World of Warcraft is now on its ninth expansion thanks to the arrival of Dragonflight, and with well over a decade of development, the MMORPG has seen plenty of changes since inception. While WoW may no longer be the titan it once was, the game still holds plenty of memories for players who grew up with it and set to make plenty more.
With the previous two expansions, Battle for Azeroth and Shadowlands, getting rather mediocre reception from players, some feared Warcraft might finally pass away – but Blizzard is learning from past mistakes and Dragonflight seems eager to begin what is set to be an impressive overhaul of WoW's many longstanding facets.
10 An End To Endless Borrowed Power
"Borrowed Power" as it is often called by the player base, and occasionally by Blizzard themselves, was first introduced in Legion with its artifact weapons. The principle was simple, the ability to infinitely level-up a piece of gear to grow stronger and stronger over time.
The problem came with the fact that there was no endpoint. A player could never feel they'd actually done enough grinding, and this led to burnout. Dragonflight looks to be putting an end to this, as no infinite grinds are in sight, and its biggest new features seem here to stay and are likely to be expanded upon.
9 Customizable UI Arrives At Last
Dragonflight's pre-patch brought with it the long-awaited ability to move and resize features freely. WoW's user interface has seen a lot of revisions over the years, but players have always had to rely on third-party addons until now if they wanted to customize it beyond adding or removing action bars.
The changes go beyond just the ability to customize it per-character though. Various features have been resized or updated to have more modern graphics, and the ability to save UI cross-characters was finally added, as well as the ability to freely share setups with other players. Meanwhile, addons now serve more to augment than replace the default UI.
8 Renown Is Receiving A Rework
Renown was introduced in Shadowlands as a new alternative to traditional reputations. While it did see wide use, many players leveled it somewhat begrudgingly. It wasn't a total flop, but it did have issues ranging from a harsh time-gating system to the fact that a lot of power was locked behind it.
Following this lukewarm reception, Renown has been significantly reworked for Dragonflight. No longer does it have any time-gating, and no longer will players have to choose a single faction to aid. Likewise, little to no actual power is locked behind it, making the entire process more or less optional for players that don't want to partake.
7 A Connected Continent
Having a wide-open world to explore has always been a key part of World of Warcraft. It's in the name for a good reason. So it came as a surprise to many players when Shadowlands removed that – at least for all zones it introduced. Instead, they were spaced out and isolated from each other.
Dragonflight seeks to remedy this, as every zone in it will once again reside on the same massive continent. While it is hard to judge just how big the world will be, it has been announced that exploration will have some distinct benefits, from giving new crafting recipes, to secrets, to Dragonriding upgrades.
6 Professions Have Received An Overhaul
Professions in World of Warcraft have been present since launch, and have remained more or less the same over the years, with the biggest shakeup being the removal of First Aid. Things are finally changing. Crafting and gathering gear has been introduced, alongside a wide variety of reagents.
Not only that, but items can now come in a variety of qualities, depending on what was used, and the creator's stats. Crafters can now take work orders as well, where a player will post a public request for an item to be crafted, provide the materials, and offer a gold reward to whoever takes the time to help.
5 The Return Of Old Friends With The Centaur And Tuskarr
Dragonflight brings with it the return of two classic races, the Centaur, who last had a role in Classic itself, and the Tuskarr, a hardy people first introduced in Wrath of the Lich King. While Tuskarr have shown up in various places since, the Centaur have only been a footnote until now.
The Tuskarr of the Dragon Isles can primarily be found along the chilly coast of the Azure Span, while the Centaur roam the vast Ohn'ahran Plains. Both serve as major factions in Dragonflight, each with their own reputations to build up and plenty of rewards, including a loyal companion beast from the latter.
4 Talent Trees Are Back From The Grave
Players have had the choice of an active "talent" every few levels since Mists of Pandaria, but anyone who played back in the day or experienced the various versions of Classic in recent years will remember when "talents" were a skill tree that grew every level.
After a long time away, Dragonflight has brought the talent trees of old back, in a sleeker and more modern form. While roles are still more divided than in the past, several talents have gone all-class, especially healing and survival focused options. Druids especially can rejoice, as all specializations now have access to Moonkin form.
3 World Events Spice Up The Dragon Isles
Passively present World Quests have become a staple of WoW, but the Dragon Isles are set to introduce more active events. With the elements of Azeroth becoming restless, they have begun to send out sieges of their minions upon key locations, providing a periodic danger to spice things up as players explore.
The Centaur and Tuskarr likewise have their own events, though with the players working alongside them, rather than against. The Centaurs seek brave warriors to assist in hunting the massive beasts of the land, while the Tuskarr ask for aid in assembling a massive communal feast that will grant anyone who eats it a variety of buffs.
2 Harness The Power Of Dragons With The Dracthyr
Dragons have been part of the Warcraft universe for ages, but until now, they were out of reach. The closest players got was during a brief period during Classic, where a baffling bug permanently granted the "Draconic" language to gnome rogues, and only gnome rogues.
Now Dragonflight has introduced both a new race and class, the Dracthyr Evokers. Able to serve as either a DPS or Healer, these bipedal dragonkin are highly mobile and wield a powerful mix of all five colors of dragon magic as they find their place among the Horde and the Alliance in the days to come.
1 Experience A New Way To Travel With Dragonriding
Flight was introduced to World of Warcraft in The Burning Crusade, being further expanded to cover every continent with Cataclysm. Aside from the introduction of gliders in Mists of Pandaria — which can only travel in a downward arc — flying has remained mostly unchanged, effectively just letting the player swim in the air.
Dragonflight changes this though, with the aptly "Dragonriding." By befriending one of the wild drakes of the Dragon Isles a player can access a new and dynamic form of flight. While currently limited to the Dragon Isles, there are plans to expand it to the rest of Azeroth and beyond in the future.