Flying has become only something that gives us a goal. Finally when we come near the end of the xpac we get to fly.
Not that at that time flying is needed anymore. We can fly in all the previous xpac’s not that is matters, because basically we are not doing anything there. Maybe leveling an alt. But, progressive game play is done.
Flying has basically been taken out of the game. It is of no use while we are leveling or any real fun after we are done.
Lately after about 15 years of game play, respecting Blizzard , their achievements in design and producing good entertainment, I am started to feel shafted.
My characters are what the dev’s think they should be and as a player I don’t feel anymore I am building them, thinking, doing the math and achieving the goal of success as a player.
I love the mechanics of each class and discovery of how each works is discovery, and discovery makes the game more fun.
I know you are working to make the game better. In that pursuit please don’t take away the things that made the game great from the start.
Don’t slow things down so much, that professions and other things in the game are no longer worth doing like they are now.
We’ve always had no-fly zones in expansions though. Argus has nothing to do with that.
In BC, we had the isle of QD.
In Wrath, we had Wintergrasp.
In Cata, we had Tol Barad.
In MoP, we had Isle of Thunder, Isle of Giants, and Timeless Isle.
In WoD, it was everything because they didn’t intend on flying being there.
And in Legion, it was Argus.
It’s no surprise that an endgame zone had no flight involved because that’s always been the mantra of Blizz since flying was first introduced. Argus doesn’t prove a point either way.
There’s really not enough players left for any of our complaints to register. They already said the devs that were good at it are tired of working on big projects so they are just not willing to do the work it takes to earn the money anymore.
I don’t understand how people can so adamantly equate the need for flight with the ability to have fun. It makes you go faster and get to your destination with less hassle but that is it.
The entire game exists on the ground. Why not just get pathfinder for the ground speed increase and go about your business while you wait? Why the constant, endless complaining and demand for something that you KNOW is already coming at an internally set date?
The game is fine without flight. Getting dazed once in a while is annoying, sure, but between the myriad of portals, the flight whistle, two hearthstones (one that goes directly to a portal hub) travel in WoW has never been faster. Fight me on it.
It used to take my Paladin 5-10 minutes to cross a zone. Now I can go from Zandalar to Northrend in 30 seconds without even entering combat.
What your post doesn’t take into consideration is that up until WoD, we had flight available for most of the life of the expansion and most of those endgame zones you listed were not required for character progression.
Since WoD, flight is only available for the latter part of the life of the expansion, and the endgame zones (like Argus) that are no flight allowed are required for character progression.
I would say that’s a pretty noticeable shift in game design/direction.
I didn’t contest that though. I just said that person’s comment on Argus doesn’t mean much in comparison to the fact other expacs had their own versions of Argus. I don’t care about flight. It’s inconsequential to me. Primarily because it has no influence on anything I do.
All I said was we’ve had no-fly zones and Argus doesn’t impact this discussion. Which is factually correct.
It is factually correct to say that we’ve had no fly zones, yes. But it’s your opinion (not fact) that Argus doesn’t impact this discussion. I hold a different opinion. I think Argus is very relevant to the discussion because of both the timing of when it was released (so soon after people were able to complete PF Part 2 and fly) and the fact that it was required for character progression.
To your first point, Blizz already addressed the release of Argus so close to Pathfinder and openly admitted they screwed that up and would do better in the future. It’s just one of those things.
To the second, it is of your opinion that Argus was required for progression. I disagree. I heroic raided all throughout Legion and Argus was never progression worthy for me. It was simply good for alt progression. Thus, you have your opinions. I have mine.
I’ve been of the opinion for a long time that Pathfinder Part Two needs to be dropped and end game content needs to incorporate flying. Like it did in BC. We couldn’t fly over opposite faction bases without the fear of getting shot down, daily zones couldn’t be reached until you had flying, etc.
I don’t think flying killed the game, but on the same token i don’t believe the lack of it has killed it either.
I don’t know if it is a new generation of gamers or old ones that have developed some sort of sense of entitlement that is killing the game. Assuming that the game is dying.
In BC, we could fly from the moment we hit level cap, providing we had the gold.
In WotLK, we could fly even BEFORE level cap, as certain zones were designed around being able to fly. Storm Peaks had rental mounts for those players without their own flying mount.
In Cata, we could just bloody fly.
In MoP, we could fly as soon as we hit level cap, provided you had opened the Vale and not wandered off questing in another direction. cough
It’s only since WoD that we’ve been unable to fly until the content which allows flight is completely irrelevant.
if by that you mean the taking away of flying killed the game, then yes, you are right
it’s no mistake that the game thrived when flying was no big deal and then all of the sudden when the anti-flying groupthink took over the game took a nosedive
Sometimes, I think the devs’ anti-flying stance is a symptom of this mindset they’ve fallen into where “game design” has become “how do we make players jump through these hoops we’ve set up?” and flying lets us circumvent the hoops. At which point, the lack of MEANINGFUL, fun content becomes apparent.
Just like class re-design. They’ve stripped our classes down. Why? So they can put our abilities on an external system that is, itself, another set of hoops to jump through. Classes aren’t fun because they’re not meant to be fun; the lack of fun is how they make us jump through the hoops in an effort to make them fun again.
Nothing is really about making a fun, immersive system that people play because they enjoy it. Instead, it’s about how many carrots can they get us to chase along an obstacle course, and how little work can they put into both the carrots and the obstacles.