Are these rhetorical questions or do you really think I can read his mind?
We did. On the back of a dragon. Zooming through the skies.
Which goes back to how stupid Pathfinder is for this xpac.
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After grinding rep for “Insane in the Membrane”, I would like to ride a Murloc holding a Heavy Junkbox.
EDIT:
Wow… I’ve been up late. This is the wrong thread!!!
um… Carry on!
I am willing to bet real money that nothing is going to change about Pathfinder in this xpac leading into the next patch, it will be launched as is from PTR.
The most important explanation is that they weren’t and aren’t done with flying yet. There’s to be a switch to select dragonriding vs old flying (dynamic vs static), and they also started on putting dragonriding skeletons to many of the old world dragon mounts. They can’t really offer “both” types of flying if dragonriding is only 5-6 mounts.
There’s still a lot more work to be done in the main world, like skyboxes already done, to eventually bring dragonriding to the old world.
While we sit here arguing about whether one of these is wasting a few renown points, Blizzard has to have a long term project plan to get this all done, and has to think where both types of flying are going to be in several years. The entire revamp of flight is going to take longer than just this release 10.2 which brings parity and both types of flight to the dragon isles.
People, however, are more visceral. Good, bad, I won’t touch these arguments with a 10 foot pole.
More rhetorical, but I was just using them to prove the point that he had his stated reasoning but wanted to punish the players out of being petty.
Partially true, as while most, if not all, of us have been out on our dragons, not all of us have been “engaging” by the metrics Blizzard applies. Also, there are those that are either handicapped or just flat out hate DR, the handicapped ones I think really should have an easier time getting old flight. The ones that hate DR though, well, sometimes they come across like the kid that wants their dessert without eating their vegetables.
I agree that Pathfinder is more or less pointless, but then for ones like me it always was as I did the requirements while leveling up (multiple times to boot) but why do people expect Blizzard, if not just Ion, to break their norm just cause one aspect changed?
I mean really, the x.x.5 or x.x.7 patches would have been perfect to unlock normal flight for the major patch content if they had to have pathfinder and tie the activation to a patch but they had to hold it back for whatever reason.
True as this is, it has nothing to do with the original concern. On a technical level, it’s fully possible to simply enable flying mounts in the Dragon Isles. That literally is nothing more than a flip of a switch.
What you are talking about is true but it is a completely different issue. Old world mounts do not have dragon flying enabled on them yet because that takes a lot more work to do than simply flipping a switch; they actually need a little more TLC and testing.
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This is quite the reach here… I have no illusions that I get a say in the development of any game where I am not on the development team for. I am offering feedback about the game on the forums Blizzard setup for me to do so. What they do with that feedback is up to them. And every month I can choose to either give them more money for the right to play or not.
If you genuinely think that I feel that I am more involved than this then you’re delusional.
Why can’t you let people discussing the game on the forums dedicated to discussing the game do so without attempting to shut that discussion down? I am offering feedback I truly think would make the game better for others, nothing more.
What do you consider to be giving feedback exactly?
Can you quantify “none of us?” The past few replies have certainly been off topics, but aside from this one, I’d love to see you quote an post of mine that wasn’t on topic, providing feedback on my thoughts regarding pathfinder locking legacy flying.
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Right, which is why I’d do it like Ion is doing it, slowly rolling out parts, not the entire thing. It’s why we are having arguments about sub-components of the Pathfinder solution rather than why Pathfinder isn’t rolling out flight entirely.
To be fair, we should also conclude, if we’re doing everything on the fly, that pathfinder is is only the 15 renown that people haven’t yet achieved in the Emerald Dream, and we shouldn’t double count the reputation that people have until this point.
It’s tough figuring out where people stand in sub-parts of the big picture. You may just do a solution now that makes everyone angry, where in a couple years, it is no big thing.
WoW GMs tell us to come to forums for feedback so here we are. PF requirements are too harsh and that is my feedback!
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What? Flight form is in no way a “core class defining ability”. It never was, never has been, and never will be.
Bear form? Sure. Cat form? Sure. Moonkin form? Sure. They’re all things that directly enable different avenues of gameplay. Flight form, and travel form are not “core class identity” mechanics.
For Druids yes it is.
An integral part of their class fantasy.
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Why should I be led to believe that having regular flying would lead to a sudden influx of these players?
If they’ve been playing the game up to this point while not having issues with conventional flying, the diareha of numbers and graphical effects flying around all over the place during dungeons and raids then I seriously question whether they are really that adversely effected by having to press the space bar every few seconds.
This is trivial.
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Given that Blizzard has already done one wave of compatibility options for dragonriding for disabling visual effects and whatnot, with at least one more wave of compatibility toggles to go, the devs don’t seem to think it’s trivial as you do.
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Then what’s the big deal about people leaving feedback and trying to get it changed? How does that effect you personally? I told you how it effects the other side personally.
