Blizzard may add Flying Mounts in a future patch of Warlords of Draenor.

Update: 7/16/2014 – Blizzard is not removing Flying Mounts completely.  Flying will be restricted in Warlords of Draenor zones, much like it was for Mists of Pandaria.  We apologize for the confusion!

 

After flying mounts were added in World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Blizzard has decided to remove the ability to fly around Azeroth for the launch of Warlords of Draenor.  While the addition of flying mounts was a welcome addition to the game, Blizzard feels it negatively impacted the social aspect of the game.  After all, it is an MMORPG, and one of the key aspects of MMOs is social interaction.

This decision has been met with mixed reception.  On one hand, you have the players who loved flying around, avoiding the less-than-optimal flight paths.  On the other, there are the players who complained it made quests too easy.

Community manager Bashiok had this to say:

“Maybe it’s gold, maybe it’s some kind of epic quest, maybe something more straightforward,” … “But we’re staying open to changing that post-release if it seems like it’s working out really well and we want to keep rolling with it.”
“I’m digging that there seems to be a pretty reasonable mix of beta experiences here though. Definitely looking forward to feedback when we get to the max-level content too.”

Flying mounts were originally added in 2007 and later refined in the Cataclysm expansion set.  Once Cataclysm was launched, players were able to fly all around Azeroth, assuming they trained the appropriate skill.  When Mists of Pandaria was launched, another new skill had to be learned in order to fly around Pandaria.  Will it be the same for WoD?  Its hard to say at this point.

It is not yet known whether flying mounts (or the ability to fly) will be completely removed, or just from the new content.

Stay tuned on this developing story.