flight-paths
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Patch 6.1: Request an early stop on flight paths
I can remember players asking for this feature ever since connected flight paths were introduced back in patch 1.10. Sometimes you click the wrong flight path, sometimes you fly over something interesting and just want to get off early. Whatever the reason, in patch 6.1 you can now request a stop at the next available flight point on your route. It's as simple as clicking the little vehicle eject button that you normally use to exit vehicles or multi-passenger mounts. Currently, once this is toggled on you cannot cancel your request to land early. Aside from that little quirk, it's a welcome feature. Now if only I could bail out of flight paths with a parachute.
Flight path improvements coming in patch 6.1
Tired of taking the scenic route because you missed a flight path between you and your destination? In 6.1, the flight master will be able to send you on the most optimal route regardless of what flight paths you've discovered. EU Community Manager Takralus has the details. Takralus We are making some huge improvements to the way flight paths work in 6.1. There are hundreds of flight paths in Draenor. The way it works right now, if you don't know a flight point, the flight master won't use it as a connecting node when you're travelling from point A to point B. If you've missed a few flight points (which is very easy to do), this means certain flight paths are be much less efficient than they could be. In 6.1, flight masters will use flight points you haven't discovered as connecting points. This will make things much more efficient. source
WoW Archivist: Flight
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Flying is second nature to WoW players. We've been doing it for almost eight years now. Sure, we've adventured in a few flightless places, like the Isle of Thunder, the Isle of Giants, and the Timeless Isle. Even The Burning Crusade, where flying originated, had a no-fly zone on the Isle of Quel'Danas. (What is it with these isles anyway?) But almost always, since 2006, we've flown. And we always expected to, for the vast majority of our in-game time. Now, because of Blizzard's impassioned arguments against flight on Draenor, flying is suddenly controversial. If you look back, you can see why: flying has changed the game like no other feature before or since. Let's start where it all began, however, with classic WoW's humble flight paths. They used to be cool I'm about to express something that you may not believe. Once upon a time, flight paths were cool. Yep, I said it. Before flying mounts, when you couldn't even get a ground mount until level 40 and epic ground mounts were just a dream for most due to the steep cost, in that early version of the game where you spent most of your travel time walking or riding at the pace of a Throne of Thunder gastropod, flight paths were cool. Not only did they get you around the continent at the fastest possible speed, they gave you a cinematic view of Azeroth from the skies. It was the only time you could get that view from above. The first time most classic WoW players rode a gryphon or wyvern from A to B, we loved it. No other MMO at the time had anything like it. We felt like masters of the world -- at least, when we could afford to take the trip. Most players were broke in the early days, and using flight paths too liberally often meant forgoing buying a new skill when you leveled. Taking a flight path was an indulgence, a treat, instead of the annoying hassle we see them as today.
Warlords of Draenor: Flight path reassurance
Community Manager Bashiok has posted on the official forums in an attempt to calm players' fears about the enforced dependence on flight-paths that will come with Warlords of Draenor. Bashiok We're going to be making sure flight paths and other forms of travel are quick and efficient, with a goal of getting you to the places you want to go. Flight paths in the past have always been "the scenic route", lazily listing from side to side and around waterfalls to the intended oohs-and-aahs of the transportee. The flight paths in Draenor are not going to be loop-de-loop sightseeing tours, and we're going to be looking to our beta testers to let us know if any are less than tip-top. source The key to his point here is the directness. Especially in Mists, flight paths were gratuitously looping and indirect. The Horde shrine from the PvP vendor, for example, does a series of completely arbitrary tours around the shrine before actually landing. Hopefully this will not be the case in Warlords.
