No flying in 5.0: Would it be better?

[Wilford111]

You aren't forced to fly in 3.0 and 4.0 zones. It doesn't matter how great a map is it will eventually get boring and flying just makes traversing a lot better especially when I am trying to get to a hunt mark.

I still enjoy traversing the ARR maps; certainly more than I do the HW or SB ones. I don't want flying stripped away per se, I want map design to be better. I think the reason the maps are so boring and empty is because flying is the excuse. Why put effort into designing your maps when your players are only going to traverse it once and fly across it every time afterwards? No, I'd rather go back to ARR map design where it was actually fun, dense, and varied.

[Reinha]

No thank you, flying is better. If you don't want to fly, then stop flying.

Map design is not related to flying because we explore every map on the ground anyway. Bigger maps may be connected to faster mount speed though, but you don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater by removing flying altogether when simply making it slower in a new area would be enough.

[Mhaeric]

The automated flight paths is from point A to B. Which you just need to pay a fee to an NPC.
When you unlock flying you can fly wherever and how you want, at a much greater speed then in XIV (in WoW you have up to +330% fly speed)

I simply used WoW flight paths as an example of the relative height level of flight that they followed for reference to how a vertical height limitation can still keep a player immersed in the environment as opposed to flying so high above it everything is ants. I have no frame of reference for how full flight behaved in that game. Don't read more into my previous statement than is there.

[Tempest222]

I honestly prefer the smaller maps from ARR. The HW and SB areas are just so unnecessarily large and barren, making the initial questing prior to unlocking flight in each zone really tedious. Then, once flight is unlocked it honestly feels about the same as walking through the smaller ARR maps as far as speed of traversing the area goes. So for me all flying does is act as a way to artificially increase questing time since you have to travel on foot at a snails pace for a while before unlocking it.

I don’t dislike flying though, but having to traipse across enormous maps slowly on foot before unlocking it just felt like a time waster to me.

[Lucinda]

One of the reasons I started playing the game was because you could fly at HW and SB. I truly enjoy flying about in maps and exploring. I also enjoy the non flying maps in its own way. I don’t think it should be completely eradicated, that’s not fair on those who enjoy it (same goes with swimming). Instead, adding incentives to not fly would be good, to appeal to an audience who’s not in favour of flying the next expansion.

[Remus]

You could just...not fly you know? You have that choice.

[Wilford111]

You could just...not fly you know? You have that choice.

Have you even been reading this thread? Nobody *just* wants flying taken away and that's it. It's that we're dissatisfied with how the maps are designed, and how boring it is to traverse through them.

[Fhaerron]

I simply used WoW flight paths as an example of the relative height level of flight that they followed for reference to how a vertical height limitation can still keep a player immersed in the environment as opposed to flying so high above it everything is ants. I have no frame of reference for how full flight behaved in that game. Don't read more into my previous statement than is there.

Thing is that nobody uses it as soon as you unlock flying. Flying used to be super expensive for the license and they still had to get a mount with it too which wasn't easy back in the old days.
Flight paths are more a thing of the past now only used by low lvl's for the first 10 days they are playing.

WoW's flying is probably less 'immersive' then here just by the sheer speed at which you race across the land.

[Solarra]

look at World of Warcraft: people scream they'll unsub if there's no flying at an expansion's launch. I would rather have gorgeous zones that feel alive than appease a few entitled players.

I was one of the players who strongly objected to the removal of flying in WoW. I chewed through one Pathfinder and then quit, along with several million other paying customers. I haven't been back since.

I agree Eureka is a beautiful area and I really hope they never add flying to it. However, I don't want to see this approach extended to all areas in an entire expansion.

Handled properly, flying adds to the map by making some areas only accessible after you acquire it, and it gives you a fresh perspective on areas you've already explored. I still remember my delight when I looked down on the pools in Valley of the Fallen Rainbow for the first time and realised how apt the name was.
I like the way flying is handled in this game. I like doing the content on foot first, I like hunting for the Aether currents and then being able to use my flying mounts to get to timed nodes and dailies fast.

I don't think removing features ever works out well for a company. Even if people continue to pay for a product, the fact that they are getting less features for the same (or possibly even more) money will not escape them, and that erodes good-will.

As to zones feeling alive, you have to remember Eureka is tiny. If they remove flying from all areas, the map will not miraculously fill with hundreds of players because face it, once you've done the story there is no reason to go out in the world besides dailies and gathering.

[Mhaeric]

Thing is that nobody uses it as soon as you unlock flying. Flying used to be super expensive for the license and they still had to get a mount with it too which wasn't easy back in the old days.
Flight paths are more a thing of the past now only used by low lvl's for the first 10 days they are playing.

WoW's flying is probably less 'immersive' then here just by the sheer speed at which you race across the land.

Why do people think I'm saying that flying here should be like it is in WoW? I used a single example of one aspect of flight for reference from a game I played a total of 3 days in. WoW's flight paths are relatively low flying, at least in the starter areas, which makes them still feel you're still in the world and not outside of it. I.e. you can still see people running around below you, and there's still some obstacles in your way like tall hills or trees. This concept of limiting flight to low height would be a good way to combine flight and immersion at the same time. And that is all I'm saying about WoW.

I swear the reading comprehension on these forums drops like a rock after midnight. Someone must feed you all or drop you in water something. General you, before any non-general "you"s get your britches in a bunch.