Dragonriding to replace regular flying in Dragon Isle zones

Community General Discussion
143

Do you think the game should be developed around that attitude though? I don’t think the game should be designed around a rush mentality where people try to optimize their play time. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Also, with this focus on world exploration, who says it will be A → B? The fact that it is A → B is already a failure on the games part.
It could, and should be A → Whats this? → Ooh a rare → B

Dragon Isles are very vertical. You can tell from the videos and SS’s, I believe it was Ion (or at least another dev) that also said “Dragon Isles are very vertical” in an interview. You won’t be climbing up cliffs, you’ll already be on them.

When you’re selling mounts to people in a game where they’ve not only paid for the “box” but they’re also paying monthly then I don’t think ethical issues are a factor.

Also current content is a broad term. You’re classifying the new zones as current content, which of course they are.
But older zones are still current content.
Mining ore nodes for revamped professions is current content.
Flying around Pandaria doing revamped Archeology or gathering material or whatever these currently unknown profession changes have in store, is still current content.
Flying to 4 of the old expansion M+ dungeons is current content.
BG’s and Dungeons are current content.

You’ll be using your regular mounts then.

144

Players - “Gear is seasonal, mounts are forever”
Ion - “Hold my beer”

:rofl:

6 Likes
145

I know exactly how to feel about it

First, there is no way “new” customisations is going to somehow match the 400-500 mounts some people have in their collections. There are about 100 drake mounts alone. Even if they somehow manage to create enough customisation that it’s roughly equivalent to the many, many drake skins and types that people already have*, it’s literally just taking away what people have to make them re-grind a lesser, less flexible version.

Edit: The other side I just thought of as well is there’s actual class-based content or feels to have with mounts. Class mount quest chains, Flight form for Druids, etc. It SHOULD be perfectly viable for a Paladin to feel like they’re most Paladin-like using their golden flying steeds, or druids with Flight form, or Shaman with their Elementals, and shoehorning everyone into DRAKE sounds awful with that in mind. Unless they have class-based Drake customisation, which would offset that, and THAT would actually intrigue me a bit because it’d be somewhat unique and novel.

Even going outside the customisation angle, the fact that there’s going to be grinding and unlocking involved not just for customisation, but for actual functionality means that it’s inevitably going to be annoying waiting on a timegate or whatever to make exploration possible. It’s almost definitely going to feel terrible and restrictive to Dragonride out of the gate, and given their history that also has impacts on how I feel this might play out on alts etc.

Second, the game already sucks at platforming. Given the history of failures with “creative movement” and jumping puzzles, flying minigames and stuff like that which are still currently bugged in the game, for many people it’s going to be frustrating to be forced to use a system that brings more of those front and center. If people are “crashing” and taking repair bills because the game insists they didn’t press Spacebar when they clearly did, or lagged out, or didn’t agree on exactly 3D placement to use a certain trick, they’re not going to be particularly impressed. Right now, Mages still blink in place and Grappling Hook randomly fails some of the time. The Flight School quests in Bastion or that one in Korthia are still buggy and terrible. Do we actually trust this feature to be better?

Finally, I play from NZ. Many people play on international servers, or on servers that will have 100ms or more latency as a normal course. Even if I can trust that they will fix a lot of issues, I can tell from prior experience that latency will create further issues that they seem incapable of testing, let alone handling, and that’s certainly going to colour how I (and many others) are looking at this prospective system.

*And let’s not forget that many mounts that people have are either mounts they’ve earned through different achievements/content, or literally paid money for. Being told to use a Dragonriding system and not those is just … ethically questionable.

13 Likes
146

Nah, you just sound like a kid that’s angry a toy is being taken away, so you’re trying to justify away your resistance to the changes.

There’s a lot of softbotting still that uses more humanlike “AI” that mimics a player playing, vs straight up teleport hacking around. Those scripted bots have all kinds of random delays in their actions and random pathing going from point A to B to make them look more human as well. The node gathering bots tend to use those, so flying from point A to B, with zero worry about being dazed or attacked during the pathing, makes it easier to pull off without breaking the loops, which could then make it obvious that they are botting.

I do play currently and if I weren’t playing, I wouldn’t be able to post in General Discussion.

