Originally Posted by
velde046
I consider myself a loyal fan, but I do disagree. When they added flying to the game it actually felt like it was a missing piece. And I don't think I would have played this long without flying really. Flight makes the game much more enjoyable. And I actually hated the fact I had to level all my alts to 90 before I could get flying on each, and in particular the fact that you had to quest at least until Kun Lai Summit to be able to get to the vendor. I don't mind the fact that on your main you have to do all the stuff by ground mount, but none of the following reasons apply to me with regards to alts (and some even main):
- Make the world more dangerous
- World PVP
- Immersiveness
- Feeling excited to get flying (is more like a sense of justice since I feel unjustly punished and now I am redeemed)
And so far none of the answers have made me feel any better about it or are weak in my opinion:
They say they feel to make the zones larger when they add flying to it, which is not true. They could add the same size really, thus making it a good size for travel by ground mount and gives the people that like to fly even more efficient travel time since they don't have to travel through a large zone.
They will add a good flight path network to make it convenient? Well experience shows that flight paths usually are far from efficient, and besides that, the taxi service is boring because there is nothing to do really. It would perhaps help if you could at least do some crafting or other stuff while flying....
I think in this case Blizzard is approaching the whole issue from the wrong direction. Instead of taking away flying, they should be looking at was of improving it to make it feel more immersive/dangerous. Just adding aerial combat, for example, would add a whole new dimension to the game. Instead of being able to cast you'd get a few abilities on a special action bar (just like we see with a lot of quests). A basic attack button (similar damage for all mounts)and a utility button (say 3 sec speed boost, or looping, or slowing other)) would already be enough. Add that to all mounts and give them the same health and what you get it is aerial PVP which is even balanced because dmg and health for all mounts is about equal. Have the mounts take 10 hits to get knocked off. PVP Flag rules apply of course. Give people a parachute so they don't drop to their death after losing in aerial battle, which could become a buff after being knocked of your mount. (And have the abilities only work on other flying mounts, or make sure damage to non flying units is low, to avoid airstrikes).
That's just one thing they could have looked into. And also they could have a different approach towards the questing experience. They said that the zones were not designed for flying, well then, just design them with that in mind.... I doubt there is even a handful of people at 85 that has no flying these days, so be creative and design zones around flying mounts....
Right now it feels silly actually when you cannot fly. Had a few moments like this: Was standing on one side of a wall and having to travel a great distance to get to other side all the while thinking that it would feel normal if I could just pop on the flying mount and get to the other side. Which you will be able to anyway after a while. Those things actually make the game fell less immersive to me.
I still think that Blizzard is great at game design and even items like Garrisoin take my interest, but in all fairness, I wasn't very impressed with the details about the next expansion and with no flying it actually is making me wonder if I should cancel my subscription for a few months until flying is available again. Seriously, it may sound whiny to opponents of flying, but that's just how I feel.
TLDR; On a personal note I'm not happy with the flying decision they make and think they're not even trying to be creative with regards to it.