Blizzard talks about the history of Dragongliht, Evocative Dracthyrs, Dragon Isles… – World of Warcraft

Other interviews regarding Dragonflight have been posted in recent days. Find below new summaries of the most important information regarding the next expansion of WoW. Good reading.

Warcraft Radio (Steve Danuser)

• The Stone Watcher seen in the cutscene of Dragonflight is called Vigileur Korinos.
• The Watcher Korinos will be present in the Dragon Islands. We will see him during quests and get to know him.
• One of the most important themes of Dragonflight is inheritance.
• Dragons out of the five flights will be present in the expansion.
• There will be a lot of localized threats like the Gnolls, but also bigger ones like the Djaradins.
• There are a lot of discrepancies in the chronicles’ narrative regarding dragonflights, and throughout history we’ll find that many proto-dragons didn’t think being titan-infused was a good idea.
• There are four dragon rulers in the primalist movement who are on the same level as the aspects, each embodying the elemental forces they have chosen. This movement comes from those who rejected the gifts of the Titans and wished to remain free. These different philosophies led to the war.
• The Dragon Aspects have defeated and imprisoned these incarnated primordials, but they are likely to be freed now that this land awakens.
• Dragons will have to reflect on what it means to be attached to these cosmic forces and the magical order of the Titans. Should they renew these ties or find a different path in the future?
• The fact that Nozdormu knows he will transform into Murozond at some point weighs heavily on people’s minds and he struggles to clearly see the ways of time currently.
• The Blue Flight is scattered, and Kalecgos’ story involves returning to the island to find only a few members there. How will he rebuild his flight?
• The story of the Green Flight follows Merithra as she tries to take up the torch from Ysera.
• The story of the black flight revolves around Wrathion and how his questionable choices and birth will affect his future in the flight.
• We’ll see Wrathion and Ebonhorn’s relationship deepen as they learn from each other.
• The Dragonscale Expedition is the name of the combined forces of The League of Explorers and the Reliquary.
• Patch 9.2.5 will begin to show some changes that have been happening in Azeroth while we’ve been away. Some of them are available on the PTR, but others haven’t happened yet.
• The events of Patch 10.0 will help tell the story of what is happening on Azeroth and how both factions have moved forward with new leaders.
• Uldaman will be getting an overhaul that boasts the right amount of nostalgia while bringing in some new light.
• There will be new sections of Uldaman to explore as Alexstrasza sends us to search for discs that contain the knowledge of Watcher Tyr.

Buffed (Ion Hazzikostas)

• There was a great war between the dragon factions around the fall of Galakrond.
• The Aspects we know were the victors in this war, but with the loss of their power during the Cataclysm and the awakening of these primalist enemies, they are less in a position to fight them this time. That’s why they need our help.
• There will be main villains in Dragonflightbut it will be like Mists of Pandariawhere the identity of these is unclear from the outset.
• Khadgar will join us in the Dragon Isles.
• We’ll have some questions regarding Anduin’s future in the story answered in Patch 9.2.5. He was forever changed by his experience with Domination and will likely step down as King of Stormwind for the time being.
• The factions will maintain an uneasy armistice going forward, with some groups wanting peace and others not forgetting the past. They will always maintain separate control of their lands and we will not see any Orcs in Stormwind.
• There will be significant endgame regions across all 4 zones.
• The areas are larger than those of Shadowlands.
• The areas have lots of depth and open space.
• Normal mounts are usable on the ground, but not for flight at first.
• The Sword of Sargeras in Sillithus is just a big shard right now. The story focuses on the Dragon Islands, but the old areas will not have significant new features in Dragonflight.
• Evokers bring a new style of ranged DPS the same way Demon Hunters did for melee DPS.
• The team is testing ways to make the Dracthyrs’ humanoid form usable in combat outside of the use of draconic abilities.
• You get one talent point per level, alternating between class points and specialization points.
• Many Covenant abilities will be reintroduced into the talent trees.
• Shadowlands will be added to Chromie’s 10-60 leveling following the expansion ends.
• The old interface texture options will not be available in the new interface.
• Crafting tables will be needed for crafting important items.
• The team would like to allow cross-realm trading but there is a lot of work needed to ensure there are no exploits or issues.
• No news regarding BlizzCon at this time.

Blizzplanet (Jackie Wiley et Tina Wang)

• There are no Dragonflight Covenants in this expansion, and therefore no quests locked behind different Covenant systems.
• The team is still figuring out what to do for alts during leveling, but want players to choose how to do that instead of having something as specific as Thread of Fate. This includes dungeons and side quests through areas outside of the main campaign.
• Dragonflight does not take place very long following Sahdowlands. There is no time jump.
• Dracthyrs have no progression in their personal flight form, but are able to jump and glide.
• For now, Dracthyrs are still in dragon form in combat.
• There are way more customizations to the Dracthyr form than what was shown in the video.
  • Players can expect the ability to make the torso slimmer or slightly bulkier.
  • Armor can be customized in the Barber Shop.
  • Dracthyr forms show your shoulder pads, tabard, and belt.
  • The humanoid form shows all armor.
  • You can customize your face shape, muzzle, etc.
• Evocative Dracthyrs will be playable in Patch 10.0.
• There are 4 different types of dragon companion available.
  • Proto-drake
  • Fast-drake
  • Wyvern-drake
  • Drake-drake
• The Veloci-drake has some very different muzzle customizations including rhinoceros beaks or a pterodactyl appearance.
• Dragon customizations will be available through many different sources. There is a huge amount of different unlockable options.
• Dragon customizations are entirely cosmetic and will not affect dragonback flight in any way.
• Orders will let players without the profession include crafting related items.
• Specializations will have trees to progress over time.
• Tree points include options such as faster crafting speed, inspiration (chance to make additional copies of the same item), critical crafting (better quality), etc.
• New players will always start at the Reaches of Exile, then use the zones of Battle for Azeroth during the 10-60 experience before heading straight to the Dragon Islands.
• The team is still discussing what to do with Soulshapes in the future.
• Dragonriding is currently only available in the Dragon Isles.
• Valdrakken will have an iconic area like the top of Wyrmrest Time where the dragon rulers will all be in their dragon forms.
• Valdrakken is the highest point of the Dragon Islands. It will be great fun to jump and fly over the different regions on your dragon.
• There will be new docks in each faction’s capitals for shipping.
• The developers haven’t forgotten regarding ancestral armor and now that we’re back on Azeroth, there’s an opportunity to tell those stories.
• The team sees Archeology as content now and not a profession.
• The team is discussing new race/class combinations.
• No duck mount confirmation yet.

MMORPG (Tina Wang et Jackie Wiley)

• The developers hope to lift race/class restrictions on Dracthyrs in the future, but nothing concrete yet.
• Each player’s dragon will likely be different as the customization is so extensive.
• The interface for customizing dragons is a kind of ‘dragon barbershop’.
• The team doesn’t want to repeat the same issues that surfaced with Fate’s Edge. She wants players to choose what they want to do to level up.

PCGamesN (Ion Hazzikostas)

• The story of Dragonlight will be more traditional and will have less major concepts like Shadowlands.
• The team tries to return to more earthly adventures with deep fantasy concepts.
• There will always be cosmic adventures in the future with major threats.
• The story of Dragonflight won’t need you to have played Shadowlands to be understood.