A quick guide to unlocking regular flying in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
Dragonriding is a huge part of traveling in retail WoW right now. And while dragonriding is fun and among the fastest ways to get around, there are still times when having normal flying can come in handy. But how do you unlock regular flying on the Dragon Isles?
You must complete the Dragon Isles Pathfinder achievement to unlock regular flying in Dragonflight areas. To earn Pathfinder, you’ll need to explore every Dragonflight zone and finish each one’s storyline (except the Emerald Dream).
Dragon Isles Pathfinder consists of 8 smaller achievements that you can use to track your progress, including:
- Waking Hope: Complete the Waking Shores storyline
- Ohn’a’roll: Complete the Ohn’ahran Plains storyline
- Azure Spanner: Complete the Azure Span storyline
- Just Don’t Ask Me to Spell It: Complete the Thaldraszus storyline
- Embers of Neltharion: Complete the Forbidden Reach and Zaralek Cavern storylines
- Dragon Isles Explorer: Explore the Waking Shores, Ohn’ahran Plains, Azure Span, and Thaldraszus
- Explore Zaralek Cavern
- Explore the Emerald Dream
Once you finish each item in the list, you will receive the Pathfinder achievement and unlock flying for every character on your account!
Here are a few tips to make this process as painless as possible.
Don’t worry about side quests
When the achievement says that you need to complete the storyline, it doesn’t mean you have to complete every quest in a zone. Instead, what it means is that you need to complete the 4-5 quest chains that tell the main story.
There are a few ways to know whether a quest is part of the main storyline. If a quest has a shield around it when you pick it up, it is part of the main story. Otherwise, it is a side quest and won’t count toward the Pathfinder achievement.
Main quests will also appear at the top of your quest tracker under the “Campaign” section. You can also see available main quests on your world map after pressing “M” on your keyboard.
Download the BtWQuests addon
One of the most underrated addons in the game is BtWQuests. This nifty little addon creates a Quest Journal to track every major questline in the game. For instance, if you were trying to complete the Ohn’ahran Plains storyline, you could open the BtWQuest journal (by clicking on the provided minimap icon) and see every quest chain and the requirements for each.
Even more important, you can see which quest chains are main storylines by looking for the bronze shield in the box.
The screenshot above shows four main parts of the Ohn’ahran Plains storyline: Into the Plains, Maruukai, Ohn’ahra’s Blessing, and Bonds Renewed. If you click on the name of a quest chain, it will open up a tree showing you every quest required and where you are in the process!
Gather dragon glyphs as you go!
Exploring each zone is one of the easiest parts of the Pathfinder achievement now, especially after unlocking dragonriding early in the Waking Shores. But you can make your life even easier by collecting dragonriding glyphs as you go. Gathering glyphs will allow you to upgrade your dragon and keep you in the air longer, making it easier to explore the map.
If you aren’t using it yet, I recommend downloading the HandyNotes (and HandyNotes: Dragonflight Treasures) addon. In addition to showing rares and treasures on your map, it will display the location of each dragon glyph!
After that, all you need to do is visit every nook and cranny of each zone to earn the achievement!
Recommended for you: How to Get to the Forbidden Reach in WoW Dragonflight
Why should you unlock regular flying?
While dragonriding is much faster, the old-world flying style has a few advantages.
One advantage is that you can use it to reach tricky areas easily. For example, treasures often sit on top of tree branches or other narrow platforms, which can be challenging to land your dragon on. Regular flying makes it easy to reach these areas and have better control over your flight.
Another reason players often prefer normal flying is because it makes it possible to aim your character in a direction, turn on their auto movement key, and AFK while moving towards a destination.
Additionally, some players report that dragonflying makes them feel motion-sick. Hence, having regular flying available is an excellent option to make the game more accessible to all players!
Finally, there are just some mounts you can’t use with dragonriding currently. If you want to flex those awesome old mounts you farmed, you’ll want to unlock regular flying!
Frequently Asked Questions
The amount of time it takes to get Dragon Isles Pathfinder will depend on how far along you are in the Dragonflight campaign. If you are a new player on your first character from scratch, it may take about 20-30 hours. Luckily, from levels 60 – 70, you’ll work on the main storyline requirements and explore as you go.
No, once you have the achievement on your account, you can fly on the Dragon Isles with any character!
Some parts of the main storyline were added as content for players at maximum level. If you haven’t reached level 70 yet, make sure to do that first and then check the requirements to start the quest chains in the BtWQuests addon.
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