In patch 5.2, automatic flight path discovery is a thing of the past
If you've been on the leveling treadmill -- or if you frequent the WoW forums -- chances are you've noticed that after patch 5.2, you stopped automatically discovering new flight paths. For those of you (myself included) who loved this feature, it's unfortunately an intentional change. According to everyone's favorite floating skull, Zarhym, the auto-discovery of flight paths -- introduced way back in patch 4.2 in June 2011 -- was never intentional. @autumnsunxo @bubblepuffle Unfortunately, you weren't provided correct info. Auto-discovery was never intended. Post to explain coming. - Zarhym (@CM_Zarhym) March 17, 2013 So why's it waited so long? Again, according to Zarhym, it was a complicated problem to crack -- and low on the priority list. @reaper2352 Until 5.2 we couldn't fix it without erasing what paths any character had discovered pre-Cataclysm. It required new tech. - Zarhym (@CM_Zarhym) March 19, 2013 While I mourn the loss of what was one of my favorite Cataclysm-era features -- the run through the Wetlands to pick up the flight path at Menethil Harbor used to be a killer, literally -- I can't complain too much. After all, with mounts starting at level 20, hearthstones on a 15 minute cooldown (with the right guild perks), and flight paths scattered conveniently around the world, getting around is easier than it's ever been, even without automatically discovering new flight paths.
The Queue: Violence clique
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about fight club. Luckily, we're talking about the Brawler's Guild! Jimmy asked: SO what are you guys thoughts on the Brawler's Guild being open to (initally I hope) the rich players of WoW. For those who don't know the only way to access the Brawler's Guild is to purchase an entry from the BMAH or o be invited by a player who is already a member of the Brawler's Guild. This means that if you are not rich (in game currency) than you pretty much have no chance at the server first and if you don't have friends on top of not having gold, well than you are not gonna get access to this content.
Breakfast Topic: I believe I can fly
This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. Many things are eagerly anticipated with the release of Cataclysm: guild achievements, level 85, Deathwing. Little has been discussed about flying mounts in all of Azeroth. It is just a snippet in the trailer, but I do remember its getting a huge cheer. Gone will be the days of flying into Southshore and then riding (I mean, really -- once we can fly, who is going to ride?) north to battle the Abominable Greench. You'll fly -- and yes, I know, Alliance won't be using Southshore, but that's a different topic. We will be flying up and out of Stormwind, heading south into Searing Gorge to Blackrock Mountain and a new instance with Nefarian, and we will be using our own mounts. Can't get that one piece of ore on the side of a hill? Fly up and get it. Need to help a low-level guild member outside Jintha'Alor? Fly there from Aerie Peak or Revantusk Village. You'll be able to scout where those nasty Devilsaurs are in Un'Goro without getting stomped on (not that it matters to a level 85). So once you can fly anywhere in Azeroth, where are you going first? If you are Alliance, I would wager 85% of you are going to the airport above Ironforge. There is a gryphon master at the north end of that area. He always waves when you fly over on your way to Menethil. I'm thinking that will become an active flight point, but I suspect most of you will fly up there on your own, simply because now you can. A few of you will probably go to the fishing hut above Stormwind. Me? That's not the first place I'm going. I have long wanted to get to one particular spot on the map. I've tried getting there a few times, particularly during the Lunar Festival because there's an elder near this spot. The gryphon flies over it and I so desperately want to get off, right there. No, I'm not telling. Where are you going to go first? Anyplace in particular, or do you think you will just hop on your flying mount and savor the wind in your face as you fly anywhere? Have you ever wanted to write for WoW.com? Your chance may be right around the corner. Watch for our next call for submissions for articles via Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. The next byline you see here may be yours!
The Queue: No
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. For the curious, the original title of today's edition of The Queue was "The Queue: Adam if you skip me and write a Queue today I'm going to shiv you IRL because I'm seriously not still asleep and will have it written in a couple of hours." Luckily, he didn't skip me, so he gets to live another day. Terethall asked... "Will the newer 5-mans (ToC and the Icecrown Citadel 5-mans) be included in the random dungeon tool in 3.3? Because it seems like a huge difficulty difference when you could go from extremely easy instances like Heroic CoS to extremely difficult (comparatively) Heroic instances like ToC and the IC instances."
Zeppelin on its way to Thunderbluff?
