Following the announcement of dragon flight, the developers took part in several interviews with different media. Below you will find the most interesting information shared with some of them this evening. Good reading !
IGN (Ion Hazikostas and Steve Danuser)
- The developers previously laid the foundation for this extension shadow countries†
- Dragonisland areas don’t have a specific theme for each dragon flight like in Dragonblight.
- However, each area has strong ties to a specific flight.
- The dragon islands are very vertical.
- The dragons were expelled from this land during the Sundering when the elemental energy waned, but it is flowing in recent events and the time to reclaim it has come.
- There will be much more research than in shadow countries, but the order of the areas remains the same for everyone on the first character. Telling a linear story isn’t easy using area sequencing methods. Legion and from Battle for Azeroth†
- Each individual zone offers a lot of freedom.
- The continent encourages exploration. Different reputations will unlock new stories as you progress.
- The team thought about the new race early in development.
- The team realized early on that none of the existing classes suited the theme of this race well.
- The new talent system was a way to solve the constant arrival of new systems without adding new ones with each expansion.
- In a way, this is a way of going back to basics. The goal is to allow maximum customization and the possibility to be truly hybrid.
- With the talent system, you can easily adapt it to the meeting.
- When you ride your dragon flight, you can reach places and do things that you couldn’t do with a regular flight.
- The developers wanted to create a sense of aspiration for unlocking areas you can see but can’t reach with a regular flight.
- The revamped professions allow players to have commands and collaborative crafting to get to rare crafting materials together.
- The new ordering system allows manufacturers to book items along with materials and commissions.
- The interface redesign is done as it arrives in the modern era of larger screens.
- The team doesn’t want to take away your add-ons, but gives you the ability to play the game without having to rely on many of them.
- Alliance and Horde team up in dragon flight†
- The Dragonscale Expedition is the name of the Alliance and Horde Expedition.
- The team is not completely satisfied with personal loot and knows there is room for improvement. Nothing to announce for now, but this one wants to improve the collective loot.
- The class sets remain in dragon flight†
- The team will enter the Great Vault of . upgrade shadow countries†
- With bronze dragons we can see unique stories with timelines.
- Irion is the source of much of the story. He has never seen these countries before.
- The dragon islands are large and dragon flight has been added to provide a unique and easy way to navigate this dragon designed world.
- Flying hasn’t changed that much in 17 years, and dragon flying was added to give a modern take on physics and momentum. This will be available early in the expansion and will get better over time.
- Flying in the Dragon Islands does not require a Guide feat.
- The Dragon Isles were chosen for this expansion because it is one of the few remaining known locations in Azeroth that has yet to be explored.
- The Evoker class arrived when the team realized that the Dracthyr race was too unique to be accessible to the current classes.
- A Thread of Fate leveling system is used for secondary characters in dragon flight and Blizzard wants to create more account-based systems.
- Blizzard also plans to offer a deeper open-world experience in the future.
- There are no specific energy systems in dragon flightbut an overhaul of systems players are familiar with.
- The team saw with the release of Classic WoW that the majority of the powers of the old talent system were still working and were trying to find a way to incorporate that into the modern game.
- The team is taking a “when ready” approach to launch and has no release date at this time.
- You get a new talent point for every level between level 60 and 70 with the new system.
- Dragon Islands lets players explore familiar themes while staying brand new. You will see centaurs, primal trolls and Tuskarrs in a land that has not been visited in 10,000 years.
- Evocative Dracthyrs may handle the Dragonflight feature a little differently, but will also be able to use it.
- Vibrant Dracthyrs may seem limited as they are a single race and only two specializations, but the customization and unique spells make them very interesting.
- The Dracthyr starting area will explain why the Dracthyrs are awakening now and their place in history.
- The interface for customizing your dragon row is based on that of ‘s barbershop shadow countriesand will therefore look very familiar.
- The new interface can be customized based on your specialization and will change as you switch between roles.
- PvP gear will usually be separated as in the patches of shadow countriesbut Holinka is not against certain PvE jewels being competitive in PvP.
- The plan for dragon flight is that extra PvP item levels don’t work in the open world. You can still upgrade the PvE item level of PvP gear using Conquest.
- The jewel set bonus remains in PvP in dragon flight†
- No PvP set bonuses planned.
- Interfaction is possible for PvP classes.
- Random Battlegrounds remains split between factions.
- There will still be faction-specific end-of-season rewards for the foreseeable future, even with cross-faction.
- The class part of the new talent trees will be interesting in PvP. This allows players to choose between defense and utility.
- Evidence talents remain similar to where they are currently in dragon flight†
- A ranked solo queue can happen later dragon flightbut will probably only allow you to queue yourself.
- The team wants to add more battlefields and arenas, but can’t announce anything at this time.
- The team plans to add more rewards for PvP War Mode at launch.
- The developers do not want to encourage players to get the Steal Points in the War Mode.
- Dragonflights are not Confederate. These are separate factions with no power attached.
