree of truth to the notion that Dragonriding isn't as "on-demand" as traditional flying mounts are - if you do run out of a Vigor, there is a window (one that grows smaller and smaller as you accrue perks) where you can't mount back up and take off since you have no Vigor. One element that offsets this a great deal, though; and one you can't really appreciate without experiencing the system is how fast Dragonriding is compared to traditional flying mounts. The speed and ease of travel using Dragonriding, in my opinion, more than offsets any downtime you may experience due to running out of Vigor.

But all the same, it does suck at the beginning when you're grounded due to lack of Vigor, and the option of a flight back to the hub or wherever it is you want to go is temporarily off the table. Given all the benefits of Dragonriding in terms of speed, immersive quality, and novelty it's an exchange I'm personally okay making, but everyone else's mileage may of course vary.

[Usernameforforums]

Learn to have fun.

[LordVargK]

I agree with you. I also hope they'll find a way to apply this to ground mount. I've always found the darkmoon fair race minigame really cool.

I always hoped for a ground mount rework akin to the manasaber worldquests in Suramar. You know, your mount get's faster the more you travel in one direction, eventually beating flying mounts as the fastest form of travel in open areas.