Dragonriding is destroying exploration

[Peacemoon]

I really like the system itself, but I feel like it was a major mistake putting it at the start of the expansion. I'm flying through entire zones in a matter of seconds, basically just jumping around from quest marker to quest marker and ignoring the world itself. The feeling of exploring a new continent has completely vanished for me, as I'm not slowly uncovering the map and finding interesting places anymore. I'm dashing from one place to the next at breakneck speed, not caring what is in between them at all.

The system also makes the new areas feel small as hell. I've already seen the entire expansion in like 20 minutes by collecting the glyphs. And now I can just go from one end to the other in 2 minutes. There's zero sense of scale. It almost feels like playing a few small new patch zones.

The gameplay itself feels amazing, but I would've prefered just having ground mounts and then getting dragonriding for each zone at the end. They barely feel like actual zones to me, as it's like I'm teleporting around and skipping everything instead of actually exploring.

Maybe because I’m a Druid I don’t know, but I’ve been running around on the ground as well as flying. I don’t just hop from A to B on my Dragon if it’s short distances.

[Johnjohn]

I guess for me the question is did people hate the way flying worked in TBC? I don't think anyone ever complained about it that I saw. Level to max with ground mount, get flying at max level.

It was simple, it worked. Why blizzard had to the go on a decade long spree of jumping from one foot to another making change after change and wasting resources on this baffles me. People keep saying how people complain anyway so they can't be pleased.... IT WORKED in 2006. It was not even an issue as far as I can remember. wWhy the hell change the formula and spend so much time on it.

[Kilrox]

I guess for me the question is did people hate the way flying worked in TBC? I don't think anyone ever complained about it that I saw. Level to max with ground mount, get flying at max level.

It was simple, it worked. Why blizzard had to the go on a decade long spree of jumping from one foot to another making change after change and wasting resources on this baffles me. People keep saying how people complain anyway so they can't be pleased.... IT WORKED in 2006. It was not even an issue as far as I can remember. wWhy the hell change the formula and spend so much time on it.

Because gaming evolves, designers get better, create more engaging systems. Everyone loved flying in 2006 when it was novel, but almost two decades later it’s an exceptional dull system with very little, if any, room to grow.

Every other system of the game has been growing and evolving. The way classes feel and play now compared to 2006 is so vastly different. And it’s improved for the better. I’d rather have retail combat mechanics over vanilla any day of the week. That’s same logic applies to flying.

Dragonflying is that updated version of flying that of objectively better in every single way.

I mean shit, who doesn’t want your game to grow, evolve, become more engaging and more fun. Seems like a pretty dumb take to defend dated systems out for the sake of convenience.

[Yooginava182]

I've had quiet the opposite. I feel like im actually interacting with the world rather than just flying over it. And lets be real? Do you want Ground mounts to be the only thing available at launch until 10.1 or 10.2? Probably not cause I bet my money on it, that if it was ground mounts, you'd be here making this post, but about complaining that flying isn't available day one. And if its normal flying that you want? You really think flying up to 'x' distance then afk fly to your next point? Completely by passing the entire world by alt tabbing to youtube or netflix?

Sounds like a personal problem for zipping from A to B without taking the time to soak in the world. These zones feel fuckin massive even with Dragonflight.

- - - Updated - - -

Because gaming evolves, designers get better, create more engaging systems. Everyone loved flying in 2006 when it was novel, but almost two decades later it’s an exceptional dull system with very little, if any, room to grow.

Every other system of the game has been growing and evolving. The way classes feel and play now compared to 2006 is so vastly different. And it’s improved for the better. I’d rather have retail combat mechanics over vanilla any day of the week. That’s same logic applies to flying.

Dragonflying is that updated version of flying that of objectively better in every single way.

I mean shit, who doesn’t want your game to grow, evolve, become more engaging and more fun. Seems like a pretty dumb take to defend dated systems out for the sake of convenience.

This. TBC flying all the way till now has been literally just swimming in the air at 310% speed.

[GreenJesus]

Just don't dragonride then.

[DechCJC]

There’s an achievement in the waking shore where you have to ride small mammoths from point A to B. The mammoths move at 280% movement speed, which is the same as old epic flying.

