While World of Warcraft players have started the in-game festivities a few days early, since November 6, this Wednesday, November 23, 2022 is finally THE day dedicated to Blizzard’s must-have MMORPG. This year, he celebrates his 18th birthday but also his entry into a new era: that of Dragonflight, his ninth expansion. Already !
WoW: 18 years of turmoil and calm
World of Warcraft is arguably one of the most outstanding MMORPGs of its time. Probably even the most striking, to tell the truth, and not necessarily for good reasons. If he quickly established himself as the king of the genre, the years have continued to set traps for him, to weaken him, even to put him down for a moment.
However, after enduring many hardships and overcame some massive drops in its subscriber count, the one commonly called “WoW” is still present. “More present than ever” could we even say as it generates ever-increasing excitement with each deployment of a new extension.
But the eighth expansion, Shadowlands, will not have been to the taste of many players the fault of a too early deployment if one believes the statements. She plunged the heroes and heroines into the realm of Deaththe Shadowlands, to uncover the dark machinations of Sylvanas Windrunner and the Jailer. A fairly recurring mixed overall opinion over each extension, but much heavier than usual in Shadowlands.
And, as a symbol, it was during this period that the death knell sounded for Blizzardits publisher, with multiple court cases having come to light, tarnishing for a long time yet the reputation of the studio which was until then particularly respected by many players.
Between difficulties in having its extension appreciated by its community and internal disruptions, the American publisher needed several months to recover from this fracture., weakening largely in particular World of Warcraft since it is Team 2, the one who develops this game, which was mainly concerned by these lawsuits. But, World of Warcraft and its most hardcore fans held on.
Dragonflight: Light at the end of the tunnel?
It was last April that we learned the news: World of Warcraft will have a new extension at the end of the year: Dragonflight. Planned to be deployed on Tuesday, November 29, 2022it will grant one of the dearest wishes of many players: discover the Dragon Islandsthe sanctuary of the dragonflights and all the dragons of Azeroth.
Here again, the symbolism plays a lot and sets the tone : it is Alexstrasza, the Life-Binder, the protector of Life on Azeroth who has been designated as the face of this new expansion. After death, renewal. Ion Hazzikostas, the Game Director of the game, revealed a particularly interesting element concerning the evolution of World of Warcraft: the game would have entered its “third era”.
If we are completely unaware of how these “eras” are delimited, we now know that Blizzard does have an idea in mind with this ninth expansion. An idea of profound changeand according to the first elements available to us, we imagine quite easily that it is based on exchanges with his players, listening. It is in this sense that many mechanics that “forced” players to log into World of Warcraft have been completely removed in Dragonflightfor example.
Finally, deploying such an extension 6 days after the 18th anniversary of its MMORPG does not seem trivial. It may not be intentional, just as Shadowlands and Dragonflight may not intentionally represent the internal mindset of the developers. But this gives strong hope to the many players who have already bet to dive into World of Warcraft for the umpteenth time. Will they be disappointed? Only the future will tell us.
In any case, we can’t wait to find out what World of Warcraft has in store for us in the coming months!
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Highly anticipated by many players, the Dragonflight expansion is the ninth expansion for the modern version of World of Warcraft. To help you see more clearly, we offer a summary of the most important elements to know before you start.