That's right, when a player suggests that maybe a zeppelin should be flying around the Tauren city of Thunderbluff, Kisirani says only, "Okay." So, a zeppelin is coming to Thunderbluff? Certainly seems that way.Makes a lot of sense -- Tauren originally had Plainsrunning, and if you've ever made that jaunt through their starting area, you'll know just how many plains you have to run across (of course, they didn't actually get it until level 40, so it wouldn't have helped them much there anyway, but still -- it's a run). And while you can pretty quickly fly into TB from Orgrimmar, it wouldn't hurt to have another point of departure. Kisirani doesn't say where the zepp will go, but maybe a flght up to Northrend wouldn't be out of the question either.Wow, we got all that from "Okay." Behold the power of Kisirani! Maybe it doesn't mean there's a zepp on the way, but if that's the case we'd be happy with just a cow-tapult.
WoW Rookie: Level 80 - now what?
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.Ding ... you're 80! So what are you going to be when you grow up? Don't get us wrong: levelling your first character to 80 (especially if this is your first massively multiplayer online game) is a not-insignificant accomplishment – but you're not quite ready for prime time yet. Hitting level 80 in WoW is less like being a graduating senior than it is being a new sophomore. You've finished WoW 101; now it's time to make sure you've covered all your core classes and start taking a stab at some electives and specialized coursework.If you've just hit level 80, consider this basic checklist a graduation gift of sorts from WoW Rookie. It'll help pointed you in the right direction for whatever type of game play you're interested in pursuing. Your game's just beginning. Dig in!
Wrath 101: Flight paths in Icecrown
Finally, we come to the end. Icecrown is the very last zone in Wrath, and a very gloomy one it is (in my opinion). This zone, as well as Storm Peaks, was designed with flying mounts in mind, but like Storm Peaks it still has flight paths for those of us who prefer to travel on autopilot. And like Zul'Drak, all the flight paths are neutral, being controlled by either the Argent Crusade or the Knights of the Ebon Blade. Unlike either of those zones, however, the FPs in Icecrown are extensively phased. Only two of them, Argent Vanguard and Death's Rise, are accessible immediately upon entering the zone, so don't go cruising around trying to pick up all the FPs. Just go through the normal quest lines and you'll unlock all four of them sooner or later.
Going to Northrend for the holidays
It's the day after Christmas. A fair portion of our readership is only now getting Wrath of the Lich King installed on their computer, especially after the gift exchanges of the last few days. Over the weeks since Wrath's release, we've had quite a bit of content to ease you through your first steps into Northrend. With this latest wave of people hitting the frozen shores for the first time, it's a good opportunity to look back on a lot of that.
Wrath 101: Flight paths in Storm Peaks
Welcome back, flight path fans! Storm Peaks is the penultimate zone in Northrend, and a welcome return to navigational complexity. As I mentioned in my last post on Sholazar, it is also my favorite zone in Northrend; I really enjoy all the Titan stuff as well as the background on the dwarves we get in the Alliance quests. The Sons of Hodir have the dubious honor of being probably the most difficult essential faction to rep up with, but that's going to get much easier in 3.0.8 when Relics of Ulduar become a rep turn-in. Anyway, I'd better get on with the FPs; there are quite a few of them. Neutral K3 (41,83), run by the goblins, is the entry point to Storm Peaks (and a pun off a famous mountain). I only wish we could ride on rockets all the time out of this one. Dun Niffelem (63,61) is a heavily phased Frost Giant town, headquarters of the Sons of Hodir. You will not be able to go here without being attacked before doing some significant questing (but don't worry, they're very enjoyable quests). Bouldercrag Refuge, in the northwest of the zone, has a flight master at 31,36. There's also a small cluster of NPCs up near the Ulduar instances, including a flight master (45,28), a repairer, and a reagent vendor. This is very handy for those Halls of Stone and Halls of Lightning runs (both of which are pretty nasty on heroic, in my opinion, especially the Tribunal and Loken). It will become even more essential in patch 3.1, when the Ulduar raid is due to be added.