147

I play every day, Just not with the toon I made especially for forum posting.

1 Like
148

You aren’t losing any mounts, you can still use them. They just won’t fly there. Your new ones will tho.

149

Why bother with a large dragon when I like my flight form not to fond of this decision.

4 Likes
150

I like the idea and concept of it, though kinda wanna wait until we see the guts of it first to see if it’s gonna be executed in a good way.

151

Trying to peel off GW players by copying a system is a gamble. This new dragonriding system has to be better than what GW offers or it will not pull GW players. And also alienating existing WoW players.

Feedback from alpha/beta testers must be considered for the success of this new system.

:surfing_woman: :surfing_man:

152

This right here sums it up best for me. When you SELL someone a mount for RL money, then design your games new content in such a way as to disable someone’s use of what they paid for is pretty shady, to say the least.

7 Likes
153

I’m sort of excited because I feel like the new flight can be engaging. I often just AFK while flying from one zone to another. But I do still want people to have the option should they wish.

154

The concept on it’s own sounds pretty cool and fascinating. It very well could be fun. My problem is if I wanted to play an arcade game, I’d play an arcade game. The majority of the time when I fly I’m wanting to go from point A to point B. If I spot something along the way, I want to be able to stop with ease. Also, relaxing and taking in the scenery is a big part of why I play. It’s nice to just sit back and enjoy the world around you. I also worry about trying to quest with friends. How much of a pain is it going to be for those whose skill levels lag considerably behind others? Especially when our mounts can be vastly different.

I won’t bury Blizz with hate over this, but I certainly feel they deserve any hate they get because they knew what they were setting themselves up for. They know their playerbase. Their response to the Diablo mobile game was that their fans were passionate. You get what you foster.

4 Likes
155

This also tells us that there will be no new flying mounts in dragonflight besides that 1 customized dragon. only new ground mounts

156

Can you imagine what some of the mount upgrades and customizations, we will have the blessing to buy once exalted with various factions, will cost? Should be just as overpriced as all the reskinned horses and gryphons I got back in BfA. lol

3 Likes
157

Yea, I won’t be buying it till the last patch when they finally relent and allow normal flying.

I’m done with this spiteful nonsense. They spent how much h money creating an elaborate gliding system JUST to stick it to players for wanting flying at max level day 1 for 8 years.

Flying has been in game like 8x longer than it hasn’t. Devs need to stop being whiny children and accept that it’s not going anywhere.

In the meantime I’ll farm old raids till I get bored then I’ll unsub. I won’t be the only one. This is an entertainment medium, nobody is forced to be here, if it’s frustrating, obnoxious, and annoying to do anything people will just leave. Devs can’t seem to figure this out and continue to design systems that are intentionally obnoxious for no real reason.

12 Likes
158

Grinding mounts is a good way to keep people on the hamster wheel. Not (eventually) adding normal flying would be a huge mistake.

1 Like
159

Agree 100%

160

I know I’ve already responded once. But overnight I’ve been stewing on this… It’s an accessibility disaster waiting to happen. Systems with quicktime events are horrible for players with neuro-muscular issues. Hitting split second or even reasonably precise timing requirements will significantly hurt their ability to play the game and become seriously frustrating. I’m not saying this system can’t move beyond that but based on what I’m seeing in the design of other areas of the game (combat) this is unlikely. The current designs focus a lot on twitch level gaming (not the streaming service but finger twitch) which is really bad for older or differently abled players. :grimacing:

Blizz needs to back of on this trend and fast.

8 Likes
161

This very much right here. I am all for learning this new system of “flight”, but I can see it once again turning into a long grind. Want to fly faster?, gain exalted with this faction. Want a larger stamina meter so you can fly longer?, gain exalted with this separate faction.

This new flight system seems like the new version of player power that people will have to grind for. Its very early and I am just speculating, but in the end, I am hoping that it will be fun and not a chore.

1 Like
162

I expect a Pocopoc-like level of randomness.

“Collect X of this thing - which will drop 1 out of 10 times you try to collect it - to create this other thing that might or might not spawn a key to open this third thing, which might drop the thing you’re looking for, but will more likely give you crap and drain your enthusiasm for the evening.”