Dragonriding is destroying exploration

[Leyre]

Im here just for my +1, nice work baiting everyone OP

[Kilrox]

“quests make good use of it. Many places can't be reached without it”

Instead of designing a really interesting terrain which makes you think at least a little bit on how to get where (e.g. Nagrand wod), you just…fly.

Where’s good in this? It’s not “making good use of it”, it’s using an easiest path and using bike in a bicycle race.

This expansion is filled with the most exciting terrain we've seen in the game.

Floating islands aren't fascinating; what they did with Dragonflight-level design is. Flying under natural bridges, banking around rock pillars, diving into underground structures, it's some top-tier content. Please take the pessimistic shit-goggles off and stop complaining about things that aren't real.

[Drudi]

“Please take the pessimistic shit-goggles off”

Do you even realize this has nothing to do with dragon riding as a concept?

The same thing could have been done years ago in every zone ever since flying was a concept in the game. But no - they kept fervently defending “explore it first, then you will get flight” concept that was a reason for achivement-unlocked flying for at least several expansions.

And now they change their mind, really?
Who is in the wrong goggles now?

[Breccia]

Well first y--

Your mistake is in assuming that exploration is exclusively a ground-activity.
And flying is optional.

Nevermind, this post says everything I was going to. Like, nailed it perfectly. First try.

[XDurionX]

They should not have ever introduced flying, that was a grave mistake. But since they cannot remove it completely, DR is a viable compromise.

[Kilrox]

“Please take the pessimistic shit-goggles off”

Do you even realize this has nothing to do with dragon riding as a concept?

The same thing could have been done years ago in every zone ever since flying was a concept in the game. But no - they kept fervently defending “explore it first, then you will get flight” concept that was a reason for achivement-unlocked flying for at least several expansions.

And now they change their mind, really?
Who is in the wrong goggles now?

Yea, what's wrong with them admitting they couldn't solve the problem that way? So rather than fighting the community on flying, they embraced it and finally designed an expansion around proper flying mechanics. The first time we've gotten that since WOTLK, except this newer modern version is miles better.

[Athorha]

Mvp explorer discovering location of all glyphs in 20 minutes.

Breaking news, reading guides kills sense of discovery

[Shuttle]

They barely feel like actual zones to me, as it's like I'm teleporting around and skipping everything instead of actually exploring.

rofl, it's wild how much hand holding gamers in 2022 require. homie is following a guide to bypass the exploration aspect of glyph collecting then has the gull to complain about lack of exploration on the forums.

[THEORACLE64]

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.

Nobody’s forcing you to. You can always choose to just use a ground mount and explore that way instead. Just because a system is there, doesn’t mean you have to use it

[Uk Lok-Narash]

Because I'm trying to also mine and get glyphs while also sucking at Dragonflying I manage to mine a big rock that was destroyed and lead to a big cave that I explored. Is this not exploration?

Man, I don't think i'm ready for these frustrating L takes from people

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

Opposite for me. Never felt more connected to the world. Dragonriding opens so many doors you used to never think about when you had the previous flying model.

[Throwme]

- shifting gold sinks towards “highly desired” and “nearly mandatory”, thus making it almost mandatory to buy gold with real money

I'm curious.... What are these "highly desired" and "nearly mandatory" sinks you mention? Because so far, I have not felt it mandatory to buy gold with real money, but maybe I'm playing the game "wrong"...

[rrayy]

Your mistake is in assuming that exploration is exclusively a ground-activity.
And flying is optional.

NO it isn't. There are places you cannot get to without flying.

[Just Passing through]

Walking in the Maw is shit and so slow, give me riding
Riding in the world is shit and slow, give me flying
Travelling on windriders is too slow and boring
Dragonriding is too fast and I lose my sense of exploration.

Okaaaaay.

...also inB4 "Dude, it is almost as if ppl have different opinions" - so yeah...let's leave it at that and don't go all gloomy and doomsaying that another feature is once more "destroying" and "killing" the game.

- - - Updated - - -

Hopefully Pathfinder will come in next patch so you can use regular mounts in Dragon Isles. Not sure why people are SO opposed to it.

Will it? I thought dragonriding is THE big thing of the x-pac and the only way to get around in the next 2 years?

- - - Updated - - -

They should not have ever introduced flying, that was a grave mistake. But since they cannot remove it completely, DR is a viable compromise.

Absolutely disagree. And especially since this community loves to shout "Blizzard never listened" - well, they listened with flying. I love it. It is awesome. And I am reminded how awesome it is, everytime I have to walk anywhere....or ride anywhere. The 30 levels on an alt until I can fly never go by fast enough. The thought that I once walked for 40 levels makes me shiver....

[Biglog]

The developers knew Dragonriding was an integral part of DF and designed the zones accordingly. So the zone design is intentionally more spread out and open. If they had designed the zones without Dragonriding in mind and shoehorned it in at the last minute, I could see more of a complaint, but that's not the case. The Dragon Isles were designed from scratch to be explored through Dragonriding. And most quests can be done without it just using a ground mount if you want to take a more leisurely pace and explore, so if you zip around using Dragonriding for everything that's by player choice.

But it is an example of common playerbase complaints. No flying - "Why isn't there flying at the start, this is bad game design". Flying - "My ground exploration suffers from flying, this is bad game design".

[KOUNTERPARTS]

Hilariously bad take.

[Koollan]

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.

If you wanted to explore, you would explore. You don't want to, so you don't. You're not forced to, so you don't. There you go.

I spent all of my launch night exploring every single bit of the Waking Shore, getting to level 65 in one zone and then, once I finished it, getting every single glyph in the game - just to explore the Waking Shore some more. This is a you problem.

- - - Updated - - -

Will it? I thought dragonriding is THE big thing of the x-pac and the only way to get around in the next 2 years?

They did confirm that hover-flying is going to make a comeback in some form. Hell, when you're in the Darkmoon Faire, ever since the first pre-patch launched, you can get the error 'Floating Mounts cannot be used here' in certain areas.

[Unseen Guest]

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.

Thank God you have a thing called choice. You can choose not to do anything u don't want.

[Stormwolf64]

Don't listen to the people here. They simply just don't care about exploration and have been whining about the lack of flying since forever and will use mean words to demean you by. They're worthless.

[Lynces]

They designed the dragon isles factoring in dragonriding. It's a change of pace in gameplay, but I think that was the idea.