flying-mounts
Latest
Breakfast Topic: Revisiting the question of flight
The developers' decision to remove flight from Warlords of Draenor zones was controversial to say the least -- some were fans of the decision and others were decidedly not. We've been without it for awhile now. After having experienced Draenor without it, how do you feel? Personally, I was a fan of removing flight. Getting my first flying mount back in Burning Crusade was a magical moment, I'll admit. Over time, though, I felt its inclusion detracted from World of Warcraft have a cohesive, meaningful world. It's often said that if you don't like flight, you don't have to use it. While that's true, players are going to use all of the tools available in a video game, myself included. I didn't like flight, but the game had flight, so I wasn't going to intentionally make my experience more difficult than that of everyone else. I stand by that. In general, I'm a fan of a no-flying Warlords of Draenor and continue to be. There is one exception: Nagrand. Treasure hunting in Nagrand proved frustrating. Those treasures felt like the developers created a zone intended for flying mounts prior to removing them. Trying to use the Steamwheedle gliders only infuriated me more -- I couldn't even see half of the treasures in the game world to know where to aim even though they were on my map. The glider moved too fast for me to look around and spot it. It's entirely possible (and likely) that I am just bad at navigation with those things, but I gave up on getting those treasures and most of them still lay unclaimed. Trying to get them made me rage more than a little, and for the first time, I wished flight was still a thing. I'm also perplexed why they added an item such as Aviana's Feather in the expansion in which they took a stand against flight. With its relatively short 10 minute cooldown, I can use it to get wherever I want to go without partaking in the actual world whatsoever, much like a flying mount. A glider-on-demand is apparently okay, but flying mounts are not. Bizarre, I think.
Final Fantasy XIV unveils Dark Knight and more at London Fanfest
The second of three Final Fantasy XIV fan festivals is taking place now in London, and once again there's no shortage of information about the game's first expansion. While the Las Vegas gathering hinted at the new jobs, the first one was officially revealed today: Dark Knight, a new tank wielding a two-handed sword without any base class involved. No word on how the omission of a class will affect the leveling structure, but it was mentioned that the job will focus on dodging and parrying to reduce damage. The keynote speech also included revealing more about the game's flying mounts, which will allow free exploration of the Heavensward areas with no need for take-off or landing. Black chocobos and single-player airships were confirmed, with a grand total of six mounts currently in development. Two beast tribes were also linked, a birdlike race called the Vanu Vanu worshipping the primal Bismarck, and the insectoid Gnath who worship Ravana. There was also a hint that the next job to be revealed will be gun-focused. More news is likely to emerge as the fanfest continues.
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.
Trion's latest ArcheAge livestream is all about gliders
When it comes to unique ArcheAge features, hang-gliders are pretty near the top of my personal list. Even the dinky little starter glider you get as part of a newb zone quest is more fun than it has any right to be, which is why I'll be watching Trion's latest livestream. Said stream is all about gliders, and you can catch it tonight at 7:00 p.m. EDT on Trion's Twitch channel! [Thanks WNxArcticwolf!]
Flying in Draenor must be destroyed
Recently, Alex Afrasiabi did an interview wherein he talked about the status of flight on Draenor when Warlords of Draenor launches. Specifically, that the idea of the players not being able to fly even at max level when the expansion comes out is a test of how players react to a flightless expansion, and if it seems successful, it's possible they may not introduce it at all. That from the moment we arrive on Draenor at level 90 to the time we finally leave it to take our adventures elsewhere, we will not fly anywhere on the new continent. I think this is a marvelous idea.
Breakfast Topic: Why can't we fly?
