Alright, so first I think there are semi-universal values that quite a few people have, though there are obviously going to be exceptions. I often think about a value like “compassion” which some people either don’t have or have to a negligible degree. And I think that could be a good baseline way to think of it; people rank values to different degrees based off a number of factors, and I believe this one part of the basis for “preference.”
I’ll try to explain the things I like and try and go a bit deeper with what I believe is the broader underlying cause for the preference. Also I’m a bit worried this might sound frustrating because the things I like about old flying are probably the very things you dislike about it. I’m not trying to be contrarian or anything. Maybe you can also look for the commonalities in my responses?
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I like to have precise control over the movement of my character. I believe this could be founded on a general preference for “control of my situation.” So, when dragonriding, external forces are acting on my character that are inhibiting my ability to be precise. There is continual forward momentum even if I want to be still. Turning is not as precise. The dragon will continually lose altitude unless you are using the abilities or swooping for upward momentum. During combat you could lose control of your character due to a stun, fear, or knockback, but that’s always a frustrating thing to overcome rather than an enjoyable part of the fight. On the other hand I have full accuracy and free range to maneuver my character on an old flying mount, which keeps me in more tight control of my situation. That’s why FPs aren’t exactly preferable except to AFK, because I can’t decide to land and dismount at a node at will, or go look at something cool in the environment.
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It remains at a steady and consistent pace and doesn’t go too fast. I actually find the fastness to be a detriment. I like to look at the world around me and take in the atmosphere, and I can’t really do that if all I’m thinking about is swooping around a rock cluster or something. For me, it takes the environment from “taking in the majesty of nature” to “focus on the next obstacle, look at your resources, point the camera up or down, go as fast as possible.” That doesn’t make me feel like I’m in the world. It’s like whenever I used to play Mario Kart with my cousins. I wasn’t looking at the level, the assets, or the charm. I might as well have been on a wireframe road with zero graphics just interacting with the next thing ahead of me. I don’t know what value this speaks to. Whatever human urge makes people sit out on the porch and watch a sunrise, I guess. It’s hard to say.
- I get to pick and choose what battles I engage with. Yeah, I know this one is going to probably sound frustrating. I believe that you may value challenge and overcoming obstacles higher than I do. Of course I don’t completely ignore those values, but it depends on the situation. This might be a dumb analogy, but do you remember QWOP? Like, sure, it was challenging and it made you engage more in character movement, but it wasn’t really all that rewarding or interesting in my opinion. Of course, it’s not exactly the same because that was all the game was, but back on topic… So, the ability to hover over or skip over enemies is appealing to me. There are other times you might skip encounters. There are trash mobs and patrols that get skipped over in dungeons all the time. It’s frustrating if someone accidentally pulls because that wasn’t a fight the group wanted to do, and now it’s wasting time, right? I just also take that energy to open world content, too. I’ve been playing a rogue alt lately and stealthing for this same effect. Maybe this is also a “control of my situation” sort of deal? I get to pick and choose my battles, and I don’t feel slowed down or hindered by ones I don’t want. And to tell the truth I won’t stop playing just because I can do those skips. I’ve been playing this far with the ability to skip mobs and it hasn’t made me quit yet.
Anyway, this is what I can think of so far. Sorry it’s a lot. Let me know what you think.
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“Yes, they are. My Husband likes both types of flying. We both want them in the game. We want neither one removed.”
“YOU do not get to tell ME what I find fun, and what I do not find fun. You are not in charge of MY preferences.”
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Dragon Riding is fun, however, I’ll be glad when they allow normal flying in DF. It’s nice to be able to stop and look around, and not overshoot into a mob.
Not sure if I’d want DR from now on, but if they want to give flying another speed boost, I wouldn’t say no. 
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Your example makes no sense here. My choosing to go slow is not even remotely comparable to buying end-game gear for gold.
You get to your destination faster. I clean up all the nodes you missed. Your example implies going slow is somehow game breaking for those who want dragon riding. What I, and everyone else who doesn’t like it, has been saying is we want BOTH. We don’t want to delete dragon riding. We don’t want to get rid of the gorgeous scenery and ground clutter like trees and mountains. Hell, we want to go slow so we can enjoy it.
When I’m dragon riding, I can’t see anything other than how best to avoid everything in my way and just get to my destination. I have no desire to try and explore and discover all those cool little areas that used to be so great for RP. And this is still technically an mmoRPG, so let us enjoy that aspect.
I want to go slow. I want to look around. I want to use my mounts and shapeshifter forms I worked so hard for. I want to use that pre-purchase expansion mount to actually fly. I want to relax. I want to weave through this amazing scenery in my own way, at my own pace. I don’t want to spend my time when I get a tiny lag spike, circling around, or having to land and recharge to get where I’m going because I overshot or got stuck in a very pretty tree. Again.
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I agree somewhat. I like the dragon riding i think it’s cool. But it definitely takes away a huge aspect of the game. Mount collecting basically becomes meaningless. And as a druid I’m honestly insulted I can’t use flight form and instead am forced to ride a dragon.
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Ah so you don’t think airplanes fly. Because they have to generate lift using a finite resource - fuel - in order to go up. Got it. Crazy person that thinks airplanes don’t fly.
“Real Flying” - do you mean the swimming in the air system we had for 16 years?
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Yep! Though I agree the terminology can get confused. I like to call it BC flying or Legacy flying, though it’s sometimes called old flying or normal flying, too.
I prefer just “Flying” since Dragon Riding isn’t flying. It’s falling with style.
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Skill issue. Dragon riding is better than swimming through the air.
Get gud or quit.
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Falling with style = better than swimming.
Why does both existing side-by-side seem to bother people so much?
“Falling with style” is the comment I just lol at.
If you’re “falling with style,” you’re dragonriding completely wrong.
As per my last comment, get gud or quit.
I have zero issues riding dragons until node after node disappears or bugs out. I can glide forever. I want an option where I don’t have to do stupid loop de loops between nodes or have to sit on the ground for 15-30 seconds.
You laugh at fall with style, I laugh at get gud. Because it takes zero skill to “master” dragon gliding.
Both systems can (and eventually will) exist side by side, why make people wait? I know why, because dragonriding is the only selling point of this expansion.
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This sort of confuses me. Why would you want someone to quit? That just means there will be fewer players and less of a chance for the community to grow. I don’t understand. You seem like a pleasant enough person from the posts I’ve seen in other threads. What’s different about this one? And why is one type of flying better than the other?
This is interesting to me, because it was never a selling point to me haha. I was willing to try it out, but it wasn’t what I wanted the expansion for. I was sold on the talent trees, cross faction, profession updates, simple armor transmog, return to Azeroth, (relatively) grounded story, and the idea of being an adventurer again instead of the champion/maw walker/whatever. Maybe I’m a bit sentimental lol
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at the end of the day will the game benefit more with having both yes the only problem is blizz trying to gate normal flying constantly instead of releasing it in a timely manner and it’s pretty clear some people gave dragonriding a shot and don’t like it for whatever reason so why wouldn’t blizz just release both instead of just sitting silent and not even saying when it cracks me up.
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I agree with you!. Its annoying being shot into mobs and having bars to fill up in order to fly around!. Hopefully Blizzard will change it or add normal flying.
Yeah, it’s an end game for people that can’t do end game lol.