WoW Dragonflight brought a lot of innovation to the game. Apart from the new race, zones, dungeons, and raids, the expansion also brought a new way to traverse the world—Dragonriding. But what about regular flying and is it available in this new expansion?
Can you unlock regular flying in WoW Dragonflight?
Yes, you can unlock regular flying in Dragonflight. As of Patch 10.2, which launched on Nov. 7, regular flying is officially available. You no longer have to gain momentum, level up your abilities, and keep an eye on your stamina bar. Simply summon your mount, fly up, and just stay in mid-air. Don’t worry, Dragonriding isn’t going anywhere, but if you just want to casually fly around without worrying too much about speed and momentum, regular flying is the way to go.
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Why wasn’t regular flying available in WoW Dragonflight until Patch 10.2?
When Dragonflight first launched, Blizzard got some inspiration from Guild Wars 2’s mount system. Instead of simply giving full access to flying, players would learn the skill and progressively improve it as they finished tasks and collected upgrade points. This made Dragonriding a convenient new way to travel and a new progressive gameplay mechanic.
While most players found the new way to fly rewarding, some wanted regular flying in the new expansion. Players with disability issues or who were visually impaired found the new mechanic too hard to grasp.
Now that Patch 10.2 is out and the upcoming expansion, The War Within, is on the horizon, Blizzard is slowly wrapping up Dragonflight and making things more manageable so new players can catch up and veterans have more options. One of these things is the return of regular flying.
You can even ride with others on your dragon. You can do so by visiting a Rostrum of Transformation and speaking to Lithragosa—then hit Enable Passengers, and voila!
How to unlock flying in WoW Dragonflight
Like in the previous few WoW expansions, you need to get the Pathfinder achievement to unlock regular flying. Until Warlord of Draenor, players would visit a flying trainer, buy the training, and fly to their heart’s content.
However, after WoD came out, Blizzard made it so players had to finish all the quests and explore every zone in an expansion before they could unlock flying.
You must earn the Dragon Isles Pathfinder achievement to unlock flying on the Dragon Isles.
To earn this achievement, you need to:
- Finish all Dragonflight main story quests in these zones, including the newly added Emerald Dream quests
- Explore all Dragonflight Zones, also including Emerald Dream
It’s worth pointing out that, initially, to earn the Pathfinder achievement, players also had to reach renown 15 with all Dragonflight factions, just like in the Shadowlands expansion. After backlash from players, however, Blizzard removed this requirement.
So there you have it. If you’re starting in Dragonflight, you must explore all the new zones and finish the story quests to get regular flying. If you’re a veteran, visit Emerald Dream, finish the story, explore it, and enjoy regular flight in WoW.
