Restricted Flying on WoW’s Siren Isle is Good Actually

When World of Warcraft update 11.0.7 and the new Siren Isle zone were first announced, one of the first questions for many fans was whether or not Flying Mounts would be usable in the area. It’s a contentious topic, with many players vehemently against any restriction of flight, but after the update’s release it’s especially clear that sometimes a little less freedom is to the benefit of the game’s design.

For context, while Flying Mounts were added all the way back in WoW‘s first expansion, Burning Crusade, it wasn’t a universally available mechanic even then. It was originally restricted to the new expansion areas until 2010’s Cataclysm expansion redesigned the original launch areas to accommodate flying. Even after that, however, expansions like Warlords of Draenor and Legion didn’t allow flying on launch, making it available later after players unlocked a ‘Pathfinder’ achievement as a compromise. Similarly, WoW‘s new Siren Isle was announced to have flying restricted until players upgrade the new Cyrce’s Circlet item, with no flying allowed at all during the island’s storm phase.

While often accompanied with the usual internet vitriol, it is understandable why people would resent the restriction. Flying is a huge convenience and convenience is held at a premium in MMO’s especially. It doesn’t just let you circumvent annoying obstacles without risk of roaming monsters knocking you off your steed, it’s also flatly faster. Ground Mounts in WoW boost movement speed by 100% at maximum (or a bit more for certain classes), while Flying Mounts go up to 360% with the newly added Skyriding/Dragonriding system going even faster. And of course, once you’ve tasted those highs of altitude and velocity both, it’s hard to go back to that piddly 100%.

But Siren isle is not the kind of zone where that speed is necessary. In fact, it’s quite small and more intimately packed with secrets and goodies including hidden cosmetics, invisible treasure chests, and of course lore. This is a zone that is intended to reward close attention and eye for detail, the kind not really encouraged by skyriding. But once you’ve seen most of what’s available on Siren Isle, flying is still there to help out with finding those last few items or finishing off the usual WoW currency grind.

That’s part of why allowing flying later works so well in other WoW zones, since you get the best of both worlds while stopping either getting stale. Your first few forays into a zone or expansion can be directed traditionally but when levelling your 3rd character (or just running through to gather herbs and ores) you get the freedom to skip to where you need to be or explore from another angle. And after being land-bound for a while, you’ll appreciate the freedom of flight all the more. It’s currently not certain whether flying on Siren Isle will be account-wide like with the Pathfinder achievements or tied to your characters progression with Cyrce’s Circlet, but unless you’re a power-gamer that keeps multiple characters Raid-ready at once you can likely do everything in the zone on one character.

Until you do earn your wings back, there’s a plethora of other transport options available to try out. The new Experimental Go-Pack gives players a burst of verticality, while I finally found a use for all those Goblin Glider Kits i stockpiled a few expansions ago. Then there’s all the class-specific leaps, slow-falls, and stealth abilities that once more come into their own, especially during the island’s storm phase where tougher monsters roam ready to mince squishier characters. Players will need to once again pay attention to their environment, rather than simply floating over all their terrestrial problems.

That’s why I was actually happy when I first heard about the Flying restrictions on WoW‘s Siren Isle, despite the loss of convenience. Flying is great and I wouldn’t want it removed from the game writ large, but I do also long for the days when you had to engage with the terrain, where roads provided a relatively monster-free pathway through a zone and Flight Masters were invaluable checkpoints. Not all of those last few apply to Siren Isle itself, but it’s a welcome change of pace that I hope Blizzard isn’t afraid to do again.

Because the isle was repurposed from old content from the Battle for Azeroth expansion, there’s a common refrain among some players that it’s “cheap and lazy” asset reuse and that flying was only restricted to make the isle seem bigger than it is. But clearly there’s been more thought than that put in to the decision than that, even if it was a consideration. Restricting flying, at least for a while, simply fits better with the zone’s design ethos. So even if you’re a die-hard flight enthusiast, try taking a moment to think about how being restricted to ground mounts changes how you engage with the map, even if you’d rather be flying. Or, just rush through to get your wings if that’s your preference.

World of Warcraft: The War Within is immediately available for PC, including the 11.0.7 Siren Isle content.