The Mists cinematic was released on Thursday afternoon and the reaction to it has been decidedly mixed. Some loved it, some hated it; some liked it for different reasons, some were just a bit meh about it.

When I first saw it I was excited, it was the cinematic that was the first sign that Mists would soon be upon us. This was the start of the pre-expansion events and I want Mists to be released yesterday so I was excited. I watched it and the one thing that stuck with me was Chen’s expression when the Alliance soldier handed the Horde orc a weapon so they could both fight this new threat together. It was a very self satisfied smirk.

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I am super excited for Mists, I really am, and I’ve been thinking about why I’m so excited. I remember being excited for cata but I don’t think it was the same level of excitement. Whether that was because I didn’t know the game as well (I’d started the January before so been playing less than a year), or whether cata just wasn’t as exciting, I’m not entirely sure. However, Mists is exciting and not just because it’s giving us an escape from the Dragon Soul, which eight months in is a little stale.

I’d been giving this some thought one night when I couldn’t sleep. I pulled my phone out and watched the Mists trailer from 2011, I then went looking for the same trailers for Cata, Wrath and TBC. That’s when it struck me about why Mists is so exciting.

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When they announced that you couldn’t fly in Pandaria until level 90 I wasn’t best pleased. I remembered how annoying it was in Outland when you had to wait until 60. Even on my very first character, who had never flown before, I was counting down the bubbles until I could fly. I have a loathing for Hellfire that is quite unreasonable. However, that attitude is completely unreasonable. I am thoroughly disgusted with myself for it. No flying is the best decision they could have made.

I wrote a post the other day about Warcraft and difficulty. I think some of the same arguments apply to flying and the ease it represents. I didn’t say this in that post but sometimes we can’t and shouldn’t have what we want. Some people think that should apply to raiding in that it’s ok if most people can’t raid as it’ll just inspire them to get better. I don’t agree with that, as I think that people are how they are, and they shouldn’t be forced to be something else just to get to play the game. Raiding should be accessible to a certain extent, much like it is already but people just need to change how they view it. Let the elite 1% or whatever batter down hard modes when they’re current. Let the rest of us mere mortals kill normal if we want to group up with a guild and work towards that goal. Let everyone else kill it on raid finder to see the conclusion of the story who don’t have the time or the inclination to be able to join a regularly scheduled group. Let everyone be happy with the level that they play and accept that even if they strive for more that it might be out of reach. I’ll never clear hard mode when it’s current as I don’t play like that and I don’t want too.

This applies to flying in a way. We wanted flying and we got it but did we know what we got? Did we realise what we gave up for it? I love flying and I never want to see it go. However, I’m not convinced that I always like it for the right reasons. I also think that we have the best of both worlds by restricting flying to level cap.

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