With some tuning not only would it prevent complete flyovers, it could actually be really fun and add another option for progression. Like a basic mechanic where climbing altitude quickly consumes stamina, while gliding consumes it slowly. Add thermal drafts to strategic locations and let the player improve their flying stamina over time.
Now you can limit how much a player can fly and when, and create fun game moments with crash landings in hostile areas when you misjudge your stamina.
I like the suggestion. I suspect, however, that making flying harder could only have happened before flying first appeared in the game, and that Blizzard has calculated that any such move now would cost too many players to be worthwhile.
I do not give a rat's ass about the "artists spend months building" anything, I just need to be there, pick something up or kill something and I am out.
With all respect for those who enjoy the "zones artists spend months building", I am here (WoW) just to beat stuff up in a repetitive & predictable way. Until today, I have NO idea in what zone what dungeon is, or what the background of the story is of that particular monster that lives there. I have never seen a cinematic in full, turn off the sounds and run graphics at to the lowest level possible so I see stuff that is relevant (fire) and am not bothered with cosmetics (grass). And I have been p[l] aying this game (on and off) since over 10 years.
It is just a nice time waster which allows for easy & cheap boosting so I can show up with the same gear as the addicts.
Flying should never have been allowed in WoW, period.
Beyond the whole issue of players skipping content in zones artists spend months building, the mechanism severely distorts gameplay. A player being able to hover, descend to the ground, pick up an item, then immediately remount and rise back up—avoiding monsters—is ridiculous.
If flying had to be introduced, it should at least have been done with some sort of meaningful takeoff/landing process.