There’s been a few posts about not forcing dynamic flying but instead making it available as an option from day one, but I’d like to put forth a different perspective on why that should be the case:
I’m old - nearly fifty (yes, I am ancient). My eyesight isn’t that great anymore and my reflexes are even worse. For me, dynamic flight is great for some things but when it comes to things like gathering or anything that requires more than a half-dash of precision, it’s a nightmare. I don’t think that accessibility should cover just things like motion sickness and color blindness, not when such a large (and growing) portion of the playerbase is getting older and older.
I miss out on things that require having a certain level of skill with dynamic flight. I can’t, and don’t, do any of the dragonriding races. I’m just not quick enough anymore. That’s fine; it’s completely optional content in my opinion, and does not affect the leveling or post-leveling process.
Being able to use static flight for things like gathering, tagging Coalescence, and other short-range precision activities is a godsend. I’m more than happy to pay into the trade-off as a static flyer in these instances: I’m slower and I lose both nodes and rare spawns because I don’t have the speed, but on the other hand, I am 99% less frustrated with gameplay in general.
In short: Please do not make dynamic flying mandatory - either in War Within, or even when the dynamic flight mechanic is extended to the older mounts. There are enough things in this game that are coded to be an on/off sort of switch; perhaps having an enable/disable in the options for the flight mode for older mounts would be feasible, and thus extends that flexibility to the playerbase as well.
My understanding is that static flight will be available after you finish the initial campaign, which if you just focus on doing that first will probably take something like 10 hours at a non-rushed pace. (Assuming its similar to recent launches)
I do think static flying should just be available immediately anytime dynamic flight is available, but you will be able to access it very quickly.
Controlling speed while dynamic flying is one of the finer details many don’t get the hang of.
If you want to try, I suggest installing the dragon rider addon, it’s a useful speedometer and I believe it should be integrated into the game in some form. To go slower you adjust the pitch of your character upward with your mouse. using this you can remain airborne and fly at slower speeds than static flying which is really handy for gathering.
If you do not want to, you can unlock static flying by completing the main story quest.
I prefer static flying myself for gathering. Much more relaxing for me, but I was a player that used to enjoy riding around Barrens and Silithus pre-Cata and flying around Icecrown back in WotLK just to mine. I always had a favorite zone I’d run circuits around each expansion although I haven’t done that in the last few. I still prefer static flying for that, though. I hope the static/dynamic flying is just a toggle in the UI we can unlock quickly and not something we only get at like max level in TWW. If we don’t get it until max level, guess I’ll be purposefully keeping a static flying mount on my bars for each character until they convert all to being dynamic compatible. While I have no issues with dynamic flying (I’ll be 40 next year), I find it silly to use it for small areas. I tend to have a twitchy thumb these days and accidentally fly off when I hit the spacebar. Really irritating on a dynamic mount compared to a static one. I’ve only recently started to figure out the hover ability for dynamic mounts. Granted, I’ve only been playing DF since October.
I too am nearly 50 with bad eyes. I have no issue with dynamic flying. I do notice that you eventually say that you prefer static flying for the convenience of it. Just say that. Also taking the time out to write a dissertation negatively affects our eyesight more than dynamic flight.
I would prefer they both be available always. I enjoy dragonflight immensely but I do use static flying to gather and take short jaunts using the druid’s travel form. There is also the hovering aspect of static flight that I use quite a bit when scouting an area. Is there a way in dragonflight to hover?
Honestly, dynamic flying is objectively better than the original flying mechanic. It doesn’t make any sense to gatekeep old flying when it’s such a an accessibility boon for some people and there isn’t a huge advantage to it compared to dynamic.
I dislike dynamic flying so much. You’re not really flying, you’re just jumping on a dragon, it takes off and you’re moving so fast you just crash land. It’s so stupid.
TBC normal flying is the crown jewel of WoW. The sooner they embrace the truth the sooner they see retail actually surge back to life again and not feel like a ghost town.
Old lady club here (55) and I feel you. I do okay with dynamic flying, but I get you. I can’t PvP like I used to! With all the assistance-related playstyles available nowadays (color-blind, etc.) an “arthritic old hands” one like regular flight would be a blessing for some players, and wouldn’t affect anyone else’s gameplay.
What makes normal flying great is that you play at your pacing and you can go as fast as you want or as slow as you want. You can sight see with a brief pause or go full on grind mode. There is a zen to TBC normal flying that can not be matched or measured with all the other gimmicks introduced since then like the feather, gliders, DR, flight whistles, etc.
Lets put it another way TBC normal flying allows players to flesh out how they want to play whether they have thirty minutes, four hours, or a few days to play on their WoW journey. Whether they want to enjoy the journey or even rush to reach and end goal or destination that level of flexibility is unmatched and why it is so popular to this day!
So popular is TBC normal flight that it is copied and replicated in other MMOs and MMORPGs for a reason.
The crown jewel of WoW since TBC is normal flying!