Wrath 101: Flight paths in Sholazar Basin
If you liked my Grizzly Hills guide, you'll love this Sholazar Basin one. Sholazar takes the the honor of having the fewest flight points of any Northrend zone, featuring only two neutral points. Nesingwary Base Camp. This FP is interesting in that it is not immediately open - you need to do some quests to retrieve an engine and collect parts in order to rebuild the flying machine in order to be able to fly from it. After doing the quests, the flying machine itself, named the Spirit of Gnomeregan (26,58), acts as flight master. River's Heart, in the center of the zone. This FP (50,62) does not need to be unlocked by questing. There is also a Cold Weather Flying trainer here, in case you happen to ding 77 while questing in Sholazar (though on both of my 80s so far, I hit 77 either one or two zones earlier). The next post will take me to my favorite Northrend zone, Storm Peaks, which is a little more interesting FP-wise. Until then, have fun, and if you see our local friendly spirit beast, be sure to tell a hunter. Previously: Lower Northrend (Alliance/Horde), Grizzly Hills, Zul'Drak. Arthas awaits and so do your questions. Find the answers you've been looking for that will help you with your journey into Northrend and to level 80 with Wrath 101.
[1:Local]: Perspectives on WoW past, present and future
Reader comments – ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week. Be sure to dive into the comments area of each thread (not this one!) and add your own thoughts – unlike your mama, we like us some hot, fresh backtalk. We don't miss that at allThis Breakfast Topic, which looked back at the little annoyances we're not sorry have gone the way of the dodo, included plenty of nostalgia for the epic-length Alterac Valleys of old. Players claimed to have hated them back then – but they seem to miss them now that they're a thing of the past. A number of readers pegged a different annoyance that early WoW players remember with chagrin. "One of the things I remember with the least amount of fondness is unconnected flight paths," noted lightningjynx. "There wasn't the clicking a destination halfway across the world and going to do something productive while you waited. No, you had to stare at your character flying to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time, unless you had all the flight path times memorized and played that way." "Wow, yeah, I had forgotten about that," agreed MadScientist17. "Had to try to remember which flight points went where." We agree, too – but ultimately, we think Veil has the pointiest point: "Definitely don't miss old Andorhal. That place was an f'ing death trap."
Wrath 101: Flight paths in Zul'Drak
Continuing on from Grizzly Hills, we come a bit north to Zul'Drak, a zone that's apparently one giant troll city. I'm a big fan; some people don't seem to love it much, but presumably everyone needs to know how to get around, so let's get into the flight paths. All the hubs in Zul'Drak are neutral (generally Argent Crusade-aligned), meaning there's just one list for both Horde and Alliance. Light's Breach is where you typically start in ZD. Danica Saint at 32,75 handles the air traffic there. Ebon Breach is the starting point for what is (in my opinion) one of the best questlines in the zone. The flight master there is Baneflight, at 14,74. See what they did there? Baneflight? I assume that's hilarious if you're a ghoul or something. Argent Stand is one of the two major hubs in the zone. Gurric is the flight master, at 42,65. Maaka (60,57) provides flights from Zim'Torga, which features a delicious Blessing of Kings-bot and some good questing. Rafae is at the small camp near Gundrak (71,23), providing easy access to that instance (which I haven't run more than once, still). We're starting to get into zones where you're more and more likely to have your own flying mount, but I will press on through Sholazar, Storm Peaks, and Icecrown in the days ahead. Stay tuned! Previously posted: Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, and Dragonblight (Horde/Alliance); Grizzly Hills. Arthas awaits, and so do your questions. Find the answers you've been looking for to help you with your journey into Northrend and to level 80 with Wrath 101.