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Has anyone in this thread even claimed there would be an influx of players if legacy flying were enabled sans PF? Certainly the quote you responded to didn’t say that.
I do know a couple people who struggle to DR for medical reasons that took a break due to there being no other way to get around the massive zones besides flightpoints and ground mounts going into S2 when Blizzard did not announce any means for legacy flight. While I can’t say for sure, I do think they would still be playing if there were a better way to get around for players who aren’t DR.
This has been discussed numerous times in the thread. You’re simply wrong, there’s no other way to put it. There are mechanical demands on players to DR into and out of quest areas that have never existed in WoW before. There are motion sickness concerns with how quickly and jarring the screen movements are even with turning down the particle effects. And these are only the medical concerns I know about, there very well might be others.
Dragonriding is unlike anything WoW has ever seen. There are a different set of skills and levels of tolerance needed to be able to perform that activity. For those who can, it’s a great addition to the game and I’m happy Blizzard added it. But for those who face major difficulty with it, given how much the expansion is designed around being able to use it to effectively get around, it’s a major hindrance to being able to enjoy the game. Given that Blizzard already committed to bringing legacy flying back as early as a couple months into the expansion’s launch, and it will take them MORE work to lock it behind pathfinder, a lot of us are struggling to understand why Blizzard would feel the need for PF this time around.
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This is probably the best point in favor of pathfinder. The challenge I have is that the “reward” in DF for completing pathfinder is nigh useless for players who love DR and won’t switch to legacy anyway, a convenience to those who would prefer legacy flying but can DR, and a potentially expansion-salvaging feature for those who struggle to DR. I have zero problem with pathfinder being an achievement and tying some sweet cosmetic reward to it. The problem is among the three large camps of people I have grouped people into, one group clearly gets more value than the other two, and it’s the group that will have the most trouble getting the achievement.
While I’ve engaged in speculation as to why Blizzard made this decision, my main point is completely disconnected from motivation. At the end of the day, the reason why Blizzard made the decision has little impact on the gameplay experience impact of the decision. Even if the decision makers at Blizzard had entirely pure motivations for tying legacy flight to pathfinder, the people who will have a hard time completing pathfinder will struggle just as much as if Ion personally wanted nothing more than to spite those players.
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“Just assuming the worst” is what you do with major corporations. And it’s not without historical merit: tragically, more often than not, it is proven right. I lost my faith in Blizzard a long time ago, probably sometime between the release of Mists and Warlords. And every time I’ve held a pessimistic view of something, sooner or later I would find out that I was right. Hell, I knew it was a toxic workplace even before the California lawsuit came out - but at the time I had only suspected it and didn’t have any proof.
This policy almost never holds true for individual people though (at least, for those who are struggling to get by and they are not in power like Ion is).
When you meet the average WoW player, for example, you almost always assume the best intention of another person’s actions until you are proven wrong - because more often than not, that is the correct assumption.
The reason for this disparity is simple: When people like Ion get into power, they eventually start abusing it, to the detriment of others. This can even affect livelihoods - such as the people who have to work under him. Sometimes the abuse is fairly minor and almost relatively harmless - sometimes it’s much more egregious and requires a significant remediation.
In Ion’s case, he has a very clear disdain for the players, and has had it since day 1. At first, you can’t blame him, because players keep saying mean things about Blizzard, to each other, about the things he loves. But what he is failing to realize is a lot of that came from a place of love, to start with. People on the internet are simply awful at communication. I know this first-hand. But the more you look into it, the more you know Ion was the wrong person for that position, at least in a rightful sense. In a financial sense he’s perfect for it - he’ll do whatever it takes to squeeze every penny out of players. His work primarily comes from psychological research and finding players’ tolerance levels for skullduggery. And that’s why the brass love him so much. But for those who love the game - he’s utterly destroyed it.
When you get into a position of power like Ion, never forget your roots. Never forget where you came from. Never forget who got you there. Humility is not putting yourself down - humility is raising others to your level. Such a thing might not make you popular with the brass, but you’ll be so popular with the players they’ll have lots of trouble getting rid of you.
Actually, originally Swift Flight Form wasn’t just handed out. So for those of us who have played since 2004, it was indeed a core class defining ability (and IMO still is).
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And this is where you’d be 100% wrong. It is for Druids, it is what they are meant to do.
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At the end of the day, I’m still probably going to have to unsub. I was hanging on waiting for legacy flying, I specifically do not have 15 renown in more than one faction because of DR (the one faction I got 15+ in, I turned in those items that were removed from the game, I forgot what they were called), and see no way to get it without a lot of flying around which I struggle with due to motion sickness. I can only DR for a short time then I HAVE to stop or I get extremely nauseous. Since healing looks like garbage in the patch, especially holy priest, I have no reason to stick around for instanced content either. So unless I can find a way to get renown 15 without having to DR a lot, I’m out.
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