Dragonriding and You: Ascending to New Heights of Skill
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
A skilled Dragonrider is a force to be reckoned with, capable of catching up to any foe, ambushing enemies from above, and soaring above the Dragon Isles with impressive speed. Becoming a Dragonrider and learning the basics will be simple, but mastering this new skill takes practice. Once you figure out its intricacies, you’ll never see the Dragon Isles the same way again.

Dragonriding Basics

Through your travels on the Dragon Isles, you’ll begin training to become a Dragonrider. Dragonriding can only be used with Dragon Isles Drakes—customizable mounts with unique abilities. Throughout your leveling experience, you’ll earn four different Dragon Isles Drakes. In the hands of a skilled rider, these imposing winged terrors are capable of masterful maneuvers.

Each drake features unlockable appearances that can be selected and adjusted to make your new drake mount uniquely your own. You’ll receive new looks for your drakes through Drakewatcher Manuscripts, obtained from quest rewards, exploration, completing achievements, and various other means. Find the nearest Rostrum of Transformation in any Dragon Isles zone to make changes to your drake’s appearance.


Vigorous Riding

The first thing you’ll notice upon summoning a Dragon Isles Drake is that your primary action bar has been replaced with your Dragonriding skills, as well as a new resource: Vigor. Vigor is spent by using Dragonriding abilities and recharges automatically over time while grounded (mounted or on foot) or in the sky, while Dragonriding at high speeds.

Gaining Speed

Once you’re ready for takeoff, mount up and find a high rise. When you jump from it, your drake will unfurl its wings and begin to glide forward, slowly losing altitude. Point your dragon’s front towards the ground, and it will gain speed rapidly. Point it upwards, and it will slow down and gain altitude.

Managing your hang time depends entirely on your ability to gain speed by descending and maximizing your altitude while ascending without losing too much momentum. Vigor skills like Skyward Ascent will help you gain altitude, while others like Surge Forward will give you a quick speed boost to keep you going. Remember that your drake’s Vigor recharges when you’re speeding up; use that to your advantage as you build momentum.

Dragonriding Progression

Dragonriding features its own progression track, unlocked when you obtain your first Dragon Isles Drake. Through this progression track, you can unlock more abilities, increase your drake’s Vigor, and more. Dragon Glyphs, symbols of power scattered all over the skies of Dragon Isles, can be collected to advance your progress track and gain access to perks. Some Dragon Glyphs will be relatively simple to procure, while others will require a bit of exploration and clever use of your Dragonriding abilities to acquire. We hope you’ll find the journey and the sights along the way as compelling as hunting all the Dragon Glyphs.

Race to the Top

Once you’ve obtained your drakes and mastered their abilities, there’s one more way in which skilled Dragonriders can stand out: Dragonriding Races! All over the Dragon Isles, you will find various Dragonriding race locations that will challenge you to complete a set course within a limited timeframe. Clearing checkpoints extends your allotted time, and once you finish a course, you’ll be rated on your performance. Your personal best times will be recorded, and whenever you repeat a course, your time will be compared against your personal best. Challenge other Dragonriders to the ultimate test of skill and speed—only the fastest rider will prevail.

The Journey is Just Beginning

There’s more coming to Dragonflight as we progress through testing, including future updates to Dragonriding. We hope you’ve enjoyed this early preview and invite you to check https://worldofwarcraft.com/news for all the latest World of Warcraft previews and information. We’ll see you in the Dragon Isles!
This article was originally published in forum thread: Dragonriding and You: Ascending to New Heights of Skill started by Lumy View original post
Comments 41 Comments
  1. Biomega's Avatar
    Dragonriding and Me: No thanks.

    I get many people enjoy the prospect of what dragonriding offers them. Cool. That's great if it's fun for them.

    But it's not for me. I don't want moving from A to B to do my shit to be a minigame. I just want it to happen so I can, well, do my shit.
  1. Cynicalnerd's Avatar
    Blizzard: no more borrower power guys we listen to you

    Also blizzard : here is this dragon riding that is only usable in df and it’s required you power it up. Totally not borrower power.
  1. Lolites's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cynicalnerd View Post
    Blizzard: no more borrower power guys we listen to you

    Also blizzard : here is this dragon riding that is only usable in df and it’s required you power it up. Totally not borrower power.
    well it doesnt give you power so... no its not borrowed POWER...

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Biomega View Post
    I don't want moving from A to B to do my shit to be a minigame. I just want it to happen so I can, well, do my shit.
    nothing stoping you, the same travel methods present in last few expansions are present in DF (afaik) too...
  1. Cosmicpreds's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cynicalnerd View Post
    Blizzard: no more borrower power guys we listen to you

    Also blizzard : here is this dragon riding that is only usable in df and it’s required you power it up. Totally not borrower power.
    Cause...it's NOT borrowed power? It's called a system that's used for fun? Like GW2'S Griffon/Skyscale Mounts
  1. Loveliest's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Cynicalnerd View Post
    Blizzard: no more borrower power guys we listen to you

    Also blizzard : here is this dragon riding that is only usable in df and it’s required you power it up. Totally not borrower power.
    Borrowed power term was coined for things that give people power. Legendaries. Corruption gear. Azerite gear. So on and so forth. Once that patch or expansion was done, you lost them (became inactive) feeling weaker.
    This was never new, for example tier sets could be seen exactly the same but this was a more recent term that got popularized and masses just started repeating it. To the point that it makes no sense even, like using it for anything that you don't keep forever, whether it gives you power or not.

    Either way, you'll probably always have access to your dragon in DF content, no matter what expansion will follow. So even from that angle, it's not borrowed. You just won't need it later. Like all the gear you get that you eventually replace. So let's not be weird.
  1. Goat7's Avatar
    What a giant waste of time and resources that could be put into things that matter.
  1. Kiivar86's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Goat7 View Post
    What a giant waste of time and resources that could be put into things that matter.
    I'd rather they experiment and shake things up. Heaven forbid we try new things.
  1. Biomega's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Lolites View Post
    nothing stoping you, the same travel methods present in last few expansions are present in DF (afaik) too...
    Sure. But "nothing has changed" isn't automatically a positive, so please don't spin it that way.

    I don't like DR. If you (or other people) do, that's great. It's good to have something you like.
  1. Daronokk's Avatar
    Why would anyone want a nerfed version of flying?
  1. kamuimac's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiivar86 View Post
    I'd rather they experiment and shake things up. Heaven forbid we try new things.
    they have been trying it and failing

    instead giving people what they want - aka 8 new dungeons every year couple with deterministic badge gear.
  1. Daronokk's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Kiivar86 View Post
    I'd rather they experiment and shake things up. Heaven forbid we try new things.
    The problem is Blizzard tries to experiment too much and wastes resources trying to reinvent the wheel every expansion, at the same time we constantly get content cut because of lack of resources. So their experiments are what's causing us to not get more patches. It's a valid complaint to turn down the experiments a bit.
  1. Kiivar86's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by kamuimac View Post
    they have been trying it and failing

    instead giving people what they want - aka 8 new dungeons every year couple with deterministic badge gear.
    And I'd rather they keep trying.

    Also we're getting 8 new dungeons in the expansion so that's half of that right there.

    Quote Originally Posted by Daronokk View Post
    The problem is Blizzard tries to experiment too much and wastes resources trying to reinvent the wheel every expansion, at the same time we constantly get content cut because of lack of resources. So their experiments are what's causing us to not get more patches. It's a valid complaint to turn down the experiments a bit.
    You seem to think the resources and team working on dragonriding means its coming from elsewhere. That isn't always the case. In a similar line of thought, you can't set, say, an environmental design artist to working on raid systems.
  1. Rendark's Avatar
    Thing is going to get old so fast.
  1. Buffbringer's Avatar
    Here's something that i'm not getting... From the Alpha videos i've seen so far, the dragonriding flying speed is slower than regular flying mounts, when you're not doing the mechanics...

    Which means, at least for the first few months, or until unlocking some skills, the best way is to dragonride is hop on your regular mount, fly to the peak of the highest mountain, switch to a dragon isles drake, and THEN dragonride?

    Or will the base flying speed of these drakes be 310%, and dragonriding can only be faster?

    Could someone explain that to me?
  1. Fabled's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Buffbringer View Post
    Here's something that i'm not getting... From the Alpha videos i've seen so far, the dragonriding flying speed is slower than regular flying mounts, when you're not doing the mechanics...

    Which means, at least for the first few months, or until unlocking some skills, the best way is to dragonride is hop on your regular mount, fly to the peak of the highest mountain, switch to a dragon isles drake, and THEN dragonride?

    Or will the base flying speed of these drakes be 310%, and dragonriding can only be faster?

    Could someone explain that to me?
    You get upgrades as you complete the main story for each zone as well as new abilities per zone to help keep you airborne longer. At first it might seem slower, but it ramps up really quick once you learn how to do it properly.
  1. GMZohar1's Avatar
    The Dragon Renown erm.. Sorry I mean "Dragonriding Progression" seems annoying
  1. Kumorii's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Goat7 View Post
    What a giant waste of time and resources that could be put into things that matter.
    yeah, like having gameplay in their game.
  1. Defend's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by GMZohar1 View Post
    The Dragon Renown erm.. Sorry I mean "Dragonriding Progression" seems annoying
    How dare a feature have progression to it!!!! God you guys sometimes, it's wild....
  1. BB8's Avatar
    Is it only the protodragon type? Or can we also get wind serpent or drake body types?
  1. Stickiler's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Daronokk View Post
    Why would anyone want a nerfed version of flying?
    It's a better version of flying, not nerfed, purely because you can hit 900% flight speed

    Quote Originally Posted by Buffbringer View Post
    Here's something that i'm not getting... From the Alpha videos i've seen so far, the dragonriding flying speed is slower than regular flying mounts, when you're not doing the mechanics...

    Which means, at least for the first few months, or until unlocking some skills, the best way is to dragonride is hop on your regular mount, fly to the peak of the highest mountain, switch to a dragon isles drake, and THEN dragonride?

    Or will the base flying speed of these drakes be 310%, and dragonriding can only be faster?

    Could someone explain that to me?
    I'm not sure what you mean by "not doing the mechanics"? Do you mean it's slower if you don't use the skills available in DR? I could see it being slower if you're just gliding, but there's specifically a boost button that instantly makes you faster than normal flying


    Also, I'm almost certain that regular flying won't be available at launch, to avoid overshadowing dragonriding, and by the time regular flight is available, you'll be easily able to hit the max speed of DR, which is 900% speed.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by BB8 View Post
    Is it only the protodragon type? Or can we also get wind serpent or drake body types?
    There are four body types currently available, Proto-Dragon, Ptero-Dragon, Wyvern and Drake. See them here -> https://www.wowhead.com/news/dragonr...-dragon-326759

Site Navigation