World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight is about to flap out
WoW, a dragon
That thing in the sky is neither bird, plane nor Superman: it's the World Of Warcraft: Dragonflight expansion, due to go live at 11pm GMT, 3pm PST, and 12am CET. WoW's latest expansion brings a new region, a new class, more dungeons, and yes, dragons. Lot's of 'em. Fill your boots. Ride them, even. Show them around town. Take them home. Wake up next to them one day and feel like the magic's gone, you know?
You'll be heading to the Dragon Isles, exploring waterfall cliffs along the shores, pretty forests, pleasant planes and mountain temples. You can scoot round all that on dragonback, with a customisable drake and a whole skill tree dedicated to flying faster and for longer. The new class/race can turn into a dragon, albeit a pathetically land-bound one.
The flying reminds me of swooping about as Batman in the Arkham Games: it's all about diving down then pulling up to transfer velocity into forward momentum, though I'm not sure exactly how those dragon rider skills play into it. It's a lot more interesting the tromping around on foot, at any rate.
There'll be a raid, too, though you'll need to wait 'til December 12th for that to open up. More details can be found on Blizzard's website.
With impeccable timing, Ed and Liam have just launched Inventory Space, a new video series that dives into whether and if so how hefty live-service games can fit into your life. The first instalment is all about their attempt to reach World Of Warcraft's endgame, which, tellingly, they do not.
I saw a Tweet the other day about how if you want a dragon to look menacing you draw it in a cat pose, and if you want it to look lovable you draw it in a dog pose. These are the first dragons I've seen since then and the trailer didn't really demonstrate either, but if you find in-game examples of this please do let me know.
You can buy Dragonflight from Battle.net for £40/$50/€50.
Activision Blizzard are currently the subject of a number of legal actions, labour disputes and allegations of workplace harassment. Rock Paper Shotgun will continue to write about these issues, as well as covering Activision Blizzard games as part of our commitment to cover subjects of interest to our readers. The latest news can always be found under our Activision Blizzard tag.