Possibly no flying throughout entire xpac.

[foxHeart]

He says they're experimenting with no flight, seeing whether or not they can create a world where there's no flying but people aren't bothered by it. Sounds like they want no flight, but are worried about pissing off players.

Personally, it'd seriously put me out if they took flying away. To me, the "world" in warcraft is a bit of a joke, at least in contrast to how the developers see it. Like this guy being interviewed who uses unbelievable phrases such as "high octane" to describe the next expansion. Give me a fucking break. WoW's not an action game. It's not "edge of your seat". It's not exhilarating. It's not impressive. It's a decent, uneventful game that gets its legs from the longevity of the content, not its "awe" factor. It is not about "the world". It is about grinding the same content over and over and over, all the while trying to keep your from getting too bored of the tedium, aka keeping your sub.

So for me, when I hear devs get so pumped about "bringing back the world" by forcing people to stay on the ground, I get really annoyed because players will be mystified with the world for maybe a few months, tops, then get used to it. At this point, it will start to feel like the wow we know and are comfortable with, not "the new expansion". Sure, you've got things like class redesigns and new talents to keep people excited for a bit, but Jesus Christ, we're not impressionable 12 year olds playing our first adventure game. The world is not alive, despite all this rubbish they advertise every single expansion. It's not Skyrim. It's not dangerous, it never has been. It's not about playing the game because you are just constantly dumbstruck by beautiful vistas and hidden treasure-filled caves and mystery, it's about grinding and repetition. It's about get X rep from X faction by grinding X mobs so you can buy X gear. Oh, you capped it out this week? Enjoy your break. And oh, you're done with X rep now after two months of grinding? Here's Y and Z rep. Now go do the same thing that you did for X. Oh, hey, look, it's Timeless Isle. Want this shiny mount? Go kill thousands of elite mobs and then you can have it. Dat dynamic content! Once again, it's about longevity.

All that to say this: "the world", especially once you hit the level cap (even more so on alts), will inevitably stop being mysterious and start being an obstacle. As far as I'm concerned the world should be practical. It should exist enough to make you feel like you're actually traveling around - like you're actually playing a game - but it shouldn't restrict you by putting armies of mobs between your point A and point B and then call that "immersive" and "interesting". It shouldn't put conquest vendors out in the middle of nowhere just so you can hop on a flight path then afk for 5 minutes while your bird-taxi on rails carts you to your destination, and then claim "hey, it's getting players out into da world, guiz! Immurshunz!" That's bullshit. It also shouldn't artificially inflate the time you need to spend in a zone just because it can (see: Isle of Thunder, aka the zone I like to think of as a monster mine-field. Shit is everywhere.)

Also. Just for funs. Blizzard does get bonus points from me for designing the collector's edition mount as flight-ready Anzu (people always wonder why that stupid bird couldn't fly)...only to have us not be able to use it to fly around on it at launch. That's fucking hilariously ironic. Almost like it was planned as a joke. Great job, Blizz.

[darkwarrior42]

It would be annoying, but all it would do is increase time requirements, assuming that they would ban flying from high level new-content zones anyways.

Literally, that's all it would do. It wouldn't make the game easier or harder, it wouldn't make it more or less immersive, it would simply make it more time consuming. Just like banning flight at release. (Again, assuming that max-level zones that are designed as current content will ban flight, just as they did in MoP).

But then, since increased time requirements are what a lot of people who oppose flying actually desire, I'm sure that would be seen as a good thing :-P

[Teph]

Not gonna happen.

[Seezer]

Oh joy, going afk on flight paths is so much fun and immersive.

Yeah because putting auto run on in the air pointed at a way point so I can tab out is so much fun.

[Florena]

I think no flying ever is a bit much. I'm all for disabling flying at launch and unlocking it when new content comes out, but none at all would be a bit far. Not enough for me to quite but I'd disagree with it unless they actually manage to make the world epic enough and traveling without flying good enough to do without it.

