WoW: Blizzard Re-thinking Flying Mounts In 'Old' Azeroth?

Worldofwar.net reports that Blizzard community manager Nethaera has spoken about the possibility of allowing flying mounts in WoW's early content.

Apparently, it's just a technical problem, rather than a decision by Blizzard that is stopping this being possible right now.

"As you can see by the recent mount changes, this could be readdressed at a future point in time...

...We're always taking a look at different aspects of the game and trying to find a way to improve upon the experiences that players get to have within it."

[Maticus]

When a CM starts talking about stuff like this, it's usually a sign things are moving behind the scenes.

[Leord]

Oh yeah. The worst rumour mongers are the CMs themselves!

[Leord]

Holy Jesus, might be worth a 1 month game card just to fly around a bit! :D

[Medievaldragon]

I would so love that. Specially if they use phase tech to create the Emerald Dream on top of the old world.

[Fyzzu]

Hrm. It's a wish a lot of people have had, but it would require a huge amount of work. It's a good sign, but it's desperately non-committal - I'm not getting my hopes up, and even if it was confirmed I doubt we'd see it for at least a year.

[Maticus]

I'm thinking a BlizzCon announcement perhaps?

[Malfurion]

Woah, would they really do it? It would be even worse for ganking :(

[dafonz]

It's cool that they are finally thinking of doing that, and yes it was probably a technical issue more than anything, I think it'll take a while to make it happen.

[Dante43]

I would hate to see flying mounths is Azeroth, why? Because many high level people will come gank you for fun, especially since most people in Azeroth are only level 1-58.

[Maticus]

PvE Realms FTW ^ ^

On the other hand....

*Dusts off level 80 character on PvP realm and cackles maniacally*

[JeepGamer]

There are huge portions of the world that were drawn and designed knowing perfectly well that players would never get above or behind them. It's like a set piece for a movie... It only looks real from a certain angle.

[Maticus]

Indeed, a lot of work to be done. But I bet ever since TBC and WotLK the designers have been dying to get back and 'finish off' old Azeroth :)

[kesvalk]

instead, they should remake the old races, look at the draenei and the Belfs, they are way cooler and better looking that the blocky humans and dwarfs...

the old models NEED to be remade...

[Malfurion]

I'm sure that's coming... The job they just did on the Druid models is amazing. If they do the same on all races I reckon it will give WoW's lifespan a massive boost.

[Perjoss]

all they ever seem to do is add end game stuff, would be much better if they added more low level content to make it more fun leveling from 1 to 60, people who have leveled up many alts know what i mean.

[Malfurion]

They are lowering the mount requirement level from 30 to 20, making flying available at 60 instead of 70, and regular flying speed is going up to 150% from 60%.

Another Heirloom item, a chest, is also becoming available with a stackable 10% boost to XP gain.

Players will be able to gain XP from battlegrounds in 3.2 as well

[Seferoth75]

Malfurion, That will only do so much but it still doesnt fix the main issue. I am on my 5th character otw to 80 and at this point a 10% exp bnous just means its 10% less boring. I;m still questing the same areas for the 5th time.

It's time they added some better lower level content to get people who jsut started to 60 that much faster. Most of the stuff you mention will have no affect on new players. 10% exp bonus isnt something they can get. Flight speed doesnt matter either til BC and WOTLK.

[Dorjan]

There was no doubt this is the reason. Nice for it to be confirmed though.

[moe84]

As cool as this would be. It's really not that big of an issue. I mean, seriously how many people spend so much time in Azeroth after 58-60 where a flying mount would make a significant difference?
As for the level cap on flying, I really don't think Blizz will allow flying before 60. In Outlands, flying is almost a necessity given the vastness and areas only accessible by flying. In Azeroth, we've dealt with out flying for over 4 years.

As one person posted on the linked site, introducing flying in Azeroth in a 3rd expansion would be the more sound choice. Especially if areas such as Kul'Tiras, Gilneas or Undermine are made available. Re-texturing in an expansion sounds more realistically do able given the amount of recoding that needs to be done.

Unless Blizz plans to add more things to do in Azeroth, flying mounts and re-texturing will most likely not happen.

[Malfurion]

There's still plenty of unused land in Azeroth that would be prime for new content, and there's not much point making it content for low level players - with the increase in levelling speed there's already more than enough choice for places to quest.

[dreamtheater87]

I've used a flying mount in Azeroth (private server) and there is a massive amount of redesigning that needs to be done. There are huge areas of nothingness between some zones. I'd rather they concentrate on new content altogether.

[UIOP]

Yeah, even tough I never played on any private server, it is easy to see that there are plenty of nothingness here and there :/
I would still like the old world to receive some love tough. Just add and change a couple of areas.
They did also change major things before, like during the Ahn'Qiraj release.