World of Warcraft: No flying in Draenor, perhaps forever

World of Warcraft player pilots are officially grounded for the indefinite future.

Lead Designer Ion Hazzikostas said that while Blizzard was originally looking at turning flight on for Draenor, the studio has decided the drawbacks of flight outweigh the positives. He said that it made the world feel smaller and came at the cost of eliminating “targeted exploration.”

“At this point, we feel that outdoor gameplay in World of Warcraft is ultimately better without flying,” he said. “We’re not going to be reintroducing the ability to fly in Draenor, and that’s kind of where we’re at going forward.”