[Seezer]

OMG YES!

You have no idea how often we used "Have Group, Will Travel" for roleplaying reasons. We did lots of gnome expeditions back then with a lovely group of gnome roleplayers, and many of the characters were very low level. We used this feature to port them to all kinds of roleplaying locations and had an absurd amount of fun.

Aside from roleplaying, I also used this feature a lot when running old dungeons or raids with friends or strangers. "Hey, wanna do Ulduar, I'll summon you and your 2 buddies" is a lot more appealing to most people then "Hey, wanna do Malygos? Oh yeah, you'll have to either hop on the ship to Borean Tundra and then flightpath, or pay a mage for a portal to Dalaran and then flightpath."

Not to mention just the random fun of being somewhere out in the world and telling my friend on skype "Hey, this place is really cool, I've never paid attention to it before ... wanna check it out?" and then summoning him to where I was.


... all of that is gone now, in order to "bring the players out into the world". It did the exact fucking opposite.

It didn't have the "exact fucking opposite" effect. People still run old content. People fly out there now. You just want it to have the "complete opposite fucking effect" because you want to have a chip on your shoulder. That's all.

[Paulosio]

Oh joy, going afk on flight paths is so much fun and immersive.

No less fun than afk auto flying on a mount then forgetting and coming back to find you've died of fatigue 5 miles out to sea. Alternative is to sit there staring at the screen for 5 mins while you fly where it is you want to go.

[Fudge]

I'm fine with that.. I can use the refund from Blizz for all the FLYING mounts I have purchased from them...

[Polygons]

Really, it's only going to make doing two things harder. Daily quests and gathering. Blizzard most likely won't slap a lot of daily quests at the start of this expac or even make any of them required because of what happened with MoP. Gathering nodes will probably still be placed without flying mounts in mind. Whatever you gather will likely be worth more too and sell much better because as you can see ITT a lot of people won't have the will power to go gathering on ground mounts. Don't see the big deal.

[Raziella]

I wouldn't mind no flying... IF this had been something they did a hell of a long time ago.

Before I spent a ridiculous amount of my life grinding for mounts, raiding stupid achievements for mounts, and even spending cash money for mounts.

If Blizz has the balls to take away things I paid real world money for in their shops, or collectors editions, it will be time to quit.

[darkwarrior42]

Yeah because putting auto run on in the air pointed at a way point so I can tab out is so much fun.

Which of those options give you the choice to change your mind en route? Which of those two options allows you to stop and pursue rares or resource nodes? Which of those options allows you to make use of items you've obtained for your character?


The only difference between the two systems is that one system requires the players to invest a lot more time for the same reward.

@Polygons: I'd also add archaeology as a system that's going to be a lot more annoying.

Not harder. Annoying. "Harder" implies that it's even remotely difficult to handle outdoor mobs.

[De Lupe]

I doubt they'd do that. Maybe lock flying in each new content patch, but they'd unlock it in the previous one.

Even if they did, I wouldn't be opposed to it. Nothing wrong with flight paths.

[Puffman]

I'd be fine with this as long as I could use my currently flying-only mounts as ground mounts still.

[Firen]

I started playing again after a year of pausing during MoP and decided to level up a monk. When I get to Pandaria I was surprised, because I forgot that flying wasn't available until level 90 and whilst at first I was a bit annoyed by that I soon realized that: 1. I used to be one to not like the idea of flying in the first place when it was released; 2. I've gotten too dependent on flying and due to that lazy 3. It was - in the end - much more enjoyable to just use my ground mount. I got to see more and didn't just fly over everything.

We'll see wether they'll actually end up doing that or not. I'm fine either way.

Edit.: Actually, one more thing: What I would want is that flight paths are being more closely looked at. In Pandaria I sometimes noticed huge detours and odd flying movements of mounts.

[dejaa]

That quote is still somewhat out of context. It is quite a stretch to say there won't be flying mounts at all... all he's saying is he thinks people will will be ok with not flying at the start of the expansion.

