The Return of Flying in Draenor.

The community has spoken.

     Saturday raid didn't happen.  I forgot I had promised to be elsewhere that night, and Magilla had prior plans as well.  Not a great way for one of our first Saturday raids, but I think one of the downsides of the weekend raiding is that things are going to come up for people more often.  I ask that people are patient as we work out schedules and the kinks.  Things may be rough for a while.

    Sunday night we didn't have enough folks so we went back and stomped a couple of Pandaria raids.  If we are short again this weekend we are going to stomp them on heroic and get the guild the mount from the first raid tier of Pandaria.  It wasn't current, but it was fun.  Spirits where high and we all had fun.  Was a good way to spend a night.

     But let's get to the topic at hand.  Ian Hazzikostas had made an announcement that flying wouldn't be happening in Draenor or future expansions.  To put it mildly the community did not take this announcement well.  There are several forum posts of rants and raging over this decision.  The few that were defending this choice seemed the vast minority.  I fell on the side of wanting flying back, in a calm rational way.  However as I stated this would not be a game ender for me.  I wasn't going to rage quit and stomp off to other pastures.

     The community was heard however, in the largest rage fit since Blizzard announced they were going to make people post their real names on the forums.  (Did you remember that little gem?)  Here is the article they posted on the matter. Dev Watercooler-Flying in Draenor  Now lets discuss.

      For those who don't want to read the whole thing, let me put it in a nutshell.  Flying will now be introduced into Draenor sometime after 6.2 (not during the patch launch.)  In order to get flying you will have to finish Loremaster in Warlords along with a couple of other achievements.  At that point you will get a shiny new mounts, and all your toons will be able to learn flying after level 90.

      This I think is an elegant solution.  It let's Blizzard get us into the game on the ground while leveling and achieves their goals.  At the same time it will allow people to earn the right to fly, and help them level alts later on rather then having to hoof it through the content on every single toon you level.  I think this is a model they should look at for future expansions as well.  I don't mind them gating flying behind achievements or level requirements.  I don't think it breaks the content to let people fly around after they have done it once.  I am not sure this will get people out of their garrisons, but that's another discussion.

       There is a sacrifice that is being made here that folks aren't looking at.  Dairies on Convert to Raid podcast mentioned that time spent on making content work for flying could be time spent on other content, and he's not wrong.  Think about it.  If Blizzard didn't have to make the world pretty for those who buzz above and fly they could put that time elsewhere.  More raid content? Dungeons? Questlines?  Things that could help fill these times of lull between major patches and give us more stuff to do in game.  I am not saying that this trumps the joy of flying and the ability to re-explore the world from above, but it should be taken into consideration.  As with all things, you have to ponder what you are sacrificing in order to gain.

      How do you feel about this? Is Blizzard on the right track with this plan?  Do you think this means that they won't try to take flying out of newer expansions, or stick to a model like this?  What are your thoughts.

Lag/Lazyeye.