So, here’s the thing. Several years ago Blizzard decided to remove flying at the launch of a new expansion, with players being able to unlock it again later through achievements. The main argument for this (and please correct me if I’m wrong) was so players could see the game world and appreciate all the hard work that had gone into it.
Okay, fair enough. Good argument, and the later unlock was a compromise people could live with.
Now, here comes Dragonflight. Almost straight from the start it turns out you have to be able to fly to do the content. But instead of allowing us to use our own mounts, we are forced into learning a system that - to me, anyway, feels clunky and lacks manoeuverability and control. But we have to use it, or we won’t be able to progress through the story.
And that, to me, is a huge problem. You are taking away player agency and choice, and force people to do stuff, even if they really don’t like it. And not just for a bit (such as a Torghast run or two, a spot of pvp’ing), but as the basis for the entire expansion.
Why have you not thought of making it optional? People who chose dragon riding get new, customizable and faster mounts. People who don’t, can use their own mounts. A clear choice, giving people agency over their playing experience, with the added advantage that you willl automatically learn how much of the player base actually likes the new system. You won’t learn that if you just force everyone to use it.
You had four options here, Blizzard: Remove flying with a later unlock, allow flying from the start, allow a choice between ‘normal’ flying and dragon riding, or make dragon riding mandatory - and you picked the worst one.
But that has been a problem for years, to my mind: The game devs come up with some nice ideas, and then take them way too far to be enjoyable for players. (See for instance the various incarnations of the mission table, to the point where in SL you needed an add-on like Venture Plan to help you set up missions - and even that took ages. Or the Covenants themselves, which must have driven pet/mount/mog collectors absolutely crazy considering the amount of time and anima needed to get everything. Or the ridiculous currency bloat - how many different ones did we have at the end of SL? I’ve lost count.)
Is it perhaps that you have trouble distinguishing between challenging players and trolling them?
As a side note, I for one prefer small mounts, so I can actually see the game world when I’m flying. To me, dragons and the like take up too much of the screen - defeating the ‘look at our work’ argument yet again. I also prefer control over speed.
All of that combined - being forced to use a system I don’t like for the entire expansion, the lack of choice, Blizzard undermining its own reason for removing flying without any valid argument I can think of - that is what makes me furious. It makes me feel a physical revulsion to dragon flying. These last two days I just had to log off to protect myself from my mounting anger, and my guildies from my rants.
And that is what makes me feel worst of all. I really enjoy raiding with my guild - and fair’s fair, the raids have been really good fun these last expansions - but I just can’t see myself leveling without harming myself. But as I am GM and raid leader of quite an old and lively guild, I don’t want to leave my guildies like this, and I would miss them, too.
So thanks for absolutely nothing, Blizzard, for making me feel this way and putting me in this position. My wrath and disdain are yours to do with as you see fit.
