So guys, this isn’t a rant thread about flying, but damn, did I miss how incredibly beautiful DF zones are up until now.
I came to expansion late (I’m a returning player of sorts, picked up DF on season 4) and went straight to get all Dragonriding glyphs, after that I done all the main questlines, basically zapping around on my dragon.
Although the scenery was still really nice it’s - Nothing - compared to just riding your ground mount, especially on Azure Spam, the level of detail, the forests and mountains, the tiny and big roads…damn!
So I went to do all side quests using only a ground mount and it was an absolute blast (I highly recommend anyone to also try)
I believe Dragonriding (Or dynamic flying as its being called from now on) is the Best addition to WoW in a long time, it has done wonders to modernize the game and bring it up to speed with some other MMOs, and the fact that you can fly from day one in an expansion is - Absolutely awesome - To be honest I think they should also allow regular flying from the start without any Path finder achievements.
But for the reasons above I also think they should give us more incentive to ride our ground mounts from time to time and enjoy the deep immersion it brings.
One obvious incentive would be…well, Dynamic Riding Ground Mounts, similar to what Guild Wars 2 has but adapted to WoW, this would make ground mounts fun to use again and encourage people to use them more often, and at the same time it wouldn’t take anything away from the people that just wants to zap around in Dynamic Flying .
The Dragonriding is going to be called Skyriding in TWW to incorporate all the other mounts, very few are being left out. It’s great you are enjoying it, I think many like the fast, more engaging flying to the older style.
Sadly I don’t get on with the zoomie flying and it makes me feel sick (yes I’ve tried all the settings) so I stick to good old slow flap. Ironically I find it so much better for immersion and exploring to be on a slow mount. I can take in my surroundings, explore properly and see ofc take lovely screenshots. When we got slow flap in DF it was like discovering all over again.
My levelling is definitely made slower in TWW due to slow flying not being available and still being gated behind a pathfinder. In testing I spent a lot more time running around on the ground and flying only when I really had to. I am praying pathfinder is available from the start, I will just rush through the requirements as fast as possible and from there on and all alts will have a much improved (still slower than skyriding) levelling speed.
Slow flap is a clear disadvantage over those who Skyride, so I really feel they should be available at the same time.
I have no idea what dynamic riding mounts are. I don’t play GW2, the times I’ve tried I’ve just not taken to it. I love my ground mounts but I dread more gimmick riding like flying. Speeding past everything is not immersive for me, but I’m a minority.
Yeah I am not sure what dynamic riding mounts are either. Succubus would perhaps like to explain or perhaps even demonstrate
I will probably be doing it how Blizzard expects me to in TWW, blasting through the zones on my first character as fast as possible and then enjoying it on my second one after getting Pathfinder. I much prefer the slower version when I am just out and about, but purely because of the racing world quests it was a nice feature to add.
The Dragon Racing Grand Prix have been my favourite part of DF, but I agree with how the new flying approach breaks immersion. I’ve been playing GW2 since Feb as a newbie, and the lack of flying throughout the old expansions makes the game better, not worse. I was happy with how flying was only enabled in WoW later in the expack, but I’m an open-world player first and foremost and would rather enjoy the scenery than be able to speed through open-world content to get to end-game.
I’ve played guild wars 2 a few years ago (I didn’t like the game, but the mount/riding system was awesome) and they have several types of dynamic ground mounts, for example a Raptor that just jumps foward really far and fast or a beetle that rolls extremely quick (but is really hard to steer) etc…
Skyriding is cool and practical for long distance but things look and feel real wonky when your doing something like mounting between quest objectives in an area or mob packs; a quick skyward ascent and then diving straight back to the ground. All sorts of 3D geometry gets in your face.
Being able to have different types of flying mounts on your bars or Druid’s Travel Form to fix that problem has been useful… but that will be gone with pre-patch (terrible decision imo, I’d like to see a new macro command added that lets us mount any of the old mounts the old way instantly if we want to).
GW2’s mount system and the way zones are designed around using each type at different times is, quite franky, amazing… but, GW2 does have to incorporate things like no mount/flying/gliding areas to stop it from trivialising intended content, since the mounts are a full on progression system and are used to gate/access new content.
I’m not sure that kind of thing would sit well with the WoW community. I mean, I remember a LOT of people complaining about having to simply collect the Glyphs when Dragonflight launched and lots seemed to quit the game at the time because of it.
I actually did like you described when I was levelling an alt a few months ago.
I used a ground mount for the most part. I didn’t put any hard restrictions on myself, if I wanted to herb a node on a ledge, I flew there instead of climbing. But while questing and going from A to B for objectives, the world felt larger and it did wonders for my immersion.
But… I also think I enjoyed it because I chose to play that way. I could fly and zoom-zoom if I wanted to, but I opted to use a ground mount - just because. Not being able to use anything than a ground mount would probably have felt restrictive.
The thing is; I’ve been doing these quests for almost 2 years. It’s too late.
I will be keeping such things in mind for TWW though; although the prospect of riding through caves doesn’t appeal to me.
If you watch the video, it’s similar to mount equipment in a sense…
One mount jumps fast and long, another has a huge speed but really doesn’t turn. Imagine rolling through Tanaris Some mounts could theoretically glide. Some do walk on water. Stuff like that.
I don’t quite remember where but the rabbit hopping up the mountainside is extremely familiar. (Dry Top aside.)
I’m doing the same with Legion and it’s a nice option, regardless of when. Galander explained it well. I’m generally riding on the ground, I love the clutter and the human perspective. But whenever lacking patience, I like to hop on a flying mount and shortcut something - a rare, or some lootable.
I didn’t get the hang of dragon riding in Remix.
At the same time I’m jelly because I’m floating towards some bronze and then someone swoops in and steals it. I know, I should say takes it, but hey, I’m roleplaying the victim.
I think they shouldn’t just add an incentive to be more on the ground but also reward us more for doing so.
Not saying they should put in some counter that tracks how often we fly around but they definitely need to add a system that encourages staying on ground…
Like, for example, the longer you stay on ground in a zone (resets when swapping zones or when taking off) you get a certain amount of bonus gold and xp from kills/WQ, etc.
Could be something like:
5 mins = +1% → 10 mins = +2% → 15 mins = +3% → etc. up to 25mins = +5% extra Gold/XP maximum.
That would especially pair well with Warmode, so people don’t avoid conflicts on ground by flying around.
they should just start playing the game … honestly that would fix most of the problems we have. dynamic flight is great in theory but it’s clunky when you use it while questing. if u switch to a static mount it feels slow. sometimes you just want stay in air with your dragon but you can’t, you either have to fly to safety or change mounts. another problem is we still cast mounts. it would be great if we could switch to static mounts mid air
Some mounts could theoretically glide. Some do walk on water. Stuff like that.