New Expansion for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
The news we have all been waiting for, and for years. World of Warcraft Dragonflight has finally been announced! The dragonflights have finally returned, and as we see in the cinematic, they have been called upon to defend their ancestral home, the Dragon Isles, by the beacon unveiling the area. And these are the details of what we know of it so far! Spoilers ahead.
New Zones
The Waking Shores: On invitation by Alextrazsa, heroes of the Horde and Alliance arrive to aid the red dragonflight in this vibrant, roiling land. Here, Wrathion will call upon Azeroth’s champions to help him reclaim the black dragonflight’s citadel from enemy hands.
Ohn’ahran Plains: These verdant grasslands are home to the might Maruuk centaur tribes, who long ago forged a bond with the green dragonflight. But since the death of Ysera, the green dragons face an uncertain future.
The Azure Span: Holding the magical archives of the blue dragonflight, the Azure Span stretches from coastal tuskarr villages through a sprawling forest tundra, all the way to looming spires of ice and snow. Tribes of gnolls and furbolgs call these ancient lands home.
Thaldraszus: The seat of power of the aspects and their flights, Thaldraszus stands as the shining beacon of the dragons’ kingdom. It is also here that the bronze dragonflight watches over the timeways, ensuring both the past and the future of Azeroth remains secure.
Forbidden Reach: Located off the coast of the Dragon Isles, the Forbidden Reach was forged by Neltharion the Earth-Warder to serve as a training ground for his ultimate soldiers, the dracathyr. But in the aftermath of a terrible battle, the island has lain dormant and abandoned for ages — until the return of an ancient enemy that causes the dracthyr to stir.
These zone descriptions were taken from the Blizzard page for Dragonflight expansion overview, so make sure to check it out to see the images and some screenshots of these zones.
New Playable Race and Class
World of Warcraft’s first ever race and class combination, Dracthyr Evoker! They will be able to freely switch between two customizable forms like worgen — choosing between a humanoid visage, and a draconic form. As Dracthyr Evokers, you will also be able to choose your faction of either Horde are Alliance, much like how it was for the pandaren. It is also announced that they will have a brand-new starting experience, and teach you how to use your new abilities before your adventure.
They will also have two specialization options of ranged damage (Devastation), and healer (Preservation). The Dracthyr Evokers will also be bringing a new style of game play to World of Warcraft, letting you empowerdraconic abilities through magic by holding your keys down longer. This way, you will be able to charge up your attacks, but there will definitely be more on this new detail to explain it more.
Dragonriding
Master the art of Dragonriding, a new form of aerial movement. Explore the land and obtain four new Dragon Isles Drakes — unique, customizable mounts that can be truly made your own. With millions of possible combinations to choose from, no two Drakes are the same.
Use your new riding abilities to keep yourself and your Drake in the air — but beware! The denizens of the Dragon Isles will knock out inexperienced Dragonriders right out of the sky. (Dragonflight overview)
This is the new feature for the new expansion, which almost seems to be bring How to Train Your Dragon into World of Wacraft. You can train with your dragon to unlock new maneuvers, and improve your Dragonriding skill by hunting down ancient glyphs lying around these unexplored lands. This system will also have a seperate Dragonriding skill tree too.
System Changes
New chances will be coming to the World of Warcraft UI, and it will also be changing the minimap and health bar, making them larger. Some of the clutter will be removed to also provide more visibility to your gameplay, and the gryphons and wyverns on the action bar at the bottom of the screen will also be updated.
Not only will you be able to move various elements of the HUD around the screen, but each component has various sets of options that you’ll be able to work with. You’ll be able to save, edit, copy, and name it. It will also remember which specialization you’re in so when you switch between then, it will remember the HUD layout that you have for that specific spec. (Dragonflight Deep Dive)
Another UI intensive project we’ve been working on is an update to the Talent system. We wanted to look at it once more and find ways to provide players with more choice in shaping their character’s abilities. Currently, as you level up, you receive new spells and skills, but that progression and ordering is entirely predetermined. So, we started looking at creating a system that would provide players with a wider set of options.
One of these ideas that we returned to was that of trees. In this case, it’s actually two trees. One tree focuses on class utility while the other focuses on specialization and the expression of your role whether that’s doing damage, tanking, or healing. We want choosing your specialization to be important and want to make sure that when you choose it, it affects the tree in some way.
When you look at the new tree, you’ll notice the class side will have some abilities filled out for free to get you started off in the spec you’ve chosen, but then you’ll have your first point to spend in the class tree which could be something related to that spec or it could be something from elsewhere in the class.
We wanted to make sure that the new system allows players to take combinations of spells and abilities that may not have been possible in the game before. This opportunity also allowed us to inject more art and fantasy into the actual Talent UI itself. (Dragonflight Deep Dive)
The talent system with the tree, which players have been waiting for is making a return, and with this screenshot above, it is also safe to assume that some of the Covenant abilities from the Shadowlands will be making their stay as new talents available. Good news, balance druids. Convoke the Spirits is here to stay.
Make sure to check the World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Deep Dive for more information, and read about the new features with their full details. See you all in the new city hub of Valdrakken.
Let me know in the comments what you think about Dragonflights, and what you expect to see in the new expansion. I hope to see you soon with more news and thoughts on video games, and wish you all short loading screens!
— Loading Screen
