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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsCataclysm Beta: Old weather flying will cost 250g
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 9th 2010 at 11:00PM
Zarhym -- New Flight SkillWe've added a new flying skill called Flight Master's License. When World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is released, players who purchase the expansion will see this skill available from flight trainers for 250 gold once they reach level 60. This new skill is required for flying around all Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms zones, including the new level 80-85 zones.
Zarhym -- New Flight SkillThe cost for this is 250 gold. The name has also changed. I've updated my original post with the new information. :)
Previously, during the Twitter Dev Chat in April, the developers responded that more than likely, players would be able to fly from the beginning without purchasing the tongue-in-cheek "Old Weather Flying." As for why Blizzard is now adding such a skill, I have no idea. I don't mind ponying up the gold, considering the rate at which gold is earned in Cataclysm feels much faster than in the original game. My best guess is that Blizzard still wants flying in the old world to feel special and be a goal players will strive to reach for rather than stumble across. Also, it appears that if you do not have the Cataclysm expansion, you will not see this ability as trainable -- if you want to fly in the old world, you'll need the new expansion. What do you think about the Flight Master's License?
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 8 of 9)
dick Sep 10th 2010 8:06AM
No problem really. 250g should not be a problem, especially at 80. I mean it's just 15 dailies or so and you got it.... Even at 60 it's not too hard and you should be able to accumulate this quite easy...
steak Sep 10th 2010 8:48AM
as your newly purchasing the expansion they should throw it and a few other things in for free,that being said 250g is reasonable at least its not 5k lol
John Sep 10th 2010 9:45AM
There is a LOT of gold floating around and I think prices are going to be super-high for raw mats for the people obsessed with leveling professions and who have >100K gold or even gold capped. Inflation in WoW due to a high M0 - who'd have thought?
( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply ).
Maybe there will be purchaseable bigger portable holes or other vanity items or other super-mounts that will soak up some of that gold. Not as much as the supply, though.
silentore Sep 10th 2010 8:55AM
Why even have a price if its easy to accumulate the money at lvl60 is the question im asking
myself.
Only answer is the price is for the new player not the people that have 1 or more lvl 80s.
C4G Sep 10th 2010 5:46PM
I'm in shock! I though for sure it would be something like 10,000g considering the current markup from reg flying to epic. Nice move! I am very happy to hear this announcement & the price for old world flying. WEWT!!!
C4G Sep 10th 2010 5:49PM
GASP! 310% flying is gonna be 5k! OH, time to QQ.
NOT. Happy to have that become available to the masses as well! Now we need 420% mount drops from 25mans. WEWT!! Or maybe some sort of epic portal device that is more predictable than the one made from engineering. YESSSSssss! We wants it!!!!
ragnadriel Sep 10th 2010 10:45AM
What's this? More crap we'll have to spend valuable seconds on during the night of the launch before actually beginning to level? NOES!!!!
nancy Sep 10th 2010 10:52AM
Sounds good to me. Kinda like the idea rather than just getting it free with nothing required.
Amaxe Sep 10th 2010 11:04AM
Hmm, looking over the comments some new questions have arisen in my mind.
1) Do you need "Old Weather Flying" + Outland flight to fly? Seems like it could get confusing here.
2) Will Blizzard do a 180 and keep Cold Weather flying in Northrend?
I plan to get Azeroth flight for all my toons (assuming they keep the price close to what was quoted), but when it comes to the "up from level 1" toons I plan to run I'd like to know about these things to know what I am planning/grinding *for*
Edymnion Sep 10th 2010 11:15AM
To those who think it should cost more:
Remember, just because we're 80's now doesn't mean it should be priced to us. This is aimed at lvl 60 characters, and will be priced accordingly.
To those complaining about having to train just to retrain again:
I learned to fly at 68 in Outland, then went to Northrend where I couldn't use what I had just bought until lvl 77 after spending another 1k gold. How is this any different than what we already have been putting up with? Train to fly in Outland, then you have to pay to fly anywhere else. Its exactly the same.
David Sep 10th 2010 11:18AM
Yeah but level 60 characters aren't going to care as much about flying around the old world. It's great for getting around a bit but it is mostly pointless.
Noyou Sep 10th 2010 11:55AM
Don't be so sure of that. Think back to when you first learned flying. Was it at level 70? And when you got to northrend how happy were you when you found out there was only one place you could fly? That's right. Outlands. The zone you just finished questing in. I think I was one of the rare cases on my first toon. I didn't actually go to Northrend until level 70 to quest. (okay a went a couple times to kill some Kvaldir) Back to my point, we would have killed to be able to fly even in the old world. And now, for a mere 250g (we hope) you can be among those who clutter the sky with magical beasts!
David Sep 10th 2010 11:17AM
250 gold is nothing, which makes this completely pointless. Why are they bothering to even put this in I don't get it.
ElDraco Sep 10th 2010 11:35AM
I really don't care either way, as there is plenty of time to save between now and Cata, but I do have a question on the progression/already owning a 310 mount.
