There are so many posts and stories about the wrath of World of Warcraft of players in keeping Draenor as a No Fly Zone.
Before I write about that, let me say that I have been happy with the game and its development with two exceptions:
CRZ: Horrible, game breaking, they should have undone this immediately as I feel it broke server populations and their distinct personalities. Any server force paired with Moonguard being the prime example. If they would not get rid of it under plea and protest (and they did not), they should have dumped it after the huge “server connection” project.
Cataclysm: The damage should have been undone, areas rebuilt over time. Wow isn’t a “living world” by any stretch of the imagination, but phase the damage for people making their way through Cataclysm if you must, and repair the world. Fix it.
Flight:
I love the freedom of flight. There are many areas of the world where you can fly. The no fly zones that annoy me personally are Horde areas where you can’t just drop in for the various holiday achievements in enemy territory. Noooo. You must crawl along on the ground, getting popped like a weasel by those *&^%$%* Horde monsters. 🙂
Draenor was designed, if you recall, with Timeless Isle in mind. Built into Draenor are wild variances of terrain to challenge you as you seek your quest objectives and treasures. Just as on Timeless Isle, the world of Draenor is packed with treasures for everyone to find. Some take patience, skill, maybe Goblin flyers (?) to sail over to get. The world was designed in a certain way. I really enjoy that a ten year old game is trying out very different gameplay and world building options.
I’ve been working on completing the Nagrand Quests I didn’t get on the road to 100. I had a quest to find and kill a boss named “Dirgemeister” or something similar. I looked in the area indicated on my map where he should be. No sign of him. I see above me two levels of rock plateau. There was a moment since it was late and I was impatient that I wished I could just fly up to the ledges above me and see if he was there. Instead, I had to slink up to those two areas via a circuitous route only to find he wasn’t there. He turned out to be in an underwater cave near where I started. Stinker. I wished I could fly, but I appreciate that I had to really look for the guy.
Built into the Draenor world are ground mounts in plenitude. This includes the bonuses you gain from your Stable. This was a wise move on their part, I think.
They’ve worked to make flight paths efficient, and they are quick. You’re not in the air for long enough periods for your character to be set to AFK, here, as you can be in some parts of Azeroth. They’ve also added the ability to drop off of the gryphon/taxi beast at an earlier stop if you need to shorten the journey.
One of the reasons people like to fly is to gather resources. The garrisons provide a glut of resources for the few recipes you’re given to craft. No need to sail around looking for anything.
I think they did a good job of making it never be too far from one quest objective to another.
They set out to accomplish certain things, and succeeded.
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