Flying was exciting, but it also made a lot of players miss out on some of the basic joys of exploration

May 24, 2015 17:45 GMT  ·  By

Bad news for those who were hoping that Blizzard wanted to surprise its community by sneaking in flying mounts in Draenor further down the road. It seems that the company’s ‘no flight’ policy is here to stay.

In a recent interview with World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Lead Designer Ion Hazzikostas, the developer emphasized that Blizzard Entertainment not only plans to keep the revisited Draenor a no flight zone, but that flight is unlikely to return in the MMO’s upcoming expansion.

Flying around the world has been one of the massively multiplayer online role playing game’s staples ever since The Burning Crusade, the title’s first major content expansion. The freedom afforded by flight helped many players explore the enthralling world that Blizzard has crafted, and made it easier to access some of the more remote locations.

However, some of the wonder of exploration was lost when flying mounts were introduced, due to the fact that everything was in sight and easy to access. It was great for grabbing stunning screenshots from interesting angles, but it introduced many difficulties for the design team.

Players will no longer be able to fly over obstacles and threats

Hence, mounts were rendered flight-less in Warlords of Draenor, in order to improve the pacing of the game and to prevent people from hurriedly rushing through areas while questing, failing to pay attention to the details the developers put in creating the Orcs’ ancestral home.

“While there was certainly convenience in being able to completely explore the world in three dimensions, that also came at the expense of gameplay like targeted exploration, like trying to figure out what's in that cave on top of a hill and how do I get up there,” Hazzikostas told Polygon.

Using roads or straying from them in order to discover the hidden secrets of the game world is usually a pretty rewarding experience in MMOs, but the ability for players to simply fly over any obstacles and rush to the points of interest detracts from the immersion of the experience.

It seems that Blizzard has come to the conclusion that the best way to enjoy Azeroth and the game’s other zones is by taking it all in a little slower. The developer also noted that the regular flight paths have been greatly improved in order to allow gamers to save on traveling time.