Dragonflight in 2023 - The Road Ahead



Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
It's been an inspiring month for the World of Warcraft team, as we've watched the world soar over the Dragon Isles, defend their Renowned allies from the Primalist threat, stay awhile and listen to tales of regret, craft inspired items, delve into dungeons, and make vast, vast quantities of soup.

But this tale is just beginning. A WoW expansion is not a single moment in time but a journey —we know that the merit of an expansion hinges on the sustained quality of its entire arc. Years after its release, Legion is remembered fondly as much for the 11-week content update cadence that served as the framework for its first year as it is for artifact weapons or Khadgar's brilliant dad jokes.

In planning out the road ahead following the release of Dragonflight, we've been mindful of the duty we owe our players to nurture this living world and, frankly, the need to do better than we have at times in the recent past. Our goal for Dragonflight is that there should always be something right around the corner, with a new update hitting our test realms shortly after the last one is live and in your hands.

In total, we are planning to deliver six content patches, fairly evenly spaced, over the course of 2023. This will include two major updates, the traditional pillars of our expansions—with new zones, raids, and seasonal rewards—but in between those, we want to keep expanding and evolving our world with new world events, updates to systems, and evergreen holidays, new dungeon experiences, new narrative chapters and cinematics that can serve as epilogues or as prologues to the next major step in the adventure, and, most importantly of all, more opportunities for us to respond to feedback and change or add elements based on what we're hearing is most needed by our players.

We recently announced the upcoming 10.0.5 content update, which should go live early next year, bringing with it the Trading Post system which allows players of all playstyles to earn a wide range of fun cosmetic rewards of their choice, as well as (finally!) allowing Poor-quality and Common-quality items to be acquired as transmog appearances— for those who prefer a somewhat humbler look—and a bit of new world content in the Primalist Tomorrow area.

Shortly after that is in your hands, we'll release the 10.0.7 content update onto our Public Test Realm. 10.0.7 will contain a new quest campaign and repeatable world content set in the Forbidden Reach, as the dracthyr return to their place of confinement (along with some unexpected guests) to learn more about their origins and their destiny. This content will set up the next major chapter of Dragonflight, and by its conclusion, it should be obvious what our next destination must be. Alongside this new content, we also plan to add questlines for Human and Orc cosmetic Heritage Armor, update some of our recurring holidays, and more.

There will also be a 10.1.5 and 10.1.7 content update coming in the second half of the year, bridging the period between our second and third major updates. We don't want there to be any specific formula for the size or shape of these updates, but the goal is simply more Warcraft: more story, more content, more rewards, more events, more tech improvements, with less downtime between them. I don't want to spoil everything, and I'm confident that there are at least a couple of surprises coming along the way that no one is expecting. And some of the details simply aren't decided yet, because your feedback will help shape exactly what we prioritize in these updates.

We're honored and humbled by the reception to Dragonflight so far, but this is only the start. From me and the entire development team, please accept our wishes for a happy, healthy, and peaceful New Year, and we can't wait for you to see everything we have in store for Azeroth in 2023.

Holly Longdale
Executive Producer
This article was originally published in forum thread: Dragonflight in 2023 - The Road Ahead started by Lumy View original post
Comments 115 Comments
  1. Bwgmon's Avatar
    Holiday updates and the continuation of Heritage sets? Good stuff!
  1. Dystemper's Avatar
    Still no word on sales.
  1. FelPlague's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    Still no word on sales.
    they likely waiting for the holiday season to be over, easiest way to MASSIVLY bump sales. now if it is because they just want it to look even better, or because sales are poor we will see, but based on the public its pretty well assumed sales are good ,especially with how insane the launch was.
  1. Phaelia's Avatar
    I think this is a good sign, assuming they keep their promises.
  1. Eosia's Avatar
    Hopefully now we won't see hanging story threads that go nowhere for 2+ years (e.g. what Sylvanas did after the conclusion of the Stormheim quest line and her fight with Greymane). I don't mind stories that arc a longer time, but leave some goddamned breadcrumbs.
  1. Lochton's Avatar
    Looking good. Now to hope for it to stay on course! FULL SPEED AHEAD!
  1. THEORACLE64's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    Still no word on sales.
    It's literally not any of the players prerogative to know. The only reason people want to know them on here is to just find another man-baby excuse to thrash and cry about Blizzard
  1. SinR's Avatar
    Nice, the White and Gray TMog system in place.