I think the proverbial is going to hit the fan when the great majority of players who don't read forums, vote in polls, etc., ding 100 and go looking to train flying at max level (or close to it) like they most always have been able to.

I'd love to see a metric from Mists of average time between dinging 90 and training flying.

[Tekkommo]

Probably won't happen, but won't care if it does.

Lol @ people saying they would quit over it.

[Shudder]

Would never happen. You can't sell flying mounts for cash and then restrict flying. People would demand their money back, rightfully so.

[Celista]

I decided months ago not to pre-order WoD and wait and see how it turns out on live before deciding whether or not to get it. At this point, I'm buying stocks in popcorn and waiting to watch the rage threads pop up when shit drops and the masses find out how much is being taken away from the game.

Haha.

He says they're experimenting with no flight, seeing whether or not they can create a world where there's no flying but people aren't bothered by it. Sounds like they want no flight, but are worried about pissing off players.

I'd be fine with no flight if it was somehow compensated for, like a continent twice the size of Nothrend or something, because it takes more assets to "finish" an environment from a flight perspective than if everyone was running around on ground mounts. No flying for an entire expac in MoP-sized zones seems cheap to me, since I know how much time and money they would be saving.

Zone size in general is a whole other can of worms that I'm surprised no one has been bitching about, considering how huge BC zones look/feel in comparison to zones in later expansions.

[Deleted]

OMG YES!

You have no idea how often we used "Have Group, Will Travel" for roleplaying reasons. We did lots of gnome expeditions back then with a lovely group of gnome roleplayers, and many of the characters were very low level. We used this feature to port them to all kinds of roleplaying locations and had an absurd amount of fun.

Aside from roleplaying, I also used this feature a lot when running old dungeons or raids with friends or strangers. "Hey, wanna do Ulduar, I'll summon you and your 2 buddies" is a lot more appealing to most people then "Hey, wanna do Malygos? Oh yeah, you'll have to either hop on the ship to Borean Tundra and then flightpath, or pay a mage for a portal to Dalaran and then flightpath."

Not to mention just the random fun of being somewhere out in the world and telling my friend on skype "Hey, this place is really cool, I've never paid attention to it before ... wanna check it out?" and then summoning him to where I was.


... all of that is gone now, in order to "bring the players out into the world". It did the exact fucking opposite.

The reason is legitimate. To give a more general description, accessibility in World of Warcraft wont incentivize people to go out. If you want people to go out in the world, there needs to be a reason, regardless of how easy travelling is. More accessibility in this context only means that the more accessibility there is, the lesser of significance reasons have to be to go out in the world. However, there still needs to be A reason.

Sadly, accessibility is not an almighty tool. It can remove some dispense of belief (aka immersion) if it is not explained well. Have Group Will Travel was one of those tools. But that will of course (as you pointed out) increase the bar at which people will go out in the world.

There is only one reason people didn't leave the cities in Cataclysm; because there was [hyperbole] nothing to do, not because travelling could be circumvented by some spell.

Would never happen. You can't sell flying mounts for cash and then restrict flying. People would demand their money back, rightfully so.

I don't see it as such a big restricting factor. First, flying mounts are just mounts. Technically, there is no distinction between ground and flying mounts. A mount is only tagged in the database for it to allow flying and for it to be allowed in flying restricted areas, which blocks the otherwise able mount from flying.

This means people can still use their fancy mount on ground. Lets also not forget you could still use these mounts in old zones, just not in the new ones.


@OP

The wording Alex uses does make it look like they have specifically imposed this 6.1-no-flying restriction just to test out how exactly the world (with the end-game content) would feel if you could not fly.

I for one would prefer a world without flying at all, but I am still curious to see how it will pan out and if my preferences can be swayed over.

[Krommm]

Jumping to wild conclusions and even if it were so, no need to be babies about such a trivial possibility. (btw I love flying, but it does bypass some of the immersion)