World of Warcraft: Dragonflight will take players to the skies above Azeroth

Eighteen years after its launch, having to explain what is World of Warcraft is something we can safely take for granted. Not only because of its longevity, but because it has managed to place itself among the most recognized names in video games worldwide and as the benchmark for an entire genre. What has kept it alive for so long has been its huge community, as well as its multiple expansions, which have added races, locations, activities and quality of life improvements with each release, as well as expanding its lore of almost 30 years. Now, it's time to find out what's new to come.

This morning, Blizzard released the first trailer for Dragonflight, the ninth expansion of its long-lived and successful MMORPG. Prior to its presentation, Meristation USA had the opportunity to learn more about what the development team has prepared for this expansion.

The awakening of the dragons -and the Dragon Isles-

To say that Azeroth has fallen on hard times in recent years would be the misunderstanding of the century. Fortunately, the sacred homelands are awakening after a slumber of more than 10,000 years to bring the dragons back. However, like everything in Warcraft, nothing is simple and the dragons themselves will have to reconcile among themselves in order to restore their kingdom and face the dangers of their race, perhaps asking for help from the heroes of the Alliance and the Horde to face the risks that threaten their world.

Dragons aren't the only thing awakening, as the Dragon Isles also resurface, bringing with them 4 new zones -including a starter zone- for players. Among these locations are the roiling Waking Shores; the vast Ohn'ahran Plains; the stark Azure Span; and ancient, majestic Thaldraszus, each with its own unique details.

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The Dracthyr Evoker on charge

As expected, the expansion will feature a new race that goes hand in hand with the dragon theme. This time, players arriving to Dragonflight will be able to create a very particular new character, the Dracthyr Evoker. Unlike what we have had in other expansions, the Dracthyr -a race with humanoid and draconic forms- mix by default a race with a class.

As one can infer from its name, the Evoker is a class that specializes in magic, something that goes very much in accordance with its dragon nature. This class has two specializations, while Devastation uses magic to attack and focus, Preservation does the same to rejuvenate and manipulate time. This type of magic is joined by exclusive spells, because it wouldn't be a fantasy game where you are a half-dragon if you don't end up spitting fire at your enemies.

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Something to emphasize about the Dracthyr is that their customization options are extremely wide, being able to modify several aspects as it was done with the previous expansion, Shadowlands. The details that we can see in the images show a little of what we can expect in terms of customization of this race. However, something to point out is that if you were expecting to create a Dracthyr that had the shape of a gnome, or some other non-human race, it is something that cannot be achieved.

How to train your dragon

If you thought that visiting the Dragon Isles and using a draconic race would not entitle you to use a dragon as a mount, you are very wrong. After all, the expansion is called Dragonflight! Being a Drachtyr gives us a link to dragons, which will be a very special mount in the game, having access to Dracoequitation. The Drake can be customized and as the player levels up, you can improve your skills as a rider, being able to soar higher, move faster or do special moves, nosedive, among other very cool moves.

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One of the details revealed is that we will be able to have our own Drake from the very beginning of the expansion, so we will be able to start flying through the airs of Azeroth almost immediately. On the other hand, the verticality of the scenarios will benefit from these creatures. During the presentation it was mentioned that many of these new areas have points that originally we will not be able to go through, but only with the help of our Drake we will be able to reach them.

Quality of Life Improvements

18 years and 8 expansions later, World of Warcraft has evolved and adjusted to current features to help players have a better quality of life within the game. For now, Dragonflight promises a handful of improvements designed for players.

One of the first details is an update to the user interface. This goes beyond creating new art and improving accessibility. Although it was not shown how it will look, they did mention the idea of giving the player customization options in the different aspects of the interface, taking into account monitor resolution sizes up to 4K. The idea is to take advantage of the spaces in the game area, map, bars and other elements in our HUD so that through a modular process, we can move the elements to our liking.

On the other hand, the player talent system will be renewed with the return of the tree system, divided into class and specialization talents. The concept behind this change is to give players the freedom to take more creative decisions about the talents they choose, without compromising their effectiveness, resulting in greater customization.

Finally, trades will see an improvement with the arrival of Dragonflight. A new crafting order system will help crafters complete orders from other players. This will help players who did specialize in a profession to those who never decided to take up any of the professions in the game. Along with this, a quality scale for creations will be added, offering better stats or effects to better quality items. Also, to support the most avid artisans, they will now have a special interface that will allow them to maximize the production of their products.

When will World of Warcraft: Dragonflight arrive?

For now, the World of Warcraft expansion still does not have a definite release date. We were told that throughout the year there will be the classic closed tests where registered users will be able to participate. But as Blizzard's philosophy has dictated, the game will be released “when it is ready.”