This Could BREAK WoW Dragonflight (Patreon)

DRAGONFLIGHT – With the announcement of the new World of Warcraft expansion, I think every fan around the world breathed a cautious sigh of relief. Blizzard finally listened, no more cosmic threats, no more cosmic travels. We are heading back to Azeroth, we are going back to familiar settings with a focus on the world and the gameplay rather than on big threats with massive systems. All in all, a step in the right direction, that is not to say there aren’t quite a few question marks

I would have loved to get an even deeper dive into the systems that were announced, I would love to know about the new class Dracthyr and their core abilities. What is the playstyle going to be? I would love to know more about the talent overhaul and what this would mean for classes in World of Warcraft Dragonflight, perhaps more than all of that I would love to know a little about the lore of this great, untamed landmass that up until now, we have only been able to speculate about.

Speaking of Speculation, lets speculate on just how cool it is to be one of these lovely people on the screen right now. If you wish to see your name on the screen in future, click the link in the description down below and become a Patron or join us over on Twitch where everything is better when its live.

One system’s announcement has me worried about what this will mean for Dragonflight. Dragonriding! At the announcement this was to be a new way to explore the world. You get your own dragon, based on one of the Dragonflights and from there you will level up and gain new skills with this dragon. Subsequently we learnt that this is NOT flying, at first your dragon will be able to glide for short distances, you can increase this distance by gaining speed, gliding down a huge mountain, or eventually through different skills you will attain. Exactly how these skills will be attained is still a mystery, but I imagine much of this will be simply by gliding, completing objectives while gliding and perhaps it may even be tied to the new renown system. Where every few renown levels grants you a perk point perhaps. Much of this is just me speculating though so take it with a grain of salt.

The most important thing to remember is that THIS IS NOT FLYING! In fact, Blizzard have confirmed that you will not be able to fly in the Dragon Isles using your flying mounts from the game, instead Dragonriding will be the vehicle through which the world is explored. When you and your dragon reach high enough skill perhaps permanent gliding may in fact be a thing but for now, none of that is known.

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To be Fair to Dragonriding and in a sense to highlight and combat my own biases I do need to point out, this new system is by far one the most exciting new features Blizzard have announced in a very long time, the ability to customize your dragon and make it look exactly how you want, may actually serve to allay any fears players like myself may have for the potential outcry from players when they realise they won’t be able to fly using their own mounts. Also factor in that this is a new system and may eventually become part of flying in general. What if we can eventually fly around on all our mounts with the special skills and abilities, we use in Dragonriding? This would certainly be a very cool addition to the game and a new way to GATE flying in future expansions!

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The truth is, flying in World of Warcraft SUCKS, I have said for many years now that flying in World of Warcraft serves only as a deductive system and adds really nothing to the game. Even the way we unlock flying is very lacklustre. From Pathfinder to simply tying it to progression, it always feels just a little too grindy and not at all rewarding. Dragonriding certainly changes that. A system to level up in, visible progression as you gain new skill and mastery in flight. All of this sounds amazing to me, with one big caveat. YOU WILL NOT HAVE ACCESS TO ANY OF YOUR FLYING MOUNTS IN DRAGON ISLES.

Players in World of Warcraft love their mounts, many people spend thousands of hours farming that one mount simply to have it, simply to fly around on it. Many flying mounts in World of Warcraft have unique animations and these animations is what players fall in love with. It’s the result of years’ worth of farming and sweat to show off your mount collection. A system that removes the ability for players to fly around on their favourite mounts will not go down well. It is again a system that seeks to replace the old game and nullify the efforts of the players.

Make no mistake, I am in love with the idea of Dragonriding and I do not wish for all mounts to have access to the skills you and your Dragon will learn through Dragonriding, but I also do not wish for this system to replace such a big part of what many people love about this game. MOUNTS. Instead may I propose a different approach. At the launch make Dragonriding the only means of Flying, well gliding but you get the idea. Then once a player has mastered the skill of Dragonriding, allow them to mount any of their flying mounts in the Dragon Isles. These mounts will be slower and nowhere near as fun for the player, but they will at least be available.

Players come in many different shapes and sizes and what one player may love another may absolutely HATE. So, what happens to the players that do not like Dragonriding? What happens to the player that simply wants to mount up, fly to where they need to go and do not wish to do a bunch of tricks and perform a set of intricate manoeuvres just to get to the other side of the mountain? With the current plan, those players will be forced, once more, to partake in a system they do not care for. A system that makes the game feel more like a chore than an actual place they want to hang out in.

All good games provide players with a plethora of choice, a path they can choose and then walk down.

- Talk about Upside/Downside

- Only Downsides, no Upsides

Since World of Warcraft Dragonflight hasn’t even begun Beta, I thought it best to bring this up now. To start a conversation around it that hopefully helps inform the developer’s decisions moving forward. If you agreed or even just enjoyed the video, please consider hitting the like button and subscribe if you enjoyed this so much that you simply cannot miss a future video. A special thanks to all the Patrons, Twitch subs and YouTube members that help support this channel. If you wish to get access to weekly podcasts, behind the scenes livestreams and more, simply click the link in the description down below. Ladies and Gentlemen, as always, be kind to each other, be good to each other and I will see all of you, in the next one, PEACE!