If you're the right level -- and have the appropriate riding training -- you can fly in most parts of World of Warcraft. For those who are accustomed to flying, venturing into one of the areas you can't fly feels a lot like having weights attached to your feet, as even the grandest flying mount will can't quite manage to get airbound. And, really, it's an embarrassment when, believing you can fly, you leap off a ledge to find you can't. It's even more embarrassing when you die of fall damage because of it. The places you can't fly are few and far between -- at this point the only no-fly zones are mostly forgotten bits and pieces of Burning Crusade content, like The Exodar, Silvermoon City, and the daily hub Isle of Quel'Danas. These aren't exactly well-traversed areas -- probably one reason they haven't been updated -- but traveling through them they stand out like sore thumbs from the rest of the game world and you've got to wonder why they haven't been. So for today's discussion topic, readers, tell us: do you think we should be able to fly throughout the game? Or do you like these hidden, ground-based areas?
WoW Archivist: The quest for swift 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? With all the controversy over flying in Draenor (and lack of it until patch 6.1), flight is a major topic in the WoW community these days. Veteran players remember a time when taking to the skies was merely a dream -- one that The Burning Crusade made real, at least in Outland. Along with flying mounts, Blizzard decided that druids should receive new shapeshifting forms that allowed flight. The forms came in two speeds: the base Flight Form and the Swift Flight Form. Rather than making the latter a trainable skill, Blizzard instead provided druids with one of the longest and most epic class-specific quest lines of all time: the Swift Flight Form chain. Seventeen quests long, the chain made a versatile shapeshifter out of you whether you wanted to be or not. Like many others, the SFF chain became a casualty of the Shattering and can no longer be completed. It is well worth revisiting, however, so let's let fly!
Bashiok on flying mount delay in World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor
There's already been a flurry of opinions expressed on the reveal that Blizzard does not plan to allow flying in Draenor until patch 6.1 -- a bit of a departure from previous expansions, where flying was allowed at max level (except for Cataclysm). Several threads in the WoW forums have already thoroughly explored player feelings on the topic, and Bashiok took it upon himself to jump into one to give a more detailed insight into Blizzard's logic in making this decisions. Specifically, this issue is one of control; the players' versus the game designers'. Bashiok points out that once a player can fly, they control every aspect of how they engage with the ground, which is where the majority of content, and in particular, combat, is located. While it's natural for players to want that kind of engagement to be done on their agency, Blizzard's designers also work hard to present content in a certain way, and once a player can fly, all their design and presentation becomes meaningless. It's not an easy balance to strike, and Blizzard is always weighing the different design choices against each other. The post is an interesting look into the thought processes that go into these kinds of decisions, and you can read it in full after the break.
Flying mounts may not be allowed in Draenor until patch 6.1
In episode 347 of The Instance podcast, which was recorded at BlizzCon in front of a big crowd, Ghostcrawler was kind enough to answer some fan questions live on the podcast. The topic of transportation in Draenor came up and he revealed that Blizzard wants to delay flying as much as possible, and has even considered delaying it until patch 6.1. Their goal is to have Draenor feel like a very dangerous place. The comparison Ghostcrawler used was Fel Reavers in Outland, only instead of Fel Reavers there will be giant Gronn like the ones seen in the Warlords of Draenor trailer. Situations like that are much less dangerous when you can just hop on your drake and fly away. The topic comes up at 58:30 in the podcast for those interested, but the entire episode is worth a listen.
Breakfast Topic: Today, the Sky Golems invade Azeroth
I did it! I managed to complete my engineering cooldown every single day since patch 5.4 was launched. My dedication has paid off and I'll finally be able to fly around in my shiny new Sky Golem mount. If you're not an engineer, you should start seeing Sky Golems flooding the market today (tomorrow for EU). I haven't looked forward to a new mount this much since the Flying Machine mounts were introduced in Burning Crusade. If you're an engineer, will you be keeping your first Sky Golem for yourself or selling it? Non-engineers, will you be spending the gold to get your hands on one? With it costing 30 days of profession cooldowns and 30 Living Steel to craft, I wouldn't expect the first batch of these to be very cheap. If you haven't seen this mount in action yet, be sure to check it out in all of its glory in MMO Champion's video. %Poll-84991%
The Queue: Breeze below my flight appendages
This weekend, a reader helped me with a very silly technical problem. In appreciation, I told him that he's my hero. Then he made a terrible, terrible mistake. @AlexZiebart As long as Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" isn't used as a Queue header lol - Matthew Burrows (@HouseLedyard) July 27, 2013 Mortman asked: Question about the WoW books... Are those authors hired by Blizzard to write the books? Or do they just write them and submit them to Blizzard? Or are they more like fanfiction?
