The Flight System is a new mechanic implemented for ALfheim Online since the game story is about the Celtic style elves, Seidhe, and allows the players to travel and fight while airborne. The system makes use of the colorful wings on every player's back that can appear or disappear in a controllable way.

Mechanics

Controls

There are two ways the flight of a playing character can be controlled.

One is made in shape of a familiar game controller reminiscent of the old virtual reality gear which can be summoned as an in-game item by holding out one's hand as if to grab something.

• Pulling the controller towards the player allows the player to fly up and pushing away causes them to fly down, in an airplane simulator manner.
• Moving the controller left or right allows the player to change the direction of the flight.
• Pushing the round button on the controller causes the player to accelerate and releasing decelerates them.

The other way lets the player keep both hands free but is more involved. It is called Voluntary Flight and is about controlling the flight with one's thoughts. The player must imagine there being the bones and muscles on their upper back that connect to the wings, and adjust to controlling them by trial and error.

Limitations

In the original ALO, there was a 10-minute limit on flight duration, during which the wings were growing "tired" and their shining fading until the player landed and rested. That was due to the Grand Quest that implied the players reaching the top of the World Tree and was meant to be unbeatable. The limitation was later removed by the new management of the game, Ymir in a May 2025 update.

The flight also has an altitude limit, so the large mountains are a real obstacle and the game space is partitioned in an intuitive manner; for example, the Alne Plateau is separate from the race territories this way.

The magical wings also require sunlight or moonlight, which means most races cannot fly in dungeons and Labyrinths at all. Imps and Spriggans may learn a special skill allowing them a short flight time.

Techniques

A popular technique in the original ALO, a player could save a lot of flight time and gain speed by taking off from a tall place like a mountain or a tower and fiddle with acceleration and gliding in an efficient way.

After the air time limit removal update, Kirito discovered a different optimal travel strategy. To do it, the player needs to first extend the wings the most while cycling the flight impulses, to achieve a good starting speed, and then start folding the wings at a gradually sharper angle while still flapping, which in the end would accelerate the player the most with their wings almost completely folded, resulting in a great cycling frequency. This implies that aerodynamics with a degree of realism to it has been implemented for the flight system, as its behavior mimics the wing area to velocity ratios of the real planes and missiles.

Use

Apart from allowing travel at high velocities, the flight system in ALO is intended to be used in combat, and players use it for that purpose often That means the wings control becomes crucial for a competitive player. All skillful players in ALO who do not have vertigo are masters of Voluntary Flight control system, which gives them an agility advantage in addition to two free hands over one for those using the controller emulation. Additionally, the controller-driven velocity has a hardcoded limit.

Trivia

• Prolonged flights seem to result in making the players feel tired in the part of their back where their imagined wing muscles are, possibly due to a feedback phenomenon not unlike the phantom pain among amputees. It is not made clear whether the same happens to those using the controller to move around.
• When the wings are enabled, the symbol of the player's race appears on their back.
• All races' wings are made up of pairs which is reminiscent of a butterfly's wings, and the shape and texture of the wings is race-dependent.

References

Flight System - Fan Wiki