Will there be flying mounts in Northrend?
by Elizabeth Harper 
Aug 8th 2007 at 6:05PM
...it has not yet been decided if they will be available as soon as you get there or how far into your exploration you will be soaring through the icy skies. The reason for the potential delay in free-roaming is to allow the development team a chance to design and create exciting and interesting content which people will not simply fly over and ignore.
What sort of restrictions there will be on flying mounts in Northrend is yet to be decided, however. Will it be a level restriction or perhaps require some sort of quest? As soon as we find out, we'll let you know!
Filed under: Mounts, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Phoenic Aug 8th 2007 6:17PM
ehh.. I don't really agree with that explanation. I mean honestly, i could have just hopped on my epic horse when i first entered outlands and "bypassed" as much content as i so desired.
Players have worked way to hard grinding cash and rep for our epic flyers.. restrictions would not please a lot of people.
Markymark Oct 16th 2007 12:30PM
I don't see why not but i'd probably fly around after ive done most of the content.
RJ Aug 8th 2007 6:19PM
I agree with the restriction. Land mounts are different. If you are on the ground, things can still attack you and knock you off. With flying mounts you can just soar above it without a problem.
Arandalon Aug 8th 2007 6:23PM
I saved up 5200 gold and grinded to exalted with Netherwing.
I think I've earned the right to "simply fly over and ignore" whatever I damn like.
epsilon343 Aug 8th 2007 6:21PM
They should make it some quest to get like a flying map or something like that, if they're going to go that route. But like #2 said, if people go into Northrend with their flying mounts, they can just fly around the entire zone without any problems, which, I assume, wasn't possible in Outland until much further into it's release.
Dracula Jones Aug 8th 2007 6:38PM
I think #3's idea is actually pretty good.
@4 "I think I've earned the right to "simply fly over and ignore" whatever I damn like."
Yeah, in Outland, flying over 70-and-under content. You haven't earned anything in Northrend yet.
Scruffy Aug 8th 2007 6:40PM
Ah, so they had this really great idea last expansion then realized it would screw with way too much stuff in Azeroth and now they can't take it back.
You'd think they could plan ahead a little more than this. They keep painting themselves into corners and it's really getting god damn annoying.
Theadrick Aug 8th 2007 6:57PM
I'm kind of torn... on the one hand I do agree with #4, but I also see the point of what the devs are saying. My solution... make flight dangerous, as it is in some of the daily quests (around Ogri'la or Skettis for example).
Rich Aug 8th 2007 6:56PM
I agree with #6, they weren't thinking ahead and backed themselves into a corner.
I bet they have some lame excuse why you can't fly in Northrend. Something like the constant blizzards and ice storms prevent flying.
If we can't fly, then I want a 150% or 200% super epic land mount. Make it ice skates for all I care, just something faster to get around.
Armath Aug 8th 2007 6:58PM
Scruffy@6 has it right - it's out of the bottle. They need to work with it or they're gonna piss off a whole lotta people.
Unless they disallow flying completely, they'll have to allow it from the start, or it'll be just Way Too Lame. They can restrict it to some degree by creating factions that will try and shoot you down until you become neutral with them, but if it's a bull* quest for a "flying map" or somesuch, well, I don't see that making it out of beta.
If Blizz wants players to see certain content, incentives to do so are a much better choice.
Jello Aug 8th 2007 7:12PM
I vote for Penguins.
Laukidh Aug 8th 2007 7:10PM
If we can fly in Northrend, they'll have to explain why we can't fly in other parts of Azeroth.
They should spend part of their development time on rebuilding the old world to be flying mount friendly.
Urthona Aug 8th 2007 7:16PM
Bah. Simple. Make a Fatigue. Add a Blue Dragon "Magicka Borealis" debuff that dismounts(or deshifts druids) you after it runs out.
Once you accomplish a certain questline at 78-80, you obtain a trinket that overrides the Magica Borealis debuff and allows you to fly unrestricted.
Scadam Aug 8th 2007 7:19PM
Why wouldn't they just add flying mobs to control the flow of play? Put dragons along the mountain range they don't want you flying over, possibly like Timbermaw who let you through with the right rep or whatever. I doubt they'll simply confiscate our flying mounts on the dock.
rick gregory Aug 9th 2007 1:46AM
RTFP people. You WILL be able t fly in Northrend. You WILL be able to use your mount. The question is if they restrict it in some way (for example, no flying in the 2 starting zones), NOT whether you can fly at all anywhere.
And the inability to fly in Azeroth HAS been explained, you just don't like the answer - it would be a TON of terrain work to allow flying over any point in the existing Azeroth and they don't feel it would be worth the time investment since it would take time they could use on new content. And, give how people 60+ say that there's nothing to do in Azeroth... why do you want to FLY over it so badly?
Baluki Aug 8th 2007 7:35PM
I can understand why they wouldn't allow flying mounts at first. They kinda need a way to funnel you toward new content. How did you get to a new area in Outland? You went from a town and followed the paths and signs until you got to a new town. With flying mounts, there's no way to funnel you.
Besides, having a flying mount is a lot like turning on "easy mode". There's no reason to fight your way through a bunch of baddies to get to the one in the corner that you need to kill when you can just fly over everything.
Not only that, but flying mounts will actually cause you to level much slower. Bypassing so many mobs means bypassing a lot of XP, and then people will complain about how long it takes to level up.
They also need better defenses against flying characters. Creatures with ranged attacks should be able to attack you from 100 yards away if you're flying (since it's easier to spot you in the air) and they also need more flying creatures guarding different areas, like the guards above the towns in Outlands.
Scruffy Aug 8th 2007 7:35PM
@10
They CAN'T. You know why? Two words.
Outdoor instances.
Barring a huge, magical, Dalaran-esque barrier over the entire area, I don't know how they'd keep players out. Do they simply become part of the land like Stromgarde or that castle in Redridge?
What about capital cities? PvP servers where a 80 could touchdown, vaporize a medium size town, then take off? How about the Draenei and Blood Elves' starting areas? Those would have to be incorporated as well.
And, this is all neverminding all the areas that are simply barren, devoid of even terrain vegitation (take a swim north from Westfall or get into the hills south of Redridge via Swamp or Sorrows) that don't show up as reachable land on the maps.
Eztonic Aug 9th 2007 10:28AM
I think the reason for this is something completely different; they're under time pressure to get it out in the first qurter of 2008, so they need the time to focus on letting it all look nice and shiny from the ground, let alone from the air.
mrobin604 Aug 8th 2007 8:32PM
@2:
"I agree with the restriction. Land mounts are different. If you are on the ground, things can still attack you and knock you off. With flying mounts you can just soar above it without a problem."
Go fly over Toshley's Station in Blade's Edge and say that again :P
At least when I get knocked off my ground mount, I don't fall to my death. Can I get an Epic Parachute?? ;)
Armath Aug 8th 2007 8:41PM
mrobin604@16:
Yes, you can get an epic parachute. :-)
Do the Skettis (and Ogri'la) daily quests on your flying mount until you get to revered with the Sha'tari skyguard, then buy one of their "parachute" cloaks (Skyguard's Drape or Skywitch's Drape).