For the first time, Blizzard has shared a content roadmap to World of Warcraftcommitting to six major updates to the Dragonflight expansion next year.
Outlining the plans in a candid post, executive producer Holly Longdale acknowledged “the need to do better than we have at times done in the recent past”, nodding towards the (at best) mixed reception from players to the ongoing endgame experience of the last two expansions, Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands.
The latest expansion that wowThe community of seemed to appreciate unequivocally was 2016 Legionand Longdale pointed it out as inspiration for how Blizzard wants Dragonflight evolve. “Years after its release, Legion The 11-week content update cadence that served as the framework for its first year is fondly remembered as much as Khadgar’s artifact weapons or brilliant dad jokes,” she said. “Our goal for Dragonflight is that there should always be something around the corner, with a new update hitting our test realms shortly after the latest is live and in your hands.
The six content patches planned for 2023 will be “pretty evenly spaced,” she said. Two mid-sized patches offering a mix of new content and system updates will be followed by a major patch introducing a new raid, new zone, and new competitive multiplayer season in the first half of the year. Then this rhythm will repeat itself in the second half of the year.
Image: Blizzard Entertainment
The next patch, in winter, will bring the already announced Trading Post, an intriguing battle pass alternative that allows players to earn cosmetic items typically only sold in the in-game store. In spring, a new scenario will bring players back to Forbidden Reach, the starting area for the new Dracthyr race.
After a difficult period which saw many World of Warcraft players desert the game for rivals like Final Fantasy 14, Dragonflight went fine with the players. The proposed roadmap for 2023 is a solid plan that should help bolster the game’s reputation even further, and with former Blizzard head of story Chris Metzen returning to the fold to put the lore of the Warcraft franchise after some controversial decisions, it looks like things are looking up for Blizzard’s 18-year-old warhorse.