    Good shit.
  1. Nerdslime's Avatar
    Cautiously optimistic. A forward-looking update with about as much humility and transparency as Blizzard has ever shown. Signs of genuine desire to improve the world experience and refresh traditional stuff like holiday events, which lots of us adore even if we've done it before. Lots of cool content on the map there, too - zones, megadungeons, etc. Proper cadence and an understanding of the crucial importance of a constant feed of content.

    It looks good. If Blizz can manage to achieve it and not overpromise and underdeliver like so many times in recent memory, Dragonflight could go down as a triumph snatched from the jaws of defeat.
  1. crusadernero's Avatar
    This is awesome!
  1. Dystemper's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by THEORACLE64 View Post
    It's literally not any of the players prerogative to know. The only reason people want to know them on here is to just find another man-baby excuse to thrash and cry about Blizzard
    So paying customers and consumers of their oriduct have no right to know how well said product is doing? This comes off as very Corporate shillish. And it does impact not only the game but the players.
    If DF sales were abysmal , that can drastically impact the quality and the quantity of the patches and future game play. This road map for 23 does not mean athing if the bean counters decide to cut the budget for the game.
  1. Khaza-R's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    So paying customers and consumers of their oriduct have no right to know how well said product is doing? This comes off as very Corporate shillish. And it does impact not only the game but the players.
    If DF sales were abysmal , that can drastically impact the quality and the quantity of the patches and future game play. This road map for 23 does not mean athing if the bean counters decide to cut the budget for the game.
    Investors do, for sure. Why would any normal gamer care outside of their personal enjoyment of the game?
  1. Thes's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    So paying customers and consumers of their oriduct have no right to know how well said product is doing? This comes off as very Corporate shillish. And it does impact not only the game but the players.
    If DF sales were abysmal , that can drastically impact the quality and the quantity of the patches and future game play. This road map for 23 does not mean athing if the bean counters decide to cut the budget for the game.
    That is a really weird way of seeing things. If the content becomes scarce and bad then you can stop playing. If it's good now then why do the numbers matter? I don't think they do.
  1. Marlamin's Avatar
    Actually huge to see a roadmap from the WoW team, I don't think I've ever seen them this comfortable to share what's ahead for an entire year.
  1. FelPlague's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    So paying customers and consumers of their oriduct have no right to know how well said product is doing? This comes off as very Corporate shillish. And it does impact not only the game but the players.
    If DF sales were abysmal , that can drastically impact the quality and the quantity of the patches and future game play. This road map for 23 does not mean athing if the bean counters decide to cut the budget for the game.
    No they do not, because there is no reason to.
    only the shareholders need to know, and those are sent out every 3 months.
  1. Lorgar Aurelian's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    So paying customers and consumers of their oriduct have no right to know how well said product is doing?
    Correct you have no right to that just as you don’t with literally every other company ever.

    Become an investor if you want to get such a right.
  1. Xilurm's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Marlamin View Post
    Actually huge to see a roadmap from the WoW team, I don't think I've ever seen them this comfortable to share what's ahead for an entire year.
    John and Holly proper shaping up the team huh?
  1. oathy's Avatar
    Simple black dress as a transmog finally
  1. Relapses's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    So paying customers and consumers of their oriduct have no right to know how well said product is doing? This comes off as very Corporate shillish. And it does impact not only the game but the players.
    If DF sales were abysmal , that can drastically impact the quality and the quantity of the patches and future game play. This road map for 23 does not mean athing if the bean counters decide to cut the budget for the game.
    lmfao -- "I NEED TO KNOW HOW BADLY DRAGONLANDS FAILED AND IF YOU DISAGREE YOU'RE A SHILL"

    The negativity of this community has no bounds.
  1. TidalConflux's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dystemper View Post
    So paying customers and consumers of their oriduct have no right to know how well said product is doing? This comes off as very Corporate shillish. And it does impact not only the game but the players.
    If DF sales were abysmal , that can drastically impact the quality and the quantity of the patches and future game play. This road map for 23 does not mean athing if the bean counters decide to cut the budget for the game.
    Blizzard doing everything besides talking about the sales. Will be interesting to see the Quarterly.

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