I’m sorry what?
You’re comparing a sub drop so sudden and massive that Blizzard started initiating live chat to find out why and then reversed course on “no flying ever again in current content” within a week to game design in expansions 1 to 3 years later.
All time gating flying does is annoy players and inflate MAU metrics of the ones that don’t simply unlock part 1 in month 1 of the expansion then skip the next 11+ months until part 2 comes out.
It wasn’t that bad the game still had / has millions of players, and if it was that bad they would have reverted it completely to flying trainer at 100 in wod, flying isn’t needed at all in these new expansions you will get it as a luxury later on.
I have a solution for the Pathfinder issue, and it is this:
Offer two ways of obtaining flight.
1 - Pathfinder, as it is now. You receive an achievement, a mount and the ability to fly on all characters on your account.
2 - A simplified version which involves a relatively simplified method incorporating reaching cap, exploring all available zones and a flight fee - BUT it only works for that one character.
So if you want it across your account and all the other benefits you can work through the Pathfinder complete achievement, but if you just want it on your main, you can take the short route.
That would give players a choice (and isn’t that always a positive).
Ion Hazzikostas reads these forums. It’s pretty likely that he’s going to see this thread, the 200+ likes it got in one day, the 600+ replies, and just completely ignore it.
I don’t know if he will see this, but Ion, if you’re out there, why should we keep playing your game if you’re just going to continue ignoring our feedback like this?
LMAo it was that bad. It was written about in magazines . It was so bad it caused the worst massive drop in subs in the shortest time in the games history, before BFA that is. They didnt revert it because then Ion would have to admit he was wrong. They dont want flying because it saves them money from having to develop for it. It was done out of pure laziness and cost cutting
I just love the “well some people think the world is too small.” Well, they can just not get on their flying mount then. Problem solved.
If the world wasn’t a giant ball of trivial and boring World Quests I suspect people wouldn’t care if flying was ever added back to the game. Seriously. The whole reason people want flying is the world looks like this.
1! … X
X…2!
3!..X
All the crap between points of interest is well… crap.
It has the disease of being uninteresting by design.
If you look at where people spend all their time:
It becomes crystal clear what people want from the world. You just have to have the backbone to put those qualities into the world and never mind the naysayers who made the world as bland and boring as it is today.
I think its kind of telling you have to use such an extreme example to even make it sound ridiculous.
You have the option to stay on the ground when flying is available. It’s called choice. If you truly find being on the ground fun then just use a ground mount. It’s not rocket science.
Not the issue. The issue isn’t pathfinder, the issue is that pathfinder is an excuse not to give us flying in current content for most of the expansion.
It’s not fair to those that like flying AT ALL. We’re grounded for a year then we get flying for a few months then the very next patch comes with a no fly zone for the remaining 8 months of an expansion.
You get all the grounded time you can handle while people that enjoy flying get it for a few months out of a 2 year expansion. How is that remotely fair?
Saying Pathfinder deprives us of flight because its an excuse to deprive us of flight is rather…circular.
I offered viable ways around it. Not that they will do it, but it does show that there ARE ways of doing it.
Good thing I didn’t say that then.
No? But you said it isn’t pathfinder, but that Pathfinder doesn’t let us fly. So it is Pathfinder. Because it doesn’t let us fly (for most of the expansion)(edited for you).
Anyway, all that aside, I suspect what you are trying to say is, that’s its the purpose behind Pathfinder that is the issue, not the actual grind required to complete Pathfinder. Is that it?
I did not say pathfinder doesn’t let us fly. You are adding that part. Pathfinder is after all the means where we do get flying.
I said pathfinder was an excuse not to allow us to fly for most of the expansion.
Designed maybe, but i do not think its a good design. 5 min whistles, and flight paths all over the place. Very bad design. Its awful, and i just do not understand how anyone can think this is better than just giving players flight.
It breaks up the flow of the game, Hell. It may as well not even be a open world at this point.
I use my hearthstone and teliports more than i ever did in Classic wow, or BC or Wrath. More than i ever did until wod.
They have designed in so much convenience that everything they do not like about flight is what i now do in the game, I do not explore as much as i did back then in Wow. I rarely go of the path as there is little value to explore, i regularly go afk as i am on a flight path or a loading screen.
I do not mind being out in the world when i am enjoying my time in the world, Everything they have done has made it worse and less fun to be there. And the value is at what i would call an all time low, With it being replaced with Grinds that lose most of there value by design.
Even artifact power is the same, a way to introduce another grind they can strip away from the players so as to do it again with the next piece of content.
I feel the same. Blizzard is desperate to slow our content consumption. The time played metric and slowing content consumption are primary game design goals, fun game play is secondary.
I fear if patch 8.2 isn’t on the PTR this month. That would be the worst case scenariio but you never know with how BFA has unfolded. It can go either way honestly! Patch 8.2 is going to be the make or break for BFA and WoW. Not only for flying but many other things.
I don’t agree with your post
I find this hard to believe… What does posting on the forums do to alert you to some information that would give you a reason to stay?
There are other reasons people stop playing a game and still post on their forums.