It REALLY puts into context just how slow we’ve been going and how big the isles are; getting around even at that speed is ludicrously slow.

I explore more now because exploring is actually fun with dragonriding. Remember running circles around Dalaran and Oribos? Now I fly circles around the continent.

[Thundering]

That is a You-problem, not a Game-problem.

no its a game problem since normal flying does not exist in Df.

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There’s an achievement in the waking shore where you have to ride small mammoths from point A to B. The mammoths move at 280% movement speed, which is the same as old epic flying.

It REALLY puts into context just how slow we’ve been going and how big the isles are; getting around even at that speed is ludicrously slow.

I explore more now because exploring is actually fun with dragonriding. Remember running circles around Dalaran and Oribos? Now I fly circles around the continent.

Flying is faster than grounds mounts even when they can go at the same speeds, since flying mounts can just fly over things.

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Just don't dragonride then.

since normal flying is not in the game you have too........

[DechCJC]

Flying is faster than grounds mounts even when they can go at the same speeds, since flying mounts can just fly over things.

What, I can’t run in a straight line where there’s no obstacles to get a feel for it? I don’t need to be flying to feel the drastic speed difference.

Obviously you get places faster if you can fly, not really the point I was getting at though.

I’m sure they’ll add an optional ‘normal’ flight mode in the future alongside dragon riding. The reason it’s not in the game now? Simple: it goes against the developers design for the expansion. In the same way that you can’t just ghost through walls or toggle god mode; devs place limitations that they believe will lead to a better experience.

Again though, it’s just temporary. I’m 99% sure that we’ll get our old ‘flying’ back in due course as an option.

[Tojara]

The zones might not look massive on the map, but they're huge. They literally built the game with verticality for the first time and people think that it destroys exploration? Even with 810% movement speed the zones are still big and there are tons of blank areas with interesting little things going on. The world just feels a lot more alive now than it ever has and that's because it's not filled to the brim with a billion NPCs and has room to breathe. Azure Span in areas is both alive and empty at the same time, and because of how big that zone is it just feels like an actual area, and not so much a theme park.

I don't know man. Flying in previous expansions is fine but the game was never really built around flying beyond just flying a short gap to get to an island that otherwise wouldn't be accessible. Not that I'm a giant fan of quests, nor world quests in general, but they build a decent amount of objectives around flying at stupid speeds to finish them, and those quests are arguably some of the more enjoyable ones as far as a spin on questing goes.

I guess it can be annoying if you're hunting treasures and stuff hearing dragons flopping on the ground slamming everywhere, but there's still plenty of exploration. There's a billion cave systems, rare spawns, treasures, puzzles that make pretty much every expansion in the past look like a joke by comparison (at least in regards to things to do outside).

I can assure you that general sentiment would be the opposite if we got this world we are in with just standard flying, or if they gated flying until max level. Flying around at 310 speed would just get annoying and exploration would be 'killed' in the sense of people getting frustrated trying to find things. When you're zipping around mountains at with DR at crazy speeds it's a lot more fun cause there's nuance in flying instead of just swimming in the air.

Again, it's just your opinion and that's fine. But the zone design compliments flying, encourages exploration and is the first time the game has ever truly been designed specifically around flying (at least the outdoor world).

I went into this expansion expecting nothing and looking up absolutely zilch. I thought DR would be a meme at best but it turned out to be a pretty good feature overall. They gave it to you early so you could interact with it while questing and it made leveling enjoyable for the first time in a long time, as nothing ever got too frustrating because the quest design was good, and spending minutes riding on the ground back/forth were essentially removed from the game.

They could probably go forward with the system with little resistance. It would look really silly anywhere else in Azeroth though because the zones aren't designed around flying, and there's very physical differences between moving from one zone to another just a few yards to the right. DL has giant rivers, mountains as dividers, so it's not as off putting transitioning between zones. Still, the vigor system as whole could be used on old mounts. Would look silly doing twirls and spins, but just the generic acceleration/momentum could probably work.

[dwarven]

No one cares about exploring in wow. We all want to get from a to z as fast as possible.

[Swnem]

Get out! It's the best feature of the expansion.