The Nexus Telegraph: Still moving in WildStar
The downside to writing about WildStar in this stage of the game's lifecycle is that because of the very nature of beta tests, I'm going to be spending a lot of time speculating instead of talking about certainties. Last week, I speculated. I was wrong on some points, as I found out when I got a letter from Carbine clarifying some things that had previously been ambiguous enough for speculation. The upside to writing about WildStar in this stage of the game's lifecycle is that sometimes I get letters from development staff letting me in on valuable inside information. Aside from being able to clarify my previous incorrect speculation, I also have for you a number of other important bits of information regarding the game this week, including a brief discussion of whether or not the game will allow for flight on a regular basis. So since that's well worth discussing, let's go ahead and just make this column another dialogue about movement.
Is it time to kill flying mounts?
My first true WoW leveling experience was in Burning Crusade. I remember skulking through the zones on my night elf druid, riding my nightsaber from one quest hub to the next. I remember thanking Cenarius that druids could stealth, an ability that helped me avoid Horde players. Even with this gift, though, I would still get caught up in PvP every once in a while. It didn't help that during those tense moments I froze up and panicked simultaneously, randomly flailing about while the other player steadily ended my life. Eventually I heard about flying mounts, and that once you hit level 70 and paid 5,000 gold you could grace the skies with your presence. Of course, if you're still leveling and nowhere near the requisite amount of gold, you become less concerned with getting your own mount than defending yourself against enemies that may appear out of thin air. After a while, I was able to hit 70 and somehow managed to scrounge up the coin for my flight training. I suddenly felt safe; I could quest, I could explore without having to look over my shoulder, and if anyone tried to attack me I could just pop into bird form and put all of my weight onto my space bar. I felt a greater sense of control, one that I actually got so accustomed to having that when the Isle of Quel'Danas opened up, an area that only allowed ground-based travel, I felt refreshed.
Carrot on a Stick: It's time to bring back the riding crop
Yes, we're going fast these days. My flying mount in Pandaria clocks in a 451% of normal. I'm zipping around like no one's business. But I want more. There was a time when everyone had a Carrot on a Stick or a Riding Crop. These were simple items that increased your mounted speed by 3% or 10%, respectively. They were trinkets, and every time you flipped on your mount you'd put your riding crop on and be all that much faster flying around the Outlands. Then, with patch 3.0.2, launched on October 14, 2008, the riding speed enhancements became useless for any character over 70. Gone were the days of just that little extra boost to set you apart, and gone were the days of riding outfits and other such fun. But you know what, Azeroth? It's time to bring the fun back. It's time for the riding crop to make its return. It's time for the stick to get an even bigger carrot. There's a two good reason that's make now the perfect time for these toys reintroduction.
New sandbox Xulu Universe begins alpha, offers world-building
Xulu Universe, a new free-to-play MMORPG entering alpha, offers more sandbox elements than you can shake a stick at, by giving players the tools to create their own content, from activities to new worlds. Nanci Solomon, CEO of Xulu Entertainment, stated, "The idea for Xulu Universe was collectively formed in our heads years ago. We've worked hard to bring high-end open play, socializing, and creativity together into a single cohesive experience. Our alpha launch is just an early peek at what's in store, and we look forward to our early user community to help guide our evolution." Xulu Universe is inviting players to join its alpha testing. Those interested can sign up and download the game via the official site. All players will begin with a free ATV and a flying vehicle to facilitate exploration and play. [Source: Xulu Entertainment press release]
The OverAchiever: How to find the new cloud serpent mounts in Mists of Pandaria
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we experience the horrors of exploration. One of the joys of getting into a new expansion is seeing a huge, lovely, empty map in front of you, containing a wealth of new experiences and items. One of the annoyances of getting into a new expansion is seeing a huge, horrible, empty map in front of you, containing a wealth of new experiences and items that you have absolutely no idea how to find. If you're me, you will eventually find yourself on a ledge somewhere in the Jade Forest, looking in silence over a cliff with a 2,000-foot drop with the knowledge that you can't fly off of it and that your hearthstone is down. This is bad. I put this article together for that reason, because when I got into the Mists of Pandaria beta, I was desperate to find the new cloud serpent mounts but didn't actually know how to find them. (I did, however, "find" the bottom of the cliff. Good for me.) Hopefully, this will help you speed up the process a bit on your end, although we're still not 100% sure where all of these mounts will eventually be found.
