Yes. That’s literally the point. This is what I wrote:
“You in a dangerous area? Just type in /noclip and you can hover out of harm's way.” You can not make a threatening zone if you can fly up and out at any moment. This is why no flying in the Maw for Shadowlands was so effective. The only outlier that comes to mind is Icecrown, which was primarily due to the zone being explicitly designed for flying.
We’ll circle back to that point later.
I suppose you misinterpreted my mentioning the 20-second timer being removed as focusing solely on /noclip AFK, but that wasn’t the intention. But I do believe that would resolve that issue you had. No one wants to wait 20 seconds to log out, not even me.
I’ll be honest; I don't know what this is. I suppose it’s about my 20-second timer statement? It’s not about “if things were different”; I’m simply saying I’d prefer to log out. Pressing one button to instantly disengage makes more sense. Granted, that’s a personal preference.
Actually, yes, you’re exactly correct. This is why the level design in WOTLK was so effective. It was the first expansion designed specifically around flying, but we haven’t had level design like it since. Dragonflight is a return to form. Legacy flying would likely work well there, but Dragonflying better connects the player to the world in a far more immersive and engaging way. Furthermore, legacy flying and its mechanics also undermine a crucial component of what Dragonflying wants to bring to the table; the two are at odds with one another.
And just as I’ve said earlier, I did change my stance from a previous post where I feel that legacy flying does have a place in the game, just not with any active expansion moving forward. It should be a legacy feature and something that should be allowed once an expansion ‘goes the distance.’ This is to give room to features similar to Dragonflying and expand the traversal systems in the game in new and fun directions.
Again, absolutely, yes. It’s significantly better than the alternative that we have now, which was, in the past, spending copious amounts of gold just to be granted access. Or, the newer laundry lists of tasks you have to check off to be given later into an expansion as evidence that you’ve played the content.
Now, with Dragonflight, I’m granted a basic form of flying with its own progression path. It’s going to feel fantastic to feel it get stronger. And while some players can sit and knock it out in an hour and a half. Others will explore and find tokens as they progress through the campaign and the various zones. Either way, we’re given agency on how to proceed, which is “fantastic design.”
To go on a side tangent. What excites me about the progression system is it’s built in a similar way to the talent trees, so I don’t see any reason why this could be expanded in the future with new abilities granted to your mount. My pessimistic side knows that’s unlikely, but the potential is there.
The critical difference is legacy flying does not have that progression system to facilitate a mechanically improved flying mount. And, it can’t facilitate one, simply put, it’s just too strong in its core design. I suppose you could argue why flying would even need that, but at the same time, why wouldn’t you want more game in your video game?
I know we have mount equipment too, and it was an amusing concept, but ultimately I think it failed to leave a long-lasting impression and isn’t something I engage with all that much. Maybe others do, but I haven’t seen Blizzard push any new updates on that front, and players seem to pick one and forget based on the behavior I’ve discussed with guildmates.
This one is somewhat on me as you weren’t here earlier in the thread where the druid/skygolem discussion was brought up; that’s where that bullet point specifically came from. I was always referring to both as any competent gatherer is more than likely using the skygolem if they aren’t already a druid. But the point still stands: those specific setups allow the user to gather unchallenged, breaking any aggro on NPCs by simply flying up.
Thinking about it further, you're correct; between sharding, phases, and the like, there are no actual bottlenecks. This isn’t a game like EVE, where logistics come into play.
It does, but it’s far too effective at doing it that it largely disconnects you from the game world. Simply put, it’s way too powerful at what it attempts to do. It’s an unbalanced mechanic. What players have access to in WoW is nothing short of typing /noclip into the box. Coupled with auto-run, it provides too powerful of a mode of transportation that undermines other aspects of the game, which is not healthy.
Dragonflying resolves that those players are given agency to navigate the play space by turning flying into an active, engaging mechanic. Do I quickly dart over to the nearest flight point so I can grab a drink while I travel across the world? Or do I engage in flying and get to where I need to in half the time?
That is significantly more interesting than mounting, flying up for a few seconds, aiming in the direction I want, then pressing auto-run while I disengage with the game and do something else. This is the bulk of what I’m arguing, honestly. I personally don’t understand how anyone could disagree with that point with something other than “it’s more convenient,” which, in my opinion, isn’t a strong enough argument to justify its implementation. But if you disagree, then you disagree; nothing more is to be said.
I'm not sure why you’re coming at me with so much hostility; we’re discussing differing viewpoints. I agree with some things you said, and that’s fine. I’m also going to be honest; we can’t keep doing a back-and-forth at this scale; I can’t type novels every time, and I’m sure you don’t either.
EDIT: Looking at this after posting, what the fuck am I doing with my time.