Where did we get someone that wants to actually be grounded and slow and just take longer from A to B rather than having fun?

Tell you what buddy. You don't have to use dragon flying. You got your ground mount. Have fun using it.
Don't come here to rain on our parade. This has been one of the best decisions the devs made in years. The zones are open again rather than being this collection of pockets you always have to go around. This is something to carry over, not dial back on.

[Ielenia]

I haven't started Dragonlands yet... but, are you specifically forced to use Dragonriding? Or are you choosing to use Dragonriding? Note, this is an honest question, not a dig.

I haven't fully explored the zones yet, but so far I don't think I have found an area for the main quests in the zones yet in which you are absolutely required to use the dragonriding mount because you can't reach on a ground mount.

Dragonriding is convenient since we lack normal flying in the Dragon Isles.

On a side note, it absolutely pisses me off that we can't use the dragonriding mounts outside of the Dragon Isles as normal flying mount or even as ground mounts. It becomes doubly annoying in the Ruby Life Pools dungeon, where you can't use your DR mount, but you can use your other mounts to traverse. So now I gotta have two separate mount icons on my hotbars.

[RobertMugabe]

I haven't fully explored the zones yet, but so far I don't think I haven't found an area for the main quests in the zones yet in which you are absolutely required to use the dragonriding mount because you can't reach on a ground mount.

Dragonriding is convenient since we lack normal flying in the Dragon Isles.

On a side note, it absolutely pisses me off that we can't use the dragonriding mounts outside of the Dragon Isles as normal flying mount or even as ground mounts. It becomes doubly annoying in the Ruby Life Pools dungeon, where you can't use your DR mount, but you can use your other mounts to traverse. So now I gotta have two separate mount icons on my hotbars.

Just make a macro for your mounts. There is a new modifier called "dragonridable" for that purpose.

So you can for example say:

#showtooltip
/cast [dragonridable] Dragonriding Mount;[flyable] My flying mount; My ground mount

[Ielenia]

Just make a macro for your mounts. There is a new modifier called "dragonridable" for that purpose.

So you can for example say:

#showtooltip
/cast [dragonridable] Dragonriding Mount;[flyable] My flying mount; My ground mount

Oh, thanks. That should help for now.

Seriously, why didn't Blizzard make those dragonriding mounts work as normal flying mounts outside of the Dragon Isles, or even just as ground mounts? Ugh.

[Kilrox]

Oh, thanks. That should help for now.

Seriously, why didn't Blizzard make those dragonriding mounts work as normal flying mounts outside of the Dragon Isles, or even just as ground mounts? Ugh.

Or just make Dragonflying available outside of Dragon Isles.

[Ielenia]

Or just make Dragonflying available outside of Dragon Isles.

I don't think that's happening anytime during the expansion's lifetime, I'm afraid.

[Donald Hellscream]

On the contrary I feel more compelled to check every nook and cranny high and low for secrets while dragonriding.

[Alcsaar]

You shut your dirty mouth

If YOU want to explore, there is NOTHING stopping YOU from using a ground mount to do so. Don't drag everyone else into this who doesn't give a shit.

If you don't have the self discipline to not use your flying mount that is a personal problem.

[Grax]

I've found just the opposite. I've done more exploring now than I have since Cata.

[Laqweeta]

I really like the system itself, but I feel like it was a major mistake putting it at the start of the expansion. I'm flying through entire zones in a matter of seconds, basically just jumping around from quest marker to quest marker and ignoring the world itself. The feeling of exploring a new continent has completely vanished for me, as I'm not slowly uncovering the map and finding interesting places anymore. I'm dashing from one place to the next at breakneck speed, not caring what is in between them at all.

The system also makes the new areas feel small as hell. I've already seen the entire expansion in like 20 minutes by collecting the glyphs. And now I can just go from one end to the other in 2 minutes. There's zero sense of scale. It almost feels like playing a few small new patch zones.

The gameplay itself feels amazing, but I would've prefered just having ground mounts and then getting dragonriding for each zone at the end. They barely feel like actual zones to me, as it's like I'm teleporting around and skipping everything instead of actually exploring.

So don't use Dragonriding then? Just like the fuck-tardos that complained about flying mounts, don't use them.