World of Warcraft: Dragonflight review - The best expansion launch in WoW's history

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is here, and it’s an expansion for the classic MMO that I have been enthralled with. I played a sizeable chunk of the game during its Alpha phase, so I was already well-prepared for this experience.

However, I had some trepidation going in. To be frank, WoW: Shadowlands was not my favorite expansion. So, when I started previewing Dragonflight, my mood changed. My hopes lifted and I found myself excited for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. For some background, I’ve played this MMO since vanilla’s early days.

With that in mind, I have never had such a positive experience at the start of World of Warcraft. There were no horrifying wait times, no waiting for minutes or even hours to complete quests because nothing was available to me. The features and updates to the expansion were mostly positive.

How has my trip to the Dragon Isles been so far, though?

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight takes players to the Dragon Isles for a new adventure

I was a bit behind going into Dragonflight on my main (Ragadin, my Retribution Paladin), since I didn’t actively play as much of Shadowlands. With that in mind, I played something I haven’t played in years. I rolled a Warlock and went Demonology. This was thanks to one of my best friends in the WoW community and guildmate, Biral, telling me that Demo Warlock was absolute madness.

Turns out, like in many things WoW-related, he was right. I leveled one up right in time for the World of Warcraft: Dragonflight launch. It’s easy enough to get to the Dragon Isles, and though it’s a massive landmass, it’s simple to traverse. Flight paths feel faster, and of course, we have the new Dragonriding system.

The story of the expansion so far is a battle for survival of the Dragonflights. The Primalists are convinced the blessing of the Titans is more like a curse, and that it’s time for the dragons to be overthrown. That’s the overarching theme so far, without really spoiling any major plot points.

You’re going to travel to the homes of the various Dragonflights and aid not only the dragons themselves but the other races that call the place home. Groups such as the Maruuk Centaur and the Iskaara Tuskarr have lived there for thousands of years.

While this story hasn’t hooked me like the Wrath of the Lich King one did, it’s been well-told so far, and I can’t wait to see what happens next. This plot, however, is a pleasant change. It’s not the Horde vs. Alliance, we aren’t trying to take over the island. Everyone has put their enemity aside for now, and are working towards the safety and benefit of the denizens of the Dragon Isles.

It makes sense now that players can play dungeons together, regardless of faction. For the time being, everyone works together. Will that last?

Dragonriding corrects one of the most frustrating things about early WoW exploration

Exploration is one of the big themes of this expansion as well. World of Warcraft: Dragonflight puts us, the players, in an unfamiliar place that hasn’t been seen in over 10,000 years: the home of the dragons. It’s a vast area, and normally, players have to stick to ground mounts when an expansion launches.

In the last few expansions, unlocking flight had been tedious, frustrating, and time-consuming. I still can not fly on Zandalar. It wasn’t worth the time invested to grind it out.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight fixes that right out of the gate. You unlock Dragonriding early on, which lets you temporarily fly on one of four beautiful, customizable drakes. You can improve the time you spend in the air by finding the hidden dragon glyphs to unlock skills for your rides.

Instead of having to hit the level cap, grind a reputation, and complete a lengthy quest chain, flight is quickly unlocked with these specific mounts. It’s so fun to go soaring through the air.

However, there is nothing in the game more frustrating than running out of Vigor in the air. While mounted on these mounts, your World of Warcraft: Dragonflight character has a set amount of Vigor, and its abilities burn through it.

Trying to fly upwards can feel the most frustrating at first. If you run out of Vigor, you will just have to glide to the ground. Even with that con, it’s such a blessing to have a good way to travel the land.

Dracthyr Evoker is the new race/class combo for World of Warcraft, and it’s fun

According to World of Warcraft: Dragonflight lore, the Dracthyr Evokers were created to aid the dragons in defeating Raszageth the Storm-Eater, the current big bad of the expansion. They were in stasis, similar to the Demon Hunters of the WoW: Legion expansion.

The Dracthyr have awakened, and for that reason, only have access to the “Evoker” class they were originally trained to use.

It’s a fun new class and one that’s pretty easy to use. They can heal, or perform ranged DPS, similar to mages or warlocks. However, they wear mail armor, as the Shaman does, so they will share Elemental and Restoration Shaman gear.

