Originally Posted by
melodramocracy
You're right, it IS an excellent example, though probably not the way you intended. There's no risk at all during the process of flight. You can't get knocked off your mount, or even attacked unless you go out of your way very specifically looking for it. There is zero upkeep or any sort of relationship to maintain with your mount. It's essentially a brain-dead point and steer, which disengages the player from the game, and turns into a lackluster chore.
There's all sorts of room for improvement in this particular aspect of the game. Imagine if there were no guarantee that you'd make it to where you were going without death, or it maybe taking longer for a variety of reasons. Or if your flying mount was something you needed to level, and it could travel further as you progressed. Or if some of them had unique abilities (catching fish, gathering skins for you, etc) It would make flight points an interesting option in some areas (and flight costs could go up considerably, based on your level as an offset) if you wanted the luxury of it.
How hunter pets are handled now is another fine example of something that used to be at least on the right path game-play wise, and is now a complete and utter joke of a game mechanic. So much potential, thrown away under the guise of 'quality of life'.