How to unlock regular flying in WoW Dragonflight

WoW Dragonflight brought a lot of innovation to the game. Apart from the new race, zones, dungeons, and raids, the expansion also added a new way to traverse the world—Dragonriding. But what about regular flying? Is it available in this 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, 2023, regular flying is 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. Dragonriding isn’t going anywhere, but regular flying is the way to go if you want to casually fly around without worrying too much about speed and momentum.

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 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 expansion. Players with disability issues or who were visually impaired also found the new mechanic 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.

How to unlock flying in WoW Dragonflight

Like in the previous few WoW expansions, you must get the Pathfinder achievement to unlock regular flying in the Dragon Isles. Until Warlord of Draenor, players would only need to visit a flying trainer, buy the training, and fly to their heart’s content.

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.

As a holdover of this system, players must earn the Dragon Isles Pathfinder achievement to unlock flying on the Dragon Isles. To earn it, 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

Initially, to earn the Pathfinder achievement, you 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.