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.