So today I got my dragonriding, and it sucked butts. I was terrible at it! I wasn’t having fun at all. My friend who just hit 70 is like “Hey, it get’s better, just collect the glyphs, get the talents, then it’s great!” So I’m clumsily “flying” around the waking shores collecting the glyphs, and stopping all the time to regain vigor at a terrible rate, and it’s maddening. I got fed up and looked up a map to show the general location of the glyphs, and I finally had one good glide.
I was able to make it from the observatory, down to the glyph at the ruby pools peak, got flashfrost enclave, obsidian bulwark, and nearly made it to the obsidian throne glyph. it felt great. Getting up to the obsidian throne was a pain and ruined the excitement again, but I was done with the glyphs in the waking shore. So I move on to Thaldraszus.
I was doing a little better, but so many of the glyphs were literally just climb to this really high point again and again, and it was terrible. So much wasted time sitting waiting for vigor. Then I get to Thaldraszus peak, I believe it’s the highest point on the isles and the mountain is terrible, I can barely get up 20 feet at a time before I’m resting for vigor again and I’m about to give up. But then I see someone else dragonride by, and they are basically going straight up at 90 miles an hour and I’m just sitting there going “How in the ever loving fluff are they doing that!” Thankfully I noticed he was glowing blue, and it took me about 12 seconds to figure out what he did, and that leads into my two tips for Dragonriding:
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When you glow blue you have the “Thrill of the Skies” buff, so you are moving at your fastest and regaining vigor, just dive till you get this buff. Once you glow blue, hit “Skyward Ascent” and aim up with your dragon and camera, you’ll rocket up gaining a ton height. I thought it was just a basic ability that added the same amount of height no matter how fast you’re going or where you’re aiming, but I was wrong.
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Once you are glowing blue and need to regain vigor, you can very nearly level off and fly straight, losing very little height and still regain vigor so you can ascent again as needed.
I don’t know what “clicks” for other players, but those two things are what I learned to make it “click” for me. After I got the glyph on the peak, I had to stop and go to work, boo. Spent all night thinking about Dragonriding and how it works lol. When I got home I practiced a little diving off Thaldraszus Peak getting the rest of the glyphs in Thaldraszus and flew back to the observatory to get the first half of the talents. Then it happened.
I took off from the observatory headed south to Ohn’Ahran Plains with my new found skills, and I was very quickly able to get all the glyphs, moved to the Azure Span, blitzed all the glyphs and flew back to the observatory. I only landed one time the whole flight because I Tarzan’d into a tree. It felt amazing. (The flying part, not the tree bit.) Getting the last of the talents for the last 2 vigor and reducing vigor regen to 5 seconds in flight feels like flying with cheat codes now.
I hope this helps somebody. For those of you who absolutely hate Dragonriding, or simply can’t do it because of a disability or motion sickness, I’m sorry, I wish you could enjoy it.
#FreeTheWings
This would feel even more amazing as a Dracthyr using their own wings, Blizzard! Take a hint!
I can’t break myself of the reflex of “punch spacebar to go UP” when out of the box it means “to drain your vigor and rocket you over the top so you completely miss the peak and have to climb again”. I’m learning though, slowly 
