Flight in Draenor: Blizzard adds achievement to fly in future patch

In an abrupt turnaround from their previous stance, Blizzard announced today that they would be allowing flying in the Warlords of Draenor expansion area in a future patch, after the completion of several achievements in-game. This is a departure from the strict ‘no flying going forward’ statement made during an interview with Polygon by developer Ion Hazzikostas, who also broke the news that flying would be making a comeback in World of Warcraft.

The path to flying in Warlords of Draenor is not easy – it requires the completion of nine achievements, the discovery of 100 treasures, and the time-consuming grind of raising three separate factions to revered. Completion of this meta-achievement is not for the faint of heart, and the final reward will not be available in the upcoming patch 6.2, but rather in a future patch.

Here is a checklist of needed achievements and accomplishments:

• Complete the Explore Draenor Meta-achievement

• Explore Frostfire Ridge

• Explore Gorgrond

• Explore Nagrand

• Explore Shadowmoon Valley

• Explore Spires of Arak

• Explore Talador

• Collect 100 Treasures

• Complete the Loremaster of Draenor Meta-achievement

• As I Walk Through The Valley of the Shadow of Moon (Alliance) or You’ll Get Caught Up in the… Frostfire! (Horde)

• Don’t Let the Tala-door Hit You on the Way Out

• Nagrandeur

• Putting the Gore in Goregrond

• Between Arak and a Hard Place

• Complete the Securing Draenor Achievement

• Reach Revered status with three Tanaan Jungle Reputations

• Saberstalkers

• Order of the Awakened

• Hand of the Prophet/Vol’jin’s Headhunters

Upon completion of the meta-achievement Draenor Pathfinder, the player will receive the Soaring Skyterror, a flight-capable mount. In a future patch, all players who have earned the Draenor Pathfinder meta will unlock Draenor flying for all level 90+ characters on the account on which the achievement was earned.

Turnaround is Fair Play

However, while we firmly believe that keeping your feet on the ground is a key part of discovery in WoW, we also recognize that breaking free from those restrictions can be fun and rewarding as well, especially for those who’ve already fully experienced the game’s world content.

– Ion Hazzikostas, Blizzard Entertainment

The path to flight in Draenor is not intended to be easy. Blizzard strives to strike a balance between exploration and quality of life. The introduction of flying into Draenor is intended to reward those players who have already fully explored the game world and most of the ground-based challenges added in the expansion by encouraging the completion of many of the exploration-related content before taking to the skies.

For players looking to get a head start on the Draenor Pathfinder meta-achievement, Wowhead has a large number of guides to help players achieve these goals, including guides for completing the required achievements, tips on how and where to collect the needed treasures, and quest and mob lists to help gain reputation with the listed factions. Many of their more comprehensive guides have been linked together in one article, and more are sure to come as 6.2 grows closer.

Is the Controversy Over?

As GameSkinny correspondant Kristian Wilson has previously stated, not all players were displeased by the lack of flying in Draenor. Many players felt that removing flying was a step towards a return to the base game, where players were forced to interact with the world and each other and couldn’t simply skip content just by mounting up and flying way. Some players even feel that flying has negatively impacted the world by removing the threat of world PvP or the chance that lower-leveled characters who get into trouble will find higher-level characters willing to ride to their aid.

However, for every argument against flying, the other side was able to make arguments for. Many pro-flight proponents contend that the lack of flying in Draenor has limited, rather than expanded, their ability to enjoy the content. A common complaint is that without the ability to fly, activities such as archaeology, material farming, or rare hunting become a tedious grind and constant backtrack through already-experienced content. They feel the argument that Blizzard ‘wanted the content to be experienced’ wears thin once the content has, indeed, been experienced and all that is left is repetition and grind.

From this current response to the controversy, it seems that Blizzard agrees with the pro-flyers, at least on that latter point. While the road to flying will be bumpy and long, and filled with much tedium in terms of the reputation grinds ahead, the meta-achievement and its eventual reward is certain to bring new life to those players whose interest in the game has waned in between content releases. 

Do you feel that Blizzard is right to release flying in Draenor? Will the meta-achievement and its reward help breathe life into the game? Or do you feel that in this case, Blizzard has caved to undue pressure and that their turn-around is one more example of Blizzard’s slide from greatness? Comment below!