So I thought about the whole deal with new toons in Shadowlands. You know the whole deal we start on Isle of Exiles in Stormheim and do a “My First Adventure” from lvl 1 to 10 with a little mini dungeon. And then Chromie is there to use her time powers of plot-convenience (though though all the dragonflights lost a huge bulk of their power during Cata but that’s another rant) to whisk you away to any expansion of your choice. And you could go 10 - 50 in one expansion, or bounce around. But then I thought…
“What about FLYING?”
It sounds like this will be some sort of large-scale instance, where players within each expansion will be in the same instance. But what will happen if you choose Cata? Will you also have access to Vanilla as well, since they share the same maps? And if so, how will flying mounts work? And WILL they work?
Flying has been a large burr for both players and devs. TBC gave us what in hindsight was a big mistake on the dev’s part. Consuming more time making the maps specifically to accommodate flying mounts. Heck they actively tried to get rid of it in Cata, but player protest forced their hand from then to now.
But what if the plan is to use this, on top of Shadowlands seemingly being broken up of numerous worlds/realms, to simply phase out flying? It would make a lot of sense if you think about it. With old content broken up by large-scale instances (and Chromie) and a new dimension which may play be different rules than being on Azeroth, it would be an ideal opportunity to attempt to phase out flying. It was make it easier on the mapper devs to not have to worry about players flying over places, cutting down on time and costs for future expansions. It just MAKES SENSE.
I can hear a lot of you loudly proclaiming, “They’ll never take out flying! I’ll unsub and never look back if they do! We all want it!” But all the motive and technology are there to take flying out. Mega-servers and phasing/shard technology have progressed well past requiring one continuous open world map for players to be on, one could easily great large-scale maps and instance them so it feels like an open world without actually being one. No flying means devs can spend more time making better maps without having to worry about spots players will try to get into where they couldn’t/shouldn’t. And it gives the mapper devs more credibility since without flying since we’d have to explore. And they can always replace FPs with portals for traversing long distances, keeping the ease of travel without flying. AND they can add more exploration things to keep players playing.
I’m not saying they WILL be phasing out or disabling flying mounts, I have zero direct evidence to support that. But given all I have observed over the years play, Shadowlands feels like a good opportunity to do so.
2 Likes
How about we just stop complaining and enjoy an expansion without flying for once.
8 Likes
Oh I’m not complaining, I much preferring questing without flying so I have no issue with this happening. But I was hear listening on all the arguing, and I think a lot of players will get very angry/upset over finding out flying may be gone. Either in-game or from a possible future press release, if it plans to happen there is gonna be a sh!tshow. Obviously…
2 Likes
Very long post for something that is guaranteed to not happen. Sorry for being blunt but it won’t.
There is no way in hell blizzard is going to take away flying (form of content) in an expansion that had its main “features” put out as new zones, another rental ability, and character customization that should of happened years ago.
Short of some insane data mining/reveal of shadowlands alpha we are getting so little in shadowlands there is no way they are removing something as well.
Just for example on my fire mage and what I’m losing.
Bracers - no more resetting fire blast
Blaster master - no more high ignites
Lucid dreams - no more refunds of blaster master
That is pretty much the only reason we aren’t last on the damage charts. So I don’t have high hopes for anything good to be added and am very doubtful they will take away something that players want to keep on top of that.
2 Likes
if you dont want to fly, dont.
but dont force that on those of us that do want to fly
30 Likes
I never said I didn’t WANT to fly, I’m just saying no one NEEDS the ability to fly. Flying makes things too easy, and less fun. Everyone has been able to level and do content in WoD, Legion, and BfA for the first several months without flying. We all survived, it wasn’t needed. It makes the world feel bigger, and makes PvP more entertaining too. Additionally, it’s not like you’re going to be able to fly between zones in Shadowlands. The zones aren’t connected by land, you are going to be ported to each.
It’s just sharding with extra steps. Also, the whole Chromie Time 10-50 leveling thing is optional. You can choose to level in a specific expansion or you can choose to level through all the zones the way we do now.
So if you choose to level through Vanilla, then you won’t be able to fly. If you choose to level through Cataclysm, then you’ll be able to fly immediately.
Cataclysm had zones like Deepholm that were built from the ground up on the assumption that we’d be flying. There was no attempt to get rid of flying until much later, during WoD.
8 Likes
And people don’t NEED to have fun, right? They can continue to pay and play with people like you who think the game is better if the devs can put togethere horribly convoluted puzzle terrain maps for people to get lost in.
16 Likes
If they phase out flying, I’m out. I did a lot of in-game work to get flying mounts and spent real-life money buying flying mounts. And I enjoy flying, not because it is fast but because it is FUN.
It was a really stupid idea to remove flying from WoD on, but to remove it in all previous areas? Players would have every right to be outraged and to at least want any real money they spent on flying mounts refunded.
15 Likes
Right here is where I stopped caring, either you’re a terrible troll or have memory loss if you don’t remember what happened during WoD.
23 Likes
I have played through every expansion, and I remember them quite well. The vocal minority complained, and it died down fast.
The playerbase would implode like a collapsing star if they ever tried to remove flying altogether. 
But we know they aren’t. The fact that Shadowlands has its own Pathfinder means they’re still keeping flying.
Not to mention certain past zones and items actually require flying to get to. They can never take it out or Icecrown and Deepholm and others would be unplayable.
As for Chromie she’s more like a Hero’s Call Board just to give a starting point. The world itself isn’t changing. It’s a complete open free world like it is now, you can travel anywhere at anytime. The only difference is it’s all scaled to the same level now. Even Exile’s Reach is totally optional.
4 Likes
Touch my flying and I will stab you.
1 Like
Allow me to ignite your blades first, that you might inflict suffering closer to what they deserve.
The fire will cauterize their wounds, I need them to bleed.
That’s the idea.
You can’t well make someone suffer who’s already bled to death.
I hope they remove flying in shadowlands altogether. Would be a welcome change.
Personally I have zero issue with Pathfinder. But removing flying is just stupid.
5 Likes
There are a few quests in Outland and Northrend which assume flying. If there was some other way of getting to where you needed to go, then I’m not aware of it.
I would be very surprised if Blizzard attempted again to remove flying
2 Likes
