World of Warcraft I Paid for Flying Once. Why Do I Have to Pay Again?

Flying has been a function ofWorld of Warcraft as long as the game has existed. No, not just flying mounts, even though y'all could fencethat has been, too; flight masters dotting both continents meant that people accept long associated the game with flight from place to place, only you can debate over whether flying on a bat counts as a proper "flying mount" or non. Youcannot debate, however, that ever sinceThe Burning Crusade players have had an expectation of hopping on the dorsum of something airborne and taking to the sky.

Flighthas changed a lot over the years, though, and I think the ways that flight has changed says more than nigh why the proclamation of a new flying achievement forShadowlands was met with exasperation rather than relief. In fact, I call up part of it is that the designers now working on the game take forgotten how flight used to work and how it works at present – and yes, if you lot're thinking information technology yet works the same way, you're not entirely right. Then let's start by looking back at the expansion that started it all.

The Called-for Crusade

One of the big selling points forThe Burning Crusade was the addition of flying mounts. They were a big deal, in no modest part because Outland is a collection of islands floating in space. Thus, we were told, i of the exciting ideas for the expansion was to have places yous could navigate only via flight and how information technology was a natural response to the toppling landscape.

This was a lie. Simply a couple of map areas actually even rewarded flying with admission you lot would otherwise lack. Simply who cares? Flying was nevertheless a fun reward, and it was a big landmark to reach level 70 and suddenly be able to take to the skies. Swooping in and out of zones you lot hadn't notwithstanding finished all the quests in was a delight, and it was redoubled with the addition of more endgame stuff to exist washed for reputations and such. You got flight when you lot started your time at the level cap, and that made information technology all the more than fun.

Of grade, much as with basis mounts, flight was divided between faster and slower speeds. The slower speed allowed you lot to fly, simply flight masters were still much more efficient. Epic flying was the one you wanted if you lot really wanted to go anywhere in Outland without bothering with flight masters. Information technology was a feature somewhat missed in the old world, of course, but that was old content and information technology also had the explanation of being an entirely different earth. And things were fine.

Wrath of the Lich Male monarch, Calamity, and Mists of Pandaria

Of form, you tin can'tgive people the ability to skid the surly bonds of gravity and then have people happy when it's taken abroad. The next three expansions all found a good balance to strike with how flight worked by adding additional skills to be learned. At the level cap, you would earn a new skill allowing y'all to fly in one case more; you could also buy a tome that was bind-on-account, allowing your alts to start flying right abroad instead of forcing you to wait on your second go-round.

Cataclysm broke this format very slightly, but information technology started introducing a larger sense of discontent considering it allowed players to start flying more or less correct abroad. This meant thatall of the expansion zones were basically explored from the air first, and I suspect the people who were working on the expansion but not yet in control of determination making bristled at this fact.

Regardless, this particular stretch of time was resolutely fixated in the same bones model. Flight was one of the rewards for when you first achieve the level cap, thestart of your fourth dimension at max level.

Warlords of Draenor

Hither's where things got dicey. The development team played it chary for along time about what the programme was for flying in Draenor, but it definitely wasn't in that location at launch. In that location's a lot to be speculated near there, frankly, and no way to exist sure about whether no flight was e'er the plan, or flying was the program merely then the developers liked not having information technology, orwhat was going on there.

Regardless of when flight wasplanned to be added, itwasn't added for a very long fourth dimension, and then it was tardily announced that the developers didn't want flight to be in atall. This resulted in one of the many,many apocalyptic responses that have marked this full general era ofWorld of Warcraft, just it ultimately resulted in the add-on of Draenor Pathfinding every bit an achievement and the destruction of flight every bit a game mechanic.

Past the time Draenor Pathfinding was added, players had already played through much of the expansion'south content; thus, the meta-achievement basically tracked a bunch of stuff that players had already done. It was eminently possible to take many of the requirements finished before Tanaan Jungle opened, and then you could focus on simply doing the Tanaan Jungle bits to get your flight. Plus, information technology was account-wide, then you didn't even need to spend golden to get your alts flying!

However, the large difference here was that instead of flight existence added at thestart of the expansion, it was now added at the end. This was somewhat ameliorated by the fact that we didn't even know if flightwould exist added for a very long time, then having it added this style at the finish felt similar a reasonable compromise. A lot of people were willing to encounter this as more about growing pains and a belated decision.

This was non the instance, however.Warlords of Draenor was not the outlier; information technology was the model of the new normal.

Legion and Battle for Azeroth

The pathfinder accomplishment forLegion was in the expansion from launch… or at least, one-half of it was. Much equally in Warlords, the plan here was that you would earn an account-wide achievement, and also much similar the prior expansion information technology required yous to do a whole agglomeration of stuff through the expansion to earn it. Your alts could thus wing without fear and you would know right away that flying was coming later; it turned out this was even with the same numbered patch at 7.two.

What made this more unlike from earlier, though, was the fact that the new meta-achievement largely helped render flying wholly irrelevant.

In order to clear the first part of the achievement, you needed to earn Revered reputation with all six of the factions in Legion, fully explore the map, clear out the storylines of each zone (including the one y'all could only admission at max level), clear out the meta-storyline, and exercise a agglomeration of world quests. That got y'all… faster ground mount speed. When the second office was added, y'allalso needed Revered with the newest faction and fully exploring the new map likewise.

Put it more simply, to earn flying once more, you had to be most of the mode washed with the expansion. Instead of flying being something that marked theoutset of your endgame journey, it marked thefinish of most of information technology. It's a reward to make the continued slog of getting Exalted reputations and/or hardcore gearing less obnoxious, not a fun new style to arroyo the globe when you lot striking the level cap.

People were a fleck more than willing to overlook this inLegion considering the expansion was generally beingness fairly well-received, although people did still grumble. Unfortunately,Battle for Azeroth does non have that aforementioned defence force. It's too early to tell ifShadowlands will get a similar reception, just people are definitely already miffed about the inclusion of the achievement-based flying unlocks.

So what have we learned?

When flying was first introduced, it was every bit a part of an endgame model that expected some form of flight. Unfortunately, the addition of flightas well leads people to wait not to lose that flight immediately later on, which led to friction right away when that flight was generally gated backside the level cap. The difficulties of designingeffectually flight somewhen led to the current land where the game holds dorsum the power to wing as long every bit possible until information technology finally has no option but to open upward flying for everyone.

Ultimately, more than than the time delivery, this is what bothers people and then much well-nigh the whole current pattern. Rather than flight being a foundation of the level cap, information technology'southward areward. And when you already have the mounts and the skills and everything else except the arbitrary gatekeeping, it doesn't feel like such. Taking something away simply to begrudgingly give information technology back once yous've done 90% of the things you wanted to take that affair for isn't a good feeling.

I like that flight is gratuitous and account-wide for new expansions at this signal. Simply waiting so long to get back something I already learned to do – to return to what was previously mybase level of power – isn't a expert feeling outside of a Metroid game. And while I don't encounter it changing back in the almost future, I could see it getting worse… and I really don't similar the idea of having flight be even more of a last-minute return.

State of war never changes, but Globe of Warcraft does, with a decade of history and a huge footprint in the MMORPG manufacture. Join Eliot Lefebvre each calendar week for a new installment of WoW Factor as he examines the enormous MMO, how it interacts with the larger world of online gaming, and what'south new in the worlds of Azeroth and Draenor.

Advertizement

thieletoeopla1999.blogspot.com

Source: https://massivelyop.com/2019/11/15/wow-factor-a-brief-history-of-flight-in-world-of-warcraft/

Share this post