One of the most useful travel methods from World of Warcraft does not work in Shadowlands. The Game Director explains why.
Even though Battle for Azeroth was not the most popular expansion, there was an item that players regularly and happily used. The Master’s Whistle was a loyal companion and shortened many a travel time. But now it must be abandoned. It will not work in the Shadowlands.
What is the Master’s Whistle? The Master’s Whistle is an item introduced with Legion. It allows the player to be picked up by a Gryphon every 5 minutes and dropped off at the next available flight master. It is therefore an elegant way to quickly return to civilization if you want to stay in the respective area or if your Hearthstone is on cooldown.
Additionally, the whistle is a good means to rescue oneself if one gets “stuck” somewhere in the game world.
What was said? Ion Hazzikostas explained in an interview with wowhead that the Master’s Whistle will not work in the Shadowlands and that there are no plans to upgrade it. In every area, there are several transportation options and even more if you belong to the respective covenant.
He further explained:
The Master’s Whistle was created because there were things like the emissary quests of the Wardens and the Kirin Tor, or the goals of the war campaign in BfA. Back then, you looked at the map and the game told you: ‘Hey, you need to visit these four areas and cover thousands of meters in-game to accomplish this one goal.’ This led to a tedious amount of travel time, but in the Shadowlands, we are not demanding such things from players this time.
Ion Hazzikostas, Game Director of World of Warcraft
Hazzikostas then added that the whole idea of the whistle makes little sense in the Shadowlands for story reasons. He is referring to the fact that there are no flight masters of the Alliance and Horde in the Shadowlands, after all, these are realms inhabited and ruled by other forces.
However, the whistle still works in Legion and the areas of Battle for Azeroth.
What does that mean? In plain terms, this means that players will probably have to prepare for a bit more travel time in Shadowlands – at least when returning from a quest to the camp. Whether the overall travel time while questing will also increase remains to be seen. But we will know for sure in a week when Shadowlands has celebrated its release.
Will you miss the Master’s Whistle? Or do you think you wouldn’t have needed it in the Shadowlands anyway?
