Flying in Draenor

Flying in Draenor

Patch 6.2.1 is currently in beta testing. When it goes live, players will finally be able to use their flying mounts for what they were intended - flying. Players will no longer have to travel on foot or on a ground mount to get around in Draenor. There is a very large caveat, however. Players first have to complete the Draenor Pathfinder Achievement.

Wildshard recently took a look at what it would take to reach that achievement. To begin, there are five major sections: Explore Draenor, Securing Draenor, Tanaan Diplomat, Loremaster of Draenor, and Master Treasure Hunter. They can be acccomplished in any order.

Wild was able to complete the first leg of the achievement, Explore Draenor, in a few hours by visiting every region in Draenor and physically visiting every labelled spot in each region. For example, there are 15 areas in Frostfire Ridge that Wild had to travel to in order to complete that part of the achievement. Six regions averaging about 15 areas each adds up to about 90 places that Wild had to visit.

Next, Wild happily discovered that he had already accomplished the Treasure Hunter achievement (find ten treasures) simply by doing quests. But there is more. There is Expert Treasure Hunter (50 treasures) followed by Master Treasure Hunter (not shown, but guessing 100 treasures). Again, Wild could have made things simpler by grabbing treasures as he explored.

Wild then decided to see what he had to do for Securing Draenor. There are twelve items listed, all of them tied to various assaults in various areas. Wild hadn't bothered to do his homework (again), because he could have been doing the assaults while getting the exploring parts done. Sigh, Wild is going to have to return to all twelve areas to earn that achievement.

Next is Loremaster of Draenor. I thought this would be the most difficult, but Wild was very happy to see that he had already completed four of the five requirements. All that is required here is to complete the storyline in Nagrand. Wild reached level 100 before completing Nagrand and never finished. There are eight things to accomplish, and Wild has done three of them so far.

Tanaan Diplomat looked relatively easy, with only three things to accomplish. However, those three things were Faction Reputations, and that is going to be a lot of work. Wild is friendly with Voljin's Headhunters, but needs to be at Revered. Wild is only neutral with The Order of the Awakened, and a quick glance at their requirements is extensive. Wild hasn't even encountered the third faction, The Saberstalkers. Faction grinds can take a lot of time to complete, particularly if there are daily quests that by their nature can't be hurried up.

Overall, Wild can set his own pace to accomplish all of the requirements except for the faction grinds.

Wild does have one question to ask himself. Does it really matter if Wild can't fly in Draenor? So far it hasn't been an issue. That's when Fist raised her hand. Flying in Draenor is account bound. Once Wild can fly in Draenor, all of Wild's family will be able to fly, too. That would make leveling a lot easier for Fist. Then again, Wild and Jocy may enjoy making Fist level on a ground mount, just like they had to.