Wrath 101: Flight paths in Grizzly Hills
You asked for it, so I'm delivering the next installment of my series on the scenic flight points of Northrend. If you missed my previous posts on lower Northrend, go check out the Alliance Wrath Flight paths guide or the Horde Wrath Flight paths guide, as appropriate. Today, we'll be looking at Grizzly Hills, the next zone after Borean Tundra, Howling Fjord, and Dragonblight level-wise. There aren't a ton of flight points there - just two each for Horde and Alliance. Horde: Kragh, at 22,65 in Conquest Hold, in the west part of the map, is your first stop in the Hills, more than likely. Later on you'll get some quests to take you over to Camp Oneqwah, whose flight master is Makki Wintergale, at 65,47. Alliance: Just over the river from the Horde's Conquest Hold is the Alliance base of Amberpine Lodge, with Vana Gray at 31,59. (A reference to a certain long-running game show, perhaps?) After doing some quests there (or if you just get bored) you'll be sent over to see some familiar faces at the Westfall Brigade Encampment. Samuel Clearbrook will pack you on a gryphon at 60,27. Depending on rest XP, how many instances you do, whether you do both starting zones, etc., you might be getting your own wings back as early as Grizzly Hills, which really speeds things up. However, if not, or if you're still stuck on a pokey old normal-speed flying mount, be sure to catch my next installment, on Zul'Drak. Arthas awaits and so do your questions. Find the answers you've been looking for that will help you with your journey into Northrend and to level 80 with Wrath 101.
Wrath 101: How to get to Dalaran
Dalaran, as we all know by now, is Wrath's equivalent of Shattrath. It's a neutral city with portals back to every other major city (each faction's four capitals plus Shattrath), it has profession trainers and a bank (but no class trainers besides Mage and no auction house), and we'll probably be spending a lot of time in it once we all hit 80. It floats above Crystalsong Forest in central Northrend. But how do you get there? Mages can teleport there at level 71, and give portals there at 74. So that's one option. Similarly, you can get a Warlock to summon you, if they can find players around to help. Players also get quests to go there legitimately and get attuned to use the crystal that teleports you up and down at level 74, but who wants to wait that long? Enter the Battleground summon. This is how I and almost everyone I know got to Dalaran the first time, and it goes like this: Find someone in Dalaran ("/who Dalaran" is helpful for this) and ask politely if they are willing to group with you and queue the group for a battleground. When you get into the battleground, /afk out (or play it through). Poof! You're in Dalaran. This works at any level, for any character (although you do need to ensure the person queueing you is in the same battleground level bracket as you; thanks to Faeries Wear Boots for pointing this out). Once there you can set your hearthstone at any of several inns for quick return, and there is a flight point at Krasus' Landing - if you grab a flight point or two in Dragonblight for connections (Mo'aki Harbor being the easiest), you should then be able to fly to Dalaran from most flight points in Northrend. Arthas awaits and so do your questions. Find the answers you've been looking for that will help you with your journey into Northrend and to level 80 with Wrath 101.
Wrath 101: Horde flight paths in Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, and Dragonblight
Previously, we covered the Alliance flight paths of the first three zones in Northrend. Now it's the Horde's turn. Once you've gotten to Northrend and possibly taken an awesome turtle boat to your choice of starting zone, you'll be mostly getting around by Wind Rider (flying mounts, of course, don't work in Northrend until level 77). Note that there will be zone-specific information and maps after the cut; if you don't want to see anything about Northrend before you go there, don't click.
Wrath 101: Alliance flight paths in Howling Fjord, Borean Tundra, and Dragonblight
In about nine short hours, we'll all be storming the (figurative) gates of Northrend, in one of two zones: Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord (I'll be Fjording first, in case you were wondering). The zones are pretty large, but fortunately, they're replete with flight paths. And one of the questions I can promise you are going to see for the first week or so in /1 is: "Where is the FP?" But you, gentle reader, will not be asking this question, because I'm going to tell you where all the flight paths are (Horde-side friends, your version of this post is coming soon). First off, you'll need to know how to get to Northrend in the first place. Fortunately, we've got your back. And once you do get there, you may want to shuttle from one starting zone to the other. Turtle boats to the rescue! Now once you've picked a zone, how do you get around within it? Note that there will be zone-specific information and maps after the cut; if you don't want to see anything about Northrend before you go there, don't click.
