Flying rep grind miserable for returning players

As someone who returned in late legion after that expacs pathfinder part 2 came out, I definitely feel what the OP is saying. That being said, not having to deal with the massive time gate between part 1 and part 2 was really awesome.

WTF ?

It doesnā€™t have to be fun , you know how stupid that sounds?

This is a video game ,it should all be about fun . Thatā€™s what they are for is having fun .

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Oh well. If you leave the game for a long time and come back, you have to do the same amount of content as everyone else to unlock flying. Get over it.

Totally agree.

And (directed at those of you saying ā€œwe all have to do it so get over yourselfā€), just because everyone else is having to do it doesnā€™t mean it doesnā€™t suck. Totally not the point of the OPā€™s complaint.

It awful and it makes the game less enjoyable - thatā€™s his point. It takes away from the fun of the game, makes it a chore to play, and itā€™s sucking the life out of me. Iā€™ve been playing for many years and Iā€™m playing less and less these days because of this grind. Itā€™s not necessary, itā€™s off-putting, and Iā€™m actively looking for something else to play because of it.

The argument that they make it hard to fly because they want people to do all the quests and see all of the zone before they can skip over it by flying is complete B.S. I have done all the things - many, many times. I am sick to death of this zone, and yet the grind continues.

Whoever decided to change the process from buying flying, like in Northrend, to this nonsensical rep-grind should be fired. Then covered in honey and left on a fire-ant mound. Then crucified. Then left for the buzzards.

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Except itā€™s not that simple at all. Iā€™d assume a multibillion dollar company has some half decent number crunchers that have min-maxed their slog vs reward system for dragging out player subscriptions. It appears that they have found 4 weeks is an ideal sweet spot in terms of time spent vs reward of nullifying content with flying.

Itā€™s been here since WoD, an expansion that came out five years ago or 1/3 of the gameā€™s life ago. The trend doesnā€™t look like itā€™s going to change because Shadowlands has already confirmed itā€™s going to be in the game, which means it will be true for at least another two years, taking that total up to 7+ out of 17+ years that the game will have been out, which will be almost half of the gameā€™s life.

If itā€™s 100% fun all the time, then your bar of expectations gets set too high and nothing seems fun anymore. You need to strike a balance between. Hell, look at games like Skyrim or BotW or the Souls games, you spend at least half your time, if not more, doing ā€œchoresā€ like farmingā€¦

You must not do the zone quests or really any of the questing content. Pathfinder and flying unlock as you just play the game.

No, the OPā€™s point was that it is a grind that he shouldnā€™t have to do. Everyone else played the game, did the zone quests, experienced the expansion content, and unlocked pathfinder easily. He should join the club.

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i hear ya man. i havent played since the beginning of wod; its really been that long. i had no pathfinders from any xpac and when i came back a couple months ago from that long hiatus, i aint gonna lie. it sucked. but i just put my head down and got my grind on with that newly boosted mage that i made with the bfa token. it took right about 3 weeks of just grinding. getting all alliance allied races took me 2 more weeks after that. its not fun, but once its doneā€¦youre done. start a new alt? bam they have it, no worries. what im trying to get at is, its gonna be a drag but just suck it up and get it done and youre gonna feel a heck of a lot better flying the ā€œfriendlyā€ skies. good luck.

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Achievements to aim for have always been in game, in fact the same achievements required by Pathfinder have been there since the introduction of achievements. All they need to do is slap a meta deed on finishing all and put a mount behind it. This meta for flying should just not be required. Itā€™s nothing original or new but the laziest way the devs could find.

It thatā€™s why itā€™s ok? This grind should not be there in the first place.

ā€œItā€™s something to do. It doesnā€™t have to be fun.ā€ Really? Sometimes I wonder if some players just play because they are to bored in rl and need something to do. This is a game. It should be FUN for the most part. Flying for me determines the fun factor of WoW and there is none besides questing through the story without it. So I donā€™t play. Maybe Iā€™m not bored enough in rl.

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Blizzard must remove pathfinder rep grind portion. Completing all story zones and war campaign is more than enough

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Like I said, itā€™s no different in many other popular single player RPGs. In games like Skyrim, BotW and the Souls games, you spent a very large amount of time farming and itā€™s just as monotonous.

Not having flying does NOT hold you back from completing content. You can still complete everything without it just fine. You are just spoiled by being used to having it.

Here are some alternatives that they might implement if you want flying right off the rip:

  • Implement a very intrusive anti-air system that demands your attention and causes you to not be able to straight bee-line from objective A to B. Throughout the expansion, youā€™d upgrade some kind of protection or reduced aggro radius.

  • That or implement systems like other MMOs have where you can only be airborn for so long before having to touch back down to the ground. You already have a system like this, to an extent, in mechagon, but it would have to be much faster and would only allow you to be flying for 10 or so seconds at a time and would require a few seconds on the ground to recharge. Throughout the expansion, youā€™d upgrade your mountā€™s ability to stay airborn longer and would reduce the amount of time needed to recharge.

In either case, it will extend time played and thatā€™s what Blizzard looks for. Thatā€™s why they wait until a year into the expansion to put out PF2. They donā€™t want to trivialize content early on because it has negative results for their subscriber/MAU counts.

Well, there are consequences for oneā€™s actions, and because you left, you fell behind. I left too, due to being overwhelmed in school, and now Iā€™m doing what needs to be done in order to get the pathfinder, but for some reason you canā€™t do the same thing as I. What makes you so special?

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This exists in Mechagnon already with the flying robot that looks like its from a Skynet production line.

I donā€™t think Iā€™ve ever once aggrod any of the air drones and as for the HK-8, Iā€™ve never had it attack me because Iā€™ve always landed before the debuff got too high. Itā€™s has an almost negligible impact on my traveling. What Iā€™m suggesting would be far more hostileā€¦

Itā€™s not, actually, because it forced you to the ground.

All you have to do is touch any ground, for 0.1 seconds, and the stacks reset. Itā€™s negligibleā€¦

I have all of the Pathfinders from WoD to BFA - it still stinks.

Rep grinds for anything more than cosmetic rewards is kind of poisonous in general, and Pathfinder is nothing but. I honestly donā€™t mind flying being gated, and really enjoy the initial part of an expansion where everyone is grounded, but they need to find a better way than a lazy, stretched-out grind.

Itā€™s 2 hours of content stretched over 3 weeks, essentially. We need either more variety in activities we can do for rep (tabards, please!) - or just a new system entirely.

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I have pathfinder, I hated it. Basically quit the game with the exception of emmisaries as it took up all of my casual play time. Then continued months later when pathfinder was complete. Those saying it takes no or minimal time at all, I could finish a single RPG many times over in the /played it takes to do pathfinder. You do not represent the average person when you say it takes no time to grind out something we already had last expansion.

I have been with the game since release, so I am more compelled to actually sit through this rubbish. Your average casual non-forum poster will not sit through it though, they will just go play something else. If Blizzard wants to do that to appease a few sadists here, go for it. Its their financial loss, not mine.

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