It’s a great class for beginners, but one thing I do wish is that they didn’t have to transform into their draconic form in combat. The “humanoid” form looks amazing, and I’d love to stick to that when in combat. It’s a minor gripe, but one worth noting.

The overall improvements of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight are many

There are so many changes to the gameplay experience of World of Warcraft: Dragonflight. For one, leveling up feels so much smoother. In previous expansions, you would finish a zone, and might level up once.

By the time I got to the final zone in this expansion, I was well into level 70, with plenty of spare quests to do. The amount of exp received felt right, and I didn’t feel like I was stagnating in a zone.

This is an important change because of the changes to the reputation/renown system. There is still a reputation system, which has all been rolled into the term “renown.” Each faction has a renown bar, and as you increase that level, you earn the occasional but useful reward. This is how you unlock a few of the world events, such as the Community Feast.

Each quest reveals the renown/reputation that you will receive, and that’s important. In previous expansions, it was never really certain what reputation you were going to gain, and what amount of it.

Now you can see if a quest is something you want to focus on. However, while this system is better, it still feels like a pretty hefty slog through reputation bonuses. Thankfully, once you unlock most of the systems - Dragonriding, and world events, for example, these unlock for all of your alts.

This is easily the most alt-friendly expansion of World of Warcraft’s history. Completing the main campaign, for example, allows you to start alts, and play the story from whatever point you wish! You aren’t tied to the linear story that your first character experienced.

Another major change was crafting. It feels useful, mostly. I love that you can enhance your crafting item levels in several ways, and you have useful specializations that make the overall experience better. I’ve crafted so much gear that I simply don’t have a use for, though.

Some of the best stuff in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is bind-on-pickup, and unless you’re using the new Crafting Orders system, that low-level gear is going to go to waste.

But that’s one of the genuine positives in this system: You can craft bind-on-pickup gear for people! You can put in crafting requests, specify your materials or theirs, give them a tip, and so much more. It makes getting useful items so much easier.

For years, all the good stuff in a crafting profession was bind-on-pickup, and if you weren’t a Tailor, for example, you couldn’t have it. Now, you can pick the professions you want and still get powerful gear from the others. I love that feature.

For battle in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight, dungeons mostly felt very streamlined and smooth. They weren’t incredibly long affairs, and I could easily hop into a normal or heroic and get to the next in-game event. However, Brackenhide Hollow felt like it took a nightmarish eternity to complete. That may be because I still need to learn a proper route, so that makes sense.

In addition, the vast improvements to the talent system are quite nice. Having a generic tree for each class, and a specific specialization talent tree allows for way more customization and build opportunities.

Visually and musically, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight shines

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight still has a fairly cartoonish style compared to some other MMOs on the market, but it’s really come a long way in the last few expansions. The Dragon Isles are breathtaking, with each zone having an identity and style that made sense to me.

The aesthetic was sharp, and it looked beautiful in 4K. From the frozen wastes of the Azure Span to the lava floes of the Waking Shores, the visual design is top-notch in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight.

The music was also memorable, as always. That’s always been one of my favorite parts of World of Warcraft - the music. The soundtrack goes a long way to connect a world and its story, and it definitely fits the tone.

In conclusion,

I haven’t been so happy to play World of Warcraft in years. While I’ve always loved this game, there have been some highs and lows over the years.

The UI is far more customizable without mods, and that's one of the greatest things in the game. This is certainly the best experience I’ve had in the MMO for as long as I can remember. I don’t feel like logging into World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is a chore.

Logging into the game to group up with my friends and housemates is a pleasure. We can all get together, grind a few dungeons, complete some quests, or work on whatever we’re working on without it feeling like a second job.

I say this sincerely, as a long-time fan of the game, and of MMOs, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is the best the title has ever been. If you’re on the fence and worried about having to play some expansions you don’t want to, don’t worry - you don’t have to!

You can easily pick an expansion to play in, level up to 60 in it, or across two expansions, and jump right into the Dragonflight content. You don’t have to do anything wild or outlandish to get there. I’ve not been this overjoyed to play World of Warcraft since my earliest days.

Your power as a character isn’t tied to reputation, so you don’t feel you absolutely have to grind your reputation constantly. You can play the game at your pace. If this is the start of a new direction for World of Warcraft, I’m 100% on board.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Reviewed On: PC

Platforms: PC

Publisher: Activision Blizzard

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Release Date: November 28, 2022