I have epic on 3/4 80's, and will probably end up with 2 more by the time Cata drops. I do not plan on buying epic flying for them, but I had thought about running one of them through all the Ulduar achieves for the 310 mount -- if I do, will I still need to buy epic flying in order for the conversion of and use of the 310 speed, or is that already programmed in and I can save 10,000 gold per toon that I go through and get the 310 mounts on?
Muchao Sep 10th 2010 3:25PM
Did anyone ever get an answer on whether this is a "the skill you train depends on whether or not you have the expansion" thing, or were we all too distracted by one guy's holy crusade to tell us we don't need to train this at 60?
Here's what I'm looking at:
- While the post said it allows you to fly in Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, it did not say "only" Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms. That could mean people who do not have the expansion train a level 60 flying skill that's only for Outland (the one we have now), but people who do have the expansion trin a skill that covers Outland and Old World Azeroth instead.
- The very nature of the Cataclysm expansion means even people who don't buy it get a lot of content from it. This isn't like BC where not buying it means you don't go to Outland, or Wrath where not buying it means you don't go to Northrend. Yes, not buying Cataclysm means you won't be doing the 81-85 content. But you still get to level in a world that's been re-shaped by the Cataclysm, with new quests, etc. They can't really keep you out of Catclysm content the way they could with the other expansions. So it makes sense to keep a lot of the most-desired features available only to the people who buy the expansion... like being able to fly in the Old World.
- It's a flying skill trainable at level 60 for 250 gold. Right now we have... Oh! A flying skill trainable at 60 for 250 gold. Huh... you'd almost think they were just going to replace one with the other, with how they match up so well.
- As Tbah is so zealous in reminding us... You don't really need to be able to fly in the Old World at 60. So why would they make this trainable at 60 if it's an additional skill, rather than a replacement for the old one?
Of course, that would actually make Tbah wrong... if this is simply THE level 60 flying skill for people who bought the expansion, then you will need to train it at 60.
But while it makes a certain sort of sense to do it that way, I'd still like to see some clarification from Blizzard on it. Seeing a pattern that makes sense and knowing for certain that's why they did it aren't the same thing.
Tbah Sep 11th 2010 2:08AM
I'll answer myself: In beta, characters like my main *can* fly in Outland and Northrend but need to pay the 250g to fly in Azeroth. So it's a separate skill.
I don't have any chars in beta under level 60 at the moment (char copy feature is broken) so I can't check it out. And all beta testers have Cataclysm, so to speak (nobody's testing as if they didin't have Cata).
And to the question 'why make it a level 60 skill if it's not needed at level 60' I ask back: why not? Currently players can fly all the way from level 60 to 80 *if* they have a top level main. So in that case players who have wealthy mains can buy the skill as soon as possible and go see Azeroth and what's changed in it.
We can argue about semantics until the world collapses on itself, the post indeed didn't say 'only' in Kalimdor and EK.
"This new skill is required for flying around all Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms zones, including the new level 80-85 zones."
"required for flying around all Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms zones"
Required is the word that I was looking for. Required for flying in Kalimdor and EK. No word about Outland. Or Northrend. If it were required for flying whatsoever it would say: "This new skill is required for flying around all zones, including the new level 80-85 zones."
Yada Sep 10th 2010 7:09PM
Just estimating as nothing is finished, but from the looks of things so far, 250g is going to translate into maybe 4 quest rewards. And the one character I've bought it on in the beta so far paid only 200g, so don't forget about faction discounts. Bottom line, it's a pittance and not worth agonizing over. Remember gold inflation -- the numbers are going up as usual in every expansion and this is a trivial amount. Now Mastery Riding skill is another 5000g -- that may feel a little warm at first purchase*...
*For those unfamiliar, Master Riding is a new skill level which scales all your ground mounts up to 100% and all your flying mounts up to 310%, so you can start making use of all those mounts you collected over the patches instead of just that one Violet or Ironbound drake that goes faster than all the rest.
Covnam Sep 10th 2010 9:05PM
I can't imagine that blizzard can't restrict flying in the old world only to purchasers of Cata without doing so. Even if they can't, why can't this simply be a free skill that only owners of Cata can train in? It may not be a lot to a seasoned 80, but to new players I doubt it's so simple. With all the costs already associated with flying in outland and northrend adding another cost simply for the old world is pretty stupid imo. It seems completely unneccassary to charge anything for it. You only train to ride a ground mount once, yet for some reason flying becomes quite a hassel for new characters.
jfofla Sep 10th 2010 9:35PM
The Big question is, where will I be able to buy this?
Will the Cold Weather Flight trainer in Dalaran sell this? Or do I need to go to outland?
As soon as I log in on Cata I want it and don't want to waste time looking for it!
Tbah Sep 11th 2010 2:12AM
The post says Flight Trainers. Hira Snowdawn is one. The Cold Weather Flying Trainer.