TLDR: Blizzard should make running skills for walking and mounted movement that improves as you level and gear up which you can master to move faster because it would feel sweet to get it right and feel like your blazing around rather than it be just a static increase that you forget about 15 min after you get it.
Background (feel free to skip)
Playing my arcane mage while helping my girlfriend level up I noticed how much fun I was having with the talent that gives me a 50% speed bonus (150% total) every time I hit a mob. This meant I could pretty much keep an endless sprint if I was targeting fast enough and this little bit of nonsense just to move faster was more fun than simply running at 200% on a mount. This reminded me of GW2 speed boosting abilities and weapons, and in turn about games that revolve around constantly moving fast.
So I figured why not make it a whole form of content.
Moving/Traveling as Content
Just like pet battles were an optional bonus, this would be the same. Every class would get their own iconic movement abilities. Ex.
paladins get a boost from wings and holy power,
warlocks have their demons carry or throw them,
hunters ride their pets,
Shaman’s slide around on their water slides or something with their wolf spirit form
Mages skate on their ice
etc
All for that little bit of extra zoom. If you combo or time the abilities well you gain more boost and the longer you maintain your perfect timing the faster you go. So every 10sec you do it well you gain 10% extra movement and every time you fail your timing you lose 10%.
I was thinking that if you mastered this you could move up to 100% faster than the current speed. So:
Walking base = 100%,
Playing the running game braindead = 20% movement buff
Playing it perfectly = 200%
Ground mounts: base 200%
Perfectly playing the mount version = 300%
Flying mounts: Base 400%
Perfect play = 500%
I DO NOT RECOMMEND SLOWING CURRENT BASE SPEEDS because i think a load of people who are too lazy to do this or uninterested would hate being slowed. This would just be an additional thing for those who want to go that little bit faster.
Also I think you could add new forms of content around this:
Racetracks
The zones of the current expansion could have active race markers for both a pve and pvp races around the zone, bringing more life and activity throughout them.
Calendar events can bring races to old zones throughout azeroth every week for some sweet mount equipment or mounts themselves as loot.
This would be a good way for people to show off their hard earned mounts beyond just parading around a city. Special mounts could have unique racing abilities that are flashier, or maybe even faster (though that might be contentious).
Anyways I was bored at work and thought a system like this would make traveling around Azeroth more fun, and really wouldn’t be hurting anyone’s game.
Possible Issues?
I was thinking that if you can sprint as you walk, then you’d also be able to do this indoors. Which is part of what I wanted to achieve, making running back after death in raiding more interesting. But maybe the abilities don’t work during combat to avoid interfering in content not intended for that? Idk
Thankfully instance mobs have infinite leash so the speed at which you pass them isn’t really relevant. This would impact M+ times by introducing a new element of skill. Maybe that’s too much to worry about and instances shouldn’t allow the system at all. Either way I think it would be a ton of fun, and I’m posting here to see your opinions.