If you play World of Warcraft, have access to social media in some form, and have a pulse, you’re probably aware that Blizzard has now officially stated that flying will not be happening in Draenor, or any expansion in the future. Being the rational, level-headed group that it is, the WoW playerbase started burning everything down, from 500+ page forum posts, to heated exchanges on Twitter, to folks just outright unsubbing.

Some of us decided that screw this, we were going to fly one way or the other. The “other” way was by using Aviana’s Feather.

Getting Aviana’s Feather is simple enough. It’s a quest reward from a random quest picked up in your local garrison’s Inn/Tavern. Get the quest, complete a Heroic Dungeon, and hand it in. As simple as it sounds in theory, putting it into practice can be a little more difficult.

Many people tend to get a bit tight in the collar at the thought of running Heroics. Maybe they’re afraid that they’ll suck, or more likely they’re afraid that they’ll be told by others that they do in fact suck. There are steps to be taken that will keep the humiliation to a minimum, or at least to a bearable level.

Prove Your Worth
There are two barriers that will keep you from queueing for Heroics. The first is that you must complete the Proving Grounds scenario on Silver (for whatever role you plan on running in the dungeon). This is actually a good thing. I’ve only done this as DPS, so all I can tell you is that if you can pull off the DPS to complete Silver, you should be able to hold your own when it comes to not putting up embarrassing numbers on Recount. It also has the additional benefit of being a solo scenario, so no one else will be there to point and laugh at how bad you suck.

You Need The Gear
To keep you from being thrown to the wolves and torn into meaty pulp, the UI won’t let you queue for Heroics unless you have an iLevel of 610. If you find yourself on the lower end of that 610 prerequisite, there happens to be a few ways to beef up your iLevel. Crafted gear is probably the easiest, but with the caviat that you can only wear three pieces of it at a time. The first stage of the Legendary ring is pretty easy to get, and it’s a nice iLevel bump. Apexis gear is an option too, if you have a pile a crystals at your disposal. If you happen to have a War Mill, work on quests in Nagrand. The War Mill will give you a chance to have your quest reward gear proc into an upgrade. Or hey, just run garrison follower missions and let your followers bring you piles of gear upgrades.

Addons
Nobody likes to do stupid shit when they’re running a dungeon for the first time. The peanut gallery members in your group will put you on blast, and nobody wants to be That Guy (or Gal). Still, even if you read the dungeon journal (btw, read the damn journal), stuff happens during an encounter. Addons can seriously help to keep that kind of shenanigan to a minimum. If you don’t already have them, there’s a couple of addons you should definitely consider getting. Deady Boss Mods is one of them (notifications and warnings during an encounter are so win). GTFO is another, because it will tell you in an annoying tone when you’re standing in the bad.

Belly Up To The Bar
Congratulations! You’re ready to run Heroics! You have adequate gear, you know what the dungeon bosses do, and you have addons to keep you on point. All that’s left to do is wait for the quest to show up in your garrison’s Inn or Tavern.

You DO have one of those in your garrison, don’t you? If you don’t, get one. Next, wait for the quest “Aviana’s Request” to pop up in the Tavern. All that remains is to then run Heroic Skyreach, kill the end boss, and collect its plumage as per the quest.

Is this going to replace flying? No. Does it beat walking? You damn well better believe it.