01/10/2022

Looking Forward to Dragonflight

This week Blizzard presented us with a release date for Dragonflight: 28th of November. When they originally posited that the expansion was going to be out towards the end of the year, the husband was hopeful that it could also serve as a Christmas present for me, but with a November release that's pretty much out. (Sorry hubby, you'll have to find something else.)

I'm kind of pleasantly surprised by how much I'm looking forward to the Dragonflight release. The last time I looked forward to a retail WoW expansion was... Wrath of the Lich King, when I was excited about Cataclysm? That's a looong time ago now.

My initial reaction to the Dragonflight announcement was cautiously optimistic, in that I thought that all the promised expansion features sounded at least decent, but nothing really excited me. However, after what I've heard coming out of the beta, I'm still not "hyped" or anything, but I am more certain in my optimism.

I haven't heard a single bad word about dragonriding for example - seemingly everyone that's tried it has found it to be amazingly fun, with the only question mark potentially hovering over the issue of long-term appeal.

I was a bit lukewarm on the new class initially since the dracthyr aesthetic didn't immediately appeal to me, but after watching videos of them in action, I've kind of grown used to their look, and the gameplay looks like great fun. It also took some time for it to really sink in that this is going to be the first ever hero class to directly appeal to my gameplay preference of being a healer or ranged dps - getting to be a bit OP in my favoured role for a change should be fun.

I also like that there currently don't seem to be any plans for any convoluted temporary systems, with player power being condensed into gear and talents again, which I think will make it easier to keep track of everything your character can do for more casual players like me. The levelling process will most likely also feel enhanced, with talent points returning some actual meaning to the experience of gaining a level.

I'm looking forward to exploring the new zones with the husband - from what I've heard each one offers a new non-combat activity.

Interestingly, one of the main worries I've heard content creators express after playing the beta is that there aren't enough bullshit grinds in Dragonflight, which might make people feel like there's nothing to do. To me that just sounds like a perfect opportunity for some more alt play, without having to worry about how to keep them all "up to date". It would certainly be nice if Dragonflight turned out to be a positive turning point for Blizzard that way.

5 comments:

  1. While I was very "I don't know" when you asked yesterday if I would come back, I've had some time to put my thoughts into actual words:

    Aesthetically, this expansion definitely appeals to me far more than its predecessor, as the zones look very pretty from what I've seen. While I find the redone talent trees daunting at first glance, I'll happily take those over something like the Heart of Azeroth or Azerite power, which was one of the reasons why I never really got sucked into BfA content.

    The new race / class combo concept is something that I'd liked the idea of since its announcement, and though I would like to see dracthyr have more classes open to them I think just keeping them to evoker works well enough for the time being.

    Still on the fence a fair bit, but since I will not be juggling 4 MMOs like I was the last time and am getting better at taking time away to do other stuff... good chance I will end up coming back even if just fir a short while.

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  2. I'm still torn.

    I want a good story that isn't driven by Horde v. Alliance or the faction leaders themselves, but I look at what the story team did in Shadowlands, BfA, and really pretty much everything since Wrath and I wonder if they can pull it off.

    I look at the systems and everything and wonder how this will translate into people who have been away for almost a decade. More importantly, will people who have been away for so long find a seat at the table, or will they be relegated to LFR? Will the (in)famous toxicity be lessened?

    I guess we'll see. Like Wilhelm, I'm not planning on jumping in at launch; I'm going to watch and wait.

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  3. I'm staying neutral. I would like to see Wow (and the business/development side of Blizzard) return to being good and something I'd like to support. I'm watching to see if my friends and old guildies decide to play at launch and, more importantly, if they decide to keep playing over time. If they do, I may return to the game. Since I won't be raiding coming back after launch, possibly long after, I wouldn't be a burden on them.

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  4. Hiya Shintar;

    First expansion ever I have zero interest in purchasing at launch. It'll take quite a bit to convince me to drop Wotlk Classic, which I'm absolutely digging. Raid schedule has been worked out, start date, new guild full of shiny ambitions about playing casual but getting stuff done.

    Look forward to living vicariously through your blog on this expansion.

    Thanks!

    Bill

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  5. I’ll purchase it because I always do, but I am too immersed in Wrath Classic to pay much attention. I’ll have to make some time to finish leveling my characters in Shadowlands. Sometime! Atheren

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