Did flying mounts ruin Azeroth?
The question of whether flying mounts may have ruined Azeroth is a hard question for me to even posit, because I love flying mounts. I love being able to fly right over things that annoy me, drop right in on quest objectives and soar right out again. I loved that we could finally fly in Azeroth when Cataclysm shipped, and I was absolutely in favor of being able to use my flying mount to skip over stuff I disliked when questing and leveling up. But it's worth considering: Did that convenience that I so love come at too high a cost? Did being able to fly over obstacles keep me from appreciating how much detail went into the zones? Did it ruin world exploration, something that a lot of players got a lot of enjoyment out of for a great deal of vanilla WoW's run? Did incorporating flying mounts into Azeroth, in addition to forcing a complete redesign of the world, also end up stripping out interesting and cool places you had to really work at to find and visit? Let's discuss the pros and cons.
Alganon delays expansion, plans double-XP weekend
Citing "unforseen circumstances," the team at QOL has announced that Alganon's Rise of the Ourobani expansion will be delayed until the fourth quarter of this year. "After evaluation of the project, it was decided that more time was needed in order to do some critical bug fixes as well as to spend more time on certain areas and features of the expansion in order to do the best work possible," the devs wrote in the April newsletter. Rise of the Ourobani will feature the playable titular race, a brand-new continent to explore, a Warden combat companion, PvP, and flying mounts. To soften the blow of the expansion's delay, QOL has released several sneak peek pictures and videos. Even though the expansion is a ways away, players have a reason to log in now, as Alganon is preparing a double-XP weekend from April 20 through the 23rd. You can watch Rise of the Ourobani flying mounts in action after the break.
The Daily Grind: What outdated game mechanic should be retired from MMOs?
Returning to an old game is like hopping in a time machine and surveying the horrible mistakes made by MMO studios a decade ago. Forget those five guys who still murmur the word "permadeath" wistfully; we're talking corpse runs, vitae penalty, corpse looting, tank mages, experience loss, holy trinities, zone walls, hybrid class level penalties, and tree-top cities without railings, all as a matter of course for the games of the day. Nowadays, these mechanics are abandoned in a field somewhere by all but the most retro game studios. I have to wonder what we'll look back on in another 10 years with the same feeling of "wow, I can't believe anyone thought that was a good idea." Cash shops? Flying mounts? Faction-grinds? Classes? Skill bars? Questing? Tree-top cities without railings? (Seriously guys -- stop making those.) What game mechanic is so outdated and so abhorred that it should be retired from MMOs right now? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Why I Play: EverQuest II
Because. Remember back when this answer was lobbed at you as the definitive answer (often by moms tired of incessant "why"s or as a precursor to "I said so!")? But since I am not your mom -- and more importantly, the boss isn't about to pay me for a one word article -- let me elaborate, though, I warn you, you may regret it; once I get going I may not be able to stop! Seriously, they had to restrain me from taking over Why I Play. Obviously I broke free mwuahahahaha! Simply put, I love EverQuest II. I log into it daily. Sometimes I don't leave for more hours than I am willing to admit. I can hum the guild hall music from memory. I have a list of things I want to do so long I can't possibly get it all done. All this after taking a multi-year break. Yes folks, I left the game for a long time -- a move I am still kicking myself for. But certain features pulled me back, and let me just say, I am so glad I came back. So why do I play EQII? Where to begin...
