Various reasons, like vigor cooldown, the more fiddly mechanics of actual flying to maximize your uptime as compared to autopilot, etc.
I think it’s roughly analogous to the difference between an automatic transmission vehicle, on the one hand, and a manual/stick vehicle on the other. The latter is more involved, more “fun” (for the people who prefer it), more challenging to learn, etc., whereas the former is more about the easy way to get from A to B. Normal flight is auto transmission, DR is manual transmission, and the automatic crowd don’t want to fly a stick shift vehicle.
Ideally it would be like real life where people who like whichever can choose to fly whichever, but the game can’t do that because it’s a very competitive game, so everyone has to be on the same playing field, and so everyone will be made to learn to drive stick for this expansion … and some don’t like that, and it’s quite understandable why.
I personally don’t mind DR, I think it’s kind of fun, but I do understand why many don’t like it. I just think this kind of thing is the closest Blizzard is going to get to giving us “early” flight, because they think auto transmission flight is too easy and trivializes the game.
It’s not a terrible idea, you just happen to be scared of something new getting rid of something boring and old. You are playing a progression based mmo the dragon starts off weak and gets stronger as you progress just like you character (crazy right??) if you don’t like it go play something else you won’t be missed.
So far I’m finding it kind of meh. Can’t say I hate it, but I also wouldn’t care if it was gone tomorrow. The customizable dragons and collecting the looks is faaaaantastic though.
Because sometimes I don’t want to have to actively manage resources to get where I’m trying to go. I’d like to just point in a general direction and let the game do the work for me, even if it takes longer.
The upgrades make it so much better. Even with just the upgrades you can buy completing the glyphs from the first zone, I got every glyph in the second zone without needing to land once. And when it is fully upgraded there is really just no comparison. Especially with it being account-wide.
Agreed. It’s hands down one of my favourite things they have added to the game. I am enjoying exploring, or herbing, or just climbing and diving through arches and gaps. All for the fun of it. One thing I like doing with my drake is starting from the top of that giant mountain in Thaldraszus and then just diving and climbing back up.
It’s a straight up upgrade to normal flying, especially when you have all the glyphs unlocked. You fly faster, can gain height faster, and can stay in the air indefinitely. The only thing it can’t do is hover, so I have just taken to circling around the thing I am trying to check out or climbing up for a higher view.
Get the glyphs for upgrades. They make a world of difference. Having six vigor and such a short recharge time at speed means you basically have unlimited flight at far faster speed than normal flying.
I was about half way through the first zone when I decided just to grab all the glyphs. Get them. It makes dragonriding go from fun but a bit tedious to awesome.
I’m sorry you dislike it, OP. Personally, I like the fact it’s more interactive, and it’s borderline still air-swimming once you get all the upgrades anyway.
It is infinitely more engaging than normal flying, which is just stagnant and boring even at max speed. It was revolutionary back in TBC when you needed it to explore most of Outland, but now it’s more for the convenience of being able to mine, gather herbs, and get to WQs faster.
Sounds like a you problem.
They can’t snap their fingers and remove the selling points of an expansion just because you demand it. In fact, I think they said they’ll make Dragonriding the norm if people like it enough.
They’re always trying to reinvent the wheel. This time, they had a good reason for it other than coming up with a new hoop for us to jump through if we want to do max-level content.
“It’s not what we asked for!!!”
The game would be a cluttered, directionless mess if all they ever did was add what players demand.
Learn to play with the new system. It is actually great once you unlock more of the flying skills. Also…an expansion called Dragonflight without… you know… DRAGON FLIGHT? They had to do something cool with that, and in my opinion, they did. Just keep going, it gets better.
