Despite the overall success of the Dragonflight expansion and the warm reception from the community, there is a looming problem with a new feature. It's like a monkey's paw. Dragonriding has shown us that travel in a game can become a game itself—a really fun game. However, when a system like that is so good, it makes previous travel systems stick out like a sore thumb. So, the question becomes, what can Blizzard do to fix the fractured mount system in World of Warcraft?
Ground Mounts feel out of place
Right now, Ground Mounts feel utterly useless in World of Warcraft unless they're one of three mounts: the Tundra Mammoth, the Grand Expedition Yak, or the Mighty Caravan Brutosaur. The reason for this is that these mounts actually serve a purpose by having vendors, transmog, or Auction House capabilities.
The only other time that ground mounts have mattered in WoW was when flying wasn't an option. This was the case throughout the life of Vanilla World of Warcraft and the start of each expansion. Traditionally, players haven't been able to fly until they reach the end of an expansion. Even then, players must also pay an exorbitant amount of gold or progress through a mind-numbing set of differing achievements usually involving a soul-crushing rep grind or three.
So, ground mounts made sense then. They would be a player's primary mode of transportation for anywhere between a dozen hours or several months, depending on when flying became available in an expansion.
With the release of Dragonflight, players get access to a dragonriding mount fairly early on. Due to how vertical some of the zones are, this mount is practically a necessity as well as a novelty for traversing The Dragon Isles. It basically flips the flying script.
Related: How to get the Azure Skitterfly mount in World of Warcraft Dragonflight
The birth of flying in World of Warcraft
Flying came to World of Warcraft with the release of The Burning Crusade expansion in 2007. Players could purchase their flying license after progressing through the main campaign. This allowed players to soar over the shattered remnants of Outland. With the release of Wrath of the Lich King in 2008, players were required to purchase Cold Weather Flying in order to brave the frigid skies of Northrend. A pattern was established in Cataclysm (2010) when players had to pay a third time to be able to fly in Classic zones.
This pattern continued until the release of Warlords of Draenor in 2014. As adventurers traveled to an alternate timeline, they were required to complete a series of achievements to fly. These involved exploring the zones, gaining rep with factions, and a few more steps. This would be compounded in the following expansions: Legion (2016), Battle for Azeroth (2018), and Shadowlands (2020). It would take players months to unlock flying, but the upside was that it was available account-wide once unlocked. This meant that alt characters could take advantage of flying right away.
Flying in Dragonflight - A needless division
World of Warcraft is a game that has continued to evolve over the course of decades and the product we have now shows the steps taken. Ground mounts function as an extension of your player. They simply run faster, but otherwise do the same jumping and swimming. Flying mounts continue that extension by allowing players to navigate the skies with controls similar to swimming. Dragonriding works quite differently when compared to normal flying. Players must manage their dragon's stamina through a series of charges. These charges are expended when using abilities but can be recharged by building up enough speed.
It's a system that requires active interaction from the player, and has largely been heralded as a fantastic system as a result. Combined with a series of upgrades that can be made by finding various tokens spread throughout The Dragon Isles, it's a great way to reward and encourage players to explore this exquisitely designed world.
When compared to dragonriding, traditional flying in World of Warcraft feels outdated and boring. Compounding the issue is that traditional flying mounts can't fly in The Dragon Isles and vice versa. Dragonriding mounts are completely useless outside of The Dragon Isles, even as ground mounts since they can't be summoned at all. This sets up three different categories of mounts (ground mounts, flying mounts, and dragonriding mounts), all dependent on what expansion a player is playing, their level, and current status with achievements. Needless to say, it's a little less than ideal.
Related: How to get the War Ottuk mounts in World of Warcraft Dragonflight
A potential solution
There are three potential solutions available for Blizzard. The first is to use a Final Fantasy XIV-inspired solution and turn all mounts into flying mounts through the use of mount equipment. This would eliminate the issue of ground mounts being all but useless. Sure, it might look a little silly to have a nightsaber flying, but WoW has already done this with several other "ground" mounts like Whiskers the Rat. Either put little glowy pads under their feet or add some spectral wings and call it a day. Otherwise, World of Warcraft can learn something from Final Fantasy XIV and simply double down and not add anything aside from the code that allows all mounts to fly.
The second solution, and one that would require a serious amount of work, would be to update the existing flying mounts with animations and mechanics so that they can utilize the dragonriding system. This would allow them to be usable in previous expansions with their older flying style and in the Dragonflight expansion with updated controls. Due to how much work this would take, it is extremely unlikely to happen.
The third solution is to double down on dragonriding as the future of flying mounts in WoW. Make any new flying mounts dragonriding mounts. This would require Blizzard to fully invest in dragonriding and use it in all expansions moving forward. It's not as ideal as making all previous zones dragonriding capable, but due to the mechanics of the dragonriding system, a lot of the old zones aren't likely to work anyways. Instead, this would act as another visible point of growth in the MMORPG.
A messy situation
There's no perfect solution and I really don't want to sound like I'm coming down on dragonriding. I personally love it and think it's a great mode of travel. However, if Blizzard decides to abandon it in favor of another gimmick for the next expansion, it will feel like a wasted opportunity. Personally, I would love to see Blizzard update all mounts to flying and give them the dragonriding mechanics, but I know the odds of that are slim to none.
It feels like Blizzard has painted itself into a corner on this one and I'm curious to see what its plan is, moving forward. Maybe we'll get lucky and they decide to overhaul decades-old systems. However, there are some trees in Darkshore constructed of four polygons that lead me to think it will never happen.
For more World of Warcraft goodies, check out How to get the Vicious Sabertooth mount in World of Warcraft Dragonflight on Pro Game Guides.
Published: Jan 7, 2023 08:59 am