Like many things in the game, it’s a case of priority.
I want that mechagon essence? I have to make doing my galvanic each day a priority, else I’ll never get it.
I want my rio score? I have to make running mythic a priority.
You want flying? Rep priority.
Yes, for the time spent grinding you find less time for other stuff, until the grind is done that is. This is generally how the game has always worked. Unless you have waaaaay more time to play than anyone else, it’s never been possible to find time to max out all content types (mythic, pvp, raiding, achis) simultaneously. You set a shirt term goal, achieve it, and move onto the next.
Yes, making flying PF has added flying to that list. Do I agree with this? It’s largely irrelevant as it is the case. The reqs to unlock flying unlock other pve Content (essences) so it’s hardly just an isolated thing on its own. There are other benefits to doing so.
You have to determine how to prioritise your playtime. I don’t have a lot of playtime myself. Maybe 1-2 hrs most weekdays and one weekend day, so in all probability it averages about 10-12 hrs a week. That said I managed to get flying within 15 days of 8.2 hitting, because I made it my priority. Now everything else I do is much quicker, so I have more time to do what I want, and spend tiny amounts of time on “chores” like emissaries.
Did those 2 weeks kinda suck? You bet. But they’re done now, I’m exalted with both so I only do pearl and azerite quests in naz, and the world quest in mecha. Takes me maybe 20 minutes to do both. Its like those rep grinds in older expos. If you wanted the reward, you put in the time and the reprieve was when it was done, it was done.
Flying was once “free” sure, but I don’t personally see the issue with how it is. The stuff required to unlock it is current content which works towards gearing rewards etc. Are we honestly to believe that if pathfinder wasnt tied to naz and mecha, nobody would be doing anything towards building rep in those zones? I don’t believe this. Way I see it flying is an added extra for simply working the new zones. I prefer that to gold being spent on it (on each char) when I was going to do the content anyway.
And let’s remember given gold inflation flying would not be 5k quests give 20g each in bfa, plus selling drops etc, each character could easily accrue about 20k levelling from 110-120 without trying, and flying always tended to be set at “however much gold you’re likely to have if you don’t spend too much of it levelling up”.
I’d rather have freedom to spend my gold how I want, on stuff I want. I don’t have endless reserves of it, and those that do, well, it seems odd to me that they complain, because either they spend countless hours farming gold (but 1 hr of rep farming a day is too much) or they benefitted from the Wod hyperinflation period. I don’t see why players who benefitted from that should have an advantage compared to others. I wasn’t active In wod so I never had the opportunity to make stupid money as many did.
in the current model, both me and rich wod era player have equal means to get flying at similar cost to us both. Under a monetary model (bumping flying up to a still modest in my mind in terms of inflation, 20k) they have an advantage wherein they can just buy it outright on multiple chars and have tons spare , and I can only buy it on 3-4 and bankrupt myself. They should not be rewarded in terms of current content for benefitting from content two expos ago, especially when their complaints boil down wanting to avoid the current content in favour of this, its absurd. Its akin to suggesting that your work in prior expos should carry over into later expos and give you the rewards thusly. How about no.
