Greetings, travelers of Azeroth!
We’re happy to share that, with a hotfix that that is now live, Steady Flight in Midnight and The War Within zones will no longer be unlocked by those expansions’ Pathfinder achievements. Any player-character who can use Skyriding can now use Steady Flight, with no additional unlocking required.
Why Require an Unlock in the First Place?
Questing through Azeroth has always had a … complicated relationship with flying. There are countless cases where the ability to fly trivializes a challenge or ruins the pacing of an experience. An example, in the form of a targeted kill quest:
- Without flight, players fight their way through an enemy stronghold, taking out guards, keeping an eye out for patrols, and generally being heroic until they ultimately reach their target. The experience tests a few different skills, has a satisfying buildup and conclusion, and matches the player’s status as a hero.
- With flight, the player bypasses all risk, drops right on top of their target’s head, kills the target without any repercussions, and then flies away. Yes, the quest is completed much more efficiently, but the shortcut reduces the challenge, removes elements of gameplay, and robs the player of much of the experience.
That said, players love their mounts, love being efficient, and love seeing the world from above, so flight has stuck around. Different expansions have handled rulesets differently, but we’ve generally sought compromise in the form of: your first time through the game, your flight capabilities are limited, and then after you’ve explored most of the world, your flight capability is less limited.
In the Dragonflight expansion, we introduced Skyriding. Skyriding (then called Dragonriding) was unlocked very early on in the expansion, with a restrictive Vigor economy to manage (remember waiting for Vigor to recharge?) and a complex talent tree to unlock. Steady Flight was restricted until players completed a Pathfinder achievement added during patch 10.2, and that has been the paradigm we’ve followed until now: Skyride while leveling, Steady Flight available later.
Why Change Now?
When Skyriding was introduced, it was only available in the Dragon Isles. It was built and intended for experienced players level 60 and higher – hence the complex Vigor economy and the talent tree. Since then, as we’ve adapted Skyriding to become a more universal way of traversing Azeroth (available in all flyable zones, starting at level 10!), it is no longer appropriate to think of it as an endgame feature. Instead, it’s been retooled to be approachable for new players, with charges rather than Vigor, and fewer opportunities for missteps that result in downtime with no flight capability – it just works.
With these changes in place, the distinction between Skyriding and Steady Flight has diminished greatly so that it no longer really makes sense to distinguish between Skyriding and Steady Flight while leveling.
What Happens Next?
As we mentioned above, we’re unlocking Steady Flight in all Midnight and The War Within zones, via hotfix.
In the future, we will continue to look at how the ability to fly affects our play experiences. Since the release of Midnight, we’ve seen some great discussion about how Midnight “hits different” from a ground mount, and we agree. It’s fun experiencing quests at a less frenetic pace than that which is enabled through flight, and it’s rewarding to engage with the world from the ground level. While we don’t have any plans to restrict flight access meaningfully in the future, we’ll keep these discussions in mind as we continue building WoW. As always, keep the thoughts and ideas coming! Your feedback truly does shape what the game becomes in the future.
In the meantime, mount up (in whichever way you prefer)!
