Back to basics is the theme of Dragonflight, the latest World of Warcraft (WoW) expansion! The game goes back to its fantasy roots by making this a dragon focused expansion with an emphasis on exploration. Without spoilers, the game’s story focuses on an ancient enemy from the Dragon Wars 20,000 years ago who hatches a jailbreak plan for its fellow prisoners. The fun in the story is in all the side quests, it shows the lives of the NPC’s are all not about trying to prevent the end of the world, and some want to have fun.
Gameplay
Playing this expansion felt like playing WoW in 2005. The high of discovering random locations, killing rare creatures and working on one of the oldest professions known to humankind, cooking, was intense at first. As with all drugs, you will always be chasing that dragon for your next fix, hoping it will be like the first time.
Dragonflight introduces a new mechanic that should be part of all expansions: flying right from the start, instead of waiting after a patch and a rep grind. The game gives it to you 30 minutes into the expansion. This is the backbone of the expansion and it feels incredible, and you can utilize it in dungeons.
New Features
The game also introduces a new hero class called “The Evoker.” It’s only playable by the new race, “Dracthyr.” The Evoker is a mail wearing caster class. It’s great if you like to be a spellcasting dragon that can heal, but it lacks the brute force of a Death Knight. But serves as a nice hero class for those cowards who prefer to be at range
The professions seem like something they invested time into. Each profession has multiple specializations in which they can invest points into. The bad part is that all professions rely on another profession. Unless you have alts that can produce what you need, you will be forced to work with the Auction House. Some of it may seem like busy work, but it harkens back to the old vanilla days of WoW.
Dungeons and Raids
Dungeons and Raids are fun! The mythic dungeons are great at first, but will they become dull over time? I could not do all the bosses in the current raid, but the final boss on Heroic or Mythic seems like one twisting nether of a hard time.
As for the quests, there will always be the “Kill 10 creatures,” the bread and butter of WoW. But new types of quests are introduced; my favourite is a “Pokemon Snap” style quest, in which you ride a raft and take pictures of wildlife; it’s calm and peaceful. Dragonflying introduces many more quest options, but it seems like they only added two types, Dragonracing and flying through some hoops quest. Perhaps in a future patch, they will add some sort of dragon battling system in the game.
Overall Rating
The expansion is a solid 7.5/10. It adds some nice quality-of-life changes. Dailies are now semi-weekly. Dragonflight is very alt-friendly. Biggest flaws are just so many bugs, some horrible, some hilarious. Will this expansion be as memorable as Legion? Or will it lose its great start and become as bad as Shadowlands ended?
