Blizzard talks about Dragonflight, the Dracthyr starting zone, the reputation system… – World of Warcraft

Mission table, History, Mythic+, Dracthyrs…

Blizzard answered player questions about the expansion Dragonflight at the end of the day on Twitter. Find the most important information below.

Development

• The expansion is progressing well. Alpha is coming soon.

New extension

• Every WoW expansion is a fresh start, a chance to come back and be on the same level as the others.
• If something about World of Warcraft captured your imagination a long time ago and you haven’t felt it for the past two years, Dragonflight returns to pure fantasy, exploration and discovery of the story by meeting the characters on your way, it is an ideal opportunity to return to Azeroth.
• This expansion is the opportunity and return to the classic fantasy themes that made us love such games originally.

Improvements to quality of life

• The team is moving away from temporary power and focusing on core systems like talents and professions. It’s a decision that was made even before Shadowlands is launched.
• The feedback let the team know just how unsatisfying it was to lose this temporary power. Losing your Artifacts or Legendary Items starts the expansion in a negative way.
• Knowing that what you have gained during an extension will go away is a negative even during this one.
• The team wants to allow players to play the game the way they want, and not have to do activities they don’t enjoy in order to reach the ones they like.
• The team is thinking about how alt and catch-up mechanics will work in a way they never have before.
• Almost everything except getting gear should be account bound.
• Walking through a linear story should be optional after the first time.
• Having to level up your Dragonflight on multiple characters would not be a satisfying experience.
• Developers constantly question whether you’ll be happy after the second time around, or if you’re coming back months later.
• If your dragon can fly longer, farther, and has additional abilities, the team doesn’t want you to relearn those things on your alts. The same goes for cosmetic customizations.
• Outside of items that grant power, if you do something once as a player, you should be able to do it again on another character if you want, but don’t have to.
• The goal is to be more open to secondary characters from the start, not something that will be added in future patches.
• No pain for months and adjustments related to feedback, the developers know that players will play their secondary characters from the first week.

Dracthyr starting area

• You arrive in full mystery and you wake up after a long stasis. This one has impacted your memory, and all you know is that you’re in a barracks, with friends in trouble.
• You wake up your friends and try to figure out what happened, what caused this.
• You realize you were asleep for a very long time.
• It’s a journey of discovery, to understand what happened to you and Neltharion.
• You discover that you were made to be a soldier, to protect against a threat that was about to come. You find out what that threat was and that it also wakes up again.
• It will be fun to see how the dragons react, even Alexstrasza didn’t know you existed.
• The Dracthyr starting area will be used for more than that. Everyone will get there eventually.

reputation system

• The reputation system hasn’t really changed since 2004.
• The Congregations of Shadowlands worked well, with a clean Renown interface.
• We’ll encounter ‘Major Factions’, with a clear and elegant reward progression.
• Each is self-sufficient. Unlike Covenants, you can switch between them and focus on any as you wish.
• Congregations had time limits but this system will be much more flexible.
• Some rewards will be account bound, such as unlocking a cosmetic item or gaining access to an area, but not items that give you power.

Mission table

• No mission table provided for Dragonflight.

Story

• There’s an epic ending that involves the characters we’ll be helping during the expansion.
• The team wants players to feel optimism and hope for the dragons. You’ll care who you adventure with and land.
• Thematically, this expansion is about dragons, the threats they face, the goals they have, what we do to help them, and what other dragons do to stop them.

Mythic+

• The dungeons of Shadowlands et Battle for Azeroth are discarded for Mythic+. Mists of Pandaria were some that were interesting in Challenge Mode.
• The team is open to adjusting dungeons to give them the modern gameplay needed in Mythic+
• Each Mythic+ Season should be a new experience, like raids have with new raids.
• Unlikely but possible to use dungeons Classic in Mythic+. They are too late visually and mechanically. The team probably places the limit at Mists of Pandaria. Anything older would need a major overhaul.

Dracthyrs

• The Dracthyrs are a class using intelligence.
• What the devs think of for weapons is similar to what the Shaman uses, without the shields, but with the swords.
• The latter will probably not have access to the Mage Tower initially.
• Dracthyrs will have access to Torment, the Tower of the Damned.
• No Artifacts or Class Halls.
• Artists have added a wide variety of customizations for both forms. There is an article in preparation in which they will discuss the options in more detail.
• They do not come from one race or Dragonflightbut are rather a combination of the best of them.
• When you wake up, you are in dragon form. There will be a point in the story when you venture out into the world and you must tap into your mortality and present your humanoid form.
• A Tank specialization is unlikely. It is a spellcasting class in essence.
• The team isn’t closing the door on a third specialization, but Tank is unlikely. Previous heroic classes had Tank options, so this is a suitably covered role.

Chromie

• Chromie works well. Shadowlands will be added to it.
• Battle for Azeroth will remain the default experience for new players, but this may change in the future.
• Shadowlands features complicated story concepts for new players.

Story

• Wrathion and the other Aspects have had many stories over time that will be present in the Dragon Isles.
• In Patch 9.2.5, something will take place in Tirisfal, which may involve Calia Menethil, the Forsaken, and more.
• When the team adds new character customizations, like the ones in Patch 8.1, it’s thanks to a story opportunity.

Flight on the back of dragons

• Flight as it exists is similar to swimming in the air. No momentum, physics or gravity.
• Flight has the potential to shrink the world, eliminate danger, shrink exploration.
• In the long run, practicality is paramount, which is why the team is giving players flight after some time in the expansion.
• At launch this time around, the developers want to do something new and exciting, rather than just being grounded.
• In the first or second leveling zone on the first day of the expansion, you will earn the trust of a dragon companion that you can summon. Basically, they have limited stamina and experience.
• There is a stamina bar that drops as you gain stamina or do moves.
• Classic flight is always the long-term plan for Dragonflight.
• The dragon flight we’ve seen in the videos so far is the start of the experience.
• How you progress your dragonflight is not yet determined. Developers don’t want to tie it to a specific type of content because that brings limitations.
• In the long term, allowing dragon flight outside of the Dragon Isles is a possibility. In the short term, it’s a feature specific to the extension, taking place in an environment created for it. Player feedback will be key.

Inter-Faction

• The armistice signed at the end of Battle for Azeroth was the starting point for cross-faction groups. Players will be reminded that this is a cooperative adventure.
• All is not forgotten between the Alliance and the Horde, there is always feeling and mistrust.
• We will see some characters working together that previously would have been impossible.
• In a way, it’s less the storytelling adapting to a new mechanic, but the mechanics adapting to the storytelling of the past. Situational cooperation to overcome common threats is a regular thing in Warcraft.
• Cross-faction guilds could exist, but there are a significant number of technical challenges.
• Community feedback and engineering progress will determine how this plays out.

System

• No temporary power this time.
• The team does not bring back most systems of Shadwolands. There’s gear, outdoor progression, and universal currencies that will help deepen your progression in power.
• The experience of the outside world should stand on its own for players who only enjoy this part of the game.
• A version of the Great Vault will be present, with some minor tweaks. It’s a clear upgrade to the one-time loot box.

Story

• The Tuskarr would be too powerful as an Allied Race.
• Alexstrasza has seen much destruction done to dragons both by mortals and the dragons themselves. She is optimistic, but understands feelings towards past actions. She might have something specific to Death Knights. Conditional quest text where there is a relevant backstory for the character is a good thing.
• Discovering Azeroth: Northrend comes with a lot of cool information.
• While working on this collection, the team met with Inuit to see how to add certain stories in a way that is respectful and appropriate.