In World of Warcraft (WoW) with Patch 6.2, flying will not return. Not in all of Draenor anymore. This also applies to future expansions.
“Flying” is a sensitive topic in WoW. Players have collected a lot of flying mounts over the years. For crafters, collectors, and twinkers, flying was ideal for quickly getting from point A to point B. For years, autonomous flying was one of the unique features of World of Warcraft.
Since the 2014 expansion Warlords of Draenor, there has been no movement on your own dragon, carpet, or demonic mount anymore. Players are grounded in the new world. So far, Blizzard has said: They are considering allowing flying in Draenor later. They are not sure yet.
A decision has now been made.
So much for flying
In an interview with Polygon, WoW’s lead designer, Ion Hazzikostas, talks about the topic of “flying.” They initially removed it as an experiment to see what would happen. If you had asked him back then, according to the lead designer, he would have bet that it would come back later.
Now they have seen what the flying ban does to World of Warcraft, and they like it. With flying, the world felt “much smaller” and less adventurous. Players would just fly over difficult spots.
Hazzikostas goes back deep into WoW’s history, before The Burning Crusade, when the first expansion introduced flying mounts: Before, without flying, players had to sneak into enemy camps, rescue prisoners, and fight their way out. With flying, players could land precisely at the prisoner, free him, and simply fly back out.
At Blizzard, they think: Only without flying is there room for secrets, exploration, and adventure.
At Blizzard, they never say never, but: At the moment, they think that World of Warcraft is better off overall without flying. It will not be reintroduced for Draenor. That is the direction they are currently heading for the future.
There’s more room for exploration, for secrets, for discovery and overall immersion in the world. At this point, we feel that outdoor gameplay in World of Warcraft is ultimately better without flying. We’re not going to be reintroducing the ability to fly in Draenor, and that’s kind of where we’re at going forward.
This also applies to future expansions, according to Hazzikostas. Maybe there will be exceptions in certain zones if it fits with the ideas. Additionally, they want to continue working on fixed flight paths, the “flight taxis.”
But it is clear: The WoW developers are not fans of players flying over their current and future work.
