This week’s news has been rather slow comparatively, but we do have an interesting pair of topics to consider as we wait for the official Beta announcement for the upcoming expansion, Warlords of Draenor.
mechanicalHorseWhat you are seeing above is what is speculated as the “Fiery Mechanical Warhorse,” featured as the new RaF mount. Now there have really been some cool mounts introduced with this system, and they seem to get less exciting every time a new comes out, but regardless, its a great way to add incentive to the program. Especially now that they have the instant 90 one-off, less people would probably consider RaF, and just say to new friends “pick your 90 wisely” as they will all get at least one with WoD anyway. Another concern is that RaF has been a long-time source of character boosting for players flush with money but not time. I myself have done it twice, you simply make a new account, RaF it, then dual box two characters up at the same time. The first time I did this, I leveled my Druid and Shaman together, then transferred my Druid over from the new account to mine, which is easily done especially now. The second time I used it to level my Monk, and side-by-sided with a Mage that I had no intentions of using again, and just let the account expire when time came.

Regardless, the fact is, that with the instant 90 boost, less people would consider it something useful, so why not make an amazing mount that will stir the hearts of all the collectors. Its quite pretty as well, and of course since its only a still, we can’t be sure how exactly it will operate. Can’t stop us from having a guess at it though! What do you guys think? Ground Mount only? Both Ground and Flying? How ’bout passengers? Yes or No to another on your back?

I personally think it will be another Flying 2-seater mount, but I would really prefer to see it grounded only. There is something that bothers me about seeing a horse trotting along and then suddenly lift off airborne with no real animation to show why. Its the old Flying Reindeer concept, and sure it works at Christmas time, but makes no sense to me in a video game.

Return to Classic No-Fly Mode

The other big piece of info we received this weekend was a massive blog about the philosophy behind the limitation of flying in WoD and its subsequent usage through out the expansion. Before going anywhere, I would encourage you to read it. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s discuss what this really means.

First of all, to all the idiots who think they are avoiding the question or sidestepping in some way, understand that this expansion is in internal testing. They literally do not know, and at no point should you expect the decision to be made until as close to launch as possible. Asking these questions now are just showing your inexperience with how patches and expansions work, and especially since they have confirmed no flying in the launch patch, we may not know the answer until 5.1 PTR. Stop asking, and get off your high self-entitled horse. You don’t deserve answers when you act like you do. You will get them in due time.

Ahem, anyway, back on topic. Flying. Ya.

So in this post and response we learn a bit about the actual philosophy, and it really shouldn’t be surprising at this point. Think back to Classic (if you were born yet) and you will remember the model well. In the post, it is said that they want you to have to carefully clear mobs and deal with the world as it is, not just fly over it. Of course, this is how Pandaria was, so its not so foreign. Where it gets strange is at max level, but I think it will be for the best, especially for those who do PvE. Now that pretty much everyone has Epic ground riding (unlike classic) traveling the world really isn’t that slow on the ground. Obviously flightpaths will be useful, but when we are talking about getting to a raid or challenge mode dungeon, its way more fun to consider going by ground than simply flying in. Another thing to mention is the summoning stone put back in usage! The long-forgotten stone outside of raides and challenge modes has been unfortunate, but now that there isn’t direct flying, it will behoove people to actually meet up at the stone like in the old days. Along this path, you will be able to take in the intricate architecture as well as the local wildlife and inhabitents. If its anything like AQ was, I am really looking forward to it. There was a direct path from the town we all started at, and very epic gates and scenery to travel through. Really only the AQ raids and ZG had this, and every other one was unceremonious to the point of boredom.

I promise you, you will like this. It seems weird at first, but actually getting to see the world and taking in the sights instead of just flying over all the ground adornments and epic gates that are put there will really be an eye-opener.

They also speak about max level questing and things one can imagine is relatable to the Timeless Isle. Nothing but speculation at this point though, but either way, that didn’t turn out so bad did it? It feels the way the game was meant to be played, and I for one and fully in support of the change. REMEMBER: 90 percent of the game is played in instances, so the only thing this change effects is travel and world bosses. How often do you actually have to stress out over either of those? Extremely rarely, is my answer. Hopefully yours is the same.

Stay tuned for more coverage and opinions